Sunday, April 12, 2009 – 09:00

Ok, after about 6 hours of sleep in a real bed and a nice shower, I think I'm awake and ready to continue writing about Friday. I was finally hungry when I woke up and I was actually feeling pretty good, not great, but pretty good. I walked the 100 yards uphill to the cafeteria and was exhausted. Ok, I guess I wasn't as good as I thought, but I was still pretty good. I don't remember what the lunch was but it must have been good because I ate it pretty quickly and had a chance to table-hop again and hear from several people about the rec that I had slept through. I took the rest of the day pretty easy and just hung out in the lounge and played Blockus (or however you spell that game) and met several new people like Tron (that's not really his name but I can't remember what his real name is) and Lauren. I met several other people in there but I can't remember their names because I'm horrible with names.

Over all, I was surprised to find that even though Friday was a little slower for me than other days as I drank five bottles of water and tried to save and build up my energy, I actually felt more fulfilled and more content with that day than any other. That's not to say I feel I wasted any day, I just feel better about Friday for some reason.

The only other thing I remember very well about Friday is dinner. We ate on the roof of the cafeteria where several of the campers cooked meat and veggies for us to put on our rice. That freshly-cooked meat was delicioso. :D *yum*!

Saturday was interesting. We had to be completely packed up and have the rooms all cleaned and passed inspection by 2pm. We managed to get most of the campers packed out of their rooms by 9am and the Hume staff went through the rooms while the campers were in morning chapel and we checked to make sure that all the blankets, pillows, and mats were folded and put away just right. The Japanese are very meticulous about these things. What bothered all of us is that whatever we left is what the next group got. There was no staff to come through and clean after us. I'm not going to go into too great of detail but that gets ridiculous and redundant. I'll just say that we went through every room at least 3 or 4 times before we finally learned exactly what they were looking for. The blankets had to be folded just right and stored in the proper orientation with the single fold outwards. For the rooms that had beds, the beds had to be swept off of sand and whatnot and then the floors swept (there were no vacuum cleaners).

Overall, it really wasn't too ridiculous what they were asking for us to do. What really drove us crazy is the Japanese way of telling us what to do. If they found a single thing wrong, they would tell us that it was wrong, show us how to fix that one thing, then have us go through all the rooms and make sure it was ok. Then they'd go down to item number 2 on the list and show us we had done that thing wrong and tell us to check all the rooms again. They wouldn't just tell us everything that we needed to do and check it all at once. It got to be quite frustrating.

By 2pm, we had loaded all the bags into a large box truck that Buddy had brought over and all the campers and staff (except those driving vehicles) started walking down the mountain. It really wouldn't have been bad at all if it weren't for that fact that I had been to stupid to ditch my laptop bag and backpack and it was the first sunny day since we'd arrived in Japan. I was probably carrying 15 or 20 pounds on my back which was completely unnecessary. When we finally got down to the port, I dropped my bags and followed the crowd of kids to a nearby store that was selling ice cream. The ice cream that I bought was really good but I don't remember what it's called.

We all boarded the ferry and enjoyed that last hour that we all had together. That hour went way too fast. I'm really glad that I will be seeing the Kadena kids again tonight when we go to their youth group because the week was way too short (and Shelby still has the jacket that I let her borrow on Friday when she was complaining about being cold).

When we finally got to Kadena, we loaded our stuff into vans. The rec gear we put in a van that we won't be opening again until Wednesday and our personal gear was shuttled all the way across the street to the Shogun Inn where we are staying. After dropping our stuff in our rooms, we all went to Chili's and ate a real American meal (or Mexican) with forks instead of chopsticks.

Well that pretty much brings us up to date. At noon today, Buddy is going to take us to eat lunch at a really good sushi place where Tiger Woods comes just to eat sushi because it's so good.

