Camp Erdman: Odyssey III (Part 3 of 6)

Continued from the previous post...

The moment everyone had long anticipated finally arrived: Today, is the Odyssey III Challenge Ropes Course! The Odyssey III was the biggest highlight at camp. It is also the greatest and scariest challenge the camp has to offer. Newly installed in January 2006, the Odyssey III Challenge Ropes Course is only available to a handful of camps around the world. In fact, there are only six that exists in the entire world. It is a great privilege that one is located here in Hawaii! Aren't I lucky? =D

Everyone looked slightly nervous as we slowly walked toward the Odyssey. There was much talk about whether people were going to try it or not. Before camp, we even had to send in a liability form. I walked with Cam and he exclaimed how high the Odyssey looked. I asked him if he was going to try it.

"Well, we paid for this thing so we might as well try it. I'm not going to waste my money."

I realize that what he said was very true. Although it was gigantic, I actually didn't feel at all scared. Rather than fear, I felt a sort of adrenaline rush. It's strange why I felt this way when everyone else said how scared they were. I was surprised to see Luli again, carrying some equipment. The class split into two groups and somehow, I ended up in Luli's group again. There were eight girls including Ally, Misaki, Hoang, Erica, Ha, Samantha, Juri, and myself.


Odyssey III high up.
After we put on our harnesses and helmets, Luli guided us to the high-level (thirty feet) first. He claimed that if we tried the harder challenge first, the low-level one (eighteen feet) would seem very easy afterward. Ooh boy. ><;


Hera we are, thirty feet up high. I'm wearing orange!
On the first obstacle, we were allowed to hold on to the ropes at the top. An occasional pole suspended by the ropes would show up and we were allowed to grab onto it. Although this turned out to be the easiest, I remembered how much my arm ached as I held on for dear life. It hurt so much that it literally felt like it was about to break off. I continued to hold on because I didn't want to fall. I felt so happy when we finally finished the first course. Walking on a thin rope thirty feet up high in the air was a terrifying experience, but it wasn't so bad afterward.


Our first obstacle with the poles.
The next challenges weren't as easy because we weren't allowed to hold on to our ropes at all. There was one where I had to push a rope in front of me and I kept losing my balance and falling backward. Luli would keep holding me up. I really need to work on my core muscles! u_u; The hardest challenge was when we had to share a rope between two partners. Erica and I were partners holding one side of the rope while Hoang and Ha held the other side. We couldn't hold onto anything else except that one rope. This really required teamwork and it was difficult for us because we kept apply different amount of pressure on the rope at different times. Erica and I would pull with all our might and it wouldn't be balanced because Ha wasn't helping Hoang pull the rope. When Ha did grab for the rope, the force became so strong that Erica and I couldn't hold on because we were weak. Erica kept threatening to fall but I tried to hold her up the best that I could. I'm glad she's so small because it would have been more difficult if it were a heavy person. XD There were many times that her imbalance through me off as well and we were both about to fall, but Luli was in the back of me so we didn't. I knew that we were safe even if we fell because we were attached securely in our harness but I still refused to fall.


Another challenge we had to do - and it's way harder than it looks!
Misaki's crow bar would get stuck every time so it was difficult for her to move forward when the rope was holding her back. During this challenge, it was the first time Misaki and I talked so much. She confided in me how scared she was. Although I didn't say much, I felt that I was actually the weakest in the group. Even though Misaki's crow bar kept getting stuck, she was brave enough to move on forward and keep on going.

When we finally finished the second level, we were supposed to jump down. We would swing across on the rope (almost like a roller coaster) and go back and forth (depending on our weight) until we reached the ground. When it was time for Ally and I to jump, we shouted, "1...2...3!" Ally jumped on the count of three, but I froze. I was thinking to myself the whole time, "Finally we're finished with the high-level! Jumping down looks like fun. I can't wait until it is my turn to jump." I kept telling myself that this was easy. But when the actual time came, I froze! I FROZE! Nobody else froze, not even Erica and Misaki (the ones who were supposedly scared). I was the only one who hesitated. Luli stood behind me and said, "Well, it looks like you need a little help." Without any further warning, he pushed me off. Once I was in the air, it felt so much better.

We had only thirty minutes left before lunch after finishing the high-level. We decided to quickly go through the low-level. Misaki didn't want to go on the low-level, but we all persuaded her to try it. The high-level was harder but because we went there first, the low-level should be easy-peasy. In fact, to challenge ourselves even further and because we were also racing for time, the low-level became a sort of race between our team and whoever got across first would be the winner.

It was easy, except for one of the courses in which we had to jump from one platform to another on the ropes. Misaki went first. She leaped, missed, and fell. After watching her fall, I grew scared. I cheated and walked on the ropes even though I wasn't supposed to. This proved I was the biggest coward. I regret cheating now and I feel really disappointed in myself. It was the same at Ice Palace. I always needed to feel safe. When I'm skating at the big side, I would stick to the edges. I wouldn't even challenge myself to let go and skate in the middle because I was terrified of falling. When I was up at the Odyssey, people said that it was scary at first, but once you fell, it became fun. I knew nothing was going to happen to me but for some reason, I still couldn't bring myself to fall. I don't know why I am so petrified of falling. When we had to jump on some more platforms, I decided to just go for it and leaped. I was glad to be able to hold on to Misaki's hand when I reached the other side and also have Ha help me.

