Moments that last a lifetime

Everyone has those moments that snap their world back into focus. That moment that cuts you down to your core to see exactly what you're made of, and you come out the other side not quite the same as before. Your world is slightly askew, or maybe just readjusted back to where it should have been all along.

This weekend I went to Naha, the Capitol of Okinawa, with a bunch of good friends. We got a hotel and it was about to be the perfect getaway. We left our room on the 12th floor to head out for the night. The elevators, like everything else, are smaller than America so only half of us went down on the first elevator, about four of us waited for the next one. Now we are a little rambunctious, so when I heard pounding and screaming from the elevator, I thought my friends were just messing around. The next elevator opens and in it is an unclothed Japanese woman with her unclothed child, both soaking wet. The woman was screaming in Japanese and her child wasn't moving. Before I could even comprehend what I had seen, the elevator closed. Rather than waiting for the next elevator we tried to find stairs because I was going to run down to meet them at the bottom, I thought I was going to have to do CPR on this baby. There were no stairs so we just had to wait. In the elevator it was dead silent and my good friend, who knew what I went to school for, looked at me and said "you got this?" I could barely nod. That was the longest elevator ride of my life.
We ran out of the elevator and I immediately ran up to the counter and said "medical." The man didn't know English but I must have looked like I knew what I was doing because he ushered me back. I ran into the room and the mother simply handed me her child while in hysterics. Can I just comment that there is nothing more terrifying to be handed someone else's child to save?
The child was breathing, but not well, and his eyes were glazing over. He had an extremely high fever and I couldn't get him to respond to me. The mother spoke no English, but the hotel manager was able to translate some. I was able to find out through charades that he had been in the shower when he started seizing. She said he'd been seizing for five minutes. The manager called 911, so there wasn't much for me to do except to calm down the mom so she could keep the child engaged and I could make sure the child's condition didn't deteriorate. at one point he started to close his eyes and his breathing slowed, I swear my heart dropped into my stomach. There was no way I was letting this kid go out on me.
The ambulance came, and I walked the mother and child out to it. And that was it. They got in the ambulance and it left. I just stood their numb. In my head I knew there was nothing else I could have done for them. I knew that he'd probably be just fine. But it I couldn't shake that look of terror in the mother's eyes and her faith in me as she handed me her child. I couldn't shake the smell of the shampoo in their hair or get the image of him closing his eyes on me out of my head.
In that moment in the elevator where I was mentally preparing myself to walk into whatever was waiting for me in that lobby, I couldn't help but say a silent prayer of thanks for my training. I was so thankful for all the times my professors and mentors drilled into me how to act quickly, how to be logical and calm those around me, and how to keep my cool regardless of how I feel inside. All the times we used to complain in class when we had to practice infant emergency response saying that I'd never be working with babies so it didn't matter, I can't begin to describe how grateful I am for now. Luckily for me, there wasn't much I could do except for just be there for the mom, but thanks to WSU ATEP I was prepared to act in case something changed. I was also so thankful I had such great people there to support me who were 100% ready to step in if I needed them.
The next morning I went to the front desk to see if they could tell me what happened to the child and the hotel manager had left a letter for me.

Basically all I can say is that my world changed a little bit after that. Things are a little askew, or maybe a little more on track, I'm not sure which. Regardless, it reminded me to be thankful, appreciate the moment, and to focus on what matters. All the extra stuff? That's all it is; extra.

