A Japanese Adventure

Gifts Galore!

2010-06-30T15:37:00.003+09:00

Though a custom in Japan to give gifts to people for leaving (and almost any other reason you can think of), I didn't really expect that much from my students or teachers. I already posted about my Friday party and gifts I guess, but here's a picture of just a few of the things I've received! I got a matching rice bowl, tea cup and chopsticks with cherry blossoms on it. The bamboo art thing is a local specialty art from Shibakawa, a smaller city/area in Fujinomiya. It's hard to tell but there is a dragonfly carved out of bamboo that balances on a small branch. I saw them at a festival and thought they were cool, so it was a great gift!

The bright pink thing in front is the jimbei, a sort of pajama type house wear maybe equivalent to a robe. I was really excited about that!! And on the right are some handkerchiefs with cherry blossoms on them. Very cute!! I might have to get another suitcase just for gifts if they keep pouring in!!

Daruma

2010-06-30T14:39:00.003+09:00

Long ago when Paul was visiting, I bought my first daruma doll. Daruma dolls are a symbol of perseverance and good luck. I learned about them actually in my first week in Japan at English Camp. The students had to write about and give a short speech about something from Japanese culture. So I've had this thing lying around, but wanted to wait until I had the right wish or goal in mind. The idea is that you fill in one eye when you make the wish or set the goal, and then fill in the other eye after it has come true or been accomplished. So I finally decided the other day that the 30 before 30 goal is the one I want to use my daruma on. So call it a wish or a goal, but it's officially set into stone! It is said that in order to motivate Daruma-san to fulfill your wish, you must promise him full sight upon him granting your wish. So, Mr. Daruma, please give me good luck and I'll give you sight, partially granted by Sharpie, Inc.

When you buy it, it looks like this with no eyes.

A daruma or dharma doll "is a hollow, round Japanese doll modeled after Bodhidharma, the founder of the Zen sect of Buddhism." -- wikepedia

Many daruma dolls are burned at the end of the year at temples. You're supposed to buy a new one each year, but I'm granting myself immunity from this since a) I'm leaving Japan and b) my goal spans multiple years. It is said that when you see the daruma with only one eye it reminds you of the goal you have in mind. So I'll keep mine some place in the open when I go back to the US to remind me of this lofty goal I have set for myself!

Perfect Friday

2010-06-28T11:33:00.012+09:00

Well, this weekend was huge in reminding me of the reality: I’m leaving in less than three weeks. I have two weekends left in Japan and then I’m out! I had an incredible Friday. I didn’t have any classes and couldn’t force myself to focus at all. I think I was just thinking about everything and taking it all in. Though I didn’t have any classes, I do have to stay late on Fridays for English Club. This week was our last one, so we had a party as we usually do at the end of every semester, this time for me since I’m leaving. We got the usual obligatory soft drinks and junk food, and I made some guacamole for the students to try. Most liked it, some were too afraid to try!

Mt. Fuji has lost most of it's snow! Climbing season starts this week. I'm actually going to a festival
on Saturday that celebrates the beginning of the climbing season!

So much junk food!

I know that it’s a custom in Japan to give someone a going away present when they leave, but I was extremely surprised at how many gifts I received from the students! I got a traditional outfit called a jimbei (like the one I posted awhile back of baby Cohen), lots of hand towel/handkerchiefs with Japanese print, a Japanese print hand mirror, a wind chime, a picture frame, some Japanese sweets and candies, some earrings (because I have a lot of holes), and more that I can’t think of. This was one of those times when it hit me that I was leaving. It was sorta the first of the goodbyes as my first farewell party. I may or may not see most of those students again in the next few weeks as I’m almost done teaching. If I do see them it will probably just be passing them in the halls, so it was a little sad. After the party when I was leaving I had some 3rd year student (senior) run up to me and hug me and say “I will miss you! I wish I could have practiced English with you more!!” It was funny as it’s been over a year since I taught him and I don’t even know his name. But it was cool and sad all at once.

Second year students (juniors)

More second year students

Some third year students (seniors) came back even though
they don't have to come to club anymore.

My only 4 first year students (sophomores), the smallest group I have seen in my two years here.

After my English club party, I biked down to the station to meet Kelly. We went to do purikura at the newly remodeled mall in Fujinomiya. I wish it had been remodeled earlier so I could have reaped the benefits the whole time I was here, but it’s really nice and great for the city I think! Anyway, we ended up doing purikura for almost an hour! We also found some awesome Engrish shirts and bought matching ones. We wore them for some of our photo fun – it was incredible!! After we had a nice traditional Japanese dinner in the food court at a nice restaurant and then headed off to some night onsen. I had forgotten how much I loved it before I went last weekend on my trip. I will hopefully go one more time before I leave Japan, but I’m not sure it will happen or not!!

Overall it was a great evening filled with lots of “I’m really going to miss Japan” moments. So great I went as far as saying it was the “perfect” night. Speaking of gifts, a teacher just came to give me some MORE handkerchiefs as a going away present! Really cute with sakura (cherry blossoms) on them! Guess I'll never be without handkerchiefs again!

Tahara

2010-06-23T18:29:00.006+09:00

What a weekend! I took a shinkansen bullet train ride down to the next prefecture. Thankfully I had a coffee, some Hakone bakery and a Newsweek to keep me entertained! It's been awhile since I took the shink, so it was pretty sweet!

So I went down to Tahara, out on another peninsula a bit west of here. I met up with my Tokyo roommate and a friend I met through her. They came up to see me and Mt. Fuji in March, but we wanted to get together one last time before Jennifer and I left. Danielle and I met after getting off the shinkansen and took a local line down the peninsula. The area is famous for nanohana, or rape blossoms, so the chairs on the train were covered in the yellow flowers. Apparently during the season, they outside of the train is covered in flowers too!

We hung out and caught up with each other on Saturday night. We also went for a hike through the fog!! I was able to see a little of the city and ocean before it fogged up. I also realized on this hike that rainy season has given me CURLY HAIR! I was in shock for most of the weekend since even why I try to curl my hair in America it goes flat. I've since embraced it and started gelling it everyday.

On Sunday we went down to the end of the peninsula, Irago. It had a nice beach with surfers and a picturesque lighthouse. Below are me, Jennifer and Danielle.

The girls tried some clams, but I was too scared so I had some pineapple on a stick instead! After this, we headed to a buffet at the Irago View Hotel. Then we headed into the bath at the hotel. There was a fabulous bath looking out over the ocean and end of the peninsula. It was a big foggy, but looking out over the ocean is never a bad thing! It was nice and relaxing.

After heading back to Shizuoka, I met up with my friend Brian in Shizuoka City for some pizza. I don't get to hang with him very often, but we always have fabulous conversation! I didn't want to leave, but we were the last ones outta the place! It was a nice finish to a great weekend with fabulous people!!

Beginning to End

2010-06-21T13:45:00.003+09:00

This picture was posted on the JET Programme website. It's from one of my absolute first days in Japan at orientation. Was interesting to see and think about as my leaving is quickly approaching. I've been in contact with my successor this past week. It's crazy to think about how many things I want to tell her and help her with! There are many things you have to learn as you go, but I'm trying to give her as much help as possible as it's a big transition!!

A lot of people have asked how I feel about leaving. I have had a mix of feelings, but am mostly still in denial! I'm down to 23 days now. I have a lot of things to do and errands to run like sending things home, cleaning the apartment and throwing things away, canceling my utilities and cell phone and internet, arranging for my luggage to be picked up and brought to the airport, setting up a tax agent here so I can get my pension refund and lots more. Of course that doesn't factor in all the gatherings to say goodbye!!

I've been a little stressed about getting things done before I leave, but I know they will all get figured out in the end. I'm trying to enjoy myself and the little time I have left without emotionally "checking out" with all the moving things that need to be done. I am looking forward to coming home and spending lots of time with friends and family, and also my new job. But am trying to put off those feelings a little bit and focus on being here for just a little longer. So far, I'm doing an okay job of balancing all these feelings. Please be thinking of me in the weeks to come as I have so much to do!!! See you in a few weeks people!!!

School Festival

2010-06-21T12:01:00.012+09:00

Here's another school festival installment. I said I was going to post more and I didn't, so here it's finally coming!!! Above is our school festival poster. The theme is "Change our School." Ironically, not much changed about the festival from last year...

School festival in Japan possibly comparable to homecoming in America. The students have two days of activities. All of it starts off in the gym. The cheer boys start it up, as you saw in my previous post. Then we have a music contest and come commercials that the 3rd year students make to advertise the food they are selling during the next two days. The brass band and guitar club also play pieces that they've prepared.

The first day is closed to the public, and the kids just get to walk around and see everything. Each culture club at school prepares some sort of display and seniors sell food and have some sort of game as well. Third year students sold fried chicken and croquette, ice cream, rice balls, had a bread shop and sold some other Japanese style snacks. Art club sold fans you could paint, tea ceremony club had several ceremonies you could participate in, calligraphy club had papers and brushes so you could do calligraphy, the "domestic" club sold foods with recipes and sold homemade scrunchies, etc, etc, etc.

Tea Ceremony

Seniors selling rice balls -- they had quite the organized system!

Some Mountain Climbing club girls in their tent display.

One of our Mountain Climbing club students -- he has won some prefectural contests. We have a rock wall at our school. Unfortunately I didn't get to try this because I was wearing a skirt!

Cooking club -- so you know how many calories you're consuming. Also, note the scrunchies on top of the table!

Art club fans. Mine is below -- that says "sakura" or cherry blossom in kanji.

Note how much better Saki's looks than mine...

The second day is open to the public, so many parents and alumni stop in throughout the day. It's basically the same as the day before. On day two, the baseball team has a game and the tennis team has matches going on all day as well.

This is one of my favorite things at school here. My students sometimes seem to not have much personality. I realize this is mostly because of a language barrier, but also because it seems all they do is study and think about school!!! During school festival, the kids loosen up and seem to be having much more fun than any other time of year. It's fun to see. I tried to post as many pictures as was practical here, but you should check out all the pictures on flickr. They give the festival more justice. It shows just how much work the kids go to decorating for just two days of festival!!

Hamburgers at Montego Cafe

2010-06-21T11:27:00.003+09:00

For the past few weeks I have been craving a big juicy hamburger!!! I think that Japanese stereotypes have started to infiltrate my life. Dion and I frequent this burger joint in Fujinomiya, and a small group of local foreigners have dubbed this place to have the best burgers in Shizuoka. Last week, I introduced Kyoko and Chiaki to the Montego Cafe. They of course oooohed and ahhhhhed over the size of the burgers, and Kyoko took part of hers home for breakfast the next morning haha! Here we are posing with our burgers below:

Me, Kyoko and Chiaki with our burgers

Me with the owner -- hope he doesn't go out of business when I leave :)

I have a few more outings planned with these ladies before I go. I met them through my eikaiwa adult conversation class as most of you know. Though many times I don't want to leave my house at 7pm on a weeknight to teach, I have really enjoyed the opportunities that teaching that class has given me. I've gotten to make friends with some Japanese people, and enjoy the conversation and fun we have in class. They are eager to learn, much more than my high schoolers!! I think our next outing is going to be a fireworks festival at Lake Kawaguchi for the opening of the Mt. Fuji climbing season. I told them I wanted to go to a festival and wear my yukata, and they found a festival for me! Such sweethearts. So I think we're going to get all snazzy and go check it out!! Pictures to come later!

Leaving Survey

2010-06-18T12:04:00.003+09:00

Recently we had to fill out a short survey about our time in Japan for the leaver's directory for JETs in Shizuoka. Thought I would share my answers with you!!

Name: Ashley Janssen

Placement: Fujinomiya Nishi High School

Years on JET: 2 years, 2008-2010

Where you’re headed next: Round Lake, MN -- my hometown…a place I never thought I would return!

