Over the Puddle

Tonight was a night on the town in Nagoya. We are staying at our usual hotel here, the Sun Route Hotel, with an added bonus that each person got their own room for a change rather than doubling up. In addition, we were each given a 3000 yen stipend for dinner.

For dinner, we decided to go to a Pan-Asian restaurant not far from the hotel. As it was a chance to get away from the camps for a bit and perhaps recompose themselves, everyone dressed up for the occasion. The restaurant itself was nice: we received our own large room with plenty of tables and benches, the food was cheap and plentiful, and conversation good. Everyone was joking and having a good time by the time we left, enjoying the time we had together because our group would become scattered between several different camps for a time afterwards.

As we were leaving, several people from our group starting talking with a group of Japanese businessmen and decided to head off with them to a Karaoke place, another group decided to go clubbing, and a third group, including myself, decided to head past Nagoya station, stopping to listen to the outdoor bands on the way, and finally heading back to the hotel, later meeting up with several people from our group and heading out to a jazz club. Paul had been to the club with some friends before and recommended it highly. Upon arriving and noticing how nice it was, I questioned the staff a bit about pricing. When they replied I thought I had misunderstood, because how could a glass of water cost 1200 yen, and drinks be 2500 yen? Such was the case however, and despite the prices we did settle down for a few drinks before calling it a night.

Darcy, Rachael, Katie, and Lindsey head off to Fukuoka tomorrow to work a few camps there, while my group leaves for the Suzuka facility at about 12:30pm, and the remainder leaving the following day for their camps.

Kyukamura is buried deep in the mountains, is a winter ski resort, and is very scenic with a picturesque pond nearby. We arrived a few days before any campers did and had plenty of time to explore our surroundings, but despite the natural beauty, it can be very dull when you are completely cut off from civilization with nothing to do for two days. The weather had been a little finicky as well, which meant that if one was brave enough to venture outside to climb the nearby mountain to its peak, you may become trapped in a sudden storm as some counselors found out.

To pass the time on our two days of free time, the counselors busied themselves with various activities such as hiking, watching TV (Predator dubbed into Japanese is quite humorous), playing cards, talking, playing on Gameboy Advanced systems, drinking, and any other number of little activities to make the hours go by faster. When our prep day came, with the promise of the camp starting the following day, suddenly work seemed like fun as the hours ticked by. Of course even fun has its limits as one well-intentioned counselor suggested not only making awards enough for the current camp, but for all succeeding camps as well. What was once a group effort and perhaps not quite the pinnacle of fun suddenly began to slide into tedium. I put in as much work as I felt morally obligated to, then quickly bolted for the door.

The night was not lost however, as that night we met a group of college students who were there with their teacher. Their English was not that good, and neither was our Japanese, with only two of us from our group having any proficiency at Japanese, so communication was difficult. In the end, they turned out to be a fun group. We talked for about an hour before everyone headed to the baths and then went their separate ways.

The camp itself was very disproportionate, as the counselors vastly outnumbered the campers, a common theme throughout the summer, with four younger students and four older students. Counselors rotated in and out of duty so that the campers could get to know more of them. Of the students, I worked with the younger kids whom all had excellent English, especially two brothers who had lived in America for a time. Two of the older students, Yurie and Yukie, really had a hard time opening up and experiencing the camp, only opening up finally at a yakiniku dinner on the second day much to the surprise of everyone when Rachael managed to pull them out of their shells.

I think the highlight of the camp was the hike we took the kids on, climbing the mountain that several counselors, myself included, had scaled in previous days. The boys in particular really seemed to enjoy the trip, even having presence of mind to begin picking up object en route to be used in a scavenger hunt later that day. We made it all the way up to enjoy the breathtaking scene from the top, and then began the descent, with the boys often times racing ahead in excitement with myself and Kong running to catch up. The campfire was intimate rather than fun, coming to a head at the end when we asked the staff who had built the fire to put the fire out with a blaze of glory by dumping the remainder of their kerosene on the fire, creating an enormous fireball as a sendoff.