One of the other challenging obstacles in the first level was when I couldn't hold on to anything but my partner. In this case, my partner was Sam. We held onto each other's shoulders and slowly crept along, counting one and two as we took each step. This really tested our sense of balance and while everyone else rushed and fell, we concentrated on each step and made our way carefully through without falling once.

I felt so happy after completing the Odyssey III. We didn't go to camp just for fun. Teamwork and communication was stressed, emphasized, and said repeatedly. This is Leadership camp, after all. During the Odyssey, we had to work together with our teammates and trust and depend on our partners. If one person fell, it is easy for everyone to fall with them, which was why we needed to work together. People you don't normally talk to are there to help you. Some said they were glad to experience going on the Odyssey III, but wouldn't try it again. Ooh, I would love to go a second time but I highly doubt I would. It seemed like a once in a lifetime chance for me.

For lunch, we had huge burgers. It was so huge that I couldn't fit it through my mouth even when I opened it as wide as I could. Cam sat next to me and laughed at me with everyone else.

To be continued...

Camp Erdman: First Day Challenges (Part 2 of 6)

Continued from the previous post...

After the orientation, we played some games at the open courtyard and then ate lunch at the campfire place by the beach. After eating, Ms. Nakamura gave us some free time to go back to our cabins and get settled. She told us to meet her at the open courtyard at 12:00pm with our notebooks and pens. It would be our “quiet time.” Everyone had to find their own private spot somewhere on camp grounds and for twenty minutes, we wrote about:

1) Anything. Our thoughts and feelings at the moment and any worries or concerns such as homework left unfinished...*coughcough*
2) The personal goal that we want to achieve here at camp.
3) Names of two people you are not close to and want to get to know better.
4) Our expectations from camp.

My goal was to relax and be able to communicate with others better. I only realize now that I am not much of a people-person (not at all). Outside the safe circle of my family and friends, I am very shy and tend to be antisocial. I have a hard time communicating with others...and I especially hate those awful, awkward silences! I expect to have fun at camp and to also become a stronger person, both mentally and physically.


The prettiful ocean.
I finished what I had to write quickly (I’m lazy!) and spent the rest of my time staring out into the ocean. It is quite stupid to spend all your time with your head buried in a notebook when the scene right in front of you is so breathtaking. The view was spectacular and unreal. The wave currents were strong and crashed onto the shore frequently. No one is allowed out into the sea, not even the best surfers. My glasses eventually became covered in what I thought was sand dust at the time but later found out was salt. It was crazy - the amount of salt there was. The salt hung very heavy in the air. By the end of the day, everyone’s hair was clumpy and well...salty.

We met with our drama training teacher at Crosson Hall after our free twenty minutes. The tall and lanky lady introduced herself as Amy from the Honolulu Theatre for Youth (HTY). We played some games and learned words like tableau. We did things like auto-imagery (freezing pictures) and formed letters with our bodies. Our session with Amy ended after about two hours. By that time, I felt a little exhausted. I had no idea so much more was coming.

We met with Luli in the grass and did some more activities involving planning, communication, and cooperation. Teamwork was stressed every time. We did an activity involving bamboo sticks and two golf balls. @_@; After that was completed, Luli told us a crazy story from his childhood. When he was five years old, he decided he was going to fly and jump from the second floor of a building. His mother was standing right outside. He jumped and flew to the ground. Nothing happened because he got caught in the hanging clothesline. It forced him to twirl a bit but it saved his life. He got away with no injuries. I was thankful for that because it would have been terrible if the clothesline was not there and something happened to him right in front of his mother.


Teamwork!
In the next challenge, all eighteen of us stood inside a red rope that was to be our "spaceship." We were to pretend we were in outer space. Our friend (a stuffed animal named Bumble) was thrown at a distance and we needed to bring him back safely inside the spaceship. The rule was that we could not go out of the spaceship by ourselves and everyone needed to be connected somehow or we would die. At first, we held hands and ran to get Bumble, but Luli kept kicking him father and farther away until we were stretched as far as we could go. Holding hands was not enough because we still couldn't reach Bumble.


We were struggling here. Gahh...just a little bit more.
Everyone resorted to getting down on the ground. I grabbed onto Ally’s ankle while Erica held on to my foot. That still wasn't enough to reach Bumble and we ended up holding onto one another's shoelaces. I winced at needing to get down on the dirt and getting my clothes dirty, but I had no choice. We eventually retrieved Bumble into the safety of our spaceship.


My lame drawings.
Our next game involved three wooden platforms and two boards. We were to pretend we were desperate Alaskans stranded atop glaciers. There was a big storm coming and we needed to hurry home before we all die. Our goal was to get to the third platform (representing home). The boards could not touch the water (the ground) and neither one was long enough to reach the other platform alone.


Ally carefully crossing the boards.
It was a long and tedious process and took a lot of planning and thinking (I admit I took no part in this because I’m stupid). After what seemed like hours, we all made it across. We did accidentally let the board hit the ground 3 times so two people were "blinded" and Jenni "lost her leg."

