Keep your eye on the birdie

Tues. Aug. 24- Tues. Aug. 31

Last week at work I had several fun experiences including more driving around adventures with John and Katie and driving to one of my schools for the first time by myself. You will be pleased to hear that no school children were run over, all the obaachan are safe, and I didn't even back into any buildings, statues, or rice patties.

We stopped to see the Shimao monkeys. Their cages were actually kind of depressing but John was kind enough to fan this one.

The beach near the park with the monkeys.

Also last week was the JHS speech contest. I thought the kids I had helped did a very good job (not necessarily because of me, just because they had practiced a lot) and the group of my ichinensei (first year students) from Jusan JHS who did a play were selected as one of the top three winners! After the kids went it was time for the esteemed judges (aka the six Himi JETs) to each say a little something about the speeches and then teach the audience an English song. John took the lead and luckily we had a CD that played along with us. I got to be the Vanna White of the day and point to the lyrics on the big printout as we had them repeat back the words. The song we went with was "You've Got A Friend In Me" from Toy Story since the third movie had just come out and the lyrics were simple. Also, we only sang the first two verses to make everyones lives a little easier. Then after that we broke into smaller groups and did free speaking. The topic was summer vacation and trying to get the kids to participate was like pulling teeth at first. Gradually they started opening up though.

Last week was also fun outside of work. On Wednesday we showed up at Manyous and a group of people was there waiting for us! It was great to see Cory and Paula and many of our friends from nearby towns and after dinner we all, even Masa, went to a bar-turned-snack-bar-turned-back-to-normal bar. John and Cory both know the owner and it was a very cool place so I can see us going back there. Paula and I split a bottle of wine and we all just hung out for a while.

The famous Himi dancing clock motif. Hattori-kun is on the far left defeating the evil guy on the far right...or something like that. I'm glad I finally saw it.

This past weekend was also fun because it was Welcome Weekend. Joe, Alex, Cody, and I all went. I had been debating about going because I wasn't really sure if I wanted to ride a train for two hours to go hang out partying in some cabins in the woods but Cory assured us that of all the events that go on this is one not to miss because it is a great chance for everyone to really meet everybody in the prefecture, not just our smaller regional events.

Unsurprisingly to any of you still reading this, I saw a giant slide and immediately had to go down it. Unfortunately, the rollers on it were wet and I started out the night with a soggy bottom ^^;

All in all it was definitely the right choice to go because I had a great time! While some people were really partying there were also plenty of people just sitting around talking and relaxing, which as many of you know, is much more my style. I got to see many of my friends from around the prefecture and also make plenty of new friends. In fact, I actually got a date out of it. His name is David and he is British. I'm not going to post his life story (not that I know it anyways) here so if you want more info you can talk to me in person on Skype.

My date with David was also a lot of fun. We met up in Takaoka, which is more or less midway between us, and explored the area some. We saw the daibutsu, or big buddha, at a nearby shrine. Someone told me it's the third largest in Japan but I have no idea if that's true or not. Also we explored a park and stopped at a noodle shop for dinner. A fun evening peppered with many discussions about his incorrect usage of words such as biscuit. Just for clarification, despite what a British person might tell you, a biscuit is a flaky roll not a cookie eaten with tea.

Street art! I wonder where they were going.

Probably through this door with David.

Good thing the door told us that we are in fact still in Takaoka. With all the walking animals I was starting to think we were in a new and exciting magical world.

Daibutsu

At daibutsu's temple.

Close up of the big Buddha. My Japanese teacher said the statue was handsome...I guess I can see where she was coming from. Except that creepy mustache.

On a less fun note, yesterday was the first day of weekly Japanese classes for Cody, Katie, and I. Katie and I have both studied Japanese in college but Cody has only self-studied and lived in Japan for a year. As long as he puts forth some real solid effort right in the beginning we should be able to get to a point where it's not just review for Katie and I. Lessons are set up on a monthly basis anyways so if it's too much of a waste Katie and I can just call it quits. Our teacher is Yamada-sensei. She seems very nice and she is only going to speak Japanese in the class so at least we will get one-on-one practice with listening and speaking.

