This weekend was pretty wild. I ended coming home looking like a lobster with all the sunburn I manage to sum up from the beaches we were at. Not to mention the kill work out my quads got and how my feet got torn up. I pretty much had a hell of a weekend considering it was suppose to be this great mini-vacation away from the main island of Okinawa. How did I manage to pull this much damage in a little intermission?

Alright, well, thanks to the Single Marine Program, I was able to get a trip to a hostel in Tokashiki Island. A friendship hostel. It was great and these Japanese kids were there. Well, like all nations except America, soccer is the big sport and they were starting a game in the gym. Now this gym isn’t a turf gym, it was a straight basketball gym. So the floor is that slick, waxed wood. Of course being in Japan, we aren’t allowed to have shoes while on the court so we played barefoot. Well, between slidin’ around the floor because of our sweat, hard, sharp stops on our feet, and the little metal outlets in the floor, your skin takes a beating. The sole skin under your foot begins to slide off! and man, when the sweat hits it, BURN!!! Yea, so thats my feat. My quads got a workout as well because man, those little guys can run! I had a hard time keeping up and getting their style right. Unlike us, they were on point when it came to their teamwork which is a MUST in soccer.

Now the sunburn, whew. Man, this has to be the first time I actully got “sunburn” and gosh darn it! It friggin’ hurts so much and for so long!!! The first night, Sunday night, that I was back, I couldn’t sleep worth crap! I keep waking up and turning and moving because the pain was so unbearable. My legs on the back, the calf, my back, and my chest, shoulders, arms are all burned. I can’t imagine how people get this and not say to themselves “I’ll never do this again” because those are the words that I am saying right now. I was snorkeling so all day long the sun was beating on my back even though my 30 SPF sunblock was on. I guess, from what Hiromi tells me, Okinawans know better about their sun. They walk around wearing long sleeve shirts and put sunblock on every 30 mins if they aren’t in those shirts. The Japan mainlanders don’t understand why but like me, we now know the painful reason behind this habit. Time for me to buy a thin wet suit or some Under Armour when I go out swimming.

Well, last night Hiromi put some coco butter on my back and everything is getting better. My feet don’t hurt as much because the skin is starting to heal itself and the sunburns are mild now. I’m actully using this stuff my friend told me about called Lanacane. Helps with the burning sensation. Although the little island was a great get-away from my little place on base, it taught me a few painful lessons.