What you’ll be doing: Teaching Spanish, English and ESL at the small high school I graduated from and coaching volleyball.

How people can best contact you (facebook, email, phone): facebook, email

Best memories from your time in Japan: Sapporo beer gardens, hanami at Iwamotoyama Park, onsen days with the girls, Oxfam Trailwalker, capsule hotel weekends with the girls in Tokyo, strawberry picking, fireworks, taking a seishun 18 kippu solo trip to Himeji, Miyajima, Nagasaki, Beppu and Kyoto – that’s a lot of train!!!

Favorite places you visited in Japan: Goza Beach in Mie-ken, Beppu, Hiroshima, Fushimi Inari and Zen gardens in Kyoto, Miyajima, Okayama Korakuen

Favorite places you visited in other countries you traveled to while living here (if applicable): I spent about 20 days in Thailand and a long weekend in South Korea. Highlights were elephant riding, cuddling with tigers, lighting lanterns on New Year’s in Ao Nang, biking to the Myanmar border from our volunteer base in Sangkhlaburi, and wandering the shops in Insadong in Seoul.

What you’ll miss the most after you leave (food, places, people etc.): Kappazushi, onsen, seeing Mt. Fuji (almost) every day, road trips on and to the Izu, purikura, my “crazy girl” fan club, the friends that I’ve made, seeing women in Kimono and crazy Japanese styles.

What you won’t miss after you leave (if applicable): the humidity and rainy season, air drying my clothes, having to rely on others to do things for me

What are you most proud of having accomplished while here? Oxfam Trailwalker, the daily overcoming of obstacles that present themselves when living in a foreign country

Do you have any regrets about leaving? (things you should have done, places you should have gone etc.): I wish I had studied Japanese more.

How would you sum up your time here in a single word? adventure

A Celebration

2010-06-12T13:16:00.009+09:00

Good morning everyone!! I guess more accurately here is good afternoon, but I slept in 'til noon today. It's such a glorious day outside, so perfect with my sliding doors open and looking out at the mountains and city (of course unfortunately with a few electrical lines in the way...). I've got a load of laundry in the machine, ready to hang in the sun.

I guess it's such a glorious day because I had such an amazing time last night. A sort of celebratory evening. A celebration for what you ask? I GOT A JOB! I am sure many of you already know this from facebook or from talking to me personally, but just in case, I thought I should spread the word around.

It's quite interesting in fact. I didn't even really intend to apply for the job. There haven't been all that many English or Spanish openings that fit my "ideal" school/working situation. I wanted to work in a more diverse school district around St. Cloud or maybe the twin cities. I did a few applications, but realized I needed to start branching out and possibly apply for ESL positions since that's where my experience is and I would have a better chance at scoring a job. Well, there was a job posting for ESL at my alma mater, Round Lake-Brewster High School. The posting was pretty short and sweet and didn't give any details, so I decided to email the principal just to check if it was elementary or high school.

And well, that was the beginning of the end. He asked me to call him to discuss the position, and then we did a phone interview, and it worked out in the end that I will be teaching all at the high school: Spanish I and II, English 12 AP, Speech, and two ESL classes. Worthington has shown some interest in an interview with me, but it would be a full time ESL position, something I'd be okay with teaching obviously since I applied for the job, but in the end I realized that no other school will provide me with the opportunity to actually use both my licenses and teach English and Spanish. The class sizes are pretty small (like 10 kids) which is good for a lot of things, but sometimes isn't ideal if you want to do larger group things. But overall it's about as perfect as I could ask for. The cherries on top are an assistant volleyball coaching position, a SMART board in my classroom, a laptop and desktop computer, and a printer in my room.

It might be a bit of an adventure heading back to my hometown after having been so far away, but I'm looking forward to seeing my niece grow since I only saw her once in her first 18 months of life. I'm looking forward to hanging with my brother and Katie, helping out my parents and having my dad grill me a steak now and then, and being able to go to movie nights and shopping days with Dawna. It will be nice to have so many of the people who are special to me right there! Of course my sister and Nicole are still pretty far away, but at least a cheaper flight than Japan!

A sashimi plate to start off the night!

So on to this celebration!! Every now and then my adult conversation class and I get together for a celebration or night out. It's fun for everyone and they like to practice their English outside of the classroom setting. Last night we went out for a typical Japanese enkai.We started off with sashimi and raw chicken, a Kyushu (the south/west island) special food. I had eaten it once before in Tokyo, and really like it actually! Every time I put it in my mouth though, I have to get over the fact that it's raw chicken. Goes against everything I've ever learned in life!

Yes, that's raw chicken!

Chiaki and I eating the raw chicken.

After a lot of food, beer and conversation, we moved on to nijikai, which translates to "second party," basically like after party I guess...except in Japan there also sometimes is a sanjikai, which means third party. A typical nijikai second party is going to karaoke. I actually have never been to karaoke in Fujinomiya. Well, surprisingly people didn't want to sing all that much and I felt like I was the common thread holding the party together, so I sang a lot of songs. This is completely out of character for me, as I usually have to be dragged to karaoke by my friends. I have started to like it actually, with unfortunate timing since I'm leaving Japan!

Yes, Hirofumi was a rock star.

And so were we!

The whole group that went out. The class is bigger, but this is all that could make it last night.

So, all in all, a great week and weekend. I'll probably do a few more posts about school festival, at least that was my intention last week! I took a lot of pictures because last year I didn't post about it or put up pictures even. So hopefully I can get my stuff together this week. I'm down to about exactly a month left in Japan, so my days and weekends are filling up fast with social gatherings. All to be repeated upon returning home. Gonna take a lot of Starbucks to keep me going!! Take care everyone...til next time.

Japanese Cheer Team

2010-06-08T20:45:00.002+09:00

In Japan, there aren't a whole lot of girl cheerleading teams. There are some of course, but more popular is a boys' cheering squad or team called Oendan. They also are usually cheering for the baseball team, rather than the most common football cheerleaders in America. In the videos below, the team is getting the school pumped up for the school festival.

These videos and also tons of pictures from school festival are posted on my flickr. There are quite a few pictures, but I didn't post any last year, so I wanted you to see what it's all about!

Blessed

2010-06-03T08:51:00.003+09:00

I had two reminders before I even got to school today that I have been blessed in my lot in life. I saw two people on my ten minute bike ride that reminded me I should be thankful.

First, I saw a guy in a wheelchair pushing himself up the hill by my house. I have to bike up this thing everyday, sometimes twice. I've tried to stay positive about it, but inevitably sometimes I'm cursing as I pedal my way up. But seriously, it in no way compares to having to wheel yourself up with grocery bags in your lap. So, today I'm thankful for my bike and the legs that pedal me home each day.

As I got closer to school, I saw a guy that I actually see pretty frequently. I think he works at one of the local factories as he wears a typical work suit that factory guys wear here. But many mornings I'll see him out in this parking lot, picking the weeds and picking up trash. Seems strange, as there aren't really any weeds there. Seems he picks them when they are really small before they overcome the gravel lot. Anyway, it made me realize that I have the cushiest job in the world. And probably get paid about the same as this guy.

It's easy to forget how easy we really have it sometimes. We get caught up in the daily grind and forget that we are so blessed!

Photos Posted

2010-06-02T20:09:00.001+09:00

Posted new photos on my flickr. They aren't actually new photos, they are from the Hamamatsu Kite Festival and the Fujinomiya Horseback Archery Festival at the beginning of May. Check them out at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jans0176/sets/72157624187637664/.

School Festival Prep

2010-05-29T22:06:00.008+09:00

The longest week of my life...errr...year is coming up. School festival is next Saturday, Sunday and Monday, so the kids are busy busy preparing. Yesterday was our last English club before the festival, so the kids were there pretty late. I gave in and left at around 5:45pm but there were still kids all over! Here are some pics :)

My crazy girl fan club. We keep each others' "secrets"

The responsible girls chatting up front about logistics.

There was a lot of sign making going on!

I'm excited for the festival, even if it means I have to work so many days in a row! Should be fun!

Thirty before Thirty

2010-05-28T12:22:00.003+09:00

Along with big life changes like moving back to the US comes a lot of thinking. Naturally, I'm a thinker. And though I try not to be, a worrier. It depends on my mood and the day, but overall, I've done so much thinking and pondering about life in this past year! I could go on and on about all the things I've thought about, but it would be long and a lot of incoherent and unconnected thoughts. But, I just thought that I would share one of the things that I've been thinking about lately.

My friend Brian and I seem to have a lot in common, but we live a little far away and don't really get the opportunity to hang out without doing a lot of planning ahead. Nevertheless, we chat online and video chat from time to time. Awhile back, he recommended a blog to me called The Art of Non-Conformity. I was instantly enamored and couldn't stop reading. I read so many of this guy's articles in the first week. It's his personal quest to travel to every country in the world (see his map here). He also writes a lot about free lance writing, blogging, entrepreneurship, and following your dreams. I'm digressing, but all the articles there have helped me assess my dreams for life. Helped me to realize you can only achieve great things if you dream big dreams. I'm perfectly willing to share these with you if you ask, but I'll get back to where I was going.

But first I do have to mention another inspiration I've had recently, from the most unexpected place in Worthington, MN. I started subscribing to and old friend's "inspirational" emails he was writing, figuring "who couldn't use a little inspiration and motivation!" I've been shocked to see what he's been doing with his life and it turns out that he's got a book deal to publish 3 books, one coming out soon (he's only recently started blogging, but check it out here). I've started to see what people who I've deemed ordinary (like myself) doing extraordinary things, and I want to join them. Things that seemed so far into the future are no longer that. I'm 25 and not getting any younger. I'm no longer a teenager thinking of my life in terms of potential, but need to start living my dreams and working towards the others. I don't want to look back at my life and have to say that I've "just made it through."

On that note, back to Brian -- he also has a goal of "30 before 30," visiting 30 countries before the age of 30. To some of you that read my blog this might sound crazy, and to others it might not even seem like a big deal. I don't think it's all that uncommon of a goal among travelers, but it was new to me, and also seems like an admirable and realistic goal. I started pondering it and I think I've solidly decided that I want this to be a goal in my life.

Another friend I chat with regularly is Kavita. We challenge each others' thoughts and ponder the mysteries of the universe. You think I'm joking, but I'm not :) Today we were talking and we discussed what people's goal is with traveling the world these days. I think it used to be something really rare, and that's why people were interested. It's become much less rare, evident in that such a small town girl like myself has studied abroad more than once and now lived abroad for two years. But, I think that in places like Minnesota, it still is something a bit rare. Kavita made me realize that it's important to assess my reasons for such a goal. Otherwise, am I actually just doing it because "everybody's doing it"? Is it only my passion because I've encountered people who have these plans? So here I assess some of my own reasons, some of it nostalgic, so I apologize. Bear with me if you're interested.

Though becoming more of a norm, especially among new friends I've met along the way, I do like travel and learning about another culture. I actually have been thinking a lot about fate vs choice in life recently. I haven't decided that one and not sure I ever will, but I remember one specific night where I think my whole life took a different turn. For some reason I decided to go to the Study Abroad Open House on my campus. I don't remember why, but no one in my family had ever traveled abroad and none of my friends from home either. I may have been inspired by my roommate (and best friend now) Nicole who had gone to Greece the May before, but frankly I don't remember any one thing influencing me. I went and learned about a program, and instantly knew it was the one I wanted to go on. I vividly remember coming home with the brochure and telling Nicole all about it and being so excited. I remember calling my parents, I think that same night. I was met with some surprise and "Why would you do that?" So apparently Mom and Dad, I'm going back to the drawing board on that "Why?"

