Wednesday, 10 December 2008

Trip from Hell Day 2

My alarm chimed at 5 am and I got up, rebelliously took a shower in the morning (shocking I know) which is strange since EVERYONE takes a bath at night. We loaded onto the bus and were greeted by the tour guide who gave us loads of information about Okinawan culture and songs. I talked to one of the teachers and asked about the waste-of-time meeting at 11pm (btw, I phrased it differently when we talked). He informed me that this meeting is usually a drinking party, but this year the principal axed it, so the teachers weren't extremely happy about it. So now, the meeting really is a waste of time lol. We went to the beach for 10 minutes, an aquarium for 1 hour, a botanical garden for 1 hour and then lunch for 30 minutes. Everything was like clockwork, when I say one hour, I mean everyone had to be on that bus 5 minutes before take-off to the next site. After our 20 minute lunch, we saw our next clockwork sights: an American base, guided shopping, etc. Then, of course at 6 pm, there was a meeting. At this meeting, we talked about the students and how they were awful for not staying in their designated shopping groups. Then we had 20 minute dinner, some random speech about peace, then another meeting when the speech was over (which I didn't understand and probably was about the peace speech) and then had a couple of hours of hall patrol before the next meeting at 11 pm. At 11 pm, the meeting started and this time the table was filled with tons of fruit, sandwiches and sushi…but I couldn't eat at 11pm. I was excited to at least taste a little dragonfruit, starfruit and passionfruit since I couldn't buy anything beyond designated shopping times. The meeting confirmed that everything was the same, and wow imagine that, it was, surprise surprise. Then at midnight, the teachers had a secret party with snacks, alcoholic drinks, and omg-we're-so-rebellious fun. The highlight of the party was when a teacher pulled out a bottle of alcohol with a dead snake in it and poured the stuff into my cup in all sincerity. I just couldn't be rude, since I realized what I will call Dead Snake Drink was very expensive, so I drank it and it tasted like vodka. I went to bed at around 1:30ish, slept fitfully to the sound of people entering and exiting the room and woke up at 5 am. I forgot to mention that the teacher I roomed with is the nurse, so the sick students were in and out of my room constantly. One more day and I'm out of this place!!!