P.S.
i'm adding a link so you can be emailed when i update my blog through www.blogarithm.com. i'll put the little sticker on the bottom so you can sign up quick and easy. that way you don't have to check and be disappointed: as soon as i update you'll get an unobtrusive email informing you of the fact. no more sleepless nights wondering if i've updated, no more wasted seconds as you futilely check the page: now you'll always know.
October 30, 2004
Sit down. get ready. the horsemen of the apocalypse are on their way. how do we know that these are the end times? what are the signs? 2 of them have made themselves manifest in recent days:
1. I have a cell phone.
2. I have health insurance.
such things have never been heard of before.
I was in korea from...well, for about 9 days. i went to get my visa so i could work in japan legally (as opposed to "illegally", which was more of a technicality, really). i was warned that getting my actual visa could be a rather lengthy endeavor, so i gave myself 10 days, just in case. in reality, when i finally had everything in order and autographed, it took less than 24 hours. "come back tomorrow" they said. and it didn't even cost me anything. but, as if to show me that they still have the power to screw up my life in a really big way, they put my visa (my occupation is "religious activities") , which is a gargantuan sticker that takes up one whole page of my passport, over the stamp the koreans were nice enough to put in my passport when i came into the country. you know the one- it's red, it's my tourist visa, it proves that i entered the country legally, same old, same old. i didn't realize this fact until i tried to leave the country and the immigrations guy went through my passport about 8 times looking for that stamp, and i could feel the incredible weight of bureaucracy bearing down on me like an obstinate japanese official. then the guy just chuckled a bitter little chuckle, and gave me my exit stamp. one more reason why korea is better.
but not really. at least, not much.
Other than the little visa adventure, my time in korea was uneventful in a fun sort of way. ro flew to seoul and we hung out there long enough for me to get my visa, then we went to pohang, which is where she lives on the grounds of a college campus, and watched movies and hiked and played volleyball with the students. i realized that i don't miss being in school at all. all the homework, all the hours spent losing your eyesight to small print in bad lighting. it didnt' help that most of ro's friends study at the law school, which is not something that interests me in the least.
But, now i have my visa, so i went and got my alien registration, which i used to score with the national health insurance (paying 30% is a lot less than getting your brother to make you a cast from twigs and having a crooked arm for the rest of your life). then i got a little stamp that has my name on it and got that registered, complete with certificates in duplicate. then i went to the bank and opened up myself a bank account (which, sadly enough, comes with money sold separately), and got myself a cell phone. my number (from americaville) is: 011-81-80-3468-7427. any guesses as to which of those long list of action points took the longest? that's right: the cell phone. japanese bureaucracy is a lot better than i'm used to- they seem to have found the perfect formula for having exactly one person more than is absolutely needed, which means there's never a line, but just barely.
Well, it's not like winter even gave fall a chance- so cold, so bitterly cold. it happened in what seemed like overnight- one day it's a little chilly and brisk, the next you're so cold you wanna die. there's been no snow, or even ice, that i've seen, but i'm sure it's there, in as much shock as the rest of us about the sudden weather change. the rain has stopped, and i think i prefer the cold to the rain. at least when you bike hard in the cold you get warm. now if i could only figure a way to get drier the longer you bike in the rain...
1. I have a cell phone.
2. I have health insurance.
such things have never been heard of before.
I was in korea from...well, for about 9 days. i went to get my visa so i could work in japan legally (as opposed to "illegally", which was more of a technicality, really). i was warned that getting my actual visa could be a rather lengthy endeavor, so i gave myself 10 days, just in case. in reality, when i finally had everything in order and autographed, it took less than 24 hours. "come back tomorrow" they said. and it didn't even cost me anything. but, as if to show me that they still have the power to screw up my life in a really big way, they put my visa (my occupation is "religious activities") , which is a gargantuan sticker that takes up one whole page of my passport, over the stamp the koreans were nice enough to put in my passport when i came into the country. you know the one- it's red, it's my tourist visa, it proves that i entered the country legally, same old, same old. i didn't realize this fact until i tried to leave the country and the immigrations guy went through my passport about 8 times looking for that stamp, and i could feel the incredible weight of bureaucracy bearing down on me like an obstinate japanese official. then the guy just chuckled a bitter little chuckle, and gave me my exit stamp. one more reason why korea is better.
but not really. at least, not much.
Other than the little visa adventure, my time in korea was uneventful in a fun sort of way. ro flew to seoul and we hung out there long enough for me to get my visa, then we went to pohang, which is where she lives on the grounds of a college campus, and watched movies and hiked and played volleyball with the students. i realized that i don't miss being in school at all. all the homework, all the hours spent losing your eyesight to small print in bad lighting. it didnt' help that most of ro's friends study at the law school, which is not something that interests me in the least.
But, now i have my visa, so i went and got my alien registration, which i used to score with the national health insurance (paying 30% is a lot less than getting your brother to make you a cast from twigs and having a crooked arm for the rest of your life). then i got a little stamp that has my name on it and got that registered, complete with certificates in duplicate. then i went to the bank and opened up myself a bank account (which, sadly enough, comes with money sold separately), and got myself a cell phone. my number (from americaville) is: 011-81-80-3468-7427. any guesses as to which of those long list of action points took the longest? that's right: the cell phone. japanese bureaucracy is a lot better than i'm used to- they seem to have found the perfect formula for having exactly one person more than is absolutely needed, which means there's never a line, but just barely.
Well, it's not like winter even gave fall a chance- so cold, so bitterly cold. it happened in what seemed like overnight- one day it's a little chilly and brisk, the next you're so cold you wanna die. there's been no snow, or even ice, that i've seen, but i'm sure it's there, in as much shock as the rest of us about the sudden weather change. the rain has stopped, and i think i prefer the cold to the rain. at least when you bike hard in the cold you get warm. now if i could only figure a way to get drier the longer you bike in the rain...
October 27, 2004
because this has taken forever, and i've been doing other things, i will keep my report on day 4 succinct.
[day 4]
there was no rain all night, but it was freezing. since we didn't have a watch, we started hiking really early, and we were the first team to arrive at the camp. we took baths and ate food, and played ping pong. and all was well. Here's a shot of the team:
in the front are the girls: Eun Hae, Jess, Christine, Yuna, and Julie.
in the back: Jyun Hyun, Shawn, me, Tyler, Yasu, and Bennett.
good times.
[end stress camp]
[day 4]
there was no rain all night, but it was freezing. since we didn't have a watch, we started hiking really early, and we were the first team to arrive at the camp. we took baths and ate food, and played ping pong. and all was well. Here's a shot of the team:
in the front are the girls: Eun Hae, Jess, Christine, Yuna, and Julie.
in the back: Jyun Hyun, Shawn, me, Tyler, Yasu, and Bennett.
good times.
[end stress camp]
October 16, 2004
day 3- wednesday
Man, i tell you what. if i had died 30 seconds after waking up on that 3rd day, i would have died a happy man with a smile on my face. we were up just before sunrise, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. not only that, our little bell tower was up above a valley, so we could see all the mist and fog swirling around the little town down there. so awesome.
