Kodomo no Mori Camp

The camp was a success and the students who prepared it did a great job. We traveled about 30-55 minutes towards Nikko (it only took 55 minutes if you happened to be in a car that took more roads than needed. aka lost) to a camp ground. We made our own fresh curry over the campfire. Some chopped up potatoes, onions, and carrots while others worked on making six fires. We divided up into six dinner groups since we had about 58 people there.

After dinner we split into 8 groups and had a Bible Discussion on Luke 12 about the man who coveted his brothers inheritance and the rich man who built larger barns so he could eat, drink, and be merry. This is a great parable for the Japanese culture since possessions are so huge here. We then played a game in the woods where we had to find hidden plastic bowls which were numbered for points.

As I said before, most of the students stay up all night long, which I found that to be true. Since I was so tired from jet-lag I went to bed at 1am but thanks to jet-lag I could only sleep until 3:30am. I felt better then but really cold. It was a very cold night to be outside as everyone was wrapped up in blankets. When morning came around we ate breakfast and split up and talked with a breakfast partner and mine was Masaru. We then cleaned up and went to the local gymnasium where we played floor hockey for 2 hours which was a lot of fun. We had six teams so each team played 5 games. My team ended up winning with a 4-0-1 record.

Thanks to Keith I stayed awake all day and went to bed and slept for 11 hours. I know feel a lot better and I think the initial feeling of jet-lag is gone. I am about to go play outdoor basketball at 3pm. We are meeting at Beishe, one of the best grocery stores around.