12/26-28 Okayama Camp

The day after Christmas, I was going on to a "Christian Camp" with the members of the Ehime University Christian Student Association. As part of the Chu-Shikoku region of Japan in the national "Christian Student Association" they were assembling everyone in a clubhouse on the coast in the city of Okayama from as far west as Yamaguchi, as far east as Kobe, and everyone off the island of Shikoku. The plan was for us who were in Shikoku to meet in the city of Takamatsu in Kagawa prefecture, and our club advisor A-chan would drive us to Okayama. Because I was poor, I had to take the cheapest train, AKA the Local which stops at every station between Matsuyama and Takamatsu for a total journey of four and a half hours.  However, one of the other club members, the English-learning drummer Rinka (the GOAT) wanted to help me make sure I would make it so she went with me. My train departed at 5:53 AM and arrived at 10:23 AM. The journey was about 114 miles. I got to see some very nice scenery though!

When we arrived, I admired how nice the station was, only for A-chan to tell me that "Oh no, Takamatsu is actually not very fancy at all." We picked up some students from Kochi Prefectural University named Masaki and Sara (who are awesome) and who I nicknamed Masa-kun and Sarah-chan. We also met up with another Ehime University student who took the faster train, Misaki. Basically, A-chan drove us all the way to Okayama (which reminded me a lot of California's landscape for some reason) and we stopped at a supermarket. I got some fried seasonal vegetables and something else, which the group thought was a funny combination. We arrived at the clubhouse and ate lunch. I met some of the others who came for the trip. One of them was named Hannah, who is half-Japanese. Her father is an Armenian-American from the midwest who moved to Japan. She could speak some English. There were two funny twins brothers, Etsugi and Eiki who would do comedic routines at night. A Korean girl name Heeyeon, the other "foreigner." There was another guy, I think Ryotaro who tried very hard to get me engaging with the rest of the group, and loved practicing English with me. One of the chaperones (I don't remember his name) tried to connect with me by talking about his time in Fresno and going to Yosemite valley.

Over the course of camp we would cook meals, sing songs, do Bible study, play board games, and overall just pretend like we "lived" with each other. At night was a new experience, we would take baths together, which I wasn't quite ready for. I let A-chan (Atsuki) know, and he said no problem I can just go in after everyone was done. Then at night, all the guys shared the second floor of a bunkhouse, I guess, adjacent to the clubhouse which was really fun.

On the 27th, the only full day, we had an excursion where me and a few other students went to the Bizen village in Okayama. We visited a very old, large British Holiness Church, and had a tour. It was interesting how they incorporated Japanese elements into parts of the building and added newer areas onto the side. Plus, we climbed onto the roof and watched the Shinkansen! After that, we went across the street to a soy sauce and ponzu maker's shop, and tried their special ice cream. Ponzu is a type of citrus sauce, and since I knew what soy sauce tasted like I tried the ice cream version of ponzu. I did not like it. The others said that their soy sauce ice cream was good though. When we were finished we drove to an old neighborhood famous for pottery where we got to handmake our own cups. Later they were shipped to us and I received a handwritten letter thanking me.

The next day was our last day, so we did everything we needed to and left around lunch. But before leaving, Eiki decided to walk down to the coast, and as I wanted to see I went down with him. A-chan drove me back to Takamatsu, where he took me to a udon shop (udon is famous of Kagawa prefecture and people jokingly refer to it as Udon-ken or Udon-Prefecture) and I took the train back to Matsuyama. 

There are tons of other photos, but I don't want to show too many people's faces. There were 34 other people!