Kono michi Sasebo made ikimas ka (Is this the road to Sasebo?)

Sasebo, Japan

I cannot believe I have been in Japan for nearly 6 weeks. The time has just flown by! So far, it has been one of the most magnificent adventures of my life. I cannot say the experience has been completely wonderful. It has been an amazing, scary, confusing, lonely, exciting time but I would not change it for the world. Check out what I've been up to!!!

This is main base in Sasebo. I stay in an apartment type building and get to see this beautiful place on my walk to work (provided it's not raining). Otherwise I walk by but am dodging giant rain drops and miss the view. I'm a Northwest girl, but I've never ever seen rain like this before. July is the "rainy season" and it pours so hard a person gets absolutely drenched walking in it for just a few minutes, even with an umbrella. 

The flags go up every morning at 8 am. The United States National Anthem is played, followed by the Japanese National Anthem.

During orientation week we got the hook up and toured one of the Navy ships, the Essex.

 The first Japanese meal I had here... The menu was in Japanese, of course, so I pointed to a picture that looked good. It was not what I expected. The bowl of "stuff" is cold noodles with various veggies topped with a spice red sauce and a raw egg! 

Brennan and me at Mike's Tex Mex. Who would have thought you'd get great Mexican food in Japan?!  P.S. Brennan is my boss.

All eight Camp Adventure staff went on a tour of the 99 Islands. You get to ride a ship around the islands and take in the gorgeous scenery. The islands are just outside of Sasebo. We were told the walk there only takes about 20 minutes. It took about 45 minutes. We arrived just in time to quickly purchase tickets for the very last tour of the day!

Thanks to the torrential rain storms, the landscape is tropical jungle meets meets mountainous forest. There were a million jelly fish swimming.

Brennan, Sarie, and I have become close friends. We do a lot of things together! It's been great girl time! :)

I have no idea which of the 99 islands this is, but it reminded me of the lagoon on Peter Pan. 

I doubt Tom Hanks would have been complaining about being castaway on this island! 

This was our ship, the Pearl Queen!

Climbing the Tara Mountains

Sarie, Brennan, and I were feeling pretty adventurous. So, to fulfill that hunger for a challenge, we signed up for a level 4 hike with the Outdoor Recreation Center. We hiked with about a dozen other American people in the beautiful Tara Mountains. The trail we took led to the highest peak in the Nagasaki prefecture. It was a Mt. Fuji training hike, so we were prepared for a tough day. We filled our backpacks with snacks and water and headed out! Brennan and Sarie thought it necessary to casually stretch, just for the camera :)

Dan, our guide, warned us of wild boars and killer bees. Apparently, there are 2" bees that feed on honey bees. Their sting is toxic. The real problem is that they travel is groups and can sting over and over again. Brennan, Sarie, and I were after an adventure...

This was after a couple hours of hiking. We finally made it to 103! I have no clue what the significance was of 103, but we made it!

At last, we made it to the top! The lookout was amazing! The group stopped for lunch. Our bus driver brought pineapple for everybody.

We tried to stay at the front of the pack because we were loving the faster pace. Sarie (front), Brennan (middle), and I started posing for pictures while the rest of the group was catching up. A few people were carrying packs because they were training for Fuji.

I'm no horticulturist, but I do believe this might possibly be bamboo.

The climb down was almost as hard as climbing up. There were parts where we had to hold ropes and rocks were sliding from under our feet. 

Tired from 6 hours of hiking, I was just relieved we were almost finished! I met a guy who lived in Pullman for 3 months, which was interesting to find all the way over here in Japan. Fortunately, we never saw a wild, man-eating boar or any killer bees! But, I did acquire a hiking bug and am planning on climbing Fuji after camp is over!