The next challenge was the spider web. It was the same one he joked earlier about being the biggest spider web ever. When I walked closer, I realized it was made of wooden frames and ropes and was about the size of a goal post in soccer. We were to get everyone across the web through the holes. We could only use each hole once before it "closes up." Touching the ropes were also forbidden and we were allowed only seven touches. The holes looked extremely small and I didn’t know how were going to get through them. Janelle volunteered to go first so she could help carry others across. She slid in through one of the bottom holes.


"Here" indicates the hole I went through.
I was one of the last ones to go through. Without warning, people started to grab me and I was in the air. I didn’t even know who was holding me up and where, except for Sam who said, “I’m sorry, but I have to grab your butt, okay?” That made me laugh. It was slightly scary watching everyone lift one person up and through the small holes without touching any of the ropes, but I was surprised to feel so secure when it was my turn. No hands were wobbly or shaking and I felt extremely safe. I felt no fear of being dropped. I trusted these people completely (Tammy didn’t - she was scared to death and kept screaming). In fact, I’ll admit that it felt good when everyone was carrying me. *laughs* It was also awesome that there were people on the other side to receive me and carefully put me down.


From top-bottom, left-right: Erica, Misaki, me, Jenni, Janelle, and Hoang.
We finished the last challenge half an hour earlier than planned (it was 4:30pm) so we had free time until dinner at 5:30pm. We played around and took so pictures by the ocean. Erica looks so happy to be on the top of our pyramid! XD I was really curious about dinner and worried about what we were going to eat, but it was pretty good. There was bread, chicken, rice, corn, and chocolate chip cookies. I drank punch but I wished there were water or milk. After dinner, I swept the cafeteria floor. Jenni is such a sweetie because she offered to stay behind and help me. That was when I noticed pictures of the YMCA staff members pinned on a corkboard by the closet. It was interesting to see that the staff members come from all over the world - I remember seeing Taiwan, Japan, New Zealand, other states in the U.S., and Kosovo. Luli was from Kosovo. Oh yes, Ha. The words "Brussels" and "Kosovo" really sound alike! =)

After dinner, the teacher told us to return to our cabins and grab our flashlights. We played a trivia quiz game in the open courtyard for a while. I was on a team with Rachel and Tammy. Random questions were asked and I could only answer one: "What are the four main islands of Japan?" (This was before the Japan Wizards Competition took place, but I would kill myself if I didn't get it.) Our team came in last place since Rachel and Tammy couldn’t answer any question.

After the game, we went inside an octagon area in the main building and were given 20 minutes to come up with a 10 minute dance routine. I panicked for a while because I never choreographed a dance routine before. I kept thinking,
"Jang Woo Hyuk...help!" But Misaki and the rest of the group (Vincent, Julia, and Rachel) helped a lot so we made it work. Part of the dancing involved Julia and I doing the Egyptian dance. That was so much fun! On that night, I also gained new respect and admiration for Vincent for doing his wiggly dance in front of everyone. It was hilarious. It was also fun to watch what all of the other groups came up with. Everyone had entertaining dance routines. We all danced to a catchy and repetitive eighties song. The only lyrics seemed to be, “Jump on it!” (Does anyone recognize the lyrics?) After the dancing, Ms. Nagareda, our other chaperone, arrived. She is a PE teacher at school and was recently granted the title, "Coach of the Year." =D

She came just in time to conduct our scavenger hunt. We had to find a big toe covered in dirt (no, you did not read wrong), a four inch rock, a five inch strand of brown hair, a piece of plastic, a soda cap, etc. Our team came in second place because Ally and Juri were very competitive. Jenni and I didn’t have much work to do. XD

After the scavenger hunt, we grabbed our late night snack at 8:30pm (a corn dog) and broke into two groups. We had discussions about what our experiences were and how we felt after today. I looked up and realized that there were no stars out on that night. Erica reminded me that it was cloudy today so the clouds were covering all of the stars.

After the discussion, we went back to our cabins. We were supposed to be in bed by 10:30pm at the latest because there was a big day ahead of us tomorrow, but of course, no one listened. There was whispering going on all night so I had trouble falling asleep.

To be continued...

Japan Wizards Competition (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from the previous post...

After eating, the award ceremony began. My heart started beating faster. It was the moment we've all been waiting for. I held my breath as they started announcing the third place winners. They read off our school name, Level II.

We won.

The name rang in my head. I froze in my seat, waiting for this to digest, unable to move. Keith and Damien had already walked halfway toward the stage so I had to run to catch up to them. But I still find it truly unbelievable that we actually managed to hold a place in the competition.

There was a question in the evaluation form earlier that asked, "What motivated you to participate in the Japan Wizards Competition?"

For most people, it was probably the all-expense-paid-for trip to Japan. But since I knew we weren't going to win [first], the trip was not an added incentive. Before entering high school, I had planned to take Japanese as an elective for all four years. But after being stuck in Yamada* sensei's class for two years, I knew I was wasting my time. I wasn't going anywhere with that class. When Yamada sensei asked for three volunteers to participate in the Japan Wizards Competition, I knew I should go for it. I didn't plan to take Japanese for another year so this competition seemed like my last chance. It is hard for me to express in words what I mean...