After class we finally got to restart the Himi JET Tuesday night badminton. I had actually never played before but I really enjoyed it. It was really fun and surprisingly I wasn't even that bad (also not that good)...though there was a trend that the team I was on was always the losing team.

Tomorrow is my first day at school so I'm making sure to put the finishing touches on my self introduction lesson and prepare a brief speech for the ceremony that is held at the beginning of the year for new teachers. I'll be sure to let you know how it goes!

Sacred Mountain 2 of 3: complete!

Aug. 21- Aug. 22

There is a lot to tell so let's dive right into my Fuji excursion this past weekend. First of all, it took a while for me to acquire all the gear I needed and I ended up with stuff scavenged from four people. We were given a list of stuff that we HAD to have and stuff that would make our lives easier. Also, we were told that the weather at the top was supposed to go down to -9C or about 16F and that we should all be aware of the signs of altitude sickness and hypothermia. Needless to say, I wasn't quite sure what to expect from this hike and I had no experience that could compare with such extreme conditions. However, I did the best I could and as you can tell by this post, I did in fact survive.

My journey started Sat. morning at 6AM when I woke up hoping I was prepared and ready to meet Joe and Katie at the train. After meeting everyone else in Takaoka we still had a long bus ride ahead of us, luckily we didn't have to show up in our hiking clothes. On the bus everyone tried to sleep as much as possible since we knew we'd be hiking through the night in order to get to the summit before sunrise and hopefully before the crowds.

Taken on the bus. I don't know if these are even part of the same range as Fuji.

From the bottom to the top of the mountain there are different stations where you can stop and rest and even pay ridiculous amounts for the chance to sleep, eat, and drink. One of the most common places for people to begin hiking the mountain is from the 5th station. This is where our bus arrived around 4PM. People made their necessary clothes changes and supply purchases here. Some of the best advice I got was to buy one of the walking sticks they sold. I don't know if I could have done the climb with just my legs.

This is Mt. Fuji taken from the 5th station.

This was still at the 5th station, before we started hiking. You can see my newly purchased hiking stick.

There were about 30 of us JETs and we were going to split into groups that left in hour intervals. Katie and I decided to go with the first (aka slow) group that was leaving at 6PM so we could take plenty of rests. We did well for a while but one girl was having a really hard time. From the beginning she seemed easily exhausted and kept stopping and breathing from the oxygen cans that each group had to help with the altitude. Unfortunately, there was no one with our group that had climbed Fuji before (which wasn't the case for the other groups) so we really had no idea about the scope of the trek we were undertaking. If we had, we probably would have gotten her to turn around sooner. Instead she kept insisting she could make it, until one point when she got really nauseous. We were able to get her to one of the stations and we lucked out because Ryuichi, a native Japanese speaker who was on the hike with us JETs, passed by where the group of us was huddled and was able to help us work out that she could stay (paying about 7000yen) in the station and climb down the mountain with a group of Japanese people the next morning when the trail was less crowded and it was no longer dark.

The sun was setting during the very beginning of my group's hike.

This is still near the beginning. You can see just a little on the trail that was before us. It was a very deceptive view.

I talked to her the next morning and she apparently spent the whole night feeling really cold and throwing up from the altitude sickness. I also found out she didn't make it up Tateyama and that she had apparently started feeling bad as soon as she got off the bus. This was a little frustrating because she delayed a whole group of us for an hour taking care of her and it would have been really upsetting if somebody had to climb down with her and miss the opportunity (that we paid for) to get to the top. Luckily it didn't come to that and I think this was something that could have been avoided if an experienced climber was with us and could have let us know how much hiking was still ahead and could have recognized her symptoms easier.