Freetime at the camp was about the same as any other camp, often playing frisbee or catch with the boys. I didn’t have any kids during the nights, so I was often out late wandering or talking with others. Typically the number of counselors out and about would grow as the kids gradually drifted off to sleep. We all stayed in cabins this time, and it was a nice escape to be able to easily wander outside. The mornings were something different entirely. Kong I think had the worst of it because the boys would stay up late and wake up early whereas others like myself could set our own schedules.

When the final day came, the graduation ceremony was short, extended slightly by a counselor skit. Afterwards came the typical round of photos, signatures, tears, and finally the bus home with a promise of a free day in Nagoya before the next camp.

Kyukamura Camp Picutres

This whole camp was a bit of a surprise. From the start, we had one less camper than we originally though, so we had four instead of five, and had seven counselors. It made for a really small camp, but it worked out somehow.

I didn’t know until pretty last minute were I would be going. Jonathan had asked me where I would like to be for this next session, and I said that a small camp might be a good way for me to start out. I knew nothing about the city or the hotel that we would be at, other than the hotel was called the Green Hotel. I’ve visited a few Green Hotels in the past, especially the one in Hakata near the train station, and they have all been small and relatively cheap.

I was quite startled therefore when we rounded the corner of the Takayama Green Hotel and got our first glance at the hotel, with several gasps of surprise coming from myself and the other counselors. The hotel was huge, standing several stories tall, and was fairly expansive. Inside the hotel there were five different restaurants, a beer garden, two bath areas, with the larger of the two having nice shower stalls, two indoor baths of different temperatures, a sauna, and a cedar line jacuzzi and a fake natural stream outside, while the smaller had one bath inside, and the fake stream outside. Besides the baths, there were also massaging chairs, and masseuses. In addition, it had a huge souvenir shop, a crappy arcade, and a karaoke room somewhere. (Takayama Pictures)

Once we got settled into our rooms, we had free time enough to take a walk around the immediate vicinity of the hotel, stopping primarily at an arcade and a magazine store. Afterwards, we had a great dinner, and then waited for Mr. Kita, Guy’s business partner, to come so we could find out more about the camp. I think we all grew a bit more excited as we learned more about the camp, which included a bicycle tour of the town, and a trip to a historic city.

After we all had a rough idea of what to expect, everyone eagerly headed to the baths. It’s funny how excited you can get when you know that you have pure luxury ahead of you. I know I took my time in the bath, and debated getting a massage, but decided against it, as I had to meet with Kita and Yoko to do some more planning for the camp.

The next day, we had a quick meeting to hammer out the first day’s schedule and then went to meet the campers. Upon returning to the hotel, the counselors played some games with the campers while I went to the front desk to try and get some supplies, as the hotel was not only providing housing for free to the camp, but was also providing supplies for us to use. In return, we held our camp in very visible areas, and also spoke to the staff in English, so they could practice as well.

After lunch, we got a hotel tour by one of the front desk workers, primarily for the campers as the counselors had already explored much of the hotel the night before. When that ended, Mr. Kita and several counselors left for a nearby high school where they would present the Summer Camp to potential campers, much the same as we had done with Souseikan the year before, while the rest of us did One-Minute Drill and My Story. It felt good getting back into the role of AC again, even if only for a little while.

The other ACs returned around five, and we headed to dinner together for a yakiniku, a Japanese style BBQ, and later had skit practice, and finally free time for bath and then bed. Takuma, the only boy in the group, opened up quite a bit after the bath, and I was amused when he noticed Totoro was on TV and started to watch it. Unfortunately, I had a meeting with Yoko to figure out the next day’s schedule and missed most of it. She was eager to watch it as well, but work had to come first, tempted as we were.

I had been looking forward to the next day because we had the bicycle tour, a trip to Hida Folk Village, bon odori, and Bingo planned for that night. The day started off with the final one-minute drills and timing while several counselors, myself included, had off because of the fact we had more counselors than campers. I didn’t have time to enjoy my free period however, as I had a meeting with Kita about the day. He also asked me to take pictures of the camp for advertising, which took up the rest of the period.

