Killing Time at the Mall

Well, this trip is turning into a bit of an adventure. The bus has had some problems with the alternator and is still at a shop near our hotel, so we are staying in Mesa for one more night.

This morning the students participated in the final training session of the camp (for more info, look up www.karateaz.com), and then they got some practice with a small tournament. We did well, but the small divisions meant that we competed against ourselves.

To kill time waiting for the bus, we ate at In N Out Burger and wandered around the Fiesta Mall for awhile. We are settling in at the hotel for more swimming and sun.

Christine

Banquet Buffet

Saturday night: We all just got back from the pool. Before that we were at the karate camp banquet. I do not think that I have ever eaten that much good food. Lamb with mint jelly, every dessert that you can ever think of, even gelato. There was steak, Mexican food, seafood, you name it! Well, I personally had a lot of fun at the banquet and throughout the day.

Lauren

Long day of playing and training

More pics from the pool

The group playing games in the pool at the hotel.
Matt playing around.
James waving 'hi' to the camera.

Wow! It is warm down here. The students are soaking up as much sun as they can between training sessions. Anyone up for some Maro Polo?

We are down in Mesa for a karate camp. The students have been very mellow and group-oriented, which makes an easy trip for me.
Christine

Second Training Day at the Camp and Shiai

Jamie

Hi everyone. One, it was Chipotle that gave me bad cramps. I literally almost died. Shelby was the one who got cramps from the chinese buffet (I think it was because she ate the left over burritos from Chipotle but you know how she is lol). Anyways, I've been having soooo much fun here. The drive down was pretty grueling, especially because half of the time had to use the bathroom 3423424 times, but we finally made it on Thurs. evening. Since then, we've been swimming, doing karate, and just relaxing. This is probably one of the most relaxed trips I've been on since Shakespeare 10'. I'm really glad I went on this one! But about the karate, I've learned A LOT about my stances and stuff so that's been really cool too. Overall, I'm having tons of fun. Right now we are trying to decide if we are going to the Shiai Tournament part of the camp (I HOPE SO) so it's a little hard to concentrate on this. We're also going swimming in a few so this'll be all for now. Hopefully, I can get a better tan because I'm the only white person who didn't tan, burn, or anything yesterday. Hopefully, I can at least aquire a burn. I'm rambling, ALRIGHT, bye!!

Zane

The weather has been incredible out here in Arizona the sun is shining and the burns are burnig. Yesterday my "buddy" James and I spent about four hours kicking it in the sun. We played about an hour of basketball and swam in the pool for the rest. After that we went out and smashed on some Chinese buffet which gave Jamie some bad cramps. From there the good times kept rolling with our first training. We spent some quality time with Yaguchi, a 9th dan master. He was like an ancient karate wizard. From there I dipped out and spent the next few hours with my uncle it was a blast. Once I returned to the Cedar Ridge Crew, it was lights out and we hit the bed hard.
Zane

Fun at the Hotel

On Thursday night we were driving up to Mesa, and we decided to take a little break and take a group picture, we were still a little aways from the hotel, so we got very tired just sitting on the bus. On Friday we had plenty of time before we had to go to our first training, and so the girls and boys went either to the gym or swimming pool. We just had a blast,lying down in the sun, and some of us got a little sunburned. Well, we will update you guys later.

Marilyn