We had told the kids that in exchange for allowing them (and us!) to sleep in the bell tower and stay dry, we were going to have to haul some pretty serious butt the next day, which we did. as always, getting them to pack up and clean was something of a battle, but when we left that bell tower it looked better than when i first walked in. some girls even took the time to sweep it with a little tiny broom we found. go team! and then, the hauling commenced. me and tyler, in looking at the maps the night before, had realized that the fastest way to get to where we were going was to take the road back down the mountain that we had bushwhacked up, which meant we would actually have to walk through the same area in town that we were lost in for like 3 hours the day before. i was against this idea, as i thought it would be bad for morale, but after looking at how incredibly far we had to go for day 3, i agreed that we needed to save as much time as possible. we started them off at a pretty quick pace, and hopefully they were too busy hiking to notice that we walked by the trailhead that we had created with our off-road challenge.
We breakfasted at a dam (a.k.a. "water restraining facility") and the day was just going from great to greatester. it was at the top of a huge hill (which dams usually are), so by the time we all got up there we were roasting. i got to do one of my favorite things- take off my shirt and sit in the sun- and made powdered milk for our granola. still no clouds, but tons of sun.
Our trailhead was not too far away. after about 30 minutes, we gave the "packs on!" call, and started actually hiking, on trails. according to the map, we would be going up a valley almost the whole way to the top of a ridge, crossing a happy little stream along the way. the hike to the stream was pretty brutal, lots of big steps over slippery rocks and such. it was still sunny, but there were so many trees around we didn't get much of it. then we came to the stream.
Remember how for the first 2 days it had rained aggressively? funny thing about streams- they remember stuff like that. so even though it was really sunny, and not raining, the "happy little stream" was practically at flood stage. our leaders weren't sure if they were taking us the right way when the trail crossed the river, but i told them "if there's only one way, there's only one way". this mantra was repeated ad nausium every 20 minutes when they would ask for help. the first crossing was pretty dry- one guy had slipped in, and he volunteered to carry everyone's pack across so we could all jump for it. the guys went first, then we threw big rocks in for the girls to walk on. the stream became a key player in our hike for that day- we probably crossed it about 20 or 30 times. in fact, there were times when there was no trail for about 30 yards, and the river became our trail. after about the 3rd crossing all our shoes where completely soaked, and after about the 10th crossing we were all wet up to our knees, except for one guy. he was wet up to his armpits. the craziest part of that section was when the river went between 2 cliffs, probably about 15 feet wide, and we could see the trail ahead, beyond other side of these cliffs. at this particular section, the angle of the river was fairly extreme, so we ended up basically doing a mild rock climb in a river. that was awesome.
The rest of the day was, for the most part, not that special. there wasn't that much time for conversation, as we were all just pushing to try and make it close enough to get to camp on time the next day. tylers clock had broken in the night from the condensation or something, so nobody had any idea what time it was at all, even us, which was an added bit of adventure. i don't know the mileage for that last day, but when we studied our maps at the end of the day, we realized that we had gone about 3 times farther than we had gone on any other day. that means we went more than 150% of the distance we had covered in the last 2 days combined. i was so proud of them (sniff). they pushed themselves so much harder and farther than they thought they could, and they were able to do more than they imagined. a good lesson for everyone of any age.
The end of the day is worth mentioning. we had gotten to the point on the map where me any tyler had decided that we had to get to in order to make it home the next day, but we had made it there early, there was still about an hour of sun left. that particular spot had zero camping potential- the ground was clay and big chunks of rock, there were no trees or underbrush, and the wind was real strong. we decided, as a team, that we would press on to the next spot on the map, about a kilometer and a half away, and if we didn't find anything on the way, we would just camp there. we did find something on the way, but it was only marginally better than the lookout spot we had just been at. the ground was still clay, but there were no rocks. the wind, though, was going crazy. after staying there for about 5 minutes, everyone's nose was running. i decided that i would run ahead the 1.4 kilometers and see what this other spot looked like. it had been aggressively circled on the leaders map, but after the whole burnt-down-temple thing from the day before we wanted to know for sure. also, we thought there might be another team there already.
When you take those packs off, you seriously think you can fly. the run to the spot was great. and the spot was great too. there was no shelter, but there was no wind, either, and the ground had lots of pine needles and softness, and there was lots of wood. i ran back and told the group that i thought we should press on. by this point, they had all been sitting for about 30 minutes and were freezing cold, and had no desire to do anything. and it had gotten dark, and only half of the flashlights still worked, on account of the rain, we figured. it was a great team-building thing, though, and i think i'll confiscate half of the flashlights next year just for fun. it's very easy to be miserable and exhausted when all you have to think about is yourself, but when you have to think about others and how to serve them, you forget about your own body and needs and complaints. at least, thats the theory.
We finally got to the spot about an hour later, and the team declared it good. there was an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm to do anything, including making supper, collecting wood, collecting rocks for the fire pit, digging a fire pit, etc. and with only half the flashlights, everyone had to team up with someone, and they mostly just sat talking. after about 3 minutes, tyler gave his last motivational speech, and, in my opinion, his best one yet. he generally told them to get off their lazy butts and start working- nobody would eat or be warm if we didn't all start working. i still remember my favorite line "Sitting around is not an option!! Now MOVE!". i should take lessons. we had a fire and some rice/veggie gulash and some hot chocolate, all in record time. we all took a gamble that it wouldn't rain that night, and none of us put up fly sheets- we chose to take our chances and sleep under the stars. before i got to sleep i did get to have a unique experience: earthquakes in the wild. i've been through about a billion of them in my life, but never out in the woods. they are a lot quiter than i realized- at home there's always dishes clanking or something creaking. it lasted for about a minute, and it was a pretty strong one too. earthquakes don't scare me, but they do elicit a sort of panic/thrill response, even in the woods.
A secret- i hate hoppers. hoppers are the bastard child of a grasshopper and a cockroach, and they are evil. daddy long-legs i'm fine with. spiders and whatnot, i'm ok. i don't want them sharing my sleeping bag, but i'll pick them up and throw them somewhere else. not hoppers. i would willingly and joyfully kill any hopper that crosses my path. and, being in the woods of japan, there are quite a few in some places. these things are seriously beefy. the first night, tyler found one on his backpack while we were making camp. he tried to flick it off, and it just took it- didn't even phase the thing. it just kept climbing around on his bag being evil. i think i hate these things so much because their defense mechanism is to jump at your eyes. seriously. when something jumps at your face, your reflexive reaction is to jump back, and, in that moment of shock, the hopper makes his getaway. some things look evil as their defense mechanisms, or are poisonous or whatever. and i can respect that. hoppers, are just going above and beyond. they already look like something satan would find in his kitchen when he turns on the lights at night, there's no need for the whole jump-in-your-face thing. This is an important bit of information.
After supper, as i mentioned, we had hot chocolate. water may take about 2 minutes to boil on the stove, but in the woods over a fire, hot water is a luxury that takes about an hour to make. me and tyler had been asking the kids some questions, singing some songs, etc., and were now just letting them talk and tell stories and whatnot. suddenly tyler's whole body jerks, and he says "bleagh, a hopper just jumped on me". not that uncommon. about five minutes later, i decided i'm gonna check on the water, see how hot it is or fish out any bark or ash thats has blown into the water, and i see (shudder) much to my dismay, a dead hopper, floating belly up, being stewed in our cocoa water. i shut off my light before any of the kids notice, and sit down real fast. i leaned over to tyler and whispered in a terrified tone "there's a hopper... in our water." he gives me this "holy crap, you've gotta be kidding" look, then grabs a spoon and, without turning his light on, fishes it out of the water and throws it in the fire. this whole time the kids are oblivious. and they are so excited to have the cocoa- we passed around the packets, and everyone had cleaned out their cups and poured the powder in, and we even had some leftover powdered milk that we passed out for extra creaminess. it's a few hours after sunset, so its getting colder and colder, and we were all looking forward to our dessert, and then bed. and i couldn't do it. i -could not- tell the kids that there had been a hopper cooking in our water. some of them wouldn't have minded, but some of the girls would defiantly not have had any cocoa, and i really wanted them to. even harder than watching them drink the hopper-water, though, was me drinking the hopper water. if i hadn't had any, the kids would have noticed, and been very suspicious. and i really wanted it too- that last night was probably my coldest night, and i really wanted something to warm me up. so, in the end, i got my cocoa, and just chugged the whole thing, straight down. that way if i changed my mind i wouldn't have the time or ability to stop. i then gargled with listerene.