I've had a great passion and interest in Japan for as long as I can remember. (Of course, this attraction to Japan probably started because I was am such an otaku freak.) I couldn't wait to get to high school and take Japanese class. I remember stealing and copying Jenny's notes from class in elementary school and making myself memorize hiragana and katakana in middle school... (Dude, was I always such a nerd? o_o;) I would set goals for myself so that when I entered high school, I would be ready. Unfortunately, the past two years have been a major disappointment. The appeal of Japan's culture and language slowly died down over time. My interest in music also changed a bit too when I was introduced to Kpop music. Anyway, I guess the competition served as a last chance for me to prove myself and accomplish something. That perhaps taking Japanese class as an elective for two years straight wasn't all for nothing. This competition gave me the chance to go all out and to really learn about Japan one last time before I say goodbye (since I've given up on learning the language.)

For the past two months, I buried myself in Japan and tried to learn as much as I could given the limited amount of time that I had left. Of course, I gradually grew interested and enthusiastic about Japan again. The research was more fun than work. I studied about it because I wanted to (thank god Japan is an interesting country with strawberry flavored kit-kats and fish-flavored ice cream!) It was for myself and no one else.

This is why I was so surprised when I found out that it was my eagerness to do well, this passion, this desire alone that almost made us win [first] and land us third place, out of eighteen schools competing statewide. In fact, we were only question away from being tied with the first place winners. o__o; If we answered one more question correctly, we would have been on our way to Japan this summer.

I think that competitions (fair ones, mind you, since I've experienced many unfair ones in the past >>;) really show you who wanted to win the most and who worked the hardest for it. Because if humans put their minds on something and if they truly want it, they would get it. The first place winner undoubtly worked their way to the top, above all others. That is why I think whoever was given that trip to Japan deserved it because they worked so hard for it. =) I guess I can also say that our group didn't deserve to go to Japan anyway since my teammates did not work for it. In Level II, can you guess who won first? Why, it is that very group we beat twice during the activity games (don't you wish that was the real competition now?) and the one with that aggressive girl. I remember her. With that sort of attitude, I am not at all surprised she was first. =)

Oh well. It is too much of a stretch to have us go all the way to Japan...it would be a dream. I am content, though, because the result of this competition was already much more than I expected to receive. <3

Now, this will be the last "Random Japan Fact" since the Japan Wizards Competition is over:


I used to find the sumo wrestlers one of the more puzzling aspects of Japanese culture. Japan has some of the smallest Asians in the world, and yet they have sumo...it doesn't seem to fit. But don't think they get their enormous size from eating McDonald's Big Mac or chunky cheeseburgers. These guys gain weight through eating huge portions of healthy food. I guess these guys prove to be Japanese after all.

Japan Wizards Competition (Part 1 of 2)

* Names have been changed to protect the privacy of person(s).

** Warning! This post ended up being so super long and useless because I tend to blab a lot so you can just skip it and read the second part (will post later) which will actually announce the results of the competition. (I suck, I know. XP)

The day has finally arrived. On the morning of the Japan Wizards Competition, I groggily forced myself out of bed at 6:30am and arrived at the parking lot in school at 7:50pm. Surprisingly, Keith* and Damien* were already in the backseats of the advisor's car, doing some last minute studying. We arrived at the Sheraton Waikiki hotel a little after 8:00am and registered at the Maui Ballroom. We received a bag filled with goodies (yay!) and a free t-shirt, which we had to change into.

From the very beginning, I knew we would not win. I know that having no confidence of winning before even entering a competition as important as this one is never good, but it is the truth. Our advisor was not exactly the best, nor was she the most helpful or supportive. Damien only started studying for the competition a few days before it took place. He claims to have taken a lot of notes but they're all useless if he doesn't remember them. It may seem like hard work to him, but what is a few days worth of studying compared to other teams who I've heard have been studying for years? I can only appreciate his effort, but I don't think he realizes what a big deal this is.

Keith was supposedly our team captain, but he knew the least. This really doesn't make sense because the team captain holds the responsibility of representing his team and answering the questions for his team. In this case, the team captain usually knows the most information as he leads his team through the competition. I suppose he was elected captain because he was a senior (Damien is a junior and I am a sophomore) and is currently taking AP History. Now that I think about it, it may be possible that he didn't study for the competition at all! After all, he's always busy with driver's ed and "other projects." (Hell, as if I didn't have enough to do myself.)

I am sorry to say this because I usually try to like people and I generally do, but Keith's personality that really annoyed me. Whenever I ask him questions (relating to the topics he was supposed to study), he would look elsewhere, put his head down, and scratch his hair furiously as if the answer would magically appear if he scratched hard enough. The only sounds coming out of his mouth were, "Uh..." or "Wait, I know this..." Not once did he prove to "know" anything. *cries*

As I have said, our team was hopeless from the beginning. I felt tense when the announcements started and especially nervous walking down the hallway to Waimea Canyon, the room where our competition was held. I know what that feeling was - stress. And you know what that means. Stress = Upset stomach.

The questions weren't too bad. During the first round, there were a total of twelve team questions and four sets of questions. Team questions can only be answered by the team captain and for almost every single team question, I would need to whisper the answer to the team captain.