Going to Chile changed a lot about me. I think it changed my values, helped me move on from my first love, made me think about what I wanted about life, and most of all instilled a love for travel and piqued my curiosity about other cultures. After I came back, I think it further turned the direction of my life after I quit volleyball. Though I couldn't have said it so clearly back then, my priorities had shifted. Sports were no longer the thing that filled my void, but learning about new places, planning trips and the exhilration that comes along with finding my way around a new city or subway system, getting myself out of a bind in a country where I don't speak the language, overcoming obstacles like snowstorms in the mountains that cancel buses back to the country I'm supposed to be in, and well...my daily life is a list in itself here in Japan. But it is exhilarating and I love the feeling I get after having succeeded and survived the mishaps I encounter.

So I guess in a nutshell, there's my answer. The exhilaration. The reward of taking positive risks. Surviving the negative risks and learning from them. Seeing how people live in different places and taking a little bit from each place I visit, allowing it to change my thoughts and perceptions. Seeing a beautiful sunset , a place rich with history and culture, strolling through a garden in the afternoon. Helping other people whether it be giving directions or recommendations to a fellow traveler or playing with kids in an orphanage and giving them much needed attention. So here's to the next 21 countries in 5 years. See the sidebar on my blog for a running list. Thanks for your never ending support and love!

Hamburgers

2010-05-28T11:37:00.003+09:00

One stereotype that Japanese have about Americans is that all Americans eat hamburgers and that American hamburgers are bigger than Japanese and all other hamburgers around the world. Often my students will write in an essay that they want to go to America to try an American hamburger. I think they will be sorely disappointed that most of the time if we're eating a burger, it's usually from McDonald's, not the kind they imagine, as McD's is the same in Japan basically.

Anyway, building on this stereotype, I was researching "How to write a paragraph" the other day and found this random PowerPoint comparing a hamburger (actually a Big Mac, which is inaccurate as a Big Mac has a bun in the middle...) to a paragraph, the buns being the topic and concluding sentence. So I decided to run with this and make a worksheet based on a big, fat, juicy cheeseburger. Thought you might enjoy it.

This worksheet is actually for second year students (grade 11), who I don't usually teach. I grade their essays, but don't get to actually teach them. Finally (!), my teachers asked me to help, teaching the kids how to write a proper essay. I've been hoping for more classes my whole time in Japan, so it's exciting...though since I'm leaving in like a month and a half, it seems a bit late in coming. Either way, I enjoy the students and it will be nice to see them one more time before I leave. They were the only class that I taught from start to finish here in Japan, so they are the nearest and dearest to my heart.

In other school news, school festival is next week. I'm super excited about it this year, because I remember how much fun it was last year!! It does mean however that I have to work 8 days in a row, possibly 10 days if it's rainy on sports day/sports day make up day. I'm crossing my fingers for good weather. 8 days is enough, I don't need to tack on 2 more days to that! Then I get one holiday, and will go back to school til Friday. Until next time...thanks for reading folks. Sorry I've been MIA on the phone calls. I've been busy almost every night, so much so that I'm making myself sick. Need to give myself some R&R this weekend to recover!

Catching Up

2010-05-25T15:40:00.003+09:00

Last week an "old" friend came back into my life for a brief moment. Luther was a teacher in Kambara last year, fairly close to where I live. He was actually my orientation group leader and was super involved with AJET, in both of which I seem to have followed in his footsteps :) He was also a good friend and fellow Minnesotan!!! He left last July back to Minnesota and South Dakota and came back for a week when he heard that a friend of his from Scotland was coming back to visit.

On Friday, we met up with a group of people and had Korean BBQ. Were were Americans and New Zealanders (zealonites?) eating Korean Barbecue and Chinese gyoza while speaking English in Japan. I'll miss the mishmash when I go back to the US! Afterward, we headed to a karaoke booth. Unfortunately I had to leave early to catch the last train, but I was having a fabulous time and it seems that didn't end when I left!! On Saturday I went to Tokyo to celebrate some friends' birthdays, and again Luther joined the crew, so I was able to see him one last time before he boarded the plane on Sunday!

I wasn't so sad to see him go this time, as I know that we are good at keeping in touch and see each other on the webcam from time to time, and I know that since we're both from Minnesota we'll meet up again someday. When he was here, it seemed like he had never left and things were the same as they were the year before. Thanks for being a good friend and positive influence in my life, Ru-sa-kun :) Hope you enjoyed your time in Japan!

p.s. I posted the smaller smile picture this time.

Happy Birthday Love!

2010-05-18T10:06:00.007+09:00

Alright, it's coming a day late. Gomen ne.

The other person I went down to see this weekend was Nicole. One fateful night while out celebrating another birthday actually, we started to click. The next weekend I invited her to bake cookies at my house with a group of girls and then we spent a bunch of holiday parties together and quickly became the best of friends. I already said it, but I guess the only way to say it is that our personalities just clicked and we felt like we could talk about most anything with each other almost instantly. Since, we've been hanging out almost every weekend.

Last night we had a chill dinner with just 5 of us to wish our best girl a Happy Birthday. She also had some shenanigans in Tokyo where I hope she had lots of fun ;) Next weekend we're heading back to Tokyo, and this time I'll be in tow! We're going to dinner and a hip hop club. It will be my first time clubbing in Tokyo, so I'm actually excited even though I'm not really a club scene kinda girl!!So anyway, my darling new friend, I wish you all the best this 25th year of your life has to offer!! I'm so glad that we met and because fast friends. I love you and am looking forward to the next 2 months of excitement (though after this weekend, your birthday ends....one week and two weekends is a lot of celebration!!).

Hair Cuts!

2010-05-16T23:47:00.004+09:00

This weekend was pretty chill. I went to visit some friends on Friday night for a huge food fest!! We had chili cheese fries, chili cheese dip, oreo cream pie, tacos/chalupas, guacamole, homemade salsa and more. It was AmAzInG! Here Sharla and I are posing in front of the food pre-hair cut. The others were in a food coma....

The next day, I spent some time with Sharla. We've worked together on different committees, but have never really hung out on our own because we live so far apart!! We had a girls' day, going to buy makeup and get our hair cut. We both cut off quite a bit!!! Check out our new styles below :)

It was a fab night and day!! After that I met up with some friends in Fuji on Friday night and then spent a lazy Sunday. It was a nice chill weekend -- I'm not ready to go back to school tomorrow!!! It's midterms this week, so I won't be teaching. I have a big stack of essays on my desk that I need to finish and more jobs to apply for!! Hope you all had a great weekend!! XoXo

Susono 5k

2010-05-10T20:49:00.005+09:00

Last year, Jenny recruited Kari and me to run a 10k in Susono, a town here in Shizuoka. It's a race with a great view of Fuji. Last year I was sick and wasn't so happy with how things turned out. This year Jenny is in Hawaii, but Kari and I decided to do the 5k. I was really glad that we decided on the 5k instead of 10k. I hadn't really trained since I had Oxfam last month. Of course I was in decent general shape, but not really race running shape!! My goal was to run 10 minute miles, so not so fast really. I finished in 31 minutes and 30 seconds, which is almost exactly 10 minute miles (5k=3.1 miles), so I was happy. Kari also finished well under her personal goal, so it was a great day overall. Mt. Fuji was out in the morning, but was hiding during our race. It was still a good day for a race with sun and warm weather.

Here's a video of the start of the 10k race. I thought it was interesting to start with the traditional Japanese drumming (taiko). Probably the only place in the world a race starts like that!! Check it out on my blog if you get this by email.

Before the race with our consecutive bib numbers.

After the race with our certificates. I was 27th out of 65 competitors, so in the top half. More than I expected, so I'm more than happy!!

It was the first time in a long time that I got a chance to hang with Kari, so I stayed at her house the night before. We couldn't resist a little purikura on a Saturday night!

Yabusame Horseback Archery Festival

2010-05-10T20:22:00.007+09:00

During Golden Week, I not only went to a big kite festival, but I also went to a horseback archery festival in my town, Fujinomiya. Last year I was in Kyoto for Golden Week so I missed it. It was interesting, but I've learned that I'm a bit jaded with Japanese festivals these days, along with shrines and temples. It was a fabulous day outside though, with sun and a slight breeze. Also, a lot of ALTs came from surrounding areas making for great company. There were the usual food stalls with fried food and food on a stick. They made a big temporary runway for the horses.

One of Brian's Japanese friends was there and told me a lot about the festival, all of which I can't remember. But I do remember that she said they had been celebrating this horseback archery festival for over 800 years. She had a magazine with some of the mythological gods from history that each shrine prays to, and at Sengan Shrine the people pray to this god on the right. She is representative of Mt. Fuji and I'm not sure what else. The people used to bath in the pond at my shrine to cleanse themselves before climbing Mt. Fuji as it was at one time a spiritual experience, not just for fun or for sport. Today, some still describe climbing Fuji as a spiritual experience, and many Japanese will ask you if you climbed it as one of the first questions they ask when they meet you.

So anyway, there were a bunch of men with bows and arrows on horses and they each went down a path with two targets. The first bow they had loaded when they started, but the second they had to grab from behind them and get loaded while the horse is moving. Here's one of the guys on horseback.

Nicole, Me and Brian with Shaune lurking in the background while watching the archers. Is that a word, archers?

Here's a video of one of the competitors. Remember if you receive this by email, you'll have to go to my blog to watch the video.

Overall, it was a pretty cool festival. I need a break from festivals though...and I guess I'll be getting a very long one in 2 short months whether I want it or not!!

Hamamatsu Kite Festival

2010-05-06T13:13:00.010+09:00

This weekend was the Hamamatsu Kite Festival. Many of the locals dress up in happi (pictured at left) and head out to the sand dunes near the water to fly 3 meter x 3 meter sized kites for their newborn children. The festival is during Golden Week every year and the last day of the week (Wednesday) celebrates Children's day. Nicole and I didn't really plan on it, but ended up spending our entire Golden Week together from Friday until Wednesday. The chosen day for Hamamatsu (about 2 hours by car, 3 hours with traffic) Kite Festival was on Tuesday. We had a leisurely morning before heading out to the dunes from her house in Iwata (about 30 minutes away). We met a bunch more ALTs there, ones that I don't see so often since I live pretty far away. It was nice to catch up, especially with those who had done the Trailwalker. Seems we have a special kinship now. We know each other's pain :)

We enjoyed the festival food and watched the kites in the fabulous sunny weather that we were blessed with all vacation. Here are a few photos with descriptions:

A random team asked us to take a picture for them, and then wanted one with us too! I think their kite had already come down for the week.

There was tons of festival food per usual -- lots of food on a stick. Which coincidentally in Japan is always a chopstick :) Corndogs, bananas and more all on a chopstick. Chocolate covered bananas are my fave festival food. I'll miss them!! Thankfully, they are easy to make on your own!

These are the huge kites. They take a big group of people and meters and meters of rope to keep in the air. I don't really know the art of kite flying, but it was still cool.

Nicole and I posing in front of one of the big kites.

Each group has their own little band walking around playing tunes and multiple people to maneuver the kite. The kites sort of battle -- the goal is to the be the last one in the sky. If your kite falls to the ground, you're done. So the goal is to not get tangled with other kites.

Here's some kites up in the sky. There were hundreds.

Some of the Kakegawa/Shizuoka area JETs we met up with.

I'll post more pictures in a Golden Week album on Flickr soon!!! It finally feels like spring/summer here. Frankly it seems like we jumped from winter to summer as the temps went from being in the 40s and 50s to being in the 70s in just a few days. It's been welcome for me however. Biking is so much nicer without the rain! I hope you're getting in some sunshine at home!

Cohen's First Jimbei

2010-05-06T10:26:00.002+09:00

When I came home this summer, I wanted to bring Cohen (my best friend's son) something uniquely Japanese, so I bought him a jimbei. A jimbei is a sort of traditional clothing, and it's worn I suppose as some people wear a bathrobe. It's an around the house lounging wear or bedtime wear. Some people where them out for festivals in the summertime as they are a lightweight material. Typically when you go to an onsen or hot spring bath, you also get a jimbei to wander around in after you bathe.