After we handled that situation we were able to keep hiking. In actuality the break probably helped us adjust to the altitude ourselves and after seeing how miserable the girl looked we all made sure to use the oxygen cans and pills that we had in order to help prevent ourselves from getting altitude sickness. The hiking itself was longer and more difficult than I anticipated, even with the walking stick, especially because it was dark and I didn't have a headlamp. I did have a flashlight but I was more concerned with using my free hand to climb and balance. Also, there are a ton of people and if you get stuck behind a big tour group you could be delayed for a while, causing your heart rate to slow and your temperature to drop. All the people did make a very cool looking trail of lights zig-zagging up and down the mountain.

I didn't actually take this picture (Ryuichi did) but it sort of shows how many people there were on the mountain and it shows the very cool looking clouds we were meters above.

Many hours later the four people I was still with finally reached the top around 2AM. It was windy and since we were no longer moving it was COLD. In fact, I don't think I've ever been so cold in my entire life. The four of us all huddled together for body heat underneath the sleeping bag Xue (pronounced Sue) was smart enough to bring. The final count for my clothes: socks, shoes, spandex shorts, leggings, running pants, waterproof pants, long sleeve shirt, sleeveless shirt over, another long shirt, fleece, windbreaker shell, hat, two hoods, gloves, and a scarf wrapped around my face...and I regretted not having more. I was actually starting to worry by the time the sun started to rise because I was having a hard time feeling my toes. Luckily it warmed up pretty quickly once the sun was up and we started hiking again.

Even while freezing I could appreciate the amazing view. We had found a relatively secluded place near a tori. Ir required some climbing to get to so that's probably why there were only smaller groups up there. From this place, where there were no lights other than a few headlamps every now and then and we were above the clouds, so the stars were phenomenal. They were so bright and so numerous, I think I even saw a shooting star!! Unfortunately I wasn't able to capture this with my camera.

This is the tori. There were a bunch of coins stuck into it. We huddled on the ground right near it until the sun rose. This is my "holy crap I'm actually up here and no longer have to move" face.

After a few hours of huddling, shivering, a little napping, and a lot of freezing, we finally saw the first glint of light coming up through the clouds. The 8hrs of hiking (7 when you account for altitude sickness girl), the cold, the tired feet-it was all worth it to see the sun rise from the top of the tallest mountain in Japan...simply breathtaking.

First signs of light.

Here I am with every layer except I pulled down my scarf and uncovered the finger part of my gloves.

Xue, me, Katie, Ryuichi

The hike down was not as much fun. You take a different path down than up and the incline is covered with ash and soot (so we were wearing those masks that sick people get so as to not breathe it) and there were fewer rest stops. It was faster going down but it actually felt more dangerous because of the loose ash and volcanic rocks that you would slide on every few steps. My knees and ankles hated me by the end of it. Also, there was less interesting stuff to look at and by that time you just wanted to get off your feet and off the mountain. Eventually we made it down after about 4 or 5hrs. At least I think that's how long it took I was too exhausted to really check my watch. I was pleased to hear that my group of four apparently made good time up the mountain since the medium speed group got to the summit around 2:30 and they didn't have a delay in the middle. Also, they didn't have as good of a spot and had huge tour groups crowding them. Furthermore, some people didn't even make it all the way up because of the altitude. So I was very proud of us!

Katie and I on the way down

The best part after getting down was the trip to the onsen. Everyone passed out on the bus until we got there and then the group of us shuffled our aching legs to the locker rooms, stripped down, took the best shower ever to wash of the dirt and ash, and then relaxed in the hot baths. I was still sore the next day but I think taking the time to do this helped my body so much.

So that was my adventure on Mt. Fuji. I am so happy to have been able to make it to the top and see the sunrise. Apparently many years it has been rainy or too crowded or something else has gone wrong so we were very lucky with our experience. Now I just need to climb Hakusan! However, that probably won't happen this year before the trails close for the winter, so I will just have to wait for 2011.

Sorry this is so shaky. I was frigid at this point and it was the best I could do.

Happy Birthday!