The one question that made everyone burst out into laughter was, "From what anime is the yellow-tailed hamster named Pikachu from?" Damien wouldn't leave us alone about that one. In fact, he groaned loudly and made quite a scene about it after the questions were asked. Another question that I thought was obvious was, "What is the name of the blue cat with a pocket in front who likes to travel with his friend, Nobita?" I've never read the manga, nor have I watched the anime, but you don't need to be a fan to know that it was Doraemon. These were the few questions that didn't require studying at all... it was unfair because the question directed at our team was on an anime I've never heard of. Keith gave a part of the answer, "Puffy Amiyumi" but incomplete answers didn't count so we received no points. The correct answer was supposed to be, Hi Hi Puffy Amiyumi. They asked about Pokemon and Doraemon. You would think that they'd follow up with Sailor Moon or something.

I later realized after the competition that the trick isn't memorizing a thousand different facts about Japan. When studying, you had to really know and understand the information. The questions asked weren't necessarily the facts I studied but I could still answer a majority of the questions because I understood and was familiar with the Japanese culture. For example, there was a question asking what appeared in a jidaigeki. I didn't know what jidaigeki was, but I knew jidai meant historical so my answer was samurai. I was relieved when the judge announced, "Correct." (By the way, did I ever mention that the judge looked a lot like Tate Donovan? Only better looking because I don't think the actor is good looking. XD) Another example was when they asked about where a certain piece of Buddhist art [insert name here] originated and Damien told Keith, "Korea" because we all knew Buddhism was introduced to Japan through Korea. At least someone was using his brain even though he didn't study much.

The questions we missed were on sports, religion, politics/government, and geography (which all happen to be Damien's but mostly Keith's topics to study). >_< My teammates knew I studied so they depended on me and expected me to know all of the answers. Because of this, I felt bad when I couldn't answer a question, especially the most simple and basic questions relating to prefectures and regions. Keith was in charge of geography.

His excuse was, "There are forty-seven prefectures. It's impossible to memorize them all so I didn't even try."

The words didn't even try echoed through my mind. Of course, forty-seven prefectures sound very intimidating. I didn't expect him to know it all, but it made me feel upset and hopeless when I heard his response - that he didn't even make the slightest effort. Does he mean to make me do everything? I felt a very heavy burden. I did study some of Damien's and Keith's parts just in case they needed back-up help, but I kept thinking I should have studied even harder. We were asked only baby questions - the most basics of the basics. I couldn't answer them for him. Keith tried to comfort me saying, "It's okay that you got the answer wrong."

The competition ended rather quickly and I felt that we did better than the other two teams in the room. I'm not sure if we stood a chance against the rest of the teams in level II, though. We headed to the Molokai Ballroom which was where the activity center took place. I got to meet Jenny's teacher, Uehara sensei. After hearing so much about her from Jenny, I thought she was a truly amazing teacher. She was part of the reason why I wanted to take Japanese class in high school but she retired before I had the chance to have her as my teacher. =/

The first activity we played was fuku warai. I was excited because I had studied it. It was a game similar to pin-the-tail-to-the-donkey, except that you were pasting parts of a woman’s face. I pointed and shouted, "Oh my gosh! Fuku warai! Fuku warai!" like an idiot. I was so excited that I didn't notice that the three girls standing behind the table were Japanese. I later realized that everyone conducting the activities were volunteers from Japan. =) They offered me the blindfold but I nudged Damien forward instead. It was hilarious when the girls started to call Damien, "Kawaii~" repeatedly when we were telling the blindfolded Damien where to put the kuchi, hana, me (mouth, nose, eyes... Damien stuttered, "C-cute...?!"

Afterward, we headed off to another table labeled Japanese Quiz. Damien was the first to sit down. All I could say was, "We just got back from a tense competition. Why would we want to take part in more tests?" I wasn't up for it and I didn't feel like it. But there were four really good-looking Japanese guys conducting this game, hehe. XP *avoids dirty glanes from "sexy luxury" Junsu* I was mainly terrified because there was a huge threatening map of Japan and its prefectures glaring at me by the tables. Our team failed with geography, remember? I was going to embarrass myself and look stupid in front of these guys! >_< But I didn't need to worry about that. After they welcomed us and we sat down, the guy sitting on the left lifted the cardboard to reveal a miniature drawing of Doraemon underneath. Immediately, I blurted out, "Doraemon! Doraemon! See Damien, it's Doraemon! Everyone knows Doraemon!"

Damien's response was, "No. Everyone knows Pokemon. Oh gosh, pikachu! How could they ask about pikachu???" (He has been lamenting about that for a while know and little did I know that it would continue for the rest of today.)

The guy laughed and said with a fresh Japanese accent, "Yes, it is Doraemon. You know Doraemon?"

Why yes, of course I do. [shuts up]

The quiz was actually very fun and my worries disappeared. We competed against two other teams like the real competition. There was only one girl who stood out from the rest because I remembered she was very aggressive. They asked us fun questions like, "What is ninja cartoon?" to which Damien so excitedly exclaimed, "Naruto!" that he forgot to ring the bell. The other team scored. They also asked, "What is ninja?" to which Damien answered, "Criminal! He wears black, covering his face..." and he continued with lengthy explanations accompanied by wild hand motions. It was funny because all Keith said was, "Spy" and we scored.