Saturday, April 11, 2009 – 2250

We're back at Kadena now but I'll go back over the past few days that I haven't written. Thursday was beach day and the weather was beautiful when we got up for “frag raising.” After breakfast, we piled into vans and buses and shuttled down to the beach. This was actually the first day I had a working camera because, although I had plugged it in to charge it before I left and brought the charger, you actually need the battery cradle to charge the battery; plugging in the camera just powers the camera but doesn't charge the battery. Fortunately, one of the campers I met, Leah (who is obsessed with Moi ☺), has the same exact camera as me and I was able to borrow her cradle so I had a functional camera starting on Thursday.

I got over in the second of four shuttle rounds so I got a pretty good spot to lay my towel and claim as my own. My friend, Esther (whom I met last year), and I got a chance to hang out for a bit while we waited for everyone else to arrive. Once everyone arrived, Jeremy Peete (the leader of the Hume staff) had the campers spread out along the beach and have some alone time reading the Bible and praying. While they started that, Tyler (the rec guy) started working with us five Hume high-schoolers and Sheri (PJ's wife) to set up the rec games (relay races) that we were going to do on the beach.

While we were dragging the bags of rec gear along the beach, trying to find a flat, rock-less piece of beach, it started to rain. Just a little at first, but soon it was pouring. The amazing thing was that the campers stayed where they were spread out on the beach, making use of their alone time with God! Just as we were starting to open up the bags and pull out rec gear, Derek came over and told us that we were going to go back to camp. I was kind of glad because rec would have been miserable in the rain and wind, but and the same time I was kind of bummed because rec could have been awesome in the rain! ;P By the time I made it back to my stuff (we had walked pretty far with the rec bags and they were heavy to carry around), I was already feeling pretty miserable but I was glad to notice that the bag containing my camera that I had left on my towel was gone. Most people would probably freak out, but I knew that someone, probably Shelby who is thoughtful like that, had grabbed the bag to keep my camera safe from the rain. I was right.

I picked up my towel, which was still lying there; shook off the sand; and wrapped it around myself to try to keep out the wind. I looked around and noticed a group of people standing under the lifeguard tower and, sure enough, Shelby was there with my camera :). I huddled with those under the tower for a while and moved to the music blaring from the tower above to keep warm. After about a minute or two though, I noticed that there were several people in the water! Then I noticed Derek and Tyler taking off their shirts and getting ready to run to the surf. I don't know what got into me, but I immediately put down my towel, took off my shirt, and raced with them into the water! It was cold! I don't think I have ever willingly entered water five degrees warmer than that, and yet there I was in nothing but a pair of swim trunks up to my neck in 30 degree ocean water (it probably wasn't really quite that cold but it sounds good). I didn't want to look like a chicken so I stayed in for about a minute or two before I casually walked out of the ocean onto the rainy and windy beach. I was quite surprised to find that I actually felt warmer once I got out of the ocean. Leah had followed about 30 seconds behind us and while I had gone over to try to convince Moi to get into the water, she had gone to try to get her friend Shelby to follow suit. Evidently, Shelby said that she'd only do it if I did it again; so, as Moi ran down to the ocean with his awesome hat and sunglasses still on, I ran up to the lifeguard tower and convinced Shelby and a couple others that were still hesitant to follow me and not stop running until your head had gone under the surf. It really was quite miserable, but we all managed to have fun being miserable together while we waited for the vans by performing such stunts as I just described.

Another unforgettable memory was made for an unestimatable length of time immediately following our aquatic insanity. About a dozen of us crowded into a tiny stand. (I think it was supposed to be some sort of information booth, or maybe a vending stand; regardless, it was empty.) I didn't know everyone there, but included in the mix was Esther, Shelby, Leah, and Moi (I think Clark might have been there as well but I didn't know him very well at the time so it didn't stick out at the time). We all huddled together and held towels around each other trying to keep warm and did nothing else for what seemed like eternity while we waited for a van. Finally, when I was beginning to think it might be a good idea to try to burn the booth around us because at least then we'd have some source of heat, someone noticed one of the counselors getting into a van that wasn't loaded up yet. He sprinted to the driver and managed to score us all seats. People started piling in and Shelby, one other girl, and I all got in the trunk. I think someone counted 12 or 14 in an 8 person van. We were low ridin'!