Photo documentation of previous post

Absence makes as the heart grow fonder

Seeing as I'm terrible at updating my blog, you must all be super fond of it by now! I'm always so busy here and with wifi issues that blog posts are few and far between, but I'll try to be better about it from now on. It still hasn't quite hit me that I only have three weeks left here. Some days it seems as if I arrived yesterday, other days I can barely remember life back home. Isn't it funny how life moves so fast yet slow at the same time?
I've never been one to get too attached to anything, pretty much ever. I like knowing that I can pick up and leave the life I know behind in a heartbeat and be okay, it's that whole independence thing. But I'm in dangerous waters here. People here matter more than I expected, this place has changed me more than I thought it could. I don't like thinking about that plane ride home, because I'll be leaving a place that I've fallen in love with and people who have become such vital parts of me. Quite simply, I count on a few of them, which is a big deal for me.
Last weekend was a whirlwind. Friday night I had my pool dive to finish my scuba diver certification training. It is the weirdest feeling, breathing under the water. I've never much liked big bodies of water, so it's unnerving knowing I'll be deep down in the ocean with only an oxygen tank to save me. But I can't wait for Sunday for our first ocean dive!
On Saturday two girls I work with and I went up and hung out with some of our coworkers who are awesome. We went to a sushi go round, which is THE BEST, shopping, and then went to some hidden beaches. They also took us to a Japanese market and brought us to their house to cook us dinner. I didn't realize how starved I was to have a home cooked meal, play with puppies, and hang out in a home atmosphere. After dinner we all went down to the beach in American village for the lantern festival. I'm just going to throw this out there; ocean lantern festivals in a foreign country should be on every single person's bucket list. We got lighters and lanterns then let them float up into the sky over the ocean. There were thousands of people on that beach and thousands of lanterns in the sky. I was one of those moments that I know I'll remember for the rest of my life.
On Sunday I went with a bunch of the camp adventure counselors zip lining! We were right next to the ocean zip lining through the jungle, it was pretty crazy. The final station was an obstacle course with a "Tarzan" jump. Basically you stood on a platform that was about 50 feet up attached to a slack cord and you free jump. You have no idea how long you'll free fall before the rope catches you, there is no net beneath you, and no one speaks English. If you know me at all, then you know very few things scare me. This did. But like always, I just jumped off the ledge and hoped for the best. It was awesome. Now all I want to do it go skydiving and bungee jumping! Sorry mom.
Things at my center are going well, we are falling into a familiar groove. We know our kids well, our kids know us, and it helps things run smoother. My kids are the bomb.com but military kids have so much more to deal with than regular kids. I'm still getting used to my kids coming to me with situations like missing a parent, being scared for a parent, moving, the concept of death, all on top of just being kids. Quite frankly, I don't think there is really any way to get used to it. It breaks my heart to see them cry, but I've never had such moments of joy before either. I swear when those kids break out in a smile and belly laughing, I can't help but join in. These kids can turn my day around in an instant. Yesterday was kind of a rough day for me, and one of my kids just came over and gave me a hug and said "miss bee can you stay here forever?" And I almost cried. Then he gave me a smile and broke out laughing for no reason. Basically, I'm obsessed with these kids and have no idea how I'll leave them in three weeks.
I could write pages and pages on this place and these people, but y'all get the idea. I'm pretty content here. Much love to all and more posts soon!!

Fourth of July fun and that time I survived a typhoon

This week has been the craziest week of my life. Over the holiday weekend I went to a small island off of Okinawa called Zamami. I went with 5 other camp adventure girls and 7 marines we know well. We camped for two nights on this remote island. The whole time we were there, all of us kept repeating that this didn't seem real. This place, these people, this experience, it's reserved for the discovery channel and the rich and famous. Not for us. The water was turquoise and crystal clear. No kidding you could see the ocean floor 30 feet down. I swam with sea turtles and jellyfish and schools of colorful fish. I've never been somewhere more perfect.
It's was insanely hot so we spent our time exclusively on the beach, only traveling the 20 yards to our campsite for food and water. This island is so small that there was only one campsite so we met so many amazing people. Everyone was so kind, in such a good mood, and felt so blessed to be there. We went into town for a local festival and got to see some traditional island dances. The food was amazing and it was so crazy to be able to be a part of some remote island festival, we had a blast.
I was given a baby goat, no kidding, by a local goat herder! The goats come on the beach so even were all petting them and having a great time, then a baby goat came trotting along. He and I became fast friends, he followed me everywhere and kept nuzzling me. I named him Sampson. When it came time for the goats to move on, the herder came over to  get the baby goat but no matter what he did Sampson would run back and hide behind me. The herder then said "want the baby?" And I, thinking he was kidding, said "yes!" The guy shrugged, then walked away. At first I thought it was a joke, but the herder didn't come back. Myself and a friend quickly deduced that we were not ready to be parents of a baby goat just yet so proceeded to run along the each with baby Sampson at my heels to return him to his goat family. I miss him :((
Each evening someone would bring down some speakers to the beach and we would alternate between glow stick dance parties and calm country jams while looking up for shooting stars. (I saw 6 in case you were curious). At any given point there were between 15 and 40 people on the beach, most of us strangers, but all sharing this amazing experience together.
Sunday morning rolled around and we heard about the typhoon. Everyone had to get off the island, including the locals, so it was pretty crazy at the port. We got on the ferry no problems and headed home to get ready for the typhoon. We soon found out that it wasn't just a typhoon, it was a super typhoon, one that was projected to be the strongest they've seen in 15 years. Oh, goodie.
We were paired up and then put into lockdown on Monday night, expecting the worst of the storm to hit midday Tuesday. Luckily for us, the typhoon veered left in the night so we got hit with the equivalent of a category 3 hurricane as opposed to the category 5 we were prepared for. We were in lock down for 40 hours. We were out of power for 26 hours. We are in all clear now, and I've heard that there were no deaths, only mild injuries and lots of flooding. Basically, we got really lucky.
Thank you all for the prayers and support, it won't deny that I was definitely missing home during the lockdown. But knowing I had people thinking of me made it much easier! Much love to all.