They also asked us questions on exactly what we studied (unlike the competition, where I had to do a lot of inferring) so I was very happy. =) For example, they asked, "Who is prime minister?" Damien enthusiastically answered, "Shinzo Abe!" and "Who is first prime minister?" Damien again shouted out the answer, receiving many "Oohs" from the guys who all started clapping. This was one of the few times they looked impressed because otherwise, they looked extremely bored. (I can imagine since they're stuck here entertaining a bunch of high school students, probably asking the same questions about their home country over and over.) Damien looked happy and told me, "This is fun. This is so much more fun than the competition. Why can't the competition be more like this? Gosh, pokemon..."

When they pointed to the drawing of Doraemon and asked to identify it, I happily cried out, "Doraemon!!!" I received laughter. ^^;;; Like Damien, they did ask one thing I learned from studying, though, "What is longest river in Japan?" I remembered that this was the second fact I learned when I first started studying Japan, the first being that Mt. Fuji was the tallest mountain in Japan. The English answer would be Shinano River, but for some reason I'm more comfortable with Japanese than English so the first thing that came to mind was, "Shinanogawa!" I also received some "Oohs" and clapping. ^.~V And oh my gosh, they also had kanji tests! Everyone always groaned when they took out the kanji notebook. I was a bit worried at first because the girl on my right was very aggressive. Her teammates were asking her, "You studied this, right?" and she answered confidently, "Yes. Last year." And I knew my Chinese was bad. But who am I kidding? How could a haole girl beat a Chinese girl at her own language? (Hazukashii!) I impressed them with my knowledge of the character, "春" (haru, spring). XD The next character was "雪" (yuki, snow). The haole girl rang the bell first and answered, "Rain?" and he nodded, encouraging her and trying to veer her toward the correct answer. I said, "Yuki, snow" and got the point. ^_^ Keith said I knew the kanji because they were the same as Chinese, but that is not the case since I also needed to be able to read it in Japanese. "Haru" and "yuki" is Japanese. In Chinese, it would be read "chun" and "xue." I also proved him wrong with the next kanji question, "足." I knew it meant leg even though we wouldn't use that character in the Chinese language for leg. In the end, our team won with six points (whoever wins six points is the winner) and the team with the aggressive girl received one point while the other team had two.

Next, we played two karuta games. We played the first game against that same team with the aggressive girl and won but it was a close match - she and Damien almost seemed like they were cat-fighting because they were totally going at it. The second karuta game required only one team so we played against each other. In the first game that we played, we matched hiragana but this game used pictures as well. They were really cute drawings. I excitedly shouted and pointed when I spotted a drawing of Totoro. The girl laughed, "Yes, is Totoro. You know Totoro?"

As I write this, I realize this sounds familiar. >>; I've been doing a lot of shouting and pointing. I must have looked like such a stupid little girl.

Anyway, the objective is to get as much cards as you can by the end of the game. Keith had two cards, Damien had eleven, and I had twenty-two. ^^; I think this mini game slightly resembles the contribution of each team member during the actual competition.

Lunch was free for all competitors and advisors (yay!) provided by the Sheraton Waikiki Hotel through sponsors (yay!) for the Japan Wizards Competition. They also provided the funds for the top winners to go to Japan. Lunch started with an appetizer. It was some sort of egg drop soup with tofu, ham, carrots, and peas. It was delicious! The main course was chicken, mushrooms, and fried rice. The fried rice tasted so ordinary for a fancy hotel such as the Sheraton, but it was good so I finished it all. The mushrooms were unbearably salty even though I love mushrooms so it was disappointing. =( It was as if the chef unwittingly dumped a bucketful of salt on the mushrooms. I ate it anyway because I don't like wasting food. It was the first time I've had such huge portions of chicken, with a lot of meat and little bone. The chicken was dry and not too enjoyable, though. There were only two pieces of choi. ;o; For dessert, we had vanilla ice cream with nuts and fortune cookies! I loved the nuts! Although I was full, I really wanted to eat the nuts. The fortune from my fortune cookie was, "Great follow-up is the secret to your success."

To be continued...


Babies are so cute.

3-Day Weekend

Many thanks to everyone who had previously commented on my camp post. The next part should be coming soon. ^^ The 3-day weekend has passed and it's back to school. *falls over* The last half of 2006 was really stressful, but I am very happy to say that I've been slowly learning to relax more now. =) Hopefully that won't grow into something more such as laziness. =) On Friday, I rushed with some assignments because I wanted the weekend to be free. When my sister came home that night, she had a lovely surprise for me. The long-awaited package from my Secret Santa finally arrived after about two months! The secret was revealed right away on the outside envelope: My Secret Santa was Jini. ^o^~


She managed to make me smile and laugh before even opening the envelope to see what was inside. Written on the front was the small message, "Mailman, please handle with care please! (2 pleases!)" There was another message scribbled on the back as well, "Dear Mr./Mrs. Mailman, handle with care!"


I will never again burn myself in the kitchen! And I'll always have a tiny little Totoro watching over me while I work on complicated math problems... My sister made one good point about the gift, though. She asked me why the package needed to be "handled with care" when the contents were soft items - my present was a pair of oven mitts and a really adorable handmade Totoro plushie. I don't know why either, but who cares? XP Jini is so cute. I was really touched by her gift, but I'm not surprised because she is always so thoughtful. I think Jini may be one of the nicest people I'll ever know. Thank you so much, Jini!!! Much love goes to you!