Thursday really was an amazing day; I haven't even gotten to lunch yet! And now I have. We ate lunch after cleaning up a bit. Moving on. The rest of the day was just free time until “frag” lowering followed by dinner and chapel. I just hung out in the gym and watched the soccer tournament because I was too tired to play and too stupid to bring tennis shoes to summer (spring break) camp. ;) I didn't actually watch all of the tournament because I kept falling asleep. I realized later that it would have been better if I had just gone to my room and slept on my mat.

Oh, I think I've managed to forget to mention. The entire time we were on Tokashiki, the Hume staff (and a few campers) had only paper-thin mats and rock-hard pillows to sleep on. I have been increasingly sore all week. I can't wait to make use of this bed I'm lying on (It just turned midnight. Happy Easter! Happy Birthday, Moi!).

I don't remember exactly when it was, probably sometime near the beginning of chapel, I started to notice that I had a headache and was feeling kind of low on energy. A couple days before, I had witnessed Shelby nearly collapse of dehydration and I figured I should probably start drinking some water. I went downstairs from the chapel and found a tub of water bottles. If anyone other than my mom or dad is reading this, I should probably explain one thing: I hate water. I don't know why. Maybe it's just that I like soda and juice so much more. I had actually been making a conscious effort to limit my soda intake that week so I wasn't as bad off as I could have been, but I still knew that I had to get as much water as possible into my body as soon as possible. I finished off that first water bottle by the time chapel was done.

I'm going to shift my focus a little bit here because although my stupidity in allowing myself to get dehydrated is interesting, I should probably also talk about what else was going on because I think this part is much more important. Moi started us off with some time for worship like he always does. He mentioned that PJ was going to be speaking about the Holy Spirit that night. The Spirit definitely knows when and how to move. All through worship, despite the distraction of my needing to keep drinking water, I felt His presence. I don't know if Moi has done this before (maybe I'll ask him tomorrow), but he overlaid one line of his song “It Pleases You” (“Oh-oh-oh-oh-oh because it pleases you / because it pleases you, I come, I come, I come”) with the words from the children's song “This Little Light of Mine” (“This little light of mine / I'm gonna let it shine / Let it shine, let it shine, let it shine”). We just sang those words over and over. Guys singing one line. Girls, the other. Sometimes everyone singing one line and Moi singing the other. Sometimes just Moi singing. Sometimes just the campers. It didn't matter. We were all focused on the words. We were all worshiping the Lord. The Holy Spirit was there stronger than I've ever felt Him before.

The stage was set perfectly for PJ to be God's lips. I don't remember much of the message. Not specific things anyway. At least not to the degree that I could give a meaningful summary (hopefully I'll be able to get a copy of someone's notes). That's not really important anyway. The important thing, the main reason I'm going into this was how the Holy Spirit met me. I was listening to the message and really understanding what PJ was saying, or so I thought, when he suddenly looked straight at me and said something. I don't remember what he said (I didn't remember 15 minutes later when he was done and I was talking to him about it) but whatever it was, the Spirit used it to stun me for a little bit. Like hitting me over the head. I broke down and cried, calling out to the Holy Spirit. Asking Him more questions in the next few minutes than I've ever asked in an entire week. The only time I heard anything that PJ said for the rest of the message was when his words were a direct answer to the questions I was asking the Spirit. I can't consciously remember any of that conversation, but I know I know Him better now than I ever did before.

Thursday night has always been concert night for Hume Lake. After the campers have time to get together with their counselors and talk about the message, they come back to the chapel and the worship leader (in this case, Moi) puts on a concert. Immediately after the campers left, we set up the two smoke machines that Buddy had brought and literally filled the room with smoke. While the smokers (that's what I've learned to call the smoke machines) were running, I went downstairs to grab another water bottle and Eric Turner (one of the other Hume guys who went with us last year) went down to one of the trucks and came back with a bunch of cans of A&W Root Beer and American Mountain Dew (the Mountain Dew from Japan tastes different). I probably shouldn't have, but I drank a can of root beer (but I also drank my second bottle of water with it *shrug*).

