Over spring break I flew with the youth in our branch, including Tucker and Penelope, to Okinawa for district youth conference. This was my first time to Okinawa and I was excited.
When I first arrived it was warm. But it quickly became cold. It was wet and also muggy the entire time. Not great weather.
We came in the a day ahead of time because we had to fly. By the time we got to camp it was night. We pretty much put together tents in the dark and ate and went to sleep. Here is a picture of the early group. All of us are from Sasebo except the adult male holding the camera and the woman in the front right.
Being a counselor was so fun. I really enjoyed it. One night we held a talent show where Tucker and Sadie played an original piano piece. It was amazing how they came up with it. They barely had any time so tucker composed his portion and sent a video to Sadie. She came up with something that went with it. Neither of them used music. It turned out pretty cool.
Tucker also rapped while solving a rubiks cube. He was pretty nervous for the raping, but it turned out well. He wrote his song about soccer.
The entire group.
Sasebo peeps.
Over the week we had a mix of lodge rooms and tent camping. The food was provided and it was bentos for every meal everyday. I like bentos, but it is pretty much fish, rice, and pickled vegetables. It got old fast. I think I could like to eat one a day. Not three a day. Many of the kids were not happy about it. I think a few survived off the rice and other snacks.
We took a hike. I actually joined in late with these two, but we never found the group. Turns out they switched hikes without notifying me.
The dances were probably my favorite part. So much more fun as an adult than a child. Tucker and Penelope were not really excited about dancing with other people, but they each did a few times. I had a blast dancing and not caring how I looked. Not that I slow danced with any of the youth besides Tucker.
I may or may not have orchestrated a limbo, in hopes Penelope would participate. She wouldn't do it for the talent show though.
After ten the youth were supposed to be in bed, so the counselors got to use the onsen.
The place we stayed at was really beautiful. It is known for an endangered bird that lives there called the yanbaru. My friend and I saw one our first morning. It wasn't until I started telling a bird watching youth in my group about the bird that I saw that I learned that it was endangered. After that I tried hard to find one but never saw another. I didn't hear of anyone else who did either.
Penelope was so worried about not having friends. There weren't any girls her age from our branch going, but she met a girl on the first day and they became friends. The other girl even shared her testimony on the last day and talked about how she was nervous but met a good friend right away.
Penelope was still hesitant about where to go. She often would come stand by me, but I kept sending her back to find friends. It is a good thing she wasn't in my group.
While at the airport on the way home we got the famous Blue Seal ice cream. I had brown sugar, Okinawa salt cookie, and shiiquasa. They were pretty good.
It was a great week. I think the kids all had some good experiences and it was beneficial for all.
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