Aug. 18-Aug. 20

To start this post: HAPPY BIRTHDAY to me! Thank you to everyone for the birthday wishes both on here and elsewhere. For my birthday the Himi folks all went out to dinner at a yakiniku place. Niku means meat so basically this is another one of those restaurants where you cook for yourself but here you order a lot of meat. It was delicious!!! We had a bunch of different meats but definitely the most exotic was cow tongue. It was surprisingly yummy, if a little chewy.

Cody and John cooking the meat. You can see my disappointing glass of red wine in the bottom right hand corner of the picture. I don't know why it came out chilled.

This is cow tongue before it's cooked.

Me, Katie, Cody and John

Alex and his girlfriend who was visiting and Joe and Mariko at the table right next to us.

After getting treated for dinner we went and karaoked. Karaoke in Japan is different than what we typically think of in America. Instead of standing in front of a group of strangers in a bar or restaurant you get your own room with a big TV for just you and your friends. This place even let you bring in your own food and drinks and they took a kodak photo of all of us since it was for mine and Joe's birthdays. So the day was a lot of fun and I got some nice presents including a sweet Disney puzzle from John, candy from Mariko and Katie, a bag of pastries from the BOE (my supervisor actually showed up at the yakiniku restaurant with them!), and a really nice ping pong paddle and case from Cody. Also, I got some nice cards from family and Diane and Jeannie (two of my Wake friends that are also in Japan as ALTs) mailed me a box with books in it!!!

The Disney puzzle from John. I had fun putting it together at work that morning.

The box of pastries from the BOE.

I was even able to test out the ping pong paddle Friday night as Katie and I joined Cody for another round of table tennis. I definitely like my present and I like to think it even improved my game (if you can my feeble attempts "game") at least a little bit :D

My new ping pong paddle and its very cute case from Cody! Yes, that is my unmade bed in the background.

At work I've been helping students at my two junior high schools prepare for the speech contest that is this Thursday. It's been a good opportunity to meet other people at work and see where my desk is located in the office. So far everyone has been nice to me and, in typical Japanese fashion, they are all very impressed with even my minimal Japanese speaking/writing abilities. Also, the whole group of us did an official meet-and-greet at all 20 of the JHS and ES in Himi..

So when we had a little extra time in between our school visits our supervisor took us to this large Camellia tree. It's supposed to be at least 400yrs old.

In other news, I won a free trip in a raffle. All the Toyama area JETs got to put their name in a drawing and five of us got selected for a vacation around the prefecture. I'm actually very, very excited because we will be covering many of the sights I wanted to see and we get to stay in a fancy traditional Japanese style hotel. I can't wait! The only thing is that in return for being provided the trip by the Toyama Tourism Agency (or some fancy sounding organization like that) is that we then have to promise to post something spreading the word about how awesome this prefecture is. So basically I just have to write about it in my blog...which I would be doing anyways so that all my loyal fans (aka my blood relatives) can keep track of my many exploits.

As many of you may know I hiked Mt. Fuji this past weekend, however, I believe that experience deserves a post all of its own so you will just have to remain in suspense about THE MOST EXTREME THING I HAVE EVERY DONE!!!!!!! So make sure to tune in for your next update soon!

One last note. Even though I'm not telling you about this weekend yet, I can still tell you today is my Dad's birthday. So I'm going to end with a Happy Birthday shout out to my Daddy お誕生日おめでとう!!!

Daddy this picture is also for you since we talked on Skype about how my cooking was going. These are the pancakes which were the first thing I ever attempted to cook on my stove. Using an open flame is hard...also I think I added oil when I was supposed to use milk but whatever I was still able to eat some of it.

Enkai and Beer Garden

Aug 12-Aug 17

So our first enkai was a lot of fun but not really what I was expecting. Everyone had told us about all the drinking and crazy stuff that we may need to be on the lookout for, however ours was actually just the four of us BOE ALTs, the two young Japanese ladies that work with us, and our supervisor and the boss lady. We met at a nearby Chinese restaurant and they just kept bringing out tons and tons of food and, when our cups ran low, more drinks. Really though nobody had more than three beers and I actually only had two because I was enjoying the food much more. So there was some loosening up and chatting. Everything was in Japanese but luckily John could translate when one of us couldn’t follow along. Also, since it was our first one it was free! Overall it was definitely an enjoyable experience.

