Camp Japan

No, not THAT sort of camp, silly; I mean the healthy dib-dib-dob-dob thrashing about in the countryside with sticks and ropes and campfires sort of camp.

Felix has just arrived back from a two-day camp up in the mountains organised by the good city of Mihara along with 71 other tinies of primary school age (and a few brave parent volunteers). He got to split wood, make a fire, cook dinner (and presumably do the washing up!), set up the tents and make a comfy campbed out of newspaper. They did lots of fun wholesome stuff such as make things from wood, look at the moon through a giant telescope and play games around the campfire. And in a really nice touch, they’d handed out bits of cut bamboo the week before which Felix and I had to fashion into his own personal cup and pair of chopsticks armed only with a saw and sandpaper, just like in the hardware ads on the telly. Plus we had to make an Indiana Jones style flaming torch by wrapping some bits of old cotton (last year’s pyjamas) on the end of a pole, which the kids carried with them when they went for a night-time walk through the bush. Needless to say Felix got hardly any sleep and arrived home completely shattered but it was all good clean fun. I have great memories of doing this sort of stuff as a kid. Maybe I’ll have to go along next year as a volunteer for a bit of vicarious nostalgic enjoyment.

Meanwhile Ruby, not to be outdone, was over on the neighbouring island of Ikuchijima with her soccer buddies on a day of fun and frivolity organised by the Sanfrecce soccer team. Given that her school contemporaries have turned out to be a dismal failure in the friendship department, it’s nice that she gets to do this sort of stuff together with her soccer teammates, who are unfailingly nice and friendly. (Why are they so much nicer? We’ve decided that Ruby’s year level at school (especially the girls) must just be a Bad Lot; being stuck together ever since kindergarten has sent them a bit loopy.) They swam at the beach, cooked things on the barbeque for lunch, played games and generally had a great time from the sound of it.

With both kids out of the house on a Sunday, Eleni and I took the opportunity to head out for lunch at good old Cafe Hoxton 15 mins down the road overlooking the sea. Having only ever had coffees there before, we were pleasantly surprised to discover that they do excellent pasta and pizza so we duly earmarked this place for a family dinner sometime soon. It’s so ridiculously hot at the moment that we’ve been eating out a bit more often in a bid to reduce hot sweaty cooking activities to a minimum (plus you get to sit in an air-conditioned restaurant for an hour or so).

Also we discovered a rather nice beach directly opposite Cafe Hoxton, which will come in handy after our local beach officially closes for the season on August 31, at which point Ruby will be officially forbidden from swimming there by her school. This gives us a backup option so that we can just throw a blanket over Ruby’s head and spirit her away down the coast where nobody will be watching while she splashes about.

Y’hear that Japan? We’re gonna BREAK YOUR RULES. Such rebels.