So anyway, I bought one for Cohen and for Avery, but they were a bit big. Cohen's fits just perfectly now!! Nicole took some pics and sent them to me - totally made my day! Too cute!! Wanted to share with all of you!!!

A Japanese Stud

Ready for a summer festival!

Can't believe the little guy is almost one!!! Can't wait to see him this summer -- I'll get to see him the first day I get back for a wedding, so he'll be all dressed up in his tux, cute as ever!

Trailwalker Pictures

2010-05-05T00:03:00.006+09:00

Because of the rain (and frankly, the exhaustion) I wasn't able to take many pictures during the Oxfam Trailwalker. But my good friend Kelly who was on our support crew did what she does best: record the moment on camera. She snapped pictures and most of the checkpoints for us and at the finish line. Check out her pictures by clicking here. Thanks so much Kelly!!! Here's a preview:

I'm almost still in shock that I completed this thing...seems like it was all a dream. I'm glad to be done and I've been doing a mix of celebrating and recuperating for the last week as we got four days off work for national holidays. One more day tomorrow. Will update on my adventures with that soon. I really hope you'll check out the pictures!! Thanks again for your continual support!!

Super Support Crew

2010-04-29T16:50:00.002+09:00

Last night we had a celebration for completing the Trailwalker. It was a much deserved night out on the town!! We especially wanted to say a big thanks to these two ladies. There were a lot of people that showed up for support crew. I think there were between 20 and 30 people who showed up to support a team. None of us would have made it without them!!

These girls went above and beyond to support not just one team, but all the Shizuoka teachers that did the walk. They prepared tons of food for everyone - pasta salads, chicken and tuna salad, cheese dip, hummus, cut up veggies, cheeses, made cookies and muffins and sweets, bought us Red Bull and snickers and replenishing drinks and jellies. They drove other support crew around, let us sleep with our sweaty and muddy bodies on their pillows and blankets, and ran around to get things for us so we could finally rest at checkpoints.

This is Laura! She spent her birthday slaving away for all the hikers, even bringing international snacks for the Brits :) When we crossed the finish line Laura was the first one who tackled me with a hug -- it really meant a lot to me! I know you wanted the girls to finish more than anyone else, so I'm glad I didn't let you down!!

This is Nicole, one of my Japan besties. At times I felt like she was my personal support crew!! Thanks for the endless trips to your car, the calf massage, and the encouragement when I needed it most. "Today I'm grateful for you!" Love you hun!

I don't feel like a simple blog entry or words can fully express how grateful I was for these two ladies during the walk. They both sacrificed a lot to help the hikers, which indirectly helped a lot of people in need. We couldn't have finished without them and we wouldn't have raised as much money had we not finished. Thank you so much ladies!!! I love you both and am going to miss you dearly when I leave Japan!!

Oxfam Trailwalker Japan

2010-04-25T17:45:00.015+09:00

I'm not really even sure where to begin, as the last 60 hours of my life are a huge blur. In this moment, I think it was the most incredible thing I've ever done in my life, and also the worst idea I've ever had!

Some quick facts in case you don't want to read this whole thing...but I feel like after climbing up and down mountains and walking around lakes for 38 hours on 10 minutes of sleep, the least you could do is read about it :)

Starting Time: 9am, April 23
Official Finishing Time: 38 hours 39 minutes (11:39pm April 24)
Place: 55th of 188 participating teams
Total Ascent: 5420 Meters (If this means nothing to you, check out this website which gives you some visuals...)
Total Descent: 4512 Meters
Sleeping Time: 1 hour (but couldn't sleep because I was sweaty and cold and everyone kept coming into the nap room and talking)
Approximate Rest Time at Checkpoints: 8.5 hours
Total Money Raised So Far: $1877 (donations still accepted until June 30). My friends and family helped me raise a total of $400 for my team! Thanks everyone who donated!!!

This is the actual elevation map of the course. It looks like 7 mountains,

but when you're climbing, they don't run together as much as they do on

the map! If I categorized it, I'd say it's 8 main mountains and small
sections of a few more.

Alright, so here's the long version...will try to keep it limited to the basics. Times are extremely approximate as I lost all sense of time shortly after starting.

I was really nervous before the event began. I kinda felt a big "What did I get myself into?" There was a lot of rain forecasted and I wasn't really looking forward to walking 62 miles and not sleeping for almost 2 full days. Here are my teammates thoughts just before the finish...I accidentally cut of Kory's second definitive "Let's go" at the end...so just imagine a definitive end!

Start to Checkpoint 2: Two mountains, 18 km (11.2 miles) Rain, April 23 morning

So you have to walk around a track a few times and then head out on the trail. Some teams run around the track to get out of the congestion, which we thought about, but decided against. That meant that start to CP1 was pretty much waiting in a queue to get up and down the mountain. In order to get ahead of the crowd, we decided not to stop at CP1 and just continue through to CP2. Start to CP1 is 9km with one mountain and CP1-2 also is 9 km and 1 really big climb. We hadn't hiked this section since January, so we forgot how big the mountain before CP2 really was. It was an intense climb. The guys seemed to be in a hurry to make up time from earlier when we were waiting in line to climb the first mountain, so this was the first time I started to doubt if I would be able to make it a full 100km as I was having a really hard time keeping up. I had a lot of mental highs and lows, and this was definitely a low point. At CP2 we got to catch up with some of the other teams, get some food (cup of soup and a juice box anyone?), and got ready for the next section which is a lot of flat walking. We "rested" for about 30 minutes, but there was no place to sit. Oh yeah, it was raining this entire section...

Basic weather conditions on the entire first day. Sometimes
heavier rain, sometimes lighter, but pretty much constant. Photo by CindiRocks, another hiker from Shizuoka.
Click on the picture to see her other pics on Flickr.

Checkpoint 2 to Checkpoint 4: NO mountains! 18km (11.2 miles), Rain, April 23 afternoon and evening

The rain continued (basically this is going to be a theme for awhile), but the course is flat and easy, but only easy in comparison because we had already walked 18km. I think a few of the guys had a rough time with this part because it's easy to get bored with all the flatness. It was a high point for me however. It's easy to have good conversation during these parts since you don't have to watch your footing and many places are wide enough that you don't have to walk single file. CP2-3 is only 5.5km and beautiful. It goes around a pond and along the Old Tokaido road where people would travel from Tokyo to Kyoto and Osaka. We passed through this section with a breeze and got some more food (still no place to sit) at CP3. The next section is still flat, but the longest section yet. It's 12.5 km around a beautiful lake...that is less than exciting in the rain and fog. At this point I was excited to make it to CP4 because I knew all of our friends would be there with food. Also, I really wanted to get to CP4 before dark, and we made it without having to use our headlamps. And I also knew that I could change some clothes at CP4 and get rid of some of the weight in my backpack and give it to support crew. Start to Checkpoint 4 took us approximately 10 hours.

Checkpoint 4 was a great pick me up! We arrived basically exactly at our estimated time, which was surprising to us. Most of our friends had made it (they had to work on Friday, so some couldn't arrive 'til later) and had brought us changes of clothes and an incredible spread of food. I had like 3 sandwiches, veggies and cheese dip, some chocolate and snacks, my first Red Bull energy drink, and probably more that I can't remember. We stayed here for a little over 2 hours, changed clothes, got stretched by some "professional" volunteers, put our muddy rain gear back on and headed out rejuvenated.

Checkpoint 4 to Checkpoint 5: One mountain, 18 km (11.2 miles), Rainy, Muddy, Cold Hell. April 23 overnight until 3am

So this is quite a long section. The first 6 km is on the road, not so difficult. It was still raining and cold, and in the dark. We made it to the trail and there were a few people around and we were hoping it wouldn't be a big line of people again...it was with good reason. I seriously cannot describe it as anything other than 12 km of hell. The trail was sloppy, slippery, slimy mud with rain still coming down (and some people have said hail...but I think we maybe finished before this or completely blocked it out!). We probably couldn't have gone too much faster even if there wasn't a big crowd of people. The mud was ankle deep in most places, deeper in some places, but not really less than ankle deep the entire way. I had to use my hands a lot to brace myself and they got cut up from the plants on the ground. The way down was just as bad...pretty much it was like skiing in the mud -- in many places we just had to let our feet slide down the mountain and be really careful not to get injured. I think we probably all took at least one fall in this section. We also got lost for a bit because of the fog and darkness. A Japanese team I think had followed us and yelled up ahead to ask if we were sure we were on the trail. We weren't sure and didn't recognize anything, so we turned back and got back on the trail by shouting down the mountain at some others.

We broke away from the crowd in a few parts, as we are pretty fast downhill walkers, even in the deep mud apparently. The mud was so unbelievably ridiculous that we actually just gave up any hope of being dry, warm, clean or sane and just made a lot of jokes. The word "dookie" was in 97% of our sentences. It was ROUGH. But we made it (it was still raining...)

These are the shoes after hiking through the muddy hell. It was hard to tell
which shoes were yours as all distinguishing features were covered in mud. Photo by CindiRocks, another hiker from Shizuoka.
Click on the picture to see her other pics on Flickr.

Because this part was so ridiculous, we decided not to continue on in the dark and rain. We changed our rest plan and stayed at CP 5 for about 2 hours until sunrise. We ate some food, tried unsuccessfully to get some sleep, and changed some clothes.

Checkpoint 5 to Checkpoint 6: Road walking, steadily uphill. 9.5 km (6 miles), Rain? I think so. April 24 Early Morning

We headed out in the morning at around 6am. This section usually takes us 2 hours. Our muscles were tight and we were tired, so we took it easy and finished in like 2 hours and 20 minutes or 30 minutes. Took a short 30 minute rest at CP6 for some more food. So we arrived here at maybe...8:30 am and left around 9 am after Day 1.

I don't remember much from this section. I think our pain started to become real after 45km. Of course things start hurting before then, but we had done many practice hikes around 40km, so we understood the pain until this point. It was discouraging that we still hadn't even reached the halfway point, and hadn't climbed even half the mountains yet. I think I was mentally numb in this section.

Checkpoint 6 to Checkpoint 7: One Mountain, 16 km (10 miles), Light rain and sun for about 1 minute, April 24 Late morning/early afternoon

This section has one pretty challenging mountain. I'm the slowest climber on my team, so often in any longer climbing sections I take the lead so that I can go at my pace and we can continually climb together instead of me falling back, or us having to stop for breaks. On our first practice hike of this section, I had one of my lowest of the low points, so I always dread this mountain. In the daylight, it wasn't so bad. Because I expected it to be bad, it actually ended up being much easier than I thought. Of course challenging, it's a big mountain for god's sake. But so much of it is mental and I was in a pretty okay place. Also it was daylight and this section wasn't TOO muddy, so we were able to make good time back down the mountain. We try to jog down the mountains for less impact on our knees. It also helps our time of course and honestly feels like it takes less effort. And it makes you feel good that you're making good time. I felt good after the downhill. It wasn't as muddy and it was daylight, so we could get down pretty fast. We also passed the halfway point in this section which was a little bit of a boost...but then we had a lot more kilometers to go before reaching the next resting place.

After that however, was my lowest point of all. There is about 5 km of road walking at the end of this section, and it's a really boring walk with nothing to look at. I checked out emotionally. My pain was real. My left hip flexor was screaming with each step and my right calf felt rock hard, like the muscle wasn't even flexing as I walked. I hadn't had any REAL sleep in well over 24 hours and I had thoughts of dropping out at CP7. I knew that I didn't want to, but I just didn't think I would be able to take my body up 3 more mountains (which is actually more like 4-5 mountains I realized later at the point of no return).