I wonder what the kids are gonna do to me if they ever find out about the hopper water...
Man, i tell you what. if i had died 30 seconds after waking up on that 3rd day, i would have died a happy man with a smile on my face. we were up just before sunrise, and there was not a single cloud in the sky. not only that, our little bell tower was up above a valley, so we could see all the mist and fog swirling around the little town down there. so awesome.
We had told the kids that in exchange for allowing them (and us!) to sleep in the bell tower and stay dry, we were going to have to haul some pretty serious butt the next day, which we did. as always, getting them to pack up and clean was something of a battle, but when we left that bell tower it looked better than when i first walked in. some girls even took the time to sweep it with a little tiny broom we found. go team! and then, the hauling commenced. me and tyler, in looking at the maps the night before, had realized that the fastest way to get to where we were going was to take the road back down the mountain that we had bushwhacked up, which meant we would actually have to walk through the same area in town that we were lost in for like 3 hours the day before. i was against this idea, as i thought it would be bad for morale, but after looking at how incredibly far we had to go for day 3, i agreed that we needed to save as much time as possible. we started them off at a pretty quick pace, and hopefully they were too busy hiking to notice that we walked by the trailhead that we had created with our off-road challenge.
We breakfasted at a dam (a.k.a. "water restraining facility") and the day was just going from great to greatester. it was at the top of a huge hill (which dams usually are), so by the time we all got up there we were roasting. i got to do one of my favorite things- take off my shirt and sit in the sun- and made powdered milk for our granola. still no clouds, but tons of sun.
Our trailhead was not too far away. after about 30 minutes, we gave the "packs on!" call, and started actually hiking, on trails. according to the map, we would be going up a valley almost the whole way to the top of a ridge, crossing a happy little stream along the way. the hike to the stream was pretty brutal, lots of big steps over slippery rocks and such. it was still sunny, but there were so many trees around we didn't get much of it. then we came to the stream.
Remember how for the first 2 days it had rained aggressively? funny thing about streams- they remember stuff like that. so even though it was really sunny, and not raining, the "happy little stream" was practically at flood stage. our leaders weren't sure if they were taking us the right way when the trail crossed the river, but i told them "if there's only one way, there's only one way". this mantra was repeated ad nausium every 20 minutes when they would ask for help. the first crossing was pretty dry- one guy had slipped in, and he volunteered to carry everyone's pack across so we could all jump for it. the guys went first, then we threw big rocks in for the girls to walk on. the stream became a key player in our hike for that day- we probably crossed it about 20 or 30 times. in fact, there were times when there was no trail for about 30 yards, and the river became our trail. after about the 3rd crossing all our shoes where completely soaked, and after about the 10th crossing we were all wet up to our knees, except for one guy. he was wet up to his armpits. the craziest part of that section was when the river went between 2 cliffs, probably about 15 feet wide, and we could see the trail ahead, beyond other side of these cliffs. at this particular section, the angle of the river was fairly extreme, so we ended up basically doing a mild rock climb in a river. that was awesome.
The rest of the day was, for the most part, not that special. there wasn't that much time for conversation, as we were all just pushing to try and make it close enough to get to camp on time the next day. tylers clock had broken in the night from the condensation or something, so nobody had any idea what time it was at all, even us, which was an added bit of adventure. i don't know the mileage for that last day, but when we studied our maps at the end of the day, we realized that we had gone about 3 times farther than we had gone on any other day. that means we went more than 150% of the distance we had covered in the last 2 days combined. i was so proud of them (sniff). they pushed themselves so much harder and farther than they thought they could, and they were able to do more than they imagined. a good lesson for everyone of any age.
The end of the day is worth mentioning. we had gotten to the point on the map where me any tyler had decided that we had to get to in order to make it home the next day, but we had made it there early, there was still about an hour of sun left. that particular spot had zero camping potential- the ground was clay and big chunks of rock, there were no trees or underbrush, and the wind was real strong. we decided, as a team, that we would press on to the next spot on the map, about a kilometer and a half away, and if we didn't find anything on the way, we would just camp there. we did find something on the way, but it was only marginally better than the lookout spot we had just been at. the ground was still clay, but there were no rocks. the wind, though, was going crazy. after staying there for about 5 minutes, everyone's nose was running. i decided that i would run ahead the 1.4 kilometers and see what this other spot looked like. it had been aggressively circled on the leaders map, but after the whole burnt-down-temple thing from the day before we wanted to know for sure. also, we thought there might be another team there already.
When you take those packs off, you seriously think you can fly. the run to the spot was great. and the spot was great too. there was no shelter, but there was no wind, either, and the ground had lots of pine needles and softness, and there was lots of wood. i ran back and told the group that i thought we should press on. by this point, they had all been sitting for about 30 minutes and were freezing cold, and had no desire to do anything. and it had gotten dark, and only half of the flashlights still worked, on account of the rain, we figured. it was a great team-building thing, though, and i think i'll confiscate half of the flashlights next year just for fun. it's very easy to be miserable and exhausted when all you have to think about is yourself, but when you have to think about others and how to serve them, you forget about your own body and needs and complaints. at least, thats the theory.
We finally got to the spot about an hour later, and the team declared it good. there was an overwhelming lack of enthusiasm to do anything, including making supper, collecting wood, collecting rocks for the fire pit, digging a fire pit, etc. and with only half the flashlights, everyone had to team up with someone, and they mostly just sat talking. after about 3 minutes, tyler gave his last motivational speech, and, in my opinion, his best one yet. he generally told them to get off their lazy butts and start working- nobody would eat or be warm if we didn't all start working. i still remember my favorite line "Sitting around is not an option!! Now MOVE!". i should take lessons. we had a fire and some rice/veggie gulash and some hot chocolate, all in record time. we all took a gamble that it wouldn't rain that night, and none of us put up fly sheets- we chose to take our chances and sleep under the stars. before i got to sleep i did get to have a unique experience: earthquakes in the wild. i've been through about a billion of them in my life, but never out in the woods. they are a lot quiter than i realized- at home there's always dishes clanking or something creaking. it lasted for about a minute, and it was a pretty strong one too. earthquakes don't scare me, but they do elicit a sort of panic/thrill response, even in the woods.