After one-minute drill was our bicycle tour of Takayama. We had split the camp into two for the tour: one was the campers with a few counselors and Yoko, our Japanese counselor, while the other group was the remaining ACs, myself included. After the camper group had taken off, I stuck around for a while to try and help John teach James how to ride a bike before I headed out on my own to tour the town. I got lost along the way and so didn’t see anything in particular, but it was fun to tear around Japan on a bike by myself nonetheless.

After everyone returned, we had lunch, and then moved onto My Story practice, during which time I did rest up a bit, and then we went to the World Heritage site - Hida Folk Village. The area was amazing - it looked like an actual old Japanese village. The village was comprised of buildings transported from various areas, and so some of the buildings definitely looked out of place, but it hardly detracted from the village. I had a great time wandering around and taking pictures. Our time there seemed to pass far too quickly. (Hida Folk Village pictures)

After we returned to the hotel, the next activity was the skit. Because the camp was so small, we decided to do an AC skit in Japanese and have the campers do one in English. So, while the campers worked on theirs the rest of us started creating another skit, different from the Yakuza/Sumo one some counselors had done before, a bad idea in retrospect. Our skit turned out to be one about morning exercises gone wrong, with a semi-perverted teacher. It kind of sucked but it was all we could come up with, and I think most of the ACs were more interested in just talking rather than doing the skit.

After skit, we had group discussions, something both Yoko and I had been dreading because they either go well, or poorly, there is no middle ground. We were therefore surprised by how well it went! They asked some political questions and a bit about Nikki’s piercings, and the conversation kept moving with no real dead time.

Once group discussions wrapped up, we went to the bon odori, a Japanese dance, which was held in the large souvenir shop. We had all changed into Yukatas, so we made quite a sight, with seven Americans dressed up fumbling to learn the dance. Not everyone was eager to dance, and neither was I at first, but once I got in the time flew by, and by the end I think everyone from our camp was dancing.

To wrap up our night, after the dance was Bingo, during which John and Alyssa MCd, with the rest of us forming a cheering section. The whole thing was silly, but because the hotel was putting up our camp for free, it was the least we could do for the them to promote the camp. I think between doing smores after the fireworks that night, the bon odori, and Bingo, we drew plenty of attention.

The final day went rather quickly. We had final skit practice and My Story practice, along with time for the kids to put together their history report about Takayama, and just before lunch had a really short Eigo-kai. After lunch, we had the usual wrap up and graduation, then a little free time, and finally headed to the train station where we finally parted ways.

We had another two hour train ride back to Nagoya, and two and a half hour bus ride here to Kyukamura. The highlight of the bus ride was when my dinner sailed off the little table and onto the floor when the bus driver punched the gas. Luckily, there was a few spare dinners, so I didn’t go hungry.

Those of us who went to the Green Hotel made a pact before returning to the larger group, agreeing to say nothing about how nice the camp was, nor anything about what we did. We figured that the rest of the ACs would be angry and feel jealous, which did turn out to be true in one case.

We’re now in Kyukamura, and our next camp doesn’t begin for a few days, so we have all the free time in the world to do whatever. I’m not sure what our next camp will be like, but hopefully will find out more information soon.

Takayama Camp Pictures

We’ve been having a pretty good time here in Nagoya, despite my reservations. I was expecting to stay in a hotel, but instead we are in a youth hostel. It’s not actually too bad, except for the 11pm curfew, and the fact that we get kicked out from 10am to 3pm for cleaning. Other than that, we have our own tatami room, I’m sure because there are three of us, and Naoko has to share a room with two strangers.

The first night that we got into town, Jonathan, Naoko, Yoko, Go, Andrew, Andy, and myself went to a yakiniku. I was a bit surprised that Johnathan went along with us and was drinking with us considering what happened at the mountain hotel. Everyone drank quite a bit, and ate a lot, and we had a great time. For food, we had beef tounge, some kind of pork, chicken cartilage, and vegetables. I was a little squemish about eating tounge, but after I tried it, I didn’t care anymore, because it was really good. We had to hurry back after the dinner to make it back to our hostel before it locked up. The night was only spoiled by the fact that Yoko and Go got kicked out because they were not actually staying in the hostel with us.