In the last 2km of that section, I put in my headphones and played every inspirational song I had on my iPod that I thought would give me what I needed to continue. I felt better, but as soon as I reached the checkpoint, I realized that I couldn't really talk to anyone without starting to cry. I couldn't answer even a simple "How are you doing?" or "Can I get you anything?" without my voice cracking. I ate some food and went into the shower. One of my bags had gotten lost, so I had no clean socks or underwear, didn't have the towel I had packed for this checkpoint, and only had one clean undershirt to put on. I took a shower and soaked in the baths, letting some jets massage my calves and thighs and back. I blow dried my socks and sports bra and got stretched out. I thought I was doing better emotionally, but when around people again, I just couldn't not cry.

This was the checkpoint that I told myself "If you make it to CP7, you have to finish. It's only 20 more kilometers after doing 80." I knew I had to go on, and that if I could complete 80km, that I could do 20 more. And I knew that basically after leaving CP7, that it's a point of no return. CP8 is the final checkpoint and it's basically on the side of a road between two mountains, so you really can't quit there. It's also the mark where there is only 6.5 left in the entire thing, so it would be really lame to quit there. So I knew I had to do it.

The guys were ready to go, and Kory asked me if I was ready to go at 3:15pm, which was 20 minutes later. I couldn't respond with more than a "no." I was still unable to talk without crying and my calf still felt like a rock. Deep down, I knew that it was best if we got out and were able to climb the next mountain, one of the toughest of all in the daylight. I knew it. But my body didn't. We left anyway. I didn't take the time to tape my feet and decided that blisters at that point weren't going to make a difference.

Checkpoint 7-Finish: Officially 3 mountains...Technically 4+, 20.5 km (12.8 miles), Sunshine to start and a little light rain at night. Very cold. April 24 afternoon and evening.

I was pretty down at the beginning of this, as I just told you my emotional and physical state when leaving CP7. But about 10 minutes into the first mountain, I realized that I was going to finish. This is the most difficult section of the course, not only because you've already walked 80 km and climbed 4 mountains, but it truly has the steepest mountains of the course, and has 4 mountains packed into that "short" 20km. I had a few low points in the section because of the pain and also I was a little nauseous for awhile I think from lack of sleep, some food that I ate, and pure exhaustion. But overall what I remember about this section was just putting one foot in front of the other with purpose. When you're that close to the goal, each step has much more meaning than in the beginning when you can't even fathom the finish line.

We took the mountains slow and steady with me leading. The light turned into darkness and we continued on and up some more steep mountains. This section is tough. Really tough. There is a mountain with a bunch of never-ending stairs, a section where you have to pull yourself up some stairs with a rope, sections with no stairs or rope that are just steep and long. In many parts you can't see the top of the mountain. In many others you see what you think is the top, only to go 100 feet and have another steep incline start. I tried to not look too far ahead and focus on one step at a time. As cheesy as it sounds, all I could think about over and over again was about the enormity of what I was about to accomplish. Even now as I type this, it overcomes me with emotion. I have never and probably never again will push my body as hard as I did in those 39 hours.

On the last mountain, about half way up and only about 3 kilometers to go, we turned around and there was the enormous shadow of snowcapped Mt. Fuji over Lake Yamanaka. The sky was clear, the stars were out, and the moon was bright. I continued in my reverie of accomplishing something so great. We made it up and down the last mountain and continued quickly along the road for a few more kilometers to the finish line. We were all in an unbelievable amount of pain, but we still moved as quickly as we could, knowing we were so close to the finish.

The Finish Line

We crossed the finish line in 38 hours and 39 minutes at close to midnight on Saturday night. There were still some people around to welcome us in. Our support crew and fellow teachers from other support crews came to welcome us in with excitement. We smiled for lots of pictures, got certificates, got hugs and smiles. I was so glad to be finished, yet felt like the smile on my face was work.

I'm so thankful for my amazing teammates, Kory, Linton and John. I feel like it was truly a team effort and I'm so glad we could complete this challenge together. I've been saying it all along, but I think we have great team chemistry and I honestly don't know if I would have made it with anyone else. Thanks for pushing me when I needed it, being patient when I was slower than you, and for keeping me awake through long hours with dookie jokes and other unmentionables. Can't believe we finally made it!

We also had amazing support crew, which I knew we wouldn't have made it through without. At each checkpoint they essentially became our slaves, bringing us this or that, making multiple trips to the car to get the things we wanted, carrying around our changes of clothes and gear, rubbing feet and shoulders, giving us food, and waiting around for hours at different checkpoints for us to show up. I'm so grateful for the work that they did to help us along the way and they deserve a lot of credit for what they did. It wasn't as hard as climbing 8 mountains, but they also went without sleep, spent time preparing and making food, dealt with our crabbiness and exhaustion -- and did it all with a happy face. Thanks for helping us through. You guys are the amazing!

Thanks Friend!

2010-04-20T18:29:00.002+09:00

Nicole has been bothering everyday recently, asking me if I got her package yet - I think she was more excited than me!!! I of course was excited to get the package too -- my first one in a long while!! Like a well deserved prize, the box was hanging in a plastic bag on my door knob after biking up THE HILL. I think I might just refer to it in CAPS from now on.

I rushed inside and opened it up, and proceeded to binge on its contents!!!! My big hike is coming up and she got me a bag that says "Just One More Mile" - what a perfect gift :) I'm going to fill it with some peanut butter m&ms and girl scout cookies (which obviously were in the package too) to keep me going after many many "one more miles." Of course, I ate plenty of the food for my after school snack!!!

Thanks, Nicole, you have no idea how excited I was about those cookies!!!! Thanks for thinking of me! Love you and miss you lots!!

Car Update

2010-04-16T11:01:00.002+09:00

So I've had a lot of ups and downs in the stress levels this week due to my car accident. I was worried all weekend of course, and all day Monday while trying to hear about what was covered by my insurance and what was going to happen with my car. Tuesday I brought my car in, thinking that insurance would be able to fix it and got a loaner car. Thursday they told me it would cost 35man (about $3500) + 1 month to fix and my insurance would only cover 25man ($2500) and my car is only worth 15man ($1500). Then I asked about replacing it, they said they would pay up to $2500 for a new car. The car dealer offered to "sell" me the loaner, taking the money from the insurance company, and then buying that car back from me when I leave in three months for $500. I thought I would probably do that and ask for a bit more money. Then today I found out that if I don't replace the car, the insurance company will just pay me 25man ($2500). $2500 right into my bank account if I'm willing to torture myself with biking for 3 and a half months.

I have to double check with the insurance company that I would get the full $2500. But no matter what, if it's over $1500, I think I'm going to make myself take the money. It would be nice to have that as a cushion when moving home this summer, almost a blessing in disguise as I haven't saved a whole lot while here trying to pay off debt. I'm dreading it a little bit, but also up for the challenge. I might invest $200 in a mountain bike or something, as I live on Mt. Fuji and my little grandma bike with a basket just doesn't really cut it. I can probably sell the bike when I leave for just a little bit of money, as it'll be quite new. I'll just have to keep envisioning the $$$ in my bank account as I exert myself biking up that devil of a hill each day.

Spring is in the Air

2010-04-13T12:50:00.006+09:00

Well it seems that spring might finally be here, even though we're going to skip into rainy season and summer sooner than it took for spring to finally get here. It's been a bit chilly here recently and raining incessantly, which makes it seems like we did skip spring! But every once in while we'll have a pleasant spring day and I've tried to take advantage of them when they present themselves. Tulips are opening everywhere - we have a bunch in front of our school that I enjoy on my way in and out of school each day. I took a picture of these tulips in someone's garden on a walk the other day.

Sunday was one of the days that I decided I needed to take advantage of the weather. As my car had been smashed in the day before, I decided to walk to Sengan Shrine to enjoy the last of the cherry blossoms. Dawna reminded me to take advantage of the important things -- that I won't have any more "last chances" to see the cherry blossoms while living in Japan. I'm glad I took her advice and got out, even it it is a quite a walk there and back!

There aren't a whole lot of places around Fujinomiya where you can do cherry blossom viewing, so the few places are usually full of people. I just went by myself for some chill time, time to forget about my car and just relax. I sat under a big tree full of blossoms and read on my Kindle. Gosh I love my Kindle. I'm reading another James Patterson - I don't seem to read much else these days. I probably should be reading some stuff with a bit more literary value, but I enjoy James Patterson as I do TV shows like CSI and Law and Order SVU. Kinda the same sort of entertainment :)

I asked some students if they got to go out and do some cherry blossom viewing over spring break, but it seems that they were too busy studying, or maybe they just don't care either. But the pic below is some proof that they probably did spend a lot of time studying. That's a stack of Spring Break English homework -- each kid had to finish that book over break...I'm assuming they had one for each subject. I'd also like to remind you that in Japan, Spring Break is the break between school years, so these kids had finished up their school year and were moving on to the next grade only to be hazed with stacks and stacks of homework. I can only imagine if American teachers tried to give their students work to do in the summer!!

These carp streamers have started appearing as well to celebrate Children's Day in Japan. Though it's call children's day, it's mostly celebrates boys. People hang carp streamers outside their homes -- each one represents a boy in the house, the bigger ones for the oldest and on down in size. It's not until May 5, but some streamers are out already. This one was taken at a house near where I live in Fujinomiya.

I hope that we have some more nice and sunny days before rainy season and summer roll around. I have to cherish my last days with a view of Mt. Fuji, as it's usually too cloudy in summer and obviously in rainy season to see the mountain. I'm sure gonna miss it!

A Last Practice Hike

2010-04-13T10:20:00.001+09:00

The trailwalker event is coming up quickly, only 10 days now! I'd like to say thanks to everyone who has supported us financially, we reached our goal far quicker than many teams. Thanks for your generosity. Also, a lot of people have encouraged me along the way and I truly appreciate your support, as even practice hikes are grueling and leave us exhausted.

We went on our last team practice hike this past weekend, doing the final checkpoints of the event from checkpoint 7 to the finish. Whoever designed the course is truly cruel, as the final checkpoints have the steepest and longest climbs. The final two checkpoints took us 7 hours to complete.

We began around 11pm and hiked through the night. Essentially this part of the course has three big mountains to go up and then down, and really not a whole lot else!! One of the mountains I've nicknamed "the climb the never ends." After already climbing one challenging mountain, you reach checkpoint 8, cross the road and begin climbing mountain number 2 -- the one that never ends. You start with a bunch of stairs (think log and dirt steps). This goes on and on til you wonder if the stairs ever end. I think at some point the stairs end, and then you just climb regularly for awhile, and then it's back to stairs, this time with a rope to help you so you don't fall backwards. Then more "regular climbing." This last hike was only 20 km, but truly challenging climbs.

The final mountain we were able to climb in daylight and it provided an amazing view of Lake Yamanaka and part of Mt. Fuji that decided to peek through the clouds a bit.

We're resting up next weekend to let our bodies fully heal so that we have fresh legs for the main event. It's going to be a grueling 62 miles, but I think we have chosen our team wisely and we're all going to make it together. I'm grateful for my team, I think we have great team chemistry and we've been lucky to be without injury thus far. Hopefully we'll be able to say the same on April 25th.

The Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day

2010-04-11T10:39:00.009+09:00

A cute little older lady gave me these post cards yesterday. You'd think that was the start of lighthearted story of how nice people are in Japan. And it is a story about how people are nice in Japan...just in the craziest times.

Yesterday, I got into my first car accident after having driven for almost 10 years! It's nice to say that I never got into a car accident in my younger years of driving, but still SUCKS that it happened in Japan...at least it won't affect my insurance when I go back to America as they will know nothing about it :)

Unfortunately, it also sucks getting into a car accident in a foreign country with no prior knowledge as to how things work. So I was driving kinda out in the country, but there was a stoplight. I was trying to look whether I was supposed to turn or go straight. I think the car in front of me had already turned right (remember right turns are across traffic as Japan drives on the opposite side of the road), so I thought it was clear and I was looking at the signs to make sure I was turning in the right spot and turned despite the oncoming car. It was a green light, but I was supposed to yield of course, so the accident was 100% my fault. I felt like an idiot.