A secret- i hate hoppers. hoppers are the bastard child of a grasshopper and a cockroach, and they are evil. daddy long-legs i'm fine with. spiders and whatnot, i'm ok. i don't want them sharing my sleeping bag, but i'll pick them up and throw them somewhere else. not hoppers. i would willingly and joyfully kill any hopper that crosses my path. and, being in the woods of japan, there are quite a few in some places. these things are seriously beefy. the first night, tyler found one on his backpack while we were making camp. he tried to flick it off, and it just took it- didn't even phase the thing. it just kept climbing around on his bag being evil. i think i hate these things so much because their defense mechanism is to jump at your eyes. seriously. when something jumps at your face, your reflexive reaction is to jump back, and, in that moment of shock, the hopper makes his getaway. some things look evil as their defense mechanisms, or are poisonous or whatever. and i can respect that. hoppers, are just going above and beyond. they already look like something satan would find in his kitchen when he turns on the lights at night, there's no need for the whole jump-in-your-face thing. This is an important bit of information.
After supper, as i mentioned, we had hot chocolate. water may take about 2 minutes to boil on the stove, but in the woods over a fire, hot water is a luxury that takes about an hour to make. me and tyler had been asking the kids some questions, singing some songs, etc., and were now just letting them talk and tell stories and whatnot. suddenly tyler's whole body jerks, and he says "bleagh, a hopper just jumped on me". not that uncommon. about five minutes later, i decided i'm gonna check on the water, see how hot it is or fish out any bark or ash thats has blown into the water, and i see (shudder) much to my dismay, a dead hopper, floating belly up, being stewed in our cocoa water. i shut off my light before any of the kids notice, and sit down real fast. i leaned over to tyler and whispered in a terrified tone "there's a hopper... in our water." he gives me this "holy crap, you've gotta be kidding" look, then grabs a spoon and, without turning his light on, fishes it out of the water and throws it in the fire. this whole time the kids are oblivious. and they are so excited to have the cocoa- we passed around the packets, and everyone had cleaned out their cups and poured the powder in, and we even had some leftover powdered milk that we passed out for extra creaminess. it's a few hours after sunset, so its getting colder and colder, and we were all looking forward to our dessert, and then bed. and i couldn't do it. i -could not- tell the kids that there had been a hopper cooking in our water. some of them wouldn't have minded, but some of the girls would defiantly not have had any cocoa, and i really wanted them to. even harder than watching them drink the hopper-water, though, was me drinking the hopper water. if i hadn't had any, the kids would have noticed, and been very suspicious. and i really wanted it too- that last night was probably my coldest night, and i really wanted something to warm me up. so, in the end, i got my cocoa, and just chugged the whole thing, straight down. that way if i changed my mind i wouldn't have the time or ability to stop. i then gargled with listerene.
I wonder what the kids are gonna do to me if they ever find out about the hopper water...
October 14, 2004
October 12, 2004
day 2- tuesday
As we had gone to sleep that night, i remember thinking "well, this rain isn't so bad". i was mistaken. at the time, the rain was waiting for the perfect opportunity to cause the most misery. what we had at the time was the reconnaissance sprinkles. due to my sleep deprivation, i was asleep about 3 minutes after i laid down-roots, rocks and all. i awoke at some point to the sound of rain and realized i was getting a little wet through my sleeping bag and fleece liner. i poked my disheveled head out of my bag at what i was later told was about 3am to the horrible realization that my bed had become a river. tyler and i had given the kids all the good spots, of course, so i was sleeping on the trail, which was on a slight decline. my ground sheet, a rhombular piece of plastic not quite big enough for me to sleep on, had, to my horror, become a river bed, funneling the stream off the trail and right through my bed! i adjusted the sheet so the river didn't run through my sleeping bag, but the damage was already done. i looked around, noticed that tyler was awake too, and we just looked at eachother and laughed. all the kids were up, and some of them were sleeping in rivers and puddles too. we were all slowly freezing, so me and tyler decided that it was time for a night hike!
We broke camp and were hiking by about 4am. the kids asked me what time i thought it was and i would say horrible things like "well, it's probably about...mmm..11 at night". the funny thing is, i would say stuff like this all the time about distance, time, food breaks, etc., but they would never stop asking and believing what i thought. i love 'em. we hiked in typhoon-force rain for about 4 hours and we came upon a temple up in the woods. not that uncommon in japan. there was a shack outside the temple, and i noticed there was a stress camp-issue rain fly hanging outside it. the kids didn't notice it, and i was hoping we would get through without stopping, but we woke the other team up, and then all the friends had to talk forever. turns out that team made it to the shelter in time to stay pretty much dry, and had used part of the shelter to get their fire going, which they used to make a huge supper and baked apples. not good for my teams' morale.
So, we got going as soon as we could, out into the rain. we finally made it down the mountain at about 9:30 and found a little hikers pit stop in a little village, complete with bathrooms. there was a fire pit, but it had been bricked over and we weren't allowed to use it. we took the time for quiet times and journaling there; my journal entry is hilarious! as the entry goes on, my handwriting gets worse and worse as i sat there longer and longer and started falling asleep while journaling. i had to focus so intensely to get to the bottom of the page, at which point my handwriting gets pretty much illegible, my thoughts scattered, and i fell asleep.
We ended up stopping there for about 3 hours, which is too long to stop anywhere you aren't going to build a fire and make food. we started without breakfast, and since we couldn't get a fire going, we handed out a cold snack, which nobody seemed to mind. mostly we all just sat around not liking the fact that our combined telekinetic powers were doing nothing to stop the rain, and, in fact, seemed to be making it worse, which we hadn't thought possible.
We finally left the shelter to head up to an area that was circled on the leaders map, which in our experience meant there was a shelter there. it looked a little close to make camp, but tyler and i decided that we could stop there and hopefully make some food. and thus began what was in my mind the lowest point of stress camp. we got lost in the town- there should have been a trailhead, but instead there was just a few tiny roads going up into the hills. we wandered back and forth on a one mile stretch of road for about 2 hours, looking for this stupid trail. there was what we called the buddhist theme park, which cost ¥500, about $4 to go up this road that looked like it went the direction we wanted, but there's no way that we were gonna pay! so, we eventually found a trail that started after we went through someone's backyard and garden, but looked like it hadn't been used in about 10 years. sure enough, it petered out after about 500 meters, and the kids turned around and came back. at this point, me and tyler decided that we needed to get going. we were still about 20 minutes walk from the little hut we sat in for 3 hours, only now it was 2 hours later. me and him didn't know what was at that little circle on our map, but we hoped it was something awesome, cuz we were gonna get there, one way or another.
Turns out if someone has a bad attitude, telling them we are going to bushwhack in the rain only makes it worse. these kids did NOT want to go up that hillside. Guy, from the last entry, pretty much just refused. he told me there were dangerous landslides. he pointed to the sign that said "wildlife protection area" and told me he was morally opposed to breaking the law. he said it was impossible. he stood there, his feet apart, arms crossed, and shaking his head, refusing. meanwhile, everyone, including 4 girls, were already halfway up this hill. i couldn't believe it! Guy and another guy pretty much sulked the whole time- staying in the back, making everyone wait for them at every turn, dragging their feet and muttering to eachother how retarded this was. Guy told me, before he started the bushwhack, in response to my comment about how this was going to be fun, that he didn't like me, didn't like stress camp, didn't think i had any natural abilities in leading or surviving outdoors, and my very presence was offensive to him. *chuckle* kids will try anything. 2 days later he apologized to me, which was cool. i knew he didn't really mean it, or at least didn't really mean to say it out loud, but i just told him that i really didn't care if he like me or not- he was going to do what i said, and when he got back he could tell everyone what a jerk i was.