On Saturday, I visited the eye doctor first thing in the morning to fix my glasses. I spent the rest of the day with my friends in Chinatown which was celebrating Chinese New Year. =3 After watching the parade, I went home for dinner and was out again at 8:22PM, this time with my sister. We had fun watching the lion/dragon dance performances. Many of the performers were boys I knew from school. They really surprised me that night. I've never seen those looks on their faces before in school and I've especially never seen them work so hard before. The atmosphere was completely different from when we were in school. After that night, I gained new respect for them. I think watching their performance may be more special than any other I've seen before since I actually knew the performers. =) It is too bad that I have no pictures of the performance since they were all taken on my sister's cell phone camera. We headed home at 10:42PM when the celebration was officially over.

Sunday was New Year's Day. I greeted mom and greeted grandma over the phone. We ate from new fancy bowls decorated with drawings of dragons. I ate two bowls of rice and jai to please my mom. For lai see, I received $10 and a gorgeous lucky charm from her. It was made from jade and was in the shape of my zodiac sign, the sheep. My dad was not home all day and I did not receive anything from him. This was the first time he missed eating New Year’s breakfast with us and he offered no explanation why he wasn’t there. This year I didn't receive much money at all, but I'm happy. I guess it is true that money isn't everything. A while after breakfast, I received a call from Sara. It was her lunar year birthday today so we were going to have a party at 2:00PM. From then on, I spent the day baking her present, Russian Tea Cakes. Unfortunately, I didn't think they came out too good. T__T;

On Monday, I spent the morning watching a Jackie Chan movie dealing with babies. It was quite entertaining. Overall, my break was good and I used this opportunity to finish up on all the manga that I’ve been planning to read for days now. I finished Whistle! volume 14, W Juliet volumes 12 and 13 (OMG, 14 will be the last volume!), and Eternal Sabbath volume 2. I just finished Moon Child volume 2 today in school. I am really starting to love Eternal Sabbath. The series is so intriguing. I also very much love W Juliet and I have a good feeling that the series would end well since it seems like the author worked hard on planning it. I can’t wait for the finale! This series always makes me squeal. X)

I didn't really want to go back to school, but who can help it? We are making some small progress in World History with our upcoming play. Ms. Nakamura has divided the class into five groups with four persons in each group. My group includes Juri, Rachel, Kenneth, and myself. Each group were to come up with a tragedy and triumph in history with Women in History being the play's main topic. The class really couldn't come up with an idea on what to do for the play so the teacher decided for us. Her decision was very reasonable. She said she chose this after she realized there were 16 girls in the class and only 4 boys. Because we have a shortage on boys, we might as well do a play that focuses on mostly women. =) Unlike many others who may follow and act out the script from a book, we are to write the play ourselves. Right now, I am doing some research for our part. It will be a lot of hard work, but fun to write a play! =)

I have my schedule packed again this week because the Japan Wizard is fast approaching...in fact, it is this week Saturday. *screams* What shall I do?! Only my best. Yosh, がnばります!


What a funny job. I wonder how much they get paid...?

Camp Erdman: Arrival at Camp (Part 1 of 6)

** Please note that my camera is broken, so many of the pictures here were provided by my fellow classmates. Thank you! =)

I was excited to go to camp, but I tried not to think too much about it because I knew I'd start worrying about all the things that could go wrong. I started packing only two days before camp and barely managed to fit my belongings in the suitcase. My huge pillow took up the most space so I had to jump on it to flatten it. The next morning, I arrived a little before 8:00am in front of the cafeteria at school. We waited no later than 8:30am for everyone to show up. In the end, there were eighteen of us, nineteen including Ms. Nakamura. There were fifteen girls and three boys.


A shot taken during the bus ride. Pictures don't do justice.
The bus ride was inevitably long, but I didn't mind because I love riding on school buses as much as I hate riding on public city buses. Is that so weird? Perhaps it is because I only ride the school bus when there are field trips. I like to watch the scenery fly by the window. The busy city slowly changed into a forest of trees to endless plains, which stretched as far as the eye could see. I was amazed because I've never seen anything like it and it seemed to go on forever. Eventually the plain fields made way for an enormous field of sunflowers. I didn't know such a place existed in Hawaii. We also passed by a ranch (I saw horses!) before finally arriving at camp. I am a city girl so this was my first time traveling to the countryside. I didn't even realize this at the time, but YMCA Camp H.R. Erdman is located on the beautiful North Shore of Oahu. The camp fit in snugly between the Waianae Mountains and the pristine beaches of Mokuleia. Now I can say I've been to the other side!

We dropped our luggage off at a building labeled, "Crosson Hall” and headed over to an open courtyard area by the ocean. We sat in a circle with two camp staff members. The first to introduce himself was a haole (white) man. I didn't catch his full name (I think it was Lulizin) but he said it was too difficult to remember and say so we were to call him, “Luli". He asked us if we came to camp as a grade level or a class. We explained that we were a World History Honors class. They held surprised looks on their faces so I assume it is strange for a history class to go to camp. After all, why would a history class go to camp? We explained that we were here for drama training since we are going to perform a historical play. Intrigued, Luli told us how he did theater and dance back at home.

Luli also asked, "Why all girls? Where are the boys?"

We looked at each other for a while when Ally piped up, "Cause girls are smarter. This is an Honors class so there are more girls than boys."