The lady was really nice, obviously, she gave me that stack of post cards. She called the police and I called my old supervisor to talk to the lady. She gave her all my info and I gave the lady my insurance card and we waited for the police. I really don't know what all went down when the policeman was there as the other lady did all the talking, but frankly it didn't matter. She couldn't try to blame anything on me that wasn't actually my fault, because I had no excuses to make to defend myself.

My car and hers were both still drivable and neither of us was hurt. I was wearing my seatbelt and I think nothing like a car accident will make you realize how important that is! I probably would have gotten hurt had I not been wearing it! I had to bed the front part of my car back up because it was rubbing against my tire, but then I was able to drive away from the scene. The other lady's car didn't have too terrible of damage either (see below). I have what I think is good insurance, it was the highest of three levels from the company that my car dealer recommended, so I guess we'll see how much I end up paying out of pocket. Hopefully shouldn't be too much.

After that, I pretty much moped around all day yesterday and felt like crap. Feeling better about the situation today, but will be once again embarrassed tomorrow when I have to drive my dented in car to school and then hope that one of my teachers can bring me to the car shop. If not, Dion's gonna have to help me and we'll explore the Japanese system of car accidents together. I guess all in all, not too terrible of an experience as the cop and the other lady were really nice, neither of us was hurt, and we were still able to drive away our dented cars.

Latest Trailwalker Practice Hike

2010-04-08T10:31:00.014+09:00

This past weekend, three of the Fuji Crew repeated the hike from Checkpoint 4 to 7. Last time we cut off the first 6 km of road walking as we were doing a night hike and needed to go to a birthday party for a friend the next day. This time we added the 6km as we were starting in the morning. Though we added 6 km and ended up spending an extra hour after getting lost (see below), we still finished 15 minutes earlier than the last time. I was impressed with our pace! Here are a few updates for each part of the hike.

Kory and John on a small road surrounded by tea fields.

CP 4 to 5 - As I said, this time we did the WHOLE section, including the 6km of road walking at the beginning. This was a breeze, barely any uphill or down, just mostly flat road. We set off on a brisk pace in the chilly morning. Kory and I were both dragging a little bit mentally after getting up so early on a Sunday morning, so we did our best to be genki and have a positive attitude. After the road part there is a fairy big uphill in this section, and I was lagging behind. Last time I didn't have problems with this part, and for awhile I wondered if I was going to make it! I didn't get as much sleep as I'd wanted to the night before and a few other factors might have played in, but I was scared I was holding back the guys! Thankfully as I said we finished in a much faster time than last time, so in the end I didn't need to worry too much. We finished this section with only some lighter rain toward the end. Also, at John's suggestion, we've taken to jogging on the downhill sections when possible. This seems to be a little less hard on our knees, doesn't really make us any more tired, and obviously makes our time much shorter. I'm really liking this strategy.

Cherry blossoms and tea fields.

CP5 to 6 - This is all road, mostly at a slow steady incline. A little more tiring than I remember it being, but we still tried to keep a brisk pace going in this section.

Bamboo along the course.

CP6 to 7 - This is where my body shut down last time. It was about 3:30 am the first time we did this and I was seriously a walking zombie. Therefore I dreaded this section, but actually in the end it wasn't nearly as bad as I remembered. I think that was a good lesson for me, that during the real event, different parts that I remember are going to be difficult, especially when the whole 100 km is paired together. I still took the lead on the steep uphill of this section as I'm the slowest uphill climber and it's hard when I get too far behind. It started raining in the same place as it did last time actually, but it was still light outside and the rain was lighter, so it didn't really hinder us in anyway. At one point we go through a fence that keeps the wild boars out of the city. See the picture of Kory looking bewildered at the fence. He's gotten the nickname John Locke as he carries his knife to protect us from the boars!
After we got over the steep beginning climb, there is a lot of up and down. Our team has started getting a rhythm and mutual understanding. I'm slower on the uphills, but in sections where there is a lot of up and down, I catch up pretty easily in the downhill sections. In this section we were in a race with the daylight which kept us going as fast as our tired legs would take us.

Not a boar, but startled us nonetheless!

After dark with only about 6 km left, we got lost. This was a bit stressful as we all wanted to make the last train. I had my car and could have given the guys a ride home, but then I wouldn't have gotten home til about 1am and had to go to school the next day. There is a section where you have to follow painted trees all the way down to a stream. We followed the painted trees, and at one point they veer off to the left, and it's not really a trail anymore, it's really steep. But the directions said follow the painted trees, so we followed them. That brought us to the stream, but not the wooden bridge that we needed to cross to stay on course for the final 4km of road walking. We wandered back and forth across the stream trying to find the bridge, wondering if it got washed out in the typhoon a few days ago. We walked in circles, backtracked, and did a lot of talking in circles in trying to decide what to do. All of us secretly wondered if we'd be spending the night in the forest until the sun came up and we could find the trail.

Thankfully, we have different cell phone carriers and John's phone was working. We called a few people, and finally my friend Neil was able to explain where we had gone wrong. The directions that we have are a bit misleading. where the painted trees veer off and are no longer a path, we had to follow the path and the trees instead had some pink ribbons tied around them. We had already done this before, but apparently in daylight it seemed much more sensible to follow the path with the ribboned trees. Thankfully we made our way down and across the stream. We had to keep a brisk pace on the last 4km of road. I remember this being terrible last time as we were all exhausted from no sleep, but this time it wasn't as bad as we were rushing for the train and had our minds on other things. We made the train by about 3 minutes!

Me and more tea -- can you tell why Japan is famous for green tea?

My knee gave me some problems this last hike, and I'm a little worried about it. It's nothing serious for sure, but after talking to my friend who's an athletic trainer, I think I have hamstring tendonitis. I just need to ice and stretch it well before doing activity, but I think no matter what it's going to hurt. We're doing one more practice hike tomorrow night (an overnight hike), and then we'll have 2 weeks to rest up our bodies before the main event. I can't believe how quickly time has passed!

The Most Wonderful Time of the Year

2010-04-06T16:46:00.006+09:00

It's the most wonderful time of the year: cherry blossom season! I've been a busy girl and though I've seen them around, I didn't get to fully enjoy the blossoms until Saturday. Last minute, we threw together a hanami part, or blossom viewing picnic under the blossoms. I absolutely loved this last year and looked forward to it all winter. It's going to pass all too quickly, but I hope to get out one more time this weekend.

Frankly, there's not a lot to tell. A bunch of us ALTs got together, had a little picnic, and enjoyed each other's company on a beautiful, sunny day under the blossoms. My friend Nicole made tons of amazing sweets - Ghiradelli chocolate chip cookies, several varieties of brownies, peanut butter cookies and more.

It was just the respite I needed before heading out on another 40 kilometer practice hike for the Oxfam Trailwalker on Sunday.

Not so healthy picnicking...

Our initial group of teachers, a few more came later.

I'll probably post an album of pictures on flickr, but you should really check out my amazing friend Kelly's pictures from the day. She took some amazing shots of the people and the blossoms! I even made her album cover! I even climbed up into a cherry blossom tree and got a cool pic, so be sure not to miss it!

Religion Relative in Japan

2010-04-03T20:48:00.007+09:00

A few people have asked me about religion in Japan. Recently a Fuji area ALT wrote an article for The Shizuoka Chronicle, our yearly newspaper that goes to all the new ALTs coming this summer as well as all the area schools. I thought she did an amazing job and asked her if I could post the full article as a guest post on my blog. So, without further ado, here's Shivonne DuBarry on religion in Japan:

“I don’t believe in God personally. I don’t know many people who do.” This is how Mizuka, a teacher from Shizuoka, explains her convictions. Yet she visits Shinto shrines to pray for good fortune and, when she dies, her bones will be buried at the Buddhist temple of her husband’s family. Those of us from societies with monotheistic Abrahamic traditions may find it unproductive to approach Japanese spirituality using familiar notions of religion. Here in Japan, no prominence is given to the question of god, nor is there a preoccupation with ideological self identification.

“I think the biggest difference between the religions in Japan and the West is the existence of the God (the Almighty).” Rev. Takafumi Kawakami is Vice Abbot and Director of International Affairs at Shunkoin Temple in Kyoto’s famous Myoshin-ji complex. “In the West, the God is perfect and always right. But, in Japan, there is no perfect being. Thus, the religion in the West (Judeo-Christianity) has the clear definitions of "good " and "bad". But, in Japan, everything is relative.”

Most modern Japanese are Shinto (83.9%) or Buddhist (71.4%) according to the CIA World Factbook. These numbers show that most Japanese are actually Shinto and Buddhist. So, for example, a person might visit a Buddhist temple during the Obon festival to pray for his ancestors. But on New Year’s Day he might perform Hatsumode, or the first visit to a Shinto shrine to pray for luck in the coming year. Miyamairi is when a newborn is taken to a shrine to get blessings. Funerals, on the other hand, typically take place at temples.

And this syncretism has extended in recent years. Along with Halloween and Valentine’s Day, many Japanese now celebrate Christmas in some way, even if only with the mandatory strawberry shortcake.

More and more also choose to have Christian style weddings – walking down the aisle, exchanging of rings and even Christian vows. High school student Marie says she thinks “White Weddings” are even more popular than traditional Shinto ceremonies at the moment. She would like to have one herself someday. Why the popularity of such an importation in a country with its own rich cultural endowment?

“Cuz it’s pretty,” says Mizuki with a smile. “Many Japanese…accept what they think is good from different religions.” This kind of theological shopping around, alien though it may be to outsiders, takes place in many societies as a result of contact between cultures.

Some observers believe that the fluidity of the average Japanese person when it comes to religion is rooted in the nation’s Shinto foundation. The acceptance of myriad deities (or kamis), it is thought, made it easy for Japan to accept the philosophies of the outside world. Thus, Buddhism came to Japan in the 6th century via Korea and was made the official state religion by the 8th century. Jesuit missionaries brought Christianity in the 16th century and today, about 1% of the population is Christian. Confucianism and Taoism from China have also had some influence.

Even though it’s still somewhat taboo to talk about religious beliefs among friends and colleagues, Japan is pretty relaxed about the whole thing. Extremism does not thrive here. Reverend Kawakami says that’s, “Because most Japanese are not religious at all. But, in the past, we had a lot of religious conflicts.” There are some notable exceptions though, like the 1995 Tokyo subway gas attack carried out by members of Aum Shinrikyo, a new religious movement.

There’s also the interesting case of Pana-Wave Laboratory, a new religious movement that made headlines when they attempted to kidnap a beloved Artic seal called Tama-chan, in order to stop doomsday from happening.

It seems that the ideas behind religious practices aren’t particularly important to most, though. Kawakami says, “People just focus on the formality. They just attend the rituals. But, they do not know what those ritual means. I can say that the religion has become less important than the past. But, people are still very superstitious.” Indeed, amulets or omamori, are big sellers. They are supposed to bring anything from a safe pregnancy to safe driving. Teenagers like Ena go to shrines to pray for help at the university entrance examination.

Mizuki sums it up: “If you ask a Japanese person what god is, I don’t think they would know. We do (rituals) because of tradition. And because we think if we don’t, something bad will happen.”

*Shunkoin Temple offers zazen meditation classes in English as well as tours and accommodations in Kyoto.

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Shivonne also writes a blog about cool places around Fuji City, which might be interesting to those living in Japan.

Above photo taken by me at Hie Shrine in Tokyo. A girl and her mother go to the shrine for 7-5-3 festival to pray for the happiness and health of the 3-year-old girl.

A Tour of the DMZ

2010-04-01T21:41:00.016+09:00

Two weeks ago, I was in Seoul. I don't think I'll update about everything I did on the trip, though I'll write a few posts about different things. First up: DMZ. In between North and South Korea is the Demilitarized Zone aka DMZ. The zone was created after the armistice between the Koreas and the buildings there are split between North and South.