We ended up in the buddhist theme park, which we did not pay for, but we did get to see all the "sights", including statues, temples, bell towers, and random other sculptures of things with buddha over them. we took a break when we got onto the road that goes by all these, but i was hoping to find something that could offer us a little shelter from the incessant rain, so i scouted out a bell tower nearby and found that the door, which was about 4 feet tall, was not locked, and the bell tower, which was small, but 2 stories, was warm and dry. so, all 10 of them crammed into it while i went off to check on what the circle on our map might mean.
That was one of the hardest hikes of the entire stress camp. the trail was washed out, it was really really steep and slippery, with tons of switchbacks. i had to take my glasses off cuz they were steaming up from my body heat, which was radiating off of me in spite of the rain. if we had taken the kids up there, they would have mutinied- there was nothing at the top. where the map had a shinto shrine marked, and some past leader had circled, there was only a foundation. i stared for a few minutes before i realized what had happened- it had burnt down. all the trees around the foundation were scorched and dead or dying, and there was a soggy pile of charred wood that had once been the temple. i stayed up there long enough to get my breath back, then went back down to tell tyler what i had found.
We looked at the maps, and realized that for us to make it back to the camp we were aiming for, we would have to travel about 3 times farther the next day than we did on that day- more than we had already hiked on both days combined! that stress us out. then we looked at the map and agreed that there was most likely not anywhere else we would find shelter, which we both wanted almost as bad as the kids wanted it. but also, we didn't want them to freeze. so, we decided to camp in the bell tower that night. here's a pic of the not-so-warm-but-dry bell tower:
We set up some fly sheets outside so we could make a fire, had the kids go collect wood, which they did grudgingly, and we ended up with our first hot meal-stew! well, more like hard vegetables in lukewarm water, but at least it was lukewarm. and there were so, SO many onions in it. i ended up with a cup of warm water and onions. no good. there were a few stressful moments in the tower, like when i was standing on top and a guy in a truck drives by and stares at me, and our eyes lock and i make eye contact with him. i was convinced, and tyler was too, that he was a caretaker and was coming back with police. but we told the kids that jail would be warm and dry and there would be food, so they didn't care. we stuck the guys upstairs and left the gals downstairs, which was warmer due to the lack of wind chill. as before, i was asleep almost instantly, praying the most sincere prayers of my life that God would take the rain away like the weatherman had promised.
As we had gone to sleep that night, i remember thinking "well, this rain isn't so bad". i was mistaken. at the time, the rain was waiting for the perfect opportunity to cause the most misery. what we had at the time was the reconnaissance sprinkles. due to my sleep deprivation, i was asleep about 3 minutes after i laid down-roots, rocks and all. i awoke at some point to the sound of rain and realized i was getting a little wet through my sleeping bag and fleece liner. i poked my disheveled head out of my bag at what i was later told was about 3am to the horrible realization that my bed had become a river. tyler and i had given the kids all the good spots, of course, so i was sleeping on the trail, which was on a slight decline. my ground sheet, a rhombular piece of plastic not quite big enough for me to sleep on, had, to my horror, become a river bed, funneling the stream off the trail and right through my bed! i adjusted the sheet so the river didn't run through my sleeping bag, but the damage was already done. i looked around, noticed that tyler was awake too, and we just looked at eachother and laughed. all the kids were up, and some of them were sleeping in rivers and puddles too. we were all slowly freezing, so me and tyler decided that it was time for a night hike!
We broke camp and were hiking by about 4am. the kids asked me what time i thought it was and i would say horrible things like "well, it's probably about...mmm..11 at night". the funny thing is, i would say stuff like this all the time about distance, time, food breaks, etc., but they would never stop asking and believing what i thought. i love 'em. we hiked in typhoon-force rain for about 4 hours and we came upon a temple up in the woods. not that uncommon in japan. there was a shack outside the temple, and i noticed there was a stress camp-issue rain fly hanging outside it. the kids didn't notice it, and i was hoping we would get through without stopping, but we woke the other team up, and then all the friends had to talk forever. turns out that team made it to the shelter in time to stay pretty much dry, and had used part of the shelter to get their fire going, which they used to make a huge supper and baked apples. not good for my teams' morale.
So, we got going as soon as we could, out into the rain. we finally made it down the mountain at about 9:30 and found a little hikers pit stop in a little village, complete with bathrooms. there was a fire pit, but it had been bricked over and we weren't allowed to use it. we took the time for quiet times and journaling there; my journal entry is hilarious! as the entry goes on, my handwriting gets worse and worse as i sat there longer and longer and started falling asleep while journaling. i had to focus so intensely to get to the bottom of the page, at which point my handwriting gets pretty much illegible, my thoughts scattered, and i fell asleep.
We ended up stopping there for about 3 hours, which is too long to stop anywhere you aren't going to build a fire and make food. we started without breakfast, and since we couldn't get a fire going, we handed out a cold snack, which nobody seemed to mind. mostly we all just sat around not liking the fact that our combined telekinetic powers were doing nothing to stop the rain, and, in fact, seemed to be making it worse, which we hadn't thought possible.
We finally left the shelter to head up to an area that was circled on the leaders map, which in our experience meant there was a shelter there. it looked a little close to make camp, but tyler and i decided that we could stop there and hopefully make some food. and thus began what was in my mind the lowest point of stress camp. we got lost in the town- there should have been a trailhead, but instead there was just a few tiny roads going up into the hills. we wandered back and forth on a one mile stretch of road for about 2 hours, looking for this stupid trail. there was what we called the buddhist theme park, which cost ¥500, about $4 to go up this road that looked like it went the direction we wanted, but there's no way that we were gonna pay! so, we eventually found a trail that started after we went through someone's backyard and garden, but looked like it hadn't been used in about 10 years. sure enough, it petered out after about 500 meters, and the kids turned around and came back. at this point, me and tyler decided that we needed to get going. we were still about 20 minutes walk from the little hut we sat in for 3 hours, only now it was 2 hours later. me and him didn't know what was at that little circle on our map, but we hoped it was something awesome, cuz we were gonna get there, one way or another.
Turns out if someone has a bad attitude, telling them we are going to bushwhack in the rain only makes it worse. these kids did NOT want to go up that hillside. Guy, from the last entry, pretty much just refused. he told me there were dangerous landslides. he pointed to the sign that said "wildlife protection area" and told me he was morally opposed to breaking the law. he said it was impossible. he stood there, his feet apart, arms crossed, and shaking his head, refusing. meanwhile, everyone, including 4 girls, were already halfway up this hill. i couldn't believe it! Guy and another guy pretty much sulked the whole time- staying in the back, making everyone wait for them at every turn, dragging their feet and muttering to eachother how retarded this was. Guy told me, before he started the bushwhack, in response to my comment about how this was going to be fun, that he didn't like me, didn't like stress camp, didn't think i had any natural abilities in leading or surviving outdoors, and my very presence was offensive to him. *chuckle* kids will try anything. 2 days later he apologized to me, which was cool. i knew he didn't really mean it, or at least didn't really mean to say it out loud, but i just told him that i really didn't care if he like me or not- he was going to do what i said, and when he got back he could tell everyone what a jerk i was.
We ended up in the buddhist theme park, which we did not pay for, but we did get to see all the "sights", including statues, temples, bell towers, and random other sculptures of things with buddha over them. we took a break when we got onto the road that goes by all these, but i was hoping to find something that could offer us a little shelter from the incessant rain, so i scouted out a bell tower nearby and found that the door, which was about 4 feet tall, was not locked, and the bell tower, which was small, but 2 stories, was warm and dry. so, all 10 of them crammed into it while i went off to check on what the circle on our map might mean.
