Session 7 - Asahikogen
When I had first heard about the session at Asahikogen, it sounded vaguely familiar for some reason, though I couldn’t remember why. While we were en route, the scenery began to look more and more familiar until we arrived at the facility and then I knew why: I had been here before! At the time, I had no idea what the name of the facility was, and only a fuzzy idea of where Nagoya was.
We got in and got settled, and began the usual pre-camp routine of meetings and preparation. Now, I’m not a huge fan of meetings, and even less so of night meetings, and even more less so of many meetings at night, which is what had been a growing issue throughout the summer and finally beginning to irritate me badly. This camp, we learned that our AD would be leaving us early to return to America for a teaching job, and he thought it may be a good idea to create a number of different committees in the hope that by dedicating people to certain tasks they could make sure that things worked smoothly in his absence. It sounded like a good idea in theory, but I had reservations immediately, and this camp began to prove me right. More on that later.
This camp was also to be the largest group we would have the entire summer, which immediately caused problems, because other than myself no one had worked with large camps before or planned them. The planning process we had been using for the summer had to be scrapped, and we instead relied heavily on sample plans and activities in the handbook, which were originally modeled after the Nagasaki camps, and I added my own suggestions and comments on activities, how long they should be, and what needed to be taken care of.
At one point during our planning, we were planning out a block of time where we would have several different activities going on at the same time that campers could choose from. I suggested taking a hike, but everyone who had been to the facility before said there was no trail to take a hike on. Confused, I pointed out the trail that wound behind the facility and out for a good distance, which no one had apparently noticed. Now everyone else looked confused, thinking that I had never been to this facility before, until I mentioned I had been to the facility the previous year and knew what I was talking about.
Overall, this was my least favorite camp, even though I had been looking forward to the larger group, something I was very familiar with from the previous year. First of all, my room group and I did not really get along. They really took after the American hip-hop, gangster stereotypes, of which I am not a fan at all. About the only thing we had in common was the fact that several of them played Magic: The Gathering, a game I played several years back. We rarely talked, and any activity I did with them, such as icebreakers, always bordered on disaster. About the only thing I was thankful for was that they apparently really enjoyed sleeping, as they were often in bed and asleep before bedtime!
Another factor to my general dissatisfaction with this camp was the committees, where we had several instances of the committees breaking down. One such instance was setting up for a few events where I eventually got frustrated enough to just gave up and gave out orders on how to set things up, or as in the case of the campfire, took over everything and instructed the counselors on how to rotate the groups through S’more making, songs, and the skits we had planned.
Finally, the biggest factor was that by the end of the session it became very obvious that we needed a homestay and a time to get away from each other. Some time ago, we had created several smaller groups of counselors to function as mini-camps when we had several camps in different locations at the same time. This was good because each group learned how to work together, but also bad because the people in that group may get tired of seeing the same six people or so day after day, all day, with no chance to get away. There were a few nasty fractures beginning to open in our group, and I desperately waited for the end of this camp so that everyone could look forward to their various homestays and hopefully recuperate. The committees compounded this problem, because sometimes people who had very similar skills and made logical sense to have on the same committee began to resent the other person.
All was not lost however. The hike went well. The weather was beautiful, so Dawn, Paul, Darcy, Brad, and myself took six campers on the trail. We did not make it very far, but strolled lazily along the trail, everyone talking and having a good time. It was with regret we finally had to turn around and start back to the camp. I had hoped to make it as far as we had last time I was there because of the view at the end, but such was not to be.
The campfire, despite the rocky beginning, actually turned out pretty good. There was the usual rounds of singing and dancing, but we also continued a few traditions that began that year. One was the “Rain Song” that Kevin and I did. Not really a song at all, the “Rain Song” creates the sound of a gentle rain swelling to a downpour and finally to an all out thunderstorm, tapering off gradually back to a downpour and to a gentle rain, and then nothing, using no more than snapping fingers, slapping thighs, and stomping feet. With small groups, this works with mixed success, but with large groups, I always find it amusing to see the eyes of the students grow from boredom to wonder as the sounds take shape. We also continued our “Ghost Stories”, an idea Kong had come up with, about “A camp, not unlike this camp, where several campers had disappeared, never to be seen again. Everyone suspected one counselor, but he disappeared one night, never to be seen again…”, at which point I charged from the bushes and descended on an unsuspecting camper. I swear, she leaped straight up several feet, to good laughter by all, with no hard feelings.
One real highlight for me at this camp was my Skit group. The group was very friendly, and dedicated to making the skit work. I could understand their Japanese well enough as well to use it to my advantage, knowing when they were stumped but were hesitant to ask, or when they thought something wasn’t working but didn’t want to mention it. Overall, we enjoyed our time together, getting the work done, but having a good time at it.
All in all, this was a camp of opposites. Some things worked, others did not work at all. It was a time when we were all able to come back together as a group, but also at a time where everyone needed to get away from each other. We lost an AD, but gained another (me). We had gone too long without a true vacation, but had a long one starting at this camp’s end. When this camp ended, I took a deep sigh of relief.
I did not have a hostfamily waiting for me, unlike almost every other counselor. When I signed up, I had specifically asked for no homestays, knowing that I could get around Japan with little problem and had in fact planned to do some traveling. Over this last camp, I had managed to make reservations at J-Hoppers, a hostel in Kyoto near the station, and was a bit surprised when Andy asked if he could tag along. When we finally got back to Nagoya after this session, we immediately turned around and bought Nozomi Shinkansen tickets to Kyoto, and were on our way, arriving in Kyoto at night about 45 minutes later. After getting lost along the way and asking for directions from a friendly police officer who spoke no English, we made our way here, where we lucked out and were given lodging at an apartment near the hostel, as all the rooms were full at the hostel itself because of the impending Obon Matsuri.
We were lucky. This apartment has a TV, kitchen, washer, bedroom, and computer with internet access for no more than it would cost us individually to stay at the hostel. We have one roommate, Newt, who is a girl from Thailand studying abroad here in Japan, and are not far from the station, which means finding bus or subway transportation should be easy. I like Kyoto, and we have a little under a week to spend here before the next camp. I intend to make good use of our time here.