I'm falling asleep................

Seriously, I have fallen asleep three times while typing report cards. I had to delete a whole bunch of funny characters on one of them because apparently my fingers just kept pushing buttons. HA! I decided I'd best give you an update on my adventure filled weekend.

Friday, after school, my plan was to drive North on the island to Nakijin, where I was going to camp at the "Baptist Camp" on island. There was a fireworks display at a park (expo for those of you who know) on Saturday night and I wanted a chance to explore the northern regions. I had 13 people, at one point, that were going to be coming up to stay. We all had different schedules and plans, so I was going to leave right after school or lunch. I wanted to hike a couple of the trails that I missed on my hiking day a couple weeks ago, so that was the original plan. The banana spiders and I, however, were not playing nicely with each other. I grew frustrated with the entangling webs and the huge spiders nearly falling on my head or arms. After about 30 minutes of that, I abandon that idea and decided to just get set up at camp. I arrived at Nakijin around 3:00 PM. I had time to settle in, set up my tent, and go off exploring. I rode my bike up a huge hill to check out Nakijin Castle. As I came down, I explored the village some and found a small little supermarket for the next day. I had no idea when people should be coming, but I assumed that around 6 or at the latest 7 someone would be there. I got back to camp around 6:30. Nobody was around, so I took a book and went down to the beach to cool off for a while. I watched this little guy fishing. I think he was trying to teach me what he was doing, but I just had fun watching him. I didn't really understand all he was telling me, however. After fishing some, I had a little something for dinner and then took a nap in my tent. Around 8:00 PM the caretaker of the camp cam over to visit me. She was concerned because none of my friends were there yet. We had a very broken conversation for over an hour, but I grew very fond of her in that hour. She and her husband (71 and 75 respectively) take care of this camp as their ministry. She sure did take care of me! She did her best to teach me some Japanese words. We both had some good laughs in the middle our attempts. She was a great sport none-the-less. Around 9:30 Max Cruzado showed up and I helped him set up his camp. He informed me that two people who were supposed to come weren't going to make it, but he didn't know about any of the others. He was going night diving, so after setting up his camp he was heading out again. Just as I was going to head to bed, Mary arrived to stay as well. The cabin Max had secured for us was air conditioned, clean, and well equipped. I knew someone should stay in there, so I was relieved when Mary arrived. See...I have very few fears in life, but geckos . . . .well, I don't like sleeping with them. I had seen several already in the cabin and I KNEW I would lay in the loft just thinking that I felt them crawling all over me - and I may have! Their remains were everywhere. As long as Mary was there, I felt released to sleep outside in my zipped up and gecko-free tent.

After a rather sticky night of sleep, I was up early and ready to go. During the night, I had heard Max return and dig around in some ice. I knew that meant he had caught something. He had two parrot fish and a red something or another. This huge parrot fish he donated to the caretakers and they fixed some fish soup for our lunch that day. Once done with breakfast, Max and I were planning to spend part of the day working to help out the camp. Our plan was to clear out a section of overgrown "stuff" to make it more manageable. I was dumb enough - about half an hour in - to say, do they have more for us to do when we are done here? This isn't going to take us that long? Well, let's just say I sweat more in those few days up there than I have in quite a while. I was dripping. It was hard to know if I was dripping from sweat or from the downpour of rain we had about 30 minutes into the task too. Whatever the case, I'm not sure I ever dried out. Along side you can see the before, during, and after shots of the project. While working, the care-takers did come and help, and 7 of our other friends showed up for the day as well. By the end, I was beat. I was sweaty, bleeding, and well bug - bit. Best of all . . . I DID have a gecko fall on my and run down my arm as well. See...that's why I don't like geckos! Mitsuko-San (the caretaker) had prepared a grand lunch of Max's fish by the time we were done. It felt good to sit and eat, but it felt even better to go jump in the ocean when that was over. We spent the afternoon snorkeling and exploring at the beach. Our plan, originally, was to go river trekking, but the rains just kept coming and going and coming and going. We decided we might as well just enjoy the day at the beach instead of driving more. After snorkeling, we took off for Ocean Expo Park to watch the fireworks. We had been told that we should be there around 9 AM if we wanted good seats for the display. We opted to chance it and leave around 5:00. I decided to bike over there so I could get home without sitting in HOURS of traffic (we had come car and space dilemmas too complicated to explain here anyway, and that was the best solution I could come up with.)

We actually made it to Expo in time to watch a dolphin show, explore in the native Okinawan Village for a while -- I climbed up in the grain storage house and then pretended to cook in the peasant's kitchen for a while. Later, we just staked out our piece of sidewalk and waited for the show to begin. It was a great evening and the sunset over Ie Jima was amazing. So relaxing and peaceful! The fireworks display was about 45 minutes long (one hour if you count the 15 minutes in the middle where they read names and regrouped for more of the show.) I was grateful I chose to bike. I was able to strap on my headlamp - walk my bike until I was out of enough traffic to start riding on the sidewalk primarily - stop off at the supermarket for some breakfast foods and a snack - and still beat everyone else back to camp by about 45 mn to 2 hours (depending on which car we were talking about.) By that time the wind had quit completely and it was humid! It was a less than enjoyable evening of sleep in my tarp covered tent. The tarp was removed around 2 AM, but it didn't really fix the discomfort much. I thought of just sleeping on a picnic table outside where it was much cooler, but the roaches, semis, and other bugs were plentiful and I didn't want to chance that. The next day, I rose early and went straight to the ocean to try to cool off. My plan was to hike and explore more places up north, but it rained on and off again all day. I climbed to the top of mount Katsu only to find that I was above many of the clouds and could only see that I was truly standing up on a high rock looking down at clouds below me. I could hear thunder rumbling and was completely drenched. I decided perhaps being exposed on a rock ledge like that wasn't a very good idea so I made my way back down. I decided it was going to be another one of those rain on and off days, so I changed plans and just explored. When I got home Sunday night around 8:00 I was rested, content and happy. Now, around 3 PM on Monday, I find I am not quite as rested.... I could use a good nap. The thunder and lightening we have outside make it a good afternoon to try to sneak a nap in, but my social engagements won't allow that to happen. We are learning about Billy Graham in chapel today and I hope to be allowed to present a salvation message on Wednesday or Thursday as I am given time. I introduced it today, but hope to do more in the coming days. It is hard to believe my time is already winding down. I have 5 days left and 3,100 yen to my name. My goal is to NOT have to exchange more money. We will see how I can do. 8 )