That was one of the hardest hikes of the entire stress camp. the trail was washed out, it was really really steep and slippery, with tons of switchbacks. i had to take my glasses off cuz they were steaming up from my body heat, which was radiating off of me in spite of the rain. if we had taken the kids up there, they would have mutinied- there was nothing at the top. where the map had a shinto shrine marked, and some past leader had circled, there was only a foundation. i stared for a few minutes before i realized what had happened- it had burnt down. all the trees around the foundation were scorched and dead or dying, and there was a soggy pile of charred wood that had once been the temple. i stayed up there long enough to get my breath back, then went back down to tell tyler what i had found.
We looked at the maps, and realized that for us to make it back to the camp we were aiming for, we would have to travel about 3 times farther the next day than we did on that day- more than we had already hiked on both days combined! that stress us out. then we looked at the map and agreed that there was most likely not anywhere else we would find shelter, which we both wanted almost as bad as the kids wanted it. but also, we didn't want them to freeze. so, we decided to camp in the bell tower that night. here's a pic of the not-so-warm-but-dry bell tower:
We set up some fly sheets outside so we could make a fire, had the kids go collect wood, which they did grudgingly, and we ended up with our first hot meal-stew! well, more like hard vegetables in lukewarm water, but at least it was lukewarm. and there were so, SO many onions in it. i ended up with a cup of warm water and onions. no good. there were a few stressful moments in the tower, like when i was standing on top and a guy in a truck drives by and stares at me, and our eyes lock and i make eye contact with him. i was convinced, and tyler was too, that he was a caretaker and was coming back with police. but we told the kids that jail would be warm and dry and there would be food, so they didn't care. we stuck the guys upstairs and left the gals downstairs, which was warmer due to the lack of wind chill. as before, i was asleep almost instantly, praying the most sincere prayers of my life that God would take the rain away like the weatherman had promised.
October 09, 2004
STRESS CAMP!!!
As i explained in my last entry, the one no doubt everyone has read, stress camp is the time of year when the entire junior class of caj goes out backpacking for 4 days and 3 nights. there are frame packs and sleeping bags you can rent, and they make all your meals for you to carry and give you maps and a compass and (hopefully) two adult leaders who give the map and compass to the kids and don't tell them when they are getting lost. it's great. because i know that long entries get skimmed (insert shaking fist), i'm going to create four entries in four days, one for each day of stress camp. also, since this is going to be something of a journal, there will be very few or no hidden links. if you don't know what i'm talking about, good.
DAY 1-monday
Church work had been keeping me very busy, and i'd been getting about 4 hours of sleep for 3 nights straight. i got home from an exhausting day and had to pack my backpack (i own an internal frame pack), which i did a little too slowly. so, i start stress camp sleep deprived. a few days earlier i had bought scotch guard, which you spray on stuff to make it waterproof. the morning of stress camp i had to bike to school 15 minutes with my pack in the rain, and by the time i got to school my shoes were soaked. so much for that idea.
I had already gotten the list of the kids that were going to be in my group, which is a closely guarded secret, mostly cuz it changes without warning and we don't want the kids to be really disappointed. i was a little disappointed that i only knew one person in my group of 9, but i figured we would all know eachother well enough by the end. which was sort of true, but sort of not.
My group was the what i call the "consolation prize" group. not a single person in the group was athletic, almost all of them were shy-only a few of them would even talk to eachother, and they almost never talked to anyone other than the one or two people they were closest to. all this made for a very quiet stress camp, which is a bummer, since there are so many opportunities for bonding and inside jokes. i was the assistant leader, having last gone on stress camp back in good old 1996, but the actual leader had only gone once before too- last year he was the assistant leader to mr. eby, who has been leading stress camps since about '85, and had whole hundreds of square kilometers of trails memorized. so tyler collins, the leader, never even looked at a map last year. between the two of us it's a wonder we got back at all. which we did, eventually...
By the time we got off the train, at about 11:30, the rain had turned into a not-that-unpleasant drizzle. we picked our first 2 student leaders alphabetically, went over how to use a map and compass again, this time with the kids actually paying attention, filled up our water bottles, and set off. right away we ran into a problem. we needed to cross a little river to get into the woods where the trail started. the map only has one bridge marked, but there are actually two- the first one goes to some logging or construction thing, and is not the one we want. i didn't remember at first that us adult leaders had been warned about the bridge scenario, but once the team started fighting about it i did. of course, i said nothing to the kids. we had 4 days to go 2 days walking- getting lost is part of stress camp. the girl leader was pretty certain that this was the way we were supposed to go, but her co-leader wasn't so sure. in fact, all he ever said was no. when i gave him the map and asked him to lead us to where he thought we should go, he wanted to go back to the train station and back to school. and then there was another guy, whom i shall call Guy, who was not leading, but second-guessed all the decisions the girl leader made, even going so far as to snatch the map and compass from her hands. (sigh) they are so much younger than they realize. quote from this scenario: Guy-"we can't go that way, there's not a trail!" Ryan-"just because there's no trail doesn't mean we can't hike to one" Guy-"i'm not going"
We ended up going up about 30 minutes, spending another 30 minutes listening to the kids argue, and then we finally put it to a vote. the majority won- we were going back down. this was, of course, the right way, but it was really bad for team dynamics. it drove a wedge between certain members of the group.
We hiked through the drizzle to a temple that i've been to before with my family, and we stopped there for a snack and a quiet time break. only about half the kids actually brought their journal/bible, so they wouldn't shut up until tyler, being the great motivational speaker that he is, announced that the next person to talk would be carrying his pack. silence reigned for about 15 minutes.
In retrospect, we should have camped there and pushed hard the next day. me and tyler didn't know the mountains real well, and we had (and for the most part, have) no idea where shelters are up there. at that point we had gone about half the distance the other groups had gone, mostly due to the fact that Guy would second-guess the leaders at every single fork in the road, and we would stop for about 10 minutes while we tried to sort out exactly where we were. as it is, we pushed on through the temple and kept going. there was a clock there (the kids aren't allowed to know what time it is) but i don't remember what the time was. probably something like 3:30.
As we kept hiking, it was impossible for us to accurately guess the time, what with the overcast, and, more importantly, gauge how much sun we had left to hopefully find shelter from the rain and make camp. we finally found a spot that was passable well after dark, and had to show the kids how to set up their rain fly and ground sheets by the light of our flashlights. we got some kids to start collecting wood, and some others to get to work shaving off the outer layers that were wet. we never actually got a self-sustaining fire going, but we did use about 200 matches. after i worked on the fire for about an hour, we decided that instead of having supper, which required a fire, we were going to have tuesdays lunch, which was one slice of bread, cherry jam, and three mini cans of fruit, which we had to split 11 ways. we all got like 3 tiny bits of pineapple. but, we were all more cold than hungry, so i don't think anyone minded not eating much, we were all just happy to get warm in our sleeping bags. we gave the kids all the good spots, of course, so i ended up on the trail and tyler ended up in a spot that have two huge roots so close together that he couldn't move at all during the night. not that we ended up being there very long in the end anyways...
And thus the sun set on the first day of camp. i was feeling pretty good, but trying to remember if i was ever so immature. whether i was or not, i realized that stress camp is a huge event in the lives of these kids- anyone who has ever gone on one tells stories about it for the rest of their life. i was pretty happy to be able to be a part of that.