While we were waiting for the campers to finish with their small group time, we hung out in the smoke-filled chapel and played with Jeremy's awesome green laser. Once the room was filled with smoke, you could see the whole beam like a lightsaber or something. I had some fun taking pictures of the laser with my camera and I'll probably post those when I can. That gave Eric (who is a gifted and skilled photographer) a really cool idea. He set up his camera on a tripod and focused it on the wall. He set the camera for 10-second exposure and, with the lights off, opened the shutter and played the laser all along the wall. The result was amazing! Hopefully, I'll be able to at least link to those pictures once we all get home. Since the smoke had filled the room, it was refracting the laser in the air and not only were you able to see the design he had made on the wall during those 10 seconds, but you could also see the laser beams in the air. We played around with this for a while and got a really cool picture of Moi leaning against the wall with his name spelled out in laser above his head. I really hope I get to show you that.

Right after taking that picture with Moi, we let the kids in to the room. I loved their reaction! I had almost forgotten that some of these kids might have never been to a concert before, and even if they have, it's not like they have the luxury of having concerts go through their state all the time. At about this time, as the kids were still coming into the room, I was on my second bottle of water but I was still gradually feeling worse and worse. I don't think the dark room and loud music helped. ;) Moi played a bunch of his songs that weren't really worship songs but are perfect for a concert, then kicked a pedal on his board and a familiar loop started to play. It was the Humility/This Little Light track that he had stored in one of his pedals from worship an hour or two before. We probably sang the same words over and over for about 20 or 30 minutes, I don't know, maybe longer, but it didn't matter. The Holy Spirit was filling the room. I know I already said this about earlier, but I have never felt the presence of the Holy Spirit so strong. During that time, the Spirit let me experience something I've never experienced before. Near the beginning of the week, I had told Shelby and Leah that they should teach me to sing harmony because I've never been able to and I want to and they can. During that time of amazing worship, as I was praising the Lord and thanking Him for bringing me here, I suddenly began to sing harmony. I can't explain it. The Lord just wrapped me in His love and gave me this gift. I actually kind of felt like Peter walking on water because the few times that I tired to figure out what was going on, the few times I started wondering what am I doing, I faltered. I praise the Lord for his amazing love. Jesus loves me, this I know.

I left that place with the joy of the Lord in my heart and an invisible gnome pounding on my head. I finished that second bottle on the way to my room but it didn't seem to help. I had just been standing in the front row at a concert. It's true that Moi isn't as loud or rocky as many bands that I've seen in concert and he didn't even have any drums or bass with him, but loud is still loud. My ears were ringing, my whole body was sore and felt like it should collapse at any moment, something was banging on my head and I couldn't make it go away, and the joy of the Lord was my strength.

Although I was the first in my room to crawl onto my mat, I still had trouble getting to sleep because my roommates were head counselors which means it's their duty to be the last to bed making sure all the campers are in their rooms and the counselors are doing alright. The light was on in my room for the first couple hours I laid there which I think encouraged whatever it was playing drums on my cranium.

I did manage to sleep eventually. At least, as well as any other night on that mat. I was really surprised when I woke up and I still had a headache. Usually, when I go to bed with a throbbing brain, it feels fine by morning. We were passing out camp t shirts that morning and I had told Eric that I would help him with that. I don't think I managed to live up to that promise. I was moving so slow. Every move I made I made with pain. Fortunately, I had gone to bed with my clothes on from the night before, so all I had to do was comb my hair and apply deodorant (I forgot one, you can guess which). I stopped by that stash of water bottles that I had found the night before and was slightly bothered to discover that that supply was rapidly diminishing (I'm too stupid to think of filling up a used water bottle with water from a refrigerated drinking fountain). Morning calisthenics didn't help my head feel any better and I don't think I even managed to loosen any muscles either.