Liz and I posing at the DMZ

We took a bus from Camp Kim through the USO, affiliated with the US military. We had to leave bright and early, piled on a bus and got some basic information about the relations between North and South. That big building behind me is on the North Korea side of the DMZ. The soldier directly over my shoulder is an American soldier who gave us the briefing. The other soldiers are from South Korea. If you look realllllly close near that big gray building behind me, you can see a North Korean soldier looking at us through binoculars.

These soldiers are in the ROK Ready position, a martial arts stance ready for attack at all times. ROK stands for Republic of Korea.

We were able to go in one of those blue buildings that you saw in the last picture. This is the room where North and South get together for talks. The table in the middle is divided by microphones and one side of the table is considered North Korea and the other South Korea. Here I'm standing on the North Korea side of the table.

Also in this room are mini flags of all the members of the UN. They used to be mini flags on mini flag poles, but then when watching the video cameras of the building, they saw the North Korean soldiers polishing their shoes with the American flag, so they put them in a frame and on the wall.

After that, we took the bus around the DMZ and passed the bridge of no return. This is the bridge where South Korean prisoners of war were released. We also stopped at a lookout where we could see a North Korean village within the DMZ. That's a huge flagpole. The North Koreans built a huge flag pole to fly their flag, and South Korea responded by building an even bigger flag pole. A few weeks later, the North Koreans built one even taller. The current North's flag is over 600 pounds.
We stopped at another lookout where we could see into North Korea, which had a line of big binoculars you could look through. However, you couldn't take pictures beyond this line, which meant you couldn't really take pictures. Everything was pretty highly secured for the entire tour. We were also warned several times not to wave, gesture or communicate in any way with North Korean soldiers. This could give them an excuse to attack.

One of the final stops was at the 3rd Infiltration Tunnel. After the armistice, North Korea has broken it several times by building tunnels under the DMZ and into South Korea. The tunnels were most likely being built to march soldiers through them to the other side and launch an unexpected attack on Seoul. Four of the tunnels have been found, but there are probably many more that haven't been found yet.

You're not supposed to take pics inside the tunnels, but a friend who was on the trip with me snapped a shot and I stole it. When confronted about the tunnels, North Korea claimed that they didn't break the armistice and that they were looking for coal. Over 95% of the area on the Korean peninsula is granite, so to cover their lie, they painted the walls with black coal. You could see on the walls where the paint has worn away over the years.

I learned a lot on the tour, though pretty much all the information given was one-sided. That was pointed out pretty obviously by one of my friends on the tour who is from New Zealand. She said she felt American propaganda-ized. North Korea also sometimes gives tours of the DMZ. It would be interesting to know what kinds of information is given on those tours and who they actually give permission to tour it since they restrict their citizens so much. I guess I'll never know!

See all the pictures from my trip to Korea at www.flickr.com/jans0176/sets.

Year One: An Adventure in Bookmaking

2010-04-01T20:51:00.002+09:00

As most of you know, I've been making a blog book of my first year in Japan. This was my first venture at making a book, and it was a big one: the final book is 174 pages!! Ideally I would have designed a shorter picture book to start, but it obviously makes the most sense to divide my time in Japan into two. The program I used was through blurb.com and it automatically loads in your blog entries from the internet. The pictures that I use on my blog are usually a lower resolution, so I had to swap them out for the original pictures on my computer and I also added more pictures from my trips around Japan and to Thailand last New Year's. The book shipped today, so I'm nervous if I'll be happy with the final product. I think it's a little cluttered, but overall, it looks pretty good and has a lot of memories that I'll be able to look through for many years to come. If you're interested in seeing the book, I've made it public for the time being, click on the picture below and you can browse through the pages. I probably will hide it from public viewing after a few months, so check it out now if you're interested!

English Conversation Dinner

2010-03-27T21:58:00.004+09:00

Last night I headed out for a dinner with my adult conversation class. Eleven out of about 14 students came, so I was really impressed! We had dinner and drinks at a place called Kotetsu. It has chill music, interesting things on the walls, and "world" food like tacos, nachos, pizza, Guinness on tap, etc. We had a great time!

Hiro, Chiaki, Yoshio, and Kyoko

Natsumi, Yoshiki, Natsuki, Ashley and Maki

Maki, Akihiko, Masayuki, Hiro

I also took home daiko for the first time ever. It's like a taxi, but there are two people and they drive your car home for you and the other person follows to pick the guy up who drives your car. It was an interesting experience. I had to ride in my own car, so in the front seat of course as my car is tiny and doesn't really have the most functional backseat and is a 2 door. I had some interesting convo with the driver (aka "I'm from America" and "I'm an English teacher" per usual). America should take note and offer this service to prevent drunk driving!

My Incredible Support System

2010-03-25T00:30:00.010+09:00

I realized today that I have two fabulous best friends and an amazing family and I just wanted to say thanks. You guys are rock stars :).

Someone I hadn't talked to in a long time was asking about my family today, and upon describing what they were all up to, I got to thinking about how proud of all of them I am. My sister's continually getting promotions in her job where she works extremely hard planning fundraising events for an amazing cause everyday. My brother has a BEAUTIFUL daughter and wife, and has been dabbling in real estate investments, he's so smart when it comes to things like that I can only hope he'll rub off some of that knowledge on me. I talked to my dad today and he was on his way to pick up donations from the local grocery stores to drop off at the food pantry; he's such a good man and I'm proud of how much time he's been volunteering since he retired. And I haven't talked to my mama in awhile, but she's been working like crazy it sounds like and is applying for a para job where she works. She finished her online coursework awhile back and I'm so excited for her! I hope the hard work pays off.

My sister came to visit and see my life in Japan. Had such a fabulous time!

Mom and Dad trying a self portrait. Too cute - I love this pic!

An older family pic, Avery is much bigger now!

I also have two amazing best friends that I couldn't be more grateful for. I know I'm luckier than most to have found two such amazing people who I consider just as close to me as my family. I'm always coming up with crazy schemes and dreams and both love me enough (or are crazy enough themselves) to support me and love me even more for it. Nicole has decided we need to go on a travel adventure together since she couldn't visit me in Japan because of her son being born this year and it's endearing how she throws in an argument for moving to Utah EVERYTIME I talk to her or every time she sends me an email :) And I got a card from Dawna today, just to drop in and say "How you doin'?" I can always count on something in the mail from her with a kind word or small laugh to let me know how much she cares. She's also helped me so much in the decision making process as I decide what to do next in life by sending me detailed emails, sometimes arguing her case for Minnesota, but also sent me a fabulous email with a ton of questions to ask myself to help me make the best decision for me. Of course both of these are only things that I came across today, one day amongst many. Both of you continually exceed my expectations in what I ever thought I would find in a friend, and I can't thank you enough. I only hope I give the same back.

Time spent with the BFFs while home this summer.

So I realize that this is pretty much a big long brag session, but I just wanted to say thanks, I love you, and I'm proud to call all of you my best friends and family. I'm eternally grateful for your love and support.

Seoul - The Door to South Korea

2010-03-23T12:11:00.004+09:00

Sorry for the double post, I accidentally hit "publish post" before I typed anything!

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I don't claim to be good at photography, though I enjoy trying to be artsy from time to time. I thought the doors in Korea were interesting and took a bunch of pics. Some are old, some new, some grungy, some with great history, and some just a front gate, but all interesting. Check them out below.

A door at Gyeongbok Palace using the color accent feature on my camera.

A door in the Suwon Fortress Wall.

Suwon Fortress

A door at Seodaemun Prison, where Japanese "aggressors" tortured the Korean "martyrs".

Defending the Buddhists on Mt. Inwang.

Letting in the Neighbors.

At Gyeongbok Palace.

An old style lock at Hwaseong Palace.

One last photo at Gyeongbok Palace.

Graduation

2010-03-15T20:23:00.001+09:00

Graduation was on March 1. I started writing a blog entry a long time ago about it, but then lost the passion to do so. I thought I should probably just finish this entry before I go to Seoul this week or I will never do so.

Graduation here is different and the same, and rather than the traditional post, I thought I would post a list of the differences and the similarities.

Differences:

No caps and gowns. Students wear the same school uniform they have worn for the last 3 years. In a few weeks is a ceremony for teachers who will be transferring to other schools or retiring, and at that ceremony the students come back and will wear their suits...and many will don recently acquired piercings and dyed hair to show they have broken free of the high school conformity.
All the students names are called and stand up as the roll is called, but only one student from each homeroom goes onto the stage to receive the stack of certificates. See the picture below.
The ceremony is in the morning on a school day, so all underclassmen have to go. The section for parents is smaller than in America; it appeared that each student probably only had one parent there to watch them and no brothers, sisters, grandmothers, etc.
The ceremony isn't really run by the students as it often is in America. There aren't speeches from students, picture slide shows, etc. Of course, being from such a small school in America, that's bound to be different in a larger school.

Similarities:

The school song, graduation song (a different one than Pomp and Circumstance), and the national anthem is played. But, everyone has to sing along which is a bit different.
Students are recognized by the calling out of their name and the top students and students with perfect attendance are recognized.
The ceremony is long and a little bit boring unless you're directly involved.

Highlights for the ALT:

Being asked to sign yearbooks.
An amazing lunch bento box.
Seeing the happy look in each student's eye and remembering what it was like to feel that way.

Watching the practice and the real event really made me think back to my own high school graduation. I thought back to the speech I gave with the theme of Oh, the Places You'll Go! and the disappointment in being second in the class instead of valedictorian. I thought about the accomplishments that I made in high school and how all of those things just don't matter so much anymore, both the great accomplishments and that disappointment. I thought about how I never in a million years would have seen myself visiting the countries I have now, especially living in Japan. How I had never considered so many possibilities and how little I had known was missing from my dreams. The more places I go, the more people I meet and the more experiences I have, the more the ceiling to my dreams grows. I hope the same happens for this new group of students that move on to the next chapter in their lives!

The Latest and Greatest of Mt. Fuji

2010-03-15T09:08:00.012+09:00

Recently, it was pretty rainy for about two weeks. Finally, the clouds broke and Mt. Fuji came out to play! I'm coming upon some of my last days of seeing Mt. Fuji with frequency, as along with summer comes clouds, rain and rainy season. This weekend I had some friends visit from Aichi-ken. They had made multiple attempts to visit the area around Mt. Fuji, but were never successful. Finally this weekend they were able to see Mt. Fuji for the first time after being here for 2 years! This inspired me to post some pictures from the weekend. I'm gonna miss this mountain so much when I leave! Hope you enjoy the views!

From the third floor of my school, Fujinomiya West High School

From the cafe at Lake Tanuki, with a latte and a Mt. Fuji specialty cookie.

Fujinishiki Sake Festival near Shibakawa

The ladies from Aichi enjoying their first views of Mt. Fuji

Such Grandeur

Rice Paddy Jumping

Rape Flower Blossoms

Photo Opportunity

I love the nature around Fujinomiya!

I hope you enjoyed this collection as much as I enjoy the real thing! It was a great weekend - maybe I'll post more later. Mt. Fuji is back to hiding again today, unfortunately.

Quote of the Day

2010-03-09T00:50:00.002+09:00

It's almost time for bed, but I found this quote on my friend's Facebook page today, and it really struck a chord with me today. Hope it inspires you today too.

"Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible."

Practice Hike #2

2010-03-08T11:40:00.018+09:00

Well, I survived the night hike, my second long training hike for the upcoming charity event at the end of April. The first hike that I did was from Start to Checkpoint 4, and this time we decided on an overnight hike starting at Checkpoint 4 and ending at Checkpoint 7. We'll be doing a lot of this part of the course in the dark, so we thought it would be beneficial to also hike it overnight as it will be more realistic to the full experience. The hike was a total of around 38 km, or 23.5 miles.

