We have now been working with the kiddos for a week and a half. They are so cute! I am the lead teacher for the 3-5 yr olds. We have several who only speak a little English. It is so fun to learn Japanese words while they are learning English words. The first week our theme for camp was pirates. We made pirate hats, hooks, eye patches, swords, mosaic boats, and the pirates friend parrot. We taught the kids about maps, telescopes, and catapults. Every day the kids looked for a different part of a treasure map and on Friday they had a treasure hunt. The treasure included candy, pencils, erasers, and shiny beans. They loved it. Also on Friday we had a barbecue and ate hamburgers and hot dogs for lunch. In the afternoon we watched Peter Pan.

 This week the them for the week is animals. So far we have talked about zoos and safaris. The kids have made paper plate animals and a safari back pack. They have enjoyed pretending to be different kinds of animals and making animal noises.

I love seeing the children's lunches they bring. They are so creative and cute! Their moms or nannies make them with cute rice ball wrappers, seaweed faces, and animal picks. They pack them in cute little boxes and include placemats, cute silverware or chopstick holders, and wet towels to wipe their hands and face.

The lunches the kids bring are called bentos. You can also get them at convenient stores. I have had several since I've been here and they are pretty good. I also enjoy eating Ramen and rice bowls. I love drinking milk tea!

The weather has been relatively cool with just a couple of days of rain. It was only really rainy one day, the day I survived my first experience with a typhoon!

When we aren't working with kids, we've been out doing more sight seeing. This past weekend we went to Tokyo Tower, the Imperial Palace, the Zojoji Temple, and the Meiju Jingu Shrine. We also saw a different perspective of the Shibuya intersection and the Tokyo skyline at night.

Off to Tokyo Disney this weekend! I'll let you know how that is in my next post. Hope all my friends in Texas are surviving the heat! Praying for those in Colorado enduring the wildfires. 

From Tokyo, With Love,
Rachael

I have now been in Tokyo for a week, and what a week it has been! On Tuesday we went to work and planned for the rest of the weeks of camp and practiced playing games that we will teach the kids. There was a lot of drama because our working hours changed and several people got upset. We stayed until 5:30 when originally the plan was 4:30. The schedule will all work out though. For lunch that day we went to a pretty neat hole in the wall Japanese place. I got some friend fish and rice, miso soup, and green tea. After work it was raining and we were tired and so we went back to the hotel for dinner and just hung out there the rest of the night.
On Wednesday, Shannon woke me up early because she was hungry and wanted to eat. So we went to breakfast and had the delicious buffet at our hotel. This day at work, we had to meet about the hours and smooth things out.  Then we played another game, and worked on crafts the rest of the day. For lunch we walked to 7/11. The 7/11's here have so much more than convenient stores at home! I got a rice bowl with cheese and shrimp. After work we rode the subway to Shibuya which is the busiest intersection in the world! There definitely were a lot of people! We took a picture with the famous Hachi dog statue and people watched. Then we rode to Harajuku and ate at the Mc Donalds where I got a shrimp filet on a bun. After dinner we had crepes!
Thursday was another day of crafts at work. We ate dinner at a British pub and then came back to the hotel.
Friday we went over drop off and pick up for the first day with kiddos, worked on more crafts, and then had a practice barbecue because we will barbecue every Friday. After work, we hung out at the hotel for a bit and then went to get Yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick) and grilled rice balls. We had dinner reservations at a Ninja themed restaurant, but ate first so we wouldn't be tempted to buy to much that we couldn't afford at the restaurant. The restaurant was pretty cool! A ninja greeted us and took us through a tunnel like maze to get to our seat. He did some tricks, such as hanging on the ceiling, on the way. We ordered some appetizers and our ninja waiter did a trick with each one!
Saturday was a long day! We woke up and had breakfast at the hotel and did laundry at the same time. Then we walked from 12 to about 9ish! It was raining all day, but we still managed to have fun! We went to Shidome City Center and had lunch on the 41st floor! Then we went through the Panasonic Live Center. It shows all the improvements you can get for your home from Panasonic. Then we walked and looked through some shops. We went to the beautiful Hama - rikyu gardens! Even in the rain it was gorgeous! After the gardens we went to the area of Tokyo known as Shinjuku had dinner at Sukiya which serves rice bowls. This area is a big shopping area so of course we walked around and mainly looked at Forever 21. We got crepes for dessert and then headed home.
Today was another long day! We headed out at 1ish and got back about 9:30. We went to Odaiba by subway and train. This is a newer shopping section of Japan. Here they will soon have and Old Navy. They also have a huge Hello Kitty store! Outside the building, they have a huge Gundam robot statue.  We also walked through the Mega Web Toyota City Showcase which has the newest Toyota models.Then we rode a boat all the way down Tokyo Bay! It was beautiful! We walked from the bay through an area of Tokyo called Asakusa. This is an older part of the city. There we saw the Sensoji Temple. It is one of Tokyo's oldest temples.
Well, that is all for tonight! We have our first day with kiddos tomorrow! More to come soon!
From Tokyo, with love,
Rachael

Today was my first full day in Tokyo. I woke up almost every hour from two until 6:15 when I got up. The sun comes up at 4am! We met most of our group that will be working at the camp in the lobby of the hotel and rode the subway one stop away. Then we walked what seemed like forever before we got to the embassy compound where the summer camp is taking place. We got uniform shirts and met up with the rest of the group. We walked to the actual embassy and had briefings from the medical division, American Citizen services division,  Community Liaison divisions, and the Regional Security Office. Then, we had lunch at a Hawaiian restaurant. We went back to the compound and worked on organizing the supplies and making sure we understood the schedules. After work, some of my coworkers and I (Shannon, Lycell, and Jose) went to the Miro Tower. The tower has a skydeck where you can view all of Tokyo! After the tower, we went and ate dinner at a Ramen place. Pretty good for the first day!

 From Tokyo, with Love,

Rachael