By the time I got to breakfast, I couldn't stand the pain any longer. I had wanted to just try to tough it out, but that just wasn't going to happen. I didn't eat breakfast but I did drink an entire water bottle (or two, it seems to me that I had finished my second for the day by the end of breakfast but I was so out of it I'm not really sure how accurate my tally on water bottles for that day was).

It's strange, I was in pain for much of the day on Friday but I almost feel more peace about that day than any other day this past week. I really don't get it but I feel like I accomplished more then than the rest of the week and I don't really know why. It may be because I managed to meet more new people on Friday than the earlier part of the week. That's mainly because I was a little stupid and kinda chose my friends on Sunday or Monday and didn't really put much effort into meeting new people after that until Friday.

I started breakfast time by asking Jayne (one of the head Hume people of the trip) for some ibuprofen. Then I sat down at an empty table and started greeting people as they sat down. I was in so much pain at that point that it was impossible for me to hide it but I still managed to push past it and start a little bit of conversation. After a little while (since I wasn't eating breakfast), I gave my seat to someone who wanted to sit with his friend and moved to a different table. There I was also able to converse with some people I hadn't really spoken with before. I did this table-hopping at least once more before Jayne told me that she was ready to go down to her room and get me some drugs. ;) I've taken ibuprofen before, but I never realized what a miracle it can perform. After giving me the pills, Jayne told me that I should probably go lie down and get some rest. I didn't resist the notion very hard. All I had the energy to say was, “You're probably right.”

That was about 8am or so. I slept until noon with only two interruptions. The first was my roommates hanging out in the room to kill some downtime. That probably didn't even last 30min. The second involved me getting up to get a new water bottle. I was really out of it, but I thought I was done sleeping for the day. I planned to go grab another water bottle then head over to rec where I thought everyone else was. Well the tub was empty and I got really confused. I had no idea where I was going to find another bottle. Fortunately, Elizabeth, Jeremy's wife, was able to help me out with that one and suggest that I just refill the empty bottle I had (genius). I don't really remember the exact order of things during this little event nor do I remember if I even had any logic to anything I did. Somehow I ended up in the chapel (I think I was looking for someone). There was a small group meeting in there. I must have looked really disoriented. I'm pretty sure I walked in there and just kind of stood there looking around with a really confused look on my face. Their leader asked what was going on and I said that I was trying to figure out where my group was and I was kind of sick and had been sleeping since breakfast. Almost immediately, one of them got up and I saw that it was Davia (actually I'm not even sure if that's her name, I didn't find out what it was until last night and I still don't really remember). Davia (we'll just go with that) is a trained nurse who works with disabled children on Yakota (or Yakoska) and I knew from previous interactions with her that she was exactly who I needed to help me. We went into the lobby outside the chapel and she sat me down and started massaging my head at my temple which (I guess) is some sort of pressure point. I found out later from talking to her that she prefers a slightly more alternative form of medicine with less drugs and more, well, alternative stuff like pressure points and whatnot. I don't know how much it did for me, but I'm sure it did something because I felt quite a bit better afterwards and I was able to make it back to my bed with a full bottle of cold water without making a fool out of myself again (I think). Anyway, I slept from then (which I think was a little after 10am) until noon.

It's 2am now and I'm really tired. I guess I'll finish this later. Nitey nite.

Wednesday, April 8, 2009 – 23:30

Well, it's been a couple days since I last wrote. A lot has happened in that time. Monday morning, we were awakened by an announcement that said, “Today lainy day. Morning meeting. Don't do.” Our entire cabin laughed hysterically. After breakfast, we put up decorations in the room we're using as a chapel.