As the hike was in the dark, I didn't take a lot of photos like on the first hike, but I thought I would share a short blurb about our progress between checkpoints.

Checkpoint 4 to 5

This part of the course is about 18 kilometers, with the first 6 of them being on a road, fairly flat. The bus stop that we went to actually cut out that first flat 6 km, so we started the hike right where it starts to go uphill in the graph above, making it only 12 km for us starting at 7:45pm. It was a little tough with the uphills, but as our legs were fresh and it really wasn't too much of a problem. Our spirits were high for most of this section. We took a smaller break at what we thought was the second highest point. We had a great view over the a bunch of surrounding cities in the shadow of the mountains. It was quite cloudy and a little foggy in places, but still a good view with the mist and the mountain shadows. It really a moment when I felt like what we were doing was really cool. It was peaceful in the night and my mind felt equally at peace and happy to complete the task ahead.

We started off again after maybe 20 minutes and realized that were we were wasn't actually the second highest part, but was the high peak and from there on out we would be going downhill. So we stopped again and decided we needed to eat our first snack/meal to keep us going. I don't remember this downhill so much...I just remember from the whole hike that the downhill was so much worse than the uphill. I fell a few times as it was muddy from recent rains and I haven't invested in hiking boots yet, so I was hiking in running shoes besides the fact that I'm naturally clumsy. We ended this section about midnight, so it took us about 4 hours and 15 minutes, a lot longer than anticipated. Adding to that, we ended up taking a pretty long break at the checkpoint, which set us back on our overall time.

We did a really good job in this first section at alternating leaders. You have to hike single file on the trails, so we changed the leader every once in awhile to mix up the pace. Also, it's easier to follow than to lead, especially in the dark. Kory and my headlights weren't as bright as Linton's, but they were still pretty good when loaded with good batteries.

Checkpoint 5 to 6

From Checkpoint 6-7 is 9.5 kilometers, a bit shorter than the 12km that we did in the first leg. It's also a bit flatter as you can see from the graph above. In addition to being flatter, it's also mostly on the road, so we didn't have to worry about slipping in the mud, tripping over roots and big rocks, and didn't have to stare so intently to be sure we were staying on the trail. It was smooth sailing. We also knew we had taken much too long of a break as we heard from the group who started 2 hours behind us and they had reached the checkpoint about 30 minutes faster than us, so that kicked us into gear! We also knew that sooner or later it was going to rain. Different forecasts predicted different times for the start of the rain, but there was no doubt that it was going to come before we finished hiking. So that also kept us moving swiftly as we knew the last leg was going to be the most difficult. We wanted to do as much of the course as possible before the rain started coming down. We ended up finishing this section of the course in exactly 2 hours. Again, our spirits were high and competitive as we didn't want the groups that started later than us to catch up. We could see the moon and some of the stars, which also helped. We spent only 20 minutes at Checkpoint 6, taking a break to eat some more food, stock up on some more drinks and take a bathroom break. We were on our way at 3:05am to begin the final leg of our journey for the night. I might add, we didn't see a soul during this hike. Not a bike, a car, or person walking. It was like we were touring an uninhabited island :)

Checkpoint 6 to 7

The final leg was the most difficult. It was the most difficult climb, steeper and longer than the other checkpoints that we did. In addition we had already hiked around 22 kilometers and had stayed up all day at work and hiked halfway through the night. And the rain started coming down about an hour in with heavy fog so that we could only see about a meter or two in front of us for quite some time. This was the real trying point of the night. The first little bit of this is on the road, but soon changes to trail - a trail that seems straight up and never ending! I was starting to feel winded and fall behind a bit even on the uphill road, so I asked the guys if I could lead since I would fall too far behind if I wasn't in the front. So, I started climbing, one foot in front of the other, but had to stop several times and even though Kory and Linton were at a more conversation pace for them, my heart felt like it was going to beat out of my chest, I felt nauseous and was having a hard time catching my breath. They hung in with me and we got to an open patch with benches just as it was starting to rain. We stopped long enough to get on our rain gear and be sure that all of the stuff inside our packs was sealed in plastic bags to protect it from the rain. Then we were off again. I felt a little better, but definitely not ready to keep climbing that mountain!! One of the guys took the lead and I was in the middle. For awhile I felt like I was seriously sleep walking - I was wondering if it was possible to fall asleep while walking! This was the time of the thick fog and I could only see a bit in front of me. I was playing the ABC game (you know...I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing an Apple, banana, cat...) inside my head all by myself just to try to keep my mind awake, but it didn't work so well since I was the one coming up with all of them, it was easy to remember.

While I was in a walking daze, it was difficult for the guys as well as we had to stop every few feet to make sure we were still on the trail. It was a bit dangerous since we couldn't see very far ahead. We were unsure if we were still on the right trail (there are many trails in the area that go to different places) and thought for sure that we should have reached the next landmark on our map. A few times we stopped and had serious discussions about whether we should go back or continue on the course that we were on. Ultimately we decided we must be on the right trail and kept going. Thankfully, we were correct and we found the next landmark long after we thought we should have already reached it!! After that, I got a second wind from somewhere and no longer felt nauseous. Of course I was still tired and the rain was coming down, but at least inside I was awake and again ready to take on the task at hand after fighting through a tough hour and a half where I wasn't sure I was going to make it.

Soon after, the sun started to come up, which lifted my spirits for the rest of the way. It was still foggy and rainy, but since it wasn't dark too, we were able to pick up our pace a little. After the sun came up we still had some uphill to go, and a big long downhill as well. If I am remembering correctly, this downhill wasn't near as bad as the downhill in the first section. We were able to go much faster in the light and there wasn't as much to trip over. It was more slippery however as it had been raining for awhile. I fell again (possible more than once...I can't remember!), but the first half of the downhill was speedy on the trail. The second part of the downhill was on road, partly paved and partly rock/gravel. This was honestly a bit of a tease, as it seemed we were getting close to the finish and coming into the town where we could catch the train, but it was a long haul before we actually got into town. At this point was the time when we just knew that the end was coming and we were just waiting for it. Though this part was tough for me, I think it might have been tougher on Linton and Kory. I was lagging behind, but running up to catch them in spurts. It seemed easier and used different muscles to jog than to keep walking at the same pace. I felt like I had already gone through my tough part and knew I was gonna make it to the end.

We came into the train station at 8:15am, completing the full hike in 12 hours and 30 minutes, 2 mountains and 38 km later. The group behind us finished in 12 hours, finishing only the first section 30 minutes faster than us, so we know we need to cut our breaks shorter in that section for sure. The other group also had a few hikers more familiar with the course, so they didn't have to stop as often as us I'm sure to check the maps. We wasted a lot of time trying to decide if we were on course or not, especially after the rain and fog started. Thankfully, that's part of the purpose of doing these practice hikes on the actual trail of the race, so we should be a bit more familiar in the real thing.

Our team chemistry is really coming together I think, even though this was only my second hike. Kory and Linton have done a few more I think, possibly four. Unfortunately John missed out on this one, but he'll be there for the next one. You really have to read each other's highs and lows, as you all have them at different points. So far we're doing well together and are doing well at helping each other through those highs and lows. We know that 100 km together is not only an individual challenge and trying on ourselves, but also on how we'll fit together as a group both mentally and physically. We are only as fast as our slowest member and as positive as our most negative person. It's our job to help each other out of those lows, know when to just let the others be and when to push them. So far, so good. I'm glad I've found such a good team to complete this challenge with!! Awesome work Fuji Crew!

On a quick final note, I'm also thankful today for the many people who have donated to our cause. We haven't been fundraising for long, only since I sent out that last blog and email less than two weeks ago. As you can see on the side of my blog, we're over 80% of the way to our goal already. We did put our goal low, as we have never done this before. Our minimum is about 1000 pounds, which we put as our goal, but we hoped to make far more than that. Looks like our friends and family have come to our aid and will push us far beyond the minimum required. We're so lucky to have such great support in our lives and the numerous people that will receive the benefit from that money are as well. Thanks for your support! If you'd still like to donate, or just see the progress we've made, click here.

Next Hike: March 27

Community Center Fun

2010-03-01T15:24:00.001+09:00

Tuesday concluded another session of adult conversation class at the Working Youth Home where I teach once a week. I really enjoyed the participants this session, so I hope some of them return for another session!! I tried really hard this time to focus on actual conversation and I think that they got a lot better at everyday type conversation in English. Below are just a few of the students. The class technically had 15 people, but each week different people came. There were only three people who had perfect attendance. So these are the people who came during the final week!

It's weird to think I have just one more session left. In fact, I leave a bit before it ends! I also got an email today from my Prefectural Advisor about leaving. It's the first in an installment of 6 emails to prepare us to go. Starting to get real! Gotta get moving this month as I have a break from teaching until April. Today was graduation and the new school year begins in April. Will post later about graduation!!

Another Fabulous Weekend Gone By

2010-03-01T15:03:00.002+09:00

Well, the title says it all! What a great weekend surrounded by friends!! It's weekends like this that make me say, "I don't want to leave Japan!" But don't worry, most of the people I spent the weekend with are leaving anyway, so I will be too!

Friday night I had a meeting with my Fuji Crew team for the Oxfam Trailwalker. We got together to talk about fund-raising and planned some practice hikes for the next two months. Our next hike will be overnight on Friday, probably from 9 pm - 9 am on Saturday morning unless it takes is less or more time to finish. It will be good to get an overnight hike in as we will be hiking through 1-2 nights in the real event come April. I'm sure many of you saw the email I sent about fundraising for the event, so please help me out as I train hard to finish the challenge! Our meeting was a success and afterwards we all went to dinner at a quaint little place called Safari. The walls are lined with big bookshelves, and everything is wooden. It was a cute atmosphere and I had the best cream cheese, salmon and cheese toasted bagel!

After dinner, three of us roadtripped through downpouring rain to the Izu. Kelly and I stayed with my friend Kari. We had some wine and watched The Cutting Edge in honor of the Olympics. The next morning we slept in and then ventured on our yearly strawberry picking adventure. The picture below is compliments of Kelly. Here we're posing in the huge greenhouse where the strawberries are grown.

Strawberry picking is a bit different in Japan. You don't actually bring any strawberries home, but instead it's all you can eat for 30 minutes. You pay a flat fee (a quite pricey one at that at $20, but it's all about the experience!) and can pick and eat to your heart's desire. They give you sweetened condensed milk to dip them in and it's quite common for the Japanese to count how many they eat. Their numbers put gaijin like us to shame, as I only finished a few over 20 strawberries, which equals out to $1 per strawberry. All in all, it was a fabulous time with lots of laughs!

The entrance to "Cafe Strawberry"

Finding the best ones! Another photo by KellyKilgore

Having some fun! Again, photo courtesy of KellyKilgore

After strawberry picking, we had a nice conversation with the workers. Always celebrities when foreign in Japan! We chatted for awhile and then bought some strawberry beer from them. I haven't drank mine yet, but it sounds quite interesting! I think it's locally brewed from the strawberries at their cafe if I understood right. Will let you know how it is!

Then we were on to our road trip to the best onsen I've been to so far. We drove through the mountains and a little over an hour to Ito, Japan. The ride included lots of music, car dancing and coffee. See below:

Finally, we reached our destination: Akazawa Onsen/Spa. It has indoor and outdoor baths overlooking the Pacific Ocean and a few mountains. It's absolutely amazing and one of the most relaxing places I have ever been! They also had some outdoor baths where you lay back and there are jets massaging your whole body. So great! The picture at left is the picture from the website, but a good idea of what it's like. We were there during the daylight and then decided to take a break and get some ice cream before going back in after dark. It was cool seeing the night lights of the surrounding cities in the mountains. See some more pictures of the onsen here.

Above I'm hanging out in the relaxation room where we got awesome massages for $2 (20 minutes