The next day, we hit an internet cafe for a few hours, and then headed back to the hostel for a few hours. We were talking off and on with Paul, trying to see if we could meet up with him, but that didn’t work out. For lunch, we went to the Hard Rock Cafe here in Nagoya, where I bought a Hard Rock t-shirt finally. It’s a pretty neat one too, with a dragon on back. After lunch, we were talking with Andrew’s friend here in Nagoya, Misako, and met up with her at 6pm in Nagoya station, where we went to a Starbucks for an hour or so and just talked. Later, we went up to the 51st story observatory of the Nagoya Station Towers, or Panorama House as they call it, to look over the town. Just a note for the travelers, if you want a “couples” place, the Panorama House is it.

We finally got in contact with Go afterwards, and together we went out to dinner at some little okanmiyaki restaurant in the mall under the station, and talked some more. One of the things that came up was that our hostel was right next to the red-light district! Andy was commenting on how cool it would be to go walk down there at night and just see what that would be like. I can only imagine.

Misako and Go walked us back to our youth hostel, and we went in for the night, promising to meet up with Misako the next day to do some sight seeing.

The next day we did meet up with Misako and went to Nagoya Castle. I think I still prefer Kumamoto Castle over Nagoya Castle because it felt a bit more festive, but Nagoya Castle was interesting in its own right. There were a number of exhibits on display inside, though some of them seemed to have no reason to be there.

After the castle, we headed back to Nagoya station and killed a little time, before heading to Kurokawa to meet Misako’s family, who were kind enough to invite us over for dinner. On top of that, we got in touch with Go and Hiromi, and her family said it was fine for them to come along as well.

First we met up in a little coffee place, and then went to her place where her family bought an amazing amount of sushi and sashimi! It must have cost a lot, and we made sure to thank them afterwards for their hospitality. We had a pleasant evening talking, eating, and drinking, and were reluctant to head back to the hostel, but considering we had to head back to camp the next day, we didn’t have a choice.

I’m not sure where I’ll be for this next camp, as we have three different sessions in two different places. I told Jonathan I’d feel a little more comfortable starting with smaller camps and then working my way up to the bigger ones, so we’ll see. If I do get the smaller camp, we’ll be going to the Green Hotel in Takayama. If it’s anything like the other Green Hotels I’ve been at, I can’t imagine how we’ll have a camp there.

Youth Hostel Stay Pictures

We now have two camps under our belts. The second camp consisted of two seperate camps: a camp of little kids, ages 7 to 10, and the second camp consisted of junior high school students, senior high school students, and one 57 year old woman. Frisbee was extremly popular this last camp as well, and I think I spent all of my free time playing frisbee with a group of boys to the point where I got blisters on my feet and one on my finger.

During this second camp, I was put in charge of the older camp, and also in charge of program orientation and the graduation ceremony. It went a bit rough at first, because this whole camp experience is so different from the one I had last year. For starters, the camps are much smaller, with a counselor to camper ratio of 1:1 or 1:3, and the only large camp we have is towards the end, where we have a 140 person camp. Also, I never had to do program orientation before, because when I ran a few smaller camps last year, the Camp Director took charge of it.

After a bit of bumbling about on my part, the program orientation went more or less ok. By day two, I got better at the timing of activites, and by day three, the graduation ceremony went well. It helped that the camps were very small. Now that I have a better idea what it is to be a LAC, hopefully the camps will go better. After this homestay, our camps get really split up, with four different camps happening in three different facilities at one point!

So, now we have have long stretch of camps coming up, which will take us through the rest of this month, and the first part of August. After that stretch, we will have a six day homestay, another camp, a four day homestay, another camp, and then return home. As a result, expect a posting blackout for some time.

Mihama Session 2 Pictures