The kids arrived just as we were finishing at 11am. I went out to see if I could find anyone I knew from last year. There were a lot of faces that looked familiar, but there was one girl who stuck out because she was just standing all alone. I thought she looked familiar but I wasn't really sure. As I approached her, a look of recognition crossed her face and she said, “Hi, Erik!” I guess she did know me from last year. We talked for a little bit and I managed to ask her her name: Erika. Not too hard to remember. I also managed to get a death glare because I accidentally vocalized that I thought she was Air Force when she's actually Marines. Oops.

I ran off to eat lunch because the kids had already eaten and I hadn't. After lunch, I wandered into the gym and joined in a game of volleyball until “frag” lowering at 5pm. Before the lowering ceremony, I managed to find my two friends with whom I have managed to stayed in touch over this past year: Esther and Shelby. Esther was just how I remembered her, but Shelby... well... I had somehow managed to forget that she's only about 5ft tall. Oops. Of course, the only problem with that was that Esther had to walk me over to her for me to find her. (No short joke intended.)

I've had a blast hanging out with all of these kids. On Tuesday, I got to go down to the beach and fall asleep in the sun (don't worry, I didn't get burned because I actually applied sunscreen). On the way back, we packed 18 kids into that same van we had used on Sunday. Not quite the record, but close. During rec time, I got to help out with a game called “Tube Force” which is like “Steal the Bacon” with inner tubes as bacon and mud and violence caused by ten kids (on two teams) fighting over a single inner tube. Great fun! During a couple of the rounds, I got to run around in the middle holding and inner tube until the kids caught me! By the way, when I say “kids,” I'm talking about other high schoolers my age.

Finally, today. I actually didn't do much today. The beach was closed because the weather wasn't very nice (the entire time we've been here, it's been foggy like Pismo Beach but it should be nice the rest of the week). I played indoor soccer for about an hour or so and got all tired out, then I just sat in the gym and watched the basketball tournament and fell asleep sitting down a couple of times. The coolest part about today was evening chapel. PJ has been doing an amazing job speaking to these kids and Moi has done an incredible job leading worship. The worship tonight was phenomenal. I could really feel the Holy Spirit moving in the room and filling me and breaking me. That wasn't even the coolest part though. PJ delivered an incredible, “in your face”, gospel message that he followed with a call to stand and give Jesus your life. I have heard him give that message before, but it was still stirring because the Holy Spirit was there. I guess the sermon doesn't matter too much unless the Holy Spirit is there. There must have been a dozen or more kids stand up to surrender their lives to Jesus. I couldn't stop smiling! ☺ :D I sat in the back of the room and prayed until the kids were done with their counselors. It was an amazing experience to know that I was a part of that. Even if I wasn't the one preaching the sermon, I still had a part in changing those kids' lives. I don't think I'll ever understand why God is so good to me... he just is.

Sunday, April 5, 2009 – 18:50

Before we learned the games, we went down to the beach for orientation. Our van only has 10 seats and there are 19 of us including Nana, our interpretor, and Chris, our driver, so we were going to make two trips, but figured it would be a waste of time so we all piled into the van; I had Moi in my lap. It was amazing with so many of us in this tiny van going down a steep mountain road!

At the beach, the man who works here and is in charge of orientation and whatnot showed us how to put on a life vest and paddle a kayak. It's hard to believe he takes himself completely seriously. We spent an hour hanging out at the beach but I didn't go in the water because I hadn't brought my swim trunks.

We had some really good soup for lunch then went to the gym and hung out. We played some basketball while we waited for Derek and Tyler to get ready to teach us the games. They explained the games in about twenty minutes then we set up a volley ball net and played 4 on 4 for about an hour or more. “Frag lowering” was canceled because of rain so we just went to dinner and now we are sitting around a TV watching Japanese game shows. Today has been pretty chill.

Sunday, April 5, 2009 – 09:00

We got up this morning before 7am because we had to be outside for the “frag raising” at 7am. It was... interesting. They accidentally raised the flag for this island upside down and had to bring it down and flip it around. Then we did morning stretches. Hopefully we get to film it sometime this week. It was really strange and most of us were laughing the whole time.

