This is when we went zip-lining! It was an amazing experience and it had a beautiful view!! 

Me, Michelle, and Lauren at the Pineapple winery, those were bottles of win stacked up! 

This is at fruit land, we could pay 2 dollars to hold the food for the birds to eat! 

I have once again slacked on updating my blog so I will do my best to update you! This weekend was an eventful weekend, we decided to stay off base for Saturday night and go to a hostel! This was a struggle from the beginning! There was a huge festival in Naha this weekend so everything was booked! The place that we originally wanted to stay at said they could squeeze us in on the floor so we made the trip to go find it. Every person was telling us different directions so it took forever to find it! Once we finally got there the owner informed us that he had already given our spots away! We had to continue on our journey, thankfully the next guest house that we found had spots for us! He was very friendly and we had full access to the kitchen, the showers and we all had a bed! It only cost 1500 yen, which is around 15 dollars so we were excited! We then made our way through Naha and found some cool bars and just hung out and enjoyed one of our last weekends here!!

Today we went down to the festival in Naha, it was the Eisa festival. From 1-6 there was a parade where dancers and drummers went down nonstop through their main street. There was a total of 10,000 dancers there!! 

Scuba Diving

Hello everyone!

 Last weekend 4 of us decided to be adventurous and get our scuba diving license! We had found a guy that would certify us for really cheap so we signed up and started hitting the books. We had to watch a ton of videos, do homework, take quizzes and then take a final! No worries I passed and am completely happy that I spent the money on it! To complete the class we also had to do 4 dives where 2 of the dives were 30 feet down and 2 of the dives were 60 feet down! When we were down scuba diving we practiced different skills like cleaning our regulator and masks, but we were also allowed free time where we got to explore and look at the different sea life. We were even lucky enough to see an Octopus!

 The first dive was 30 feet but while we were down there I got so concentrated on the cool fish that I went way to deep and the diver master had to come and tell me to come back up! It was a joke the rest of the class about how I always wanted to go down deeper then the rest of the class! We all loved the class so much that we have decided that we are going to do the advanced class! We are going to be doing a night dive, deep dive, and a navigation class. We will be certified to go down to 120 feet with this class! 

The main reason I decided to do this class is because there is a dive up north of a ship that had sunk at the end of WWII and I would really like to dive down and see it! They say that it is still in very good shape and I am really excited! It is 120 ft down so we had to get the advanced certifications!! 

Me and Amanda under the water in all of our gear!! 

One of my favorite pictures that I took at Maeda Point! 

After a long day of scuba diving,  the most memorable day so far!! :) :) 

THE KIDS

So far I have no said much about the kids or about what I am doing. So far I have complete two sessions of swimming lessons each being two weeks long! I have the lower levels like pre 1 and pre 2 and level 1 and 2. My classes are smaller so I have really been able to get to know my kids and I love it! 

One of the kids was deathly afraid to get into the water during the first sessions so I decided to keep him in level 1 for the second session. During the second session he came such a long way that it made me proud to say that I was his teacher and he could go underwater and get rings when the first day he would hardly get into the water! The kid also cracked me up because one day we put him into a life jacket and he was still a little afraid of the water and he yelled out help, I'm unbalanced! It had the entire pool crackin up! I also ask the kids everyday what I want them to do with there legs when they kick, which is point your toes and don't bend your knees. The kids always remember the don't bend your knees saying but never the point your toes. One day I asked him what the rules were and he said don't bend your knees and the other one ways to kick properly! It just cracked me up because he could whip out the properly but couldn't remember the toes! 

Last , I have become close with some of the parents and they have strated taking us out to eat and making us dinner and it is awesome! One mom took us to King Taco and Big Dip which is for ice cream. At King Taco we got taco rice which is just rice and meat and cheese on to of it! Let me tell you, it is delicious!! I also go a taco and it was one of the best tacos I have ever had:) It has been nice getting close with the parents :) 

Here is a picture of the aquatics group with one of the families! 