As i explained in my last entry, the one no doubt everyone has read, stress camp is the time of year when the entire junior class of caj goes out backpacking for 4 days and 3 nights. there are frame packs and sleeping bags you can rent, and they make all your meals for you to carry and give you maps and a compass and (hopefully) two adult leaders who give the map and compass to the kids and don't tell them when they are getting lost. it's great. because i know that long entries get skimmed (insert shaking fist), i'm going to create four entries in four days, one for each day of stress camp. also, since this is going to be something of a journal, there will be very few or no hidden links. if you don't know what i'm talking about, good.
DAY 1-monday
Church work had been keeping me very busy, and i'd been getting about 4 hours of sleep for 3 nights straight. i got home from an exhausting day and had to pack my backpack (i own an internal frame pack), which i did a little too slowly. so, i start stress camp sleep deprived. a few days earlier i had bought scotch guard, which you spray on stuff to make it waterproof. the morning of stress camp i had to bike to school 15 minutes with my pack in the rain, and by the time i got to school my shoes were soaked. so much for that idea.
I had already gotten the list of the kids that were going to be in my group, which is a closely guarded secret, mostly cuz it changes without warning and we don't want the kids to be really disappointed. i was a little disappointed that i only knew one person in my group of 9, but i figured we would all know eachother well enough by the end. which was sort of true, but sort of not.
My group was the what i call the "consolation prize" group. not a single person in the group was athletic, almost all of them were shy-only a few of them would even talk to eachother, and they almost never talked to anyone other than the one or two people they were closest to. all this made for a very quiet stress camp, which is a bummer, since there are so many opportunities for bonding and inside jokes. i was the assistant leader, having last gone on stress camp back in good old 1996, but the actual leader had only gone once before too- last year he was the assistant leader to mr. eby, who has been leading stress camps since about '85, and had whole hundreds of square kilometers of trails memorized. so tyler collins, the leader, never even looked at a map last year. between the two of us it's a wonder we got back at all. which we did, eventually...
By the time we got off the train, at about 11:30, the rain had turned into a not-that-unpleasant drizzle. we picked our first 2 student leaders alphabetically, went over how to use a map and compass again, this time with the kids actually paying attention, filled up our water bottles, and set off. right away we ran into a problem. we needed to cross a little river to get into the woods where the trail started. the map only has one bridge marked, but there are actually two- the first one goes to some logging or construction thing, and is not the one we want. i didn't remember at first that us adult leaders had been warned about the bridge scenario, but once the team started fighting about it i did. of course, i said nothing to the kids. we had 4 days to go 2 days walking- getting lost is part of stress camp. the girl leader was pretty certain that this was the way we were supposed to go, but her co-leader wasn't so sure. in fact, all he ever said was no. when i gave him the map and asked him to lead us to where he thought we should go, he wanted to go back to the train station and back to school. and then there was another guy, whom i shall call Guy, who was not leading, but second-guessed all the decisions the girl leader made, even going so far as to snatch the map and compass from her hands. (sigh) they are so much younger than they realize. quote from this scenario: Guy-"we can't go that way, there's not a trail!" Ryan-"just because there's no trail doesn't mean we can't hike to one" Guy-"i'm not going"
We ended up going up about 30 minutes, spending another 30 minutes listening to the kids argue, and then we finally put it to a vote. the majority won- we were going back down. this was, of course, the right way, but it was really bad for team dynamics. it drove a wedge between certain members of the group.
We hiked through the drizzle to a temple that i've been to before with my family, and we stopped there for a snack and a quiet time break. only about half the kids actually brought their journal/bible, so they wouldn't shut up until tyler, being the great motivational speaker that he is, announced that the next person to talk would be carrying his pack. silence reigned for about 15 minutes.
In retrospect, we should have camped there and pushed hard the next day. me and tyler didn't know the mountains real well, and we had (and for the most part, have) no idea where shelters are up there. at that point we had gone about half the distance the other groups had gone, mostly due to the fact that Guy would second-guess the leaders at every single fork in the road, and we would stop for about 10 minutes while we tried to sort out exactly where we were. as it is, we pushed on through the temple and kept going. there was a clock there (the kids aren't allowed to know what time it is) but i don't remember what the time was. probably something like 3:30.
As we kept hiking, it was impossible for us to accurately guess the time, what with the overcast, and, more importantly, gauge how much sun we had left to hopefully find shelter from the rain and make camp. we finally found a spot that was passable well after dark, and had to show the kids how to set up their rain fly and ground sheets by the light of our flashlights. we got some kids to start collecting wood, and some others to get to work shaving off the outer layers that were wet. we never actually got a self-sustaining fire going, but we did use about 200 matches. after i worked on the fire for about an hour, we decided that instead of having supper, which required a fire, we were going to have tuesdays lunch, which was one slice of bread, cherry jam, and three mini cans of fruit, which we had to split 11 ways. we all got like 3 tiny bits of pineapple. but, we were all more cold than hungry, so i don't think anyone minded not eating much, we were all just happy to get warm in our sleeping bags. we gave the kids all the good spots, of course, so i ended up on the trail and tyler ended up in a spot that have two huge roots so close together that he couldn't move at all during the night. not that we ended up being there very long in the end anyways...
And thus the sun set on the first day of camp. i was feeling pretty good, but trying to remember if i was ever so immature. whether i was or not, i realized that stress camp is a huge event in the lives of these kids- anyone who has ever gone on one tells stories about it for the rest of their life. i was pretty happy to be able to be a part of that.
October 01, 2004
Seems there was a huge typhoon over here and people died. that sort of thing makes me think i should at least get japanese antenna based peasant-vision, as i didn't even know about it till a friend from americatown emailed me about it. how did he find out? all i knew of this typhoon is that in the 3 minutes it took me to bike to the grocery store i got soaked to the skin- through a jacket, t-shirt,thermal and my jeans/pj pants. i'm still suffering the consequences, though. the my bike seat has a tear in it, and i'm pretty sure it absorbed all 18 gallons of water that fell on it. the rain stopped 2 days ago, and still when i ride my bicycle i end up with a wet spot on my butt.
But enough about my butt, lets talk about the rest of me. last thursday (the 23rd one, not the 30th one) i was suffering the consequences of a poorly run leaders meeting. we shall call such meetings "incandescence", for lack of a current, cooler name, actually spellable by the general public. so, on that thursday, i came home late, slept in late, and generally felt depressed and discouraged and whatnot. this thursday i had more stuff planned, and ran a slighly tighter ship, but i felt the same way at the end of it, only this time i recognized it as a recurring theme from thursday nights, so i didn't take it too seriously. so, i realized, something must change about thursday nights. we have fun hanging out and chatting and stuff, but i had/have expectations about how the time will be used which, i realized on my way home last night, i've never shared with them. and they leave me feeling depressed and unaccomplished because we spend two hours talking about life, school, and friends, and only the last 20 minutes talking from the Bible, but they don't know that i expect that hour one should be social, hour two planning, and hour three spiritual. so of course i'm gonna feel like i've failed if they don't meet my unspoken expectations! cuz they don't know what they are, until they become my spoken expectations. then my wrath and judgement will fall on them from on high if they are distracting.