Breakfast was really good. We had spam, rice (I think there is going to be rice with every meal), spam, eggs, spam, and spam. They also gave us little packs of seaweed strips and Moi showed us how to make a spam and eggs sushi roll (he took a class on sushi making). We're just sitting around waiting for our next order: we're supposed to be learning the spam games today.

Saturday, April 4, 2009 – 22:45

Buddy (the head Malachi guy on Kadena, an Air Force base on Okinawa) picked us up from the airport and we packed into three vans (we would have used a bus but he had lost his bus license on the first because of a change in policy) and drove to Cocos (a curry restaurant on Okinawa that is nothing like the Coco's in the States) where we had an amazing curry lunch that felt to us like it should have been dinner but it was only noon.

After lunch, they drove us to Kadena where we stayed in the on-base hotel. The hard part was forcing ourselves to stay awake until night. We achieved that partly by planning dinner for 6:30 instead of 5:30 but mostly just by hanging out and getting to know each other. I'm not going to try to list any right now because I'm really tired and can't think..

I, personally, went to bed at 8:30 that night and woke up at 4am just long enough to tell myself to go back to bed. I'm told pretty much everyone did that. We were loading into the vans by 7:30 the next morning and at the docks at around 9. We took a ferry to the island of Tokashiki where we will be running camp starting on Monday. The ride was about an hour and kinda boring except that we got to hang out, talk, and get to know each other a little better.

The island is beautiful. It looks like something from a move. I was half expecting to see a pterodactyl fly over our heads. The entire island is green from foliage and the water was like a turquoise color.

We ate lunch near the port then drove up to the facilities we're using which are really interesting. It is a government-owned resort designed for education. We must take off our shoes when we enter the dorm building and put on these little slippers that they provide (hope I don't get a fungus). If we don't want to wear the slippers, we have been told that we may dedicate a pair of our sandals to be for inside only (too bad you told me to only bring one pair of sandals instead of the two I'd been planning on Mom). The trash is divided into three parts: burnable, non-burnable, and recycle. I still don't really get it. At 7am we have to go to “frag raising” and at 5pm is “frag lowering”. You can make a pretty good guess about why we are calling it the “frag” by googling “engrish” but I'll probably include a picture that will help you understand. As I said, we have to be at the “fragpole” at 7am so I'm going to go to bed now. We'll see what happens tomorrow.

Saturday, April 4, 2009 – 09:00

We just got to Okinawa yesterday and its been quite a trip so far. We met at LAX at 9pm April 1^st and got the bags distributed and through security in probably a little over an hour (I'm really not sure how long it was but it seemed to go fairly smoothly). We got to the terminal with about an hour to kill. We hung out and talked but I really don't remember too much about that time: It went by pretty quickly.

We finally got to board the plane and it was really nice. Each seat had a touchscreen that you could use to watch TV, call up movies on demand, or even play games. I ended up sitting next to an older couple from Canada who were flying to Thailand to see their daughter get married. They were Christians and we had a nice little talk during the beginning of the flight.

I don't even remember how long the flight was, but I think it was somewhere between 12 and 14 hours. That is a long time to sit in the same seat with no leg room. I discovered that you could pull up movies from a pretty good selection and got to watch Quantum of Solace and Eagle Eye. The first choice on the list was Twilight but I resisted the non-existent urge to watch it like every intelligent person should. I also played Star Wars: Battlefront II on the PSP that my awesome girlfriend is letting me borrow until the battery died. I think I slept for about and hour or so but I'm not sure because I was still sore and tired when I woke up. During the last few hours I did study for AP Calculus.

In Seoul, (oh yeah, we flew from LAX to Seoul then from Seoul to Okinawa) we had a three hour layover where I was able to charge my PSP and send some emails with the free wifi they had there. I was also able to play my PSP on the Internet a little bit.

The flight from Seoul to Okinawa was really short (only two hours) and the plane was practically empty so we were able to spread out and have some leg room. I think I slept about half of that flight after the PSP ran out because I wasn't able to charge very much in Seoul.