Sorry that I haven't been keeping up with the blog but I'll try and do a better job! I miss all of you and hope I get to catch up with you all soon :) I got to talk to one of my best friends Kristen Mitchell who is over in Germany with Camp Adventure and I loved talking with her so I hope that I can talk to you all as well! Its 10 pm. on Sunday Here so Its 8 am on Sunday morning for you guys! I miss you all once again! 

Have a great week

Love ya,

Robyn

As you all know I have seriously neglected this blog and from now on I am going to try and stay on top of things so that I don't have to have such a long post like the one that is going to follow is going to be! 

One weekend ago I went to Himeyuri Peace Museum. This museum told a story of how 240 mobilized students were assigned to work as nurse assistants in the Okinawa Army Hospital late on night on March 23, 1945.  It was a cave connected by tunnels to many other smaller caves. They had a memorial and showed stories of some of the school girls that had survived. It was a very educational museum and I was able to learn a lot. There was an area where there were 200 portraits on the wall to memorialize their lives and existence. We were able to take a look at the full-scale, reconstructed model of Ihara Third Clinic Cave, where concentrated tear gas took a heavy toll of lives. Below are pictures that I took through out the Museum!

Later that day we went to Okinawa World where we were able to see the culture of Okinawa. There some of the things we saw were a half of mile of beautiful underground caves.  We were also able to see some some glass blowing and a brewery! The last thing we saw were the Okinawa drummers which was so amazing.  

I have even more to tell you so I will try and update soon! 

Miss you all love you!

Robyn

Okuma

As a group Camp Adventure took a trip up to Okuma! It was by far the most beautiful location so far! It was the first time that I actually swam in the ocean instead of just standing in it and let me tell you it is sallllty! While we were there I also went on a Banana boat and went kayaking! It was so cool to go out and explore the ocean.  

It was so nice to be able to get out and get some sun and just hang out with our friends! It was a  two hour drive up north but it was so worth the trip:) 

We have officially moved into our new base and let me tell you it is amazing. I have a full bathroom, a full refrigerator, a full bed, a couch, a chair, and a ton of extra room... needless to say it is amazing! 

We started swimming lesson today and although it was very overwhelming I had a great time and already love working with the kids! I am so glad that I am finally getting to interact with the kids instead of the orientation because it is what I came here for!  I am tired after a long day in the sun but am excited to go out again tomorrow! 

But happy fathers day to all you dads our there

I miss you all!

Love you

Robyn

June 16, 2010

Hello Everyone!

We are still currently in orientation right now so not a lot of exciting news! We have started swimming our 500 which is 20 downs for those of you that don't know so I am getting my exercise in :)  

The other day we went to the a beach named Tropical Beach, it wasn't as nice as the other beaches that we have been to which were Araha and Sunset. It had an area where we could go and explore though and look at different sea life when the tide was low, we saw different things like sea cucumbers and some sea anemone! 

 

The girl that I went searching for these little critters for is Jenna! She is becoming one of my really good friends, we do pretty much everything together. The thing that sucks is that when I move to Kinser she will stay at Foster, but we will meet up at the weekend! Below is a picture we took with the ocean behind us:) 

We were also able to go out into the town and visit some of there bars and clubs. It wasn't very busy when we went because they were one weekend away from payday, so everyone was broke!  So were going to try that same area again next weekend I think.

Here is a picture of the girls that I went out with! 

On Saturday we have a lot of big plans were going to head north with our entire group. There is going to be a beach that we can go to and also different water activities that we can participate in so I am really excited for that! 

Other than that I have had a pretty boring week, so hopefully next time I have more to post about! Miss you all!

Love, 

Robyn

=)

   My first Ocean view ever! 

Today we have started to work, and let me tell you I would rather be outside in this beautiful weather! We have been working on our swimming lesson plans but mainly just messing around with everyone and having fun, so obviously not getting much done. Right now I am living on a different base for two weeks and then I will move to my official base where I will teach swimming lessons. I am both excited and sad to move because my new base is going to be very nice but I will leave a lot of good friends at the other. We will be able to meet up on the weekends still. We have been having a great time and making a lot of laughs! The pictures are of the American Village where we had a great time walking around and looking at the beautiful view!