In other work related news we had the first preparatory meeting for the JHS speech contest that all the JETs get to be judges for. Apparently being a judge we also get to teach the kids an English song and facilitate group discussions about their summer vacation. Should be interesting…I hope.

I don't have a lot of photos for this post so I will show how we passed the time at work the other day. One piece was missing :(

Friday night Katie and I joined Cody at his open ping-pong practice. It was surprisingly fun and very good Japanese practice because no one spoke any English. Katie and I didn’t play too much but it was still enjoyable to watch Cody and all the other skilled players that were there. One very nice lady did talk to us a lot and gave us omiyage (souvenirs) cookies she brought back from Okinawa.

This past weekend I spent a lot of time cleaning. Thanks to John, my shower pipes are now cleaned out. To continue with the trend of having to get stuff fixed, my microwave is no longer working correctly and John couldn’t figure out what was wrong with it either (so it wasn’t just user error). Eventually the BOE is going to cut me off and say that I can’t bring them something broken every week.

Saturday night was another festive get-together of the Toyama JETs. This one was a beer garden, where you pay a set fee and get all you can eat and drink for about two hours. This was of course a ton of fun! There were at least 40 (very rough estimate) foreigners from various countries around the world. All of us together were definitely loud and we probably confirmed the stereotypes of all the Japanese people in the room. After the two hours there was another all-night party at some beach place but all of us Himi people (Himians? Himi-ites?) decided on an hour of karaoke before catching the last train back to Himi.

Not just a beer garden but a beer paradise!

On Sunday I found a catholic church fairly nearby! But I don’t know what time mass is yet. John is going to help me figure that out so I can go two weekends from now. I can’t go next weekend because a space opened up for the Mt. Fuji trip!! The hike starts Saturday and we are supposed to reach the summit in time to watch the sunrise Sunday morning. Also, it is the second of the three sacred mountains that I will get to climb. Personal goal for the year: climb all three!!!

I actually took this on the way back from Tateyama. This was inside the Himi train. Hattori-kun is the blue ninja guy and he is everywhere in Himi. I'm pretty sure he is riding on a buri. He is a manga character and the guy who drew him is from Himi.

Yesterday was Joe’s birthday so Sunday night Katie and I bought some balloons, drew all over them, and taped them to his door. Yesterday we went out and had dinner together at a curry restaurant and then went back to Cody’s house and watched some movies. The movies were Sunshine and Clue. Both were good but in very different ways. One was an intense sci-fi movie and the other was an old, goofy comedy. I’ll let you know what we do for my birthday in the next post.

Ummmm....anyone know how to rotate photos??? Anyways, here is Joe's door with some balloons and a samurai sword filled with candy. Not the best looking but it's the thought that counts, right?

PICTURES to go with the last post!!!

***Make sure you read the post that comes right before this***

The group of school kids that were climbing at the same time as us. We kept saying "if they can do it so can we" but look how difficult that last part started to become!

The shrine at the very very top of the climb.

Katie and I climbed up together so here we are commemorating the fact that we actually made it! Also, the fog/clouds had cleared out just enough to see the stuff behind us and I've put on my second layer.

A monk for the shrine at the very top.

Video of the first few seconds of the monk's blessing.

Katie took the same photo of me with her camera. This plaque is located right beside the shrine. That fog behind her is actually the edge but as you can see we made it to the highest point at 3003m.

Third and final layer put on for the windy ceremony at the top.

One last photo of the mountains before we get on the bus.

This was taken from the bus. It kind of reminds me of the Blue Ridge Parkway.

Tired, aching feet and my amazing new shoes that got me all the way there and back again (hehehe I hope Bilbo Baggins didn't trademark that phrase).

The rest of the photos are of this morning's sunrise. It was fantastic!!! I find that it's rather hard to believe that a typhoon might be coming.