This sunday marks the fourth JAM since i started here. it feels like i've been doing this forever, or at least more than a month. well, JAM anyways. as you can tell from my last paragraph, there are still some things to be ironed out in other places. the first and second JAMs just exhausted me. that's what happens to me after i'm stressed for a long time. and by a long time i mean 5 minutes. after those first 2 JAMs, i came home at like 8:30pm and crashed on the couch. i was seriously useless for the rest of the night. now that we're figuring out a little about how it works and what not to do and stuff, it's a lot less stressfull. that and i have everyone come a full hour early to help set up, just in case we have any panic! moments, like the overhead is gone, or it's raining so we can't play our outside game. now i just need to get the HS youth group off the ground.
Haha, not soon, though. one of the pastors is in americaville right now getting medical checkups for 2 weeks, so i'm leading worship in church for the next 2 sundays, as well as doing everything else he does, like get there at 7 (shudder). the other 2 pastors are leaving the week before he gets back, so after i lead worship for 2 weeks i'm preaching the sermon. i think the funniest part is that for about 3 days, i will be all the pastor that my church has. if i wanted to call an emergency counsel meeing, i could do that. or if i wanted to cancel church, i could do that. or if i wanted to announce a tent revival meeting for next sunday, i could do that. or if i wanted to ask the congregation to show their church spirit by celebrating "crazy sock-puppet sunday", i could do that. how funny is it that i graduated from college like 5 months ago, not really having any idea what i wanted to do with my life, not knowing what i wanted to do when i grow up, and now i'm in charge of leading worship, preaching, middle and high school sunday schools, middle and high school youth groups, and for all of three days, i will be the most senior member of the pastoral staff around to run church.
Actually, when i put it that way, i don't think i want most of those things. all i really want is time with the kids. which all these extra responsibilities is taking me away from. hmmm...
I'll be on "stress camp" from monday to thursday of this next week, which i think will make up for time i've lost with the kids. every junior class of CAJ spends 4 days hiking around in the wild outback of japan in groups of about 6 or 7. i'm an assistant leader! we pack everything we'll need for all four days in our packs. it's a great time for experientially learning lots of crappy things about yourself, as well as crappy things about other people. but, somehow, in the end, it's one of the most bonding experiences. i'm looking forward to the chance to get to know the kids in my group better. when i went on stress camp my junior year, i was much more excited than i should have been. it started raining the second morning, and didn't stop for like 2 weeks. the leaders in my group were great people, but neither of them had led the thing before. so, instead of walking on trails, getting eachother lost when we took our turns running the map and compass, we walked on roads the whole time with our adult leaders in front, fearlessly leading the way, and shamelessly stealing a potentially amazing learning experience. IT SHALL NOT BE SO AGAIN!! i just found out that i'm going with someone named....tyler collins. i have no idea who he is, or what his theories on stress camp are, but i hope he knows what he's doing.
You who check up on this blog faithfully are invited to pray for me and the other leader and the group of kids that we'll be with. this is a very intense time for some of them, and therefore a time when they will have great potential to grow and mature. so, you can pray for them, and also for me, that i would know what and how to say what they need to hear to push and challenge them mentally, and physically too. and for meaningful relationships to be formed between the kids as well as with me. give me about a week and i'll let you all know how it went!
But enough about my butt, lets talk about the rest of me. last thursday (the 23rd one, not the 30th one) i was suffering the consequences of a poorly run leaders meeting. we shall call such meetings "incandescence", for lack of a current, cooler name, actually spellable by the general public. so, on that thursday, i came home late, slept in late, and generally felt depressed and discouraged and whatnot. this thursday i had more stuff planned, and ran a slighly tighter ship, but i felt the same way at the end of it, only this time i recognized it as a recurring theme from thursday nights, so i didn't take it too seriously. so, i realized, something must change about thursday nights. we have fun hanging out and chatting and stuff, but i had/have expectations about how the time will be used which, i realized on my way home last night, i've never shared with them. and they leave me feeling depressed and unaccomplished because we spend two hours talking about life, school, and friends, and only the last 20 minutes talking from the Bible, but they don't know that i expect that hour one should be social, hour two planning, and hour three spiritual. so of course i'm gonna feel like i've failed if they don't meet my unspoken expectations! cuz they don't know what they are, until they become my spoken expectations. then my wrath and judgement will fall on them from on high if they are distracting.
This sunday marks the fourth JAM since i started here. it feels like i've been doing this forever, or at least more than a month. well, JAM anyways. as you can tell from my last paragraph, there are still some things to be ironed out in other places. the first and second JAMs just exhausted me. that's what happens to me after i'm stressed for a long time. and by a long time i mean 5 minutes. after those first 2 JAMs, i came home at like 8:30pm and crashed on the couch. i was seriously useless for the rest of the night. now that we're figuring out a little about how it works and what not to do and stuff, it's a lot less stressfull. that and i have everyone come a full hour early to help set up, just in case we have any panic! moments, like the overhead is gone, or it's raining so we can't play our outside game. now i just need to get the HS youth group off the ground.
Haha, not soon, though. one of the pastors is in americaville right now getting medical checkups for 2 weeks, so i'm leading worship in church for the next 2 sundays, as well as doing everything else he does, like get there at 7 (shudder). the other 2 pastors are leaving the week before he gets back, so after i lead worship for 2 weeks i'm preaching the sermon. i think the funniest part is that for about 3 days, i will be all the pastor that my church has. if i wanted to call an emergency counsel meeing, i could do that. or if i wanted to cancel church, i could do that. or if i wanted to announce a tent revival meeting for next sunday, i could do that. or if i wanted to ask the congregation to show their church spirit by celebrating "crazy sock-puppet sunday", i could do that. how funny is it that i graduated from college like 5 months ago, not really having any idea what i wanted to do with my life, not knowing what i wanted to do when i grow up, and now i'm in charge of leading worship, preaching, middle and high school sunday schools, middle and high school youth groups, and for all of three days, i will be the most senior member of the pastoral staff around to run church.
Actually, when i put it that way, i don't think i want most of those things. all i really want is time with the kids. which all these extra responsibilities is taking me away from. hmmm...
I'll be on "stress camp" from monday to thursday of this next week, which i think will make up for time i've lost with the kids. every junior class of CAJ spends 4 days hiking around in the wild outback of japan in groups of about 6 or 7. i'm an assistant leader! we pack everything we'll need for all four days in our packs. it's a great time for experientially learning lots of crappy things about yourself, as well as crappy things about other people. but, somehow, in the end, it's one of the most bonding experiences. i'm looking forward to the chance to get to know the kids in my group better. when i went on stress camp my junior year, i was much more excited than i should have been. it started raining the second morning, and didn't stop for like 2 weeks. the leaders in my group were great people, but neither of them had led the thing before. so, instead of walking on trails, getting eachother lost when we took our turns running the map and compass, we walked on roads the whole time with our adult leaders in front, fearlessly leading the way, and shamelessly stealing a potentially amazing learning experience. IT SHALL NOT BE SO AGAIN!! i just found out that i'm going with someone named....tyler collins. i have no idea who he is, or what his theories on stress camp are, but i hope he knows what he's doing.
You who check up on this blog faithfully are invited to pray for me and the other leader and the group of kids that we'll be with. this is a very intense time for some of them, and therefore a time when they will have great potential to grow and mature. so, you can pray for them, and also for me, that i would know what and how to say what they need to hear to push and challenge them mentally, and physically too. and for meaningful relationships to be formed between the kids as well as with me. give me about a week and i'll let you all know how it went!
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