Luli spoke with a European accent so I did not quite catch what country he was from. He mumbled the name of his country and Ha exclaimed, "Brussels?!"

He looked confused and repeated, "...Brussels?"
Julia asked, "Brussels as in Brussels sprouts?"
"Did you say Brussels???" Ha laughed.
"No, I'm from ******."

I was lost. I think everyone else was confused and the conversation eventually dropped. The other staff member cheerfully introduced herself as Chiemi “Chemmy” from Japan. Nice and simple. We played games such as the Mexican wave (Luli renamed it the Hawaiian wave because it's Hawaii) before going on our orientation around the camp. We split into two groups and I ended up in Luli's group. We got to see the sites and look at some of the stuff we might be doing later on. Despite it being a cloudy day and the expectations for rain (it didn't come), the ocean was a beautiful sight. We walked around and we started talking about the ghosts rumored to haunt the cabins at Camp Erdman. Luli reassured us that he never came across any ghosts throughout the time he stayed at camp.

"There are no ghosts, but there is something special about camp. Let me tell you, there is something magical..."

He continued to talk about this rock he came across. It was a special and magical rock with some connection to the old Hawaiian spirits.

"It's Hawaiian. I speak my old home country language mixed with some Hawaiian, but mostly Albanian and I speak in it and it moves! It never fails, this rock. Whenever I say something, the rock moves a little bit…slides an inch or so."

The famous rock soon came within our sight and everyone grew excited. He drew us into a circle and said we should step back to give the rock space to move. If we were in its way, it would smash our toes.

"Okay, I will say something to the rock, okay?" He whispered.

We huddled closely and listened intently to his instructions. After he speaks to the rock, we were to tap it twice together and step back.

"Okay, ready?"

"WAIT-- let me take a picture of the rock moving!" Ha said.

"No, no, no. The rock moves slowly and carefully. The camera will not catch that. Watch closely and carefully. You will notice a slight movement. Stand back."


Luli speaks to the rock.
He cupped his hands tightly on top of the rock and whispered some inconceivable words, presumably Albanian. When he finished, we hesitantly stepped forward and tapped twice. We jumped back, watched, and waited. Nothing. I searched Luli's face, but it revealed nothing. He started to walk away while taking a sip from his water bottle. We stayed, still watching the rock closely. We were all concentrating on any possible movement that it might make, no matter how small.

Suddenly, Luli turned around and said, "Guys, guys! It's a joke, alright? I did not think you guys would believe me. Now come."

We are such fools. Gosh, I can't believe he managed to trick us into believing something so unbelievable! The story sounded fishy to me, but I think what made everyone listen was because he spoke so seriously. He held a solemn face and spoke with a hushed tone. As I write this, I remembered how he mentioned doing theater work back at home. He is such an actor. I guess a good actor can fool people into believing anything, no matter how ridiculous it may be. I knew some girls were pissed off for having been deceived, but I didn't feel angry. I started laughing.

"I did not think you would believe me. I say to the little ones who come here." He points toward the ocean. "I say the Godzilla come here from there and they believe. They wait for him to come." He pointed further away to something in front of us, nestled between trees.

"There is actually a huge spider here at Camp Erdman. It created this huuuge cobweb. It is the biggest cobweb in the world. It is really big!"

Again, he had me taken in by his talking and almost managed to trick me a second time. The other girls didn't let their guard down this time and called him a liar so I snapped out of it.


The branches on the tree in the back left are fake.
After a while, he brought us to our cabins located across the road. The little cabins were painted yellow and looked incredibly cute. We stopped by some trees and Luli reached up to grab a handful of leaves that were hanging loosely on the branches. He explained that these were fake and put there by the “Lost” crew to make the bare trees look “prettier” for the set. Of course, he already lost most of the girls' trust (please excuse the pun!) so nobody could tell if he was lying again. Luli insisted that this time he was telling the truth.

"I'm serious. When I lie, I have to tell the truth five minutes after that. Just ask those men. Go ahead. Ask."


Our pretty little cabins (and where they filmed 'Lost'.

He pointed to a bunch of workers busy with building a small fence. Ha made a bet with him that he was lying. The loser had to run from the cabins to the Odyssey III and back. (However, this did not happen because we were in a hurry to leave in the end.) We later found out that they ARE from "Lost"! The cabins that we were to stay in were part of a set the television series had once used. Now that's cool! =)

To to be continued...


The picture above features popular actor Tamasaburo. He is highly popular with the ladies. :O

Camp Erdman (Intro)

My luggage packed on the night before camp.
Okay, I know this post was long overdue, but I think some people wanted to know how camp was. =)

My first camp experience was simply amazing. Although the time spent at Camp Erdman was a mere two days and a half, it seemed like much longer because I gained so much from it. It will be difficult to express exactly what I feel, but I'll try my best. Many things happened so I will have to break it into multiple parts. The next post will be on my arrival at camp and my first day (and night!) there.

To be continued...

EDIT I'm sure you would have noticed this by now, but I switched the commenting system to Blogspot instead of CuteNews. I didn't know how to use Cutenews properly in the first place, and I disliked how messy my archives were. Hopefully, this will be a better change.

Oh my gosh, I would be too scared to bathe with bears - tame or not! o_o;