FUJI

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Hello! I’ve been really bad at keeping this updated I know, but I’ll recap and I only have two more weeks here so there won’t be much more to tell. Also, for some reason my pictures won't save, so I don't have any pictures! Anyways, the weekend of 25^thmy friend Amanda and I went to Tokyo on Saturday and went to Disney Sea. We had to wake up early and get on the trains so we had plenty of time while we were there. We got lucky on our first ride because when we walked up two Japanese girls came over and gave us their fast pass tickets, so we got to go to the front of the line right away. We tried to get as many fast pass tickets as we could because the lines were super long! The park was really cool. Everything in the park was really detailed and elaborate. The rides weren’t that exciting, but there were a few that were pretty fun. Even though the rides weren’t that great it was really cool to see all the rides and the different “lands” within the park. Probably would have been even more fun if we could understand what they were saying in the different videos and rides. After the park we went to our hostel in Asakusa and walked around the area. It was close to where the Tokyo Sky Tree is, which is really pretty lit up at night. On Sunday we just walked around the area and bought souvenirs at the little shops. That area was probably my favorite place in Tokyo that I’ve gone to!

The next weekend we had Friendship Day on Saturday which is when the base is opened for anyone to come onto. All the Camp people had signed up to work and it was a very long day. We had to work game booths and the bouncy houses and it was about 100 degrees out. Everyone was really sweaty and gross by the end of the day since we were stuck inside of tents. I saw a couple of the kids in my class, but the majority of the people who were there were Japanese. It made for a fun time trying to explain the rules of the games to all the kids. On the bright side we got paid for it and the cotton candy stand gave us free cotton candy all day. We saw a little Japanese boy wearing an Iowa Hawkeyes shirt and tried to explain to his parents that that was our college but I don’t think they understood. All the Camp people from Iowa took a pic with him though! On Sunday we just hung around base and stayed in the Yokosuka area.



This past weekend was Fuji! Friday night after work I came back, ate, and went to bed around 9 o’clock. We had to wake up at 1am to get ready and get to our bus which left at 2. Got to the 5^th station on Fuji around 5am and set off hiking at 5:15. I started out with my hiking buddy Sam and we were trekking along. After about the 7^th station it switched from rock pathways to rock climbing so that was a lot of fun. We ran into another girl from Camp, Taylor, at the 7^th station and she climbed the rest of the way with us. We would stop every so often for about 2 min to catch our breath and would keep going. We would sit for maybe 5 min when got to the stations to have a little break. At all the stations they had stamps that we paid for to get on our Fuji sticks. They also sold food, drinks, and oxygen which got higher in price the farther you got up. When we got to the 8.5 station it was starting to get really cold and windy, so I had to put on my jacket and gloves. After that station there are no more buildings so it looked really daunting to see how much farther we had to go til the top. There were more than a few times where I really didn’t think I was gonna make it, but we made it to the top! I was so happy and relieved when we finally made it. We hung out at the top for about an hour. We got our stamps and pictures and sat for a little bit before having to head down. Going down was surprisingly really hard. I wasn’t as exhausted on the way down, we only stopped about 2 or 3 times, but it was really hard on my feet and knees. I was so sore by the time we got down, but luckily it only took 2 hrs and 15 min to get down! We were covered in dirt and grime by the time we made it down but it was such a relief. It was definitely the most difficult thing I have ever done, but I’m so glad that I made it to the top and can say that I did it! Sunday Sam and I woke up and laid out at the pool. We went and got some ramen for dinner and went to the movie. I am surprisingly not very sore and I thought I would be. My knees kind of hurt, but my muscles aren’t sore at all. I heard that it doesn’t kick in until two or three days after so we’ll see! Hopefully it doesn’t happen at all. I better get going to bed soon! I’ll try to make sure I post after next weekend and tell you guys all about my last weekend in Japan!

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