work and Canyoning!

---

Thursday (7/22/10) was the same as normal when it came to guarding and lessons. The BOQ pool again was cooler than it was before and we got ice again. We did not however get ice when we guarded at the pool later that day. After work we had to hurry because a bunch of us were going to get our hair cut out in JAPAN!! We asked a Japanese guard that we worked with if she would go with us to better communicate with the people that were going to cut our hair and of course she said yes. So as soon as we were done with work we went back and changed and then went back to the pool to pick up our Japanese friend. Then we went to the BOQ pool to pick up the others that were coming with us that were still teaching lessons. Then we all headed off to the hair salon. We got there and looked at hair styles for awhile and then just went for it. I was a little nervous, but it really helped to have someone there that could translate. It ended up our hair cuts were amazing! It felt so good to get one to. After we all got our hair cuts we went to the beef bowl. I had been there before, but I got something different and I put raw egg on top of it which actually was good. The night was great! A relaxing night which was awesome. After we got back we went and found some internet to just search around the internet which I kind of miss being able to do.
Friday (7/23/10) was of course the same as always. The pool actually was normal temperature today and actually was cooler than the big pool. I was very excited for it to be Friday because I was getting tired of my kids and their complaining! I should say that I do have a couple kids that I really enjoy! That night we all went to the movie Inception with Leonardo Decaprio in it. I loved it! I am still trying to figure it out in my head though. I highly recommend the movie to everyone though.
Saturday (7/24/10) we went to Tokyo for the second time on my trip. On this trip we did a couple of different things. First we went to a craft store right before Tokyo. The address still says that it is in Tokyo, but it was a couple of stops on the train before the Tokyo station. It took a little while to find the craft store, but we eventually found it. When we first went into the store we were a little sad because it was not what we expected. What we found out was that there was a bunch of stores that were all the same except for they had different items in them. So eventually we found what we wanted, I found some stuff for bracelets and some fabric. It was really cool looking through everything. After our craft adventure we went to the Ginza district in Tokyo. We sat in the middle of the street and ate our pb and J because the streets are blocked off during the day. We then walked around the streets a little bit and found the big Sony Center. It was pretty cool to see all the new things that Sony has been coming out with. After the Sony Center we went and tried to find a Antique mall. The antique mall took forever to find. It was easy to see why no one knew where it was because it was a total bust. When we finally found it the information had told me that there was going to be 200 stores in the mall; well there might have been, but they were all together so you could not tell. Everything was also really expensive so I could not even think about buying anything there. So after the antique mall I was really bumbed. We then figured out how to get the Tokyo Tower from where we were. It was not hard to do after we took the wrong train once. We decided we wanted to go to the top during the night so we could see the city lite up. So when we got there we walked around the mall that was between the pillars of the tower. We found a Chinese buffet in the Mall which we decided to eat at. It was a good meal and all you can eat was the best part about it! We tried some new food that was good, but my favorite part was the rice or course. We then looked around a little more and found a table that showed you how to fold paper cranes. I sucked at it! A Japanese girl came up to us and tried to help us, but not even she could help us. After, we went and got our tickets for going into Tokyo Tower. After the tickets we got in line to go up to the top. The squished us on to a elevator to get up to the main observatory. When we got there it was quite dark so you could see the lights of the city. The lights were amazing! It looked like the City went for ever (which it probably did). We were there for a half hour to 45 minutes. Then we went down to another deck which had windows in the floor so you could see what was below you which was a little weird I have to admit. I did not step on them, to afraid of heights for that! After that we left Tokyo Tower, but not after getting a tone of more pictures of it lit up, and buying a crepe! Our adventures in Tokyo were done for the day, tomorrow we will concur waterfalls!
Sunday(7/25/10) was a early morning for canyoning! We had to be at the outdoor recreation on base at 3:45 a.m. so that we could leave. We went to the Minakami area in Japan which was a couple of hours away from Yokosuka. When we got there we had to wait around for a while before we could start. Once we started we got our gear. We got a wet suit, shoes that were made out of wet suit material. It tool forever to get the wet suit on for me. It was so tight to the skin; I actually got some of my skin rubbed off on my knuckles from trying to get it on. Once we all were ready they took us to get an oar, helmet, and lifejacket. We took a group picture, and then got on this bus that was so small and had a hole in the bottom to the river. When we got to the river we went for a swim to get used to the water which was really cold!! After we made teams up of 6; after we were assigned to our guide and our raft and learned the basics. The water was not very crazy because of the season so we did a lot of alternate fun things. Some things that we did was jump off some tall rocks into the river. We also made a slide out of a raft into the water. There were a few ruff spots in the river which were fun, but for my first time I think it was a good thing that not everything was crazy! I will admit though that I was scared alittle to jump off some of the rocks ( they were just a little to high!).
After white water rafting we went back to the lodge and put most of our gear away (basically everything but our wet suit). Lunch was provided; it was actually really good for what I expected. There was meat loaf, grilled chicken, veggies, and of course rice! We had a break for awhile and then it was off to canyoning. We had to get different gear for this again. The gear was more wet suit material. We had to wear long sleeves this time so that we would not get cuts on our arms. We also had to have more of boots for shoes since we would be walking on rock. We again wore a helmet and a lifejacket, along with gloves this time. Again we hoped onto the small bus and were driven to the beginning of Fox Canyon. I can honestly say I was nerves for this because I had no idea what to expect. We started out in a area that looked like a stream. It did not take long for the stream to turn into something much more. We did a lot of superman down the canyon. There were a couple cool waterfalls. The one that was really crazy was the 20 meter waterfall which we went down. The lowered us about 5 meters into the water fall and then let us drop. It was crazy awesome!! The next one was really cool because it was more of a slide that we went down head first; that one was really small. The next one that we went on we went down a couple of times. This first time we went down feet first, the next time we went down head first, the third time we went down backwards, and the last time we jumped off of it. They were all awesome, but I think my favorite was actually when we went down backwards. My biggest mistake was when we went head first I did not tuck my chin enough and got my head whipped back which hurt a little. We got back up that waterfall by a ladder that was made of a piece of wood that had notches in it. After that there was only a few left. One was more of just a rocky area that we supermaned down. The very last one we went backwards down which was awesome!! When we were all down we had a splashing party with our helmets!
When we got back to the lodge we finally got to take off those wet suits!! We also took a shower which felt awesome! After that we got dressed, and to add to the excitement one of my rings that I took off fell into another person’s locker which was locked. To add to the problem they could not find the spare key for that locker. Someone finally came in and had found a clothes hanger that they used to stick in the bottom of that locker to push my ring out. Luckily that worked. Not long after that we left. I tried to sleep as much as possible on the way back because I was so exhausted! When we got back to the TPU I took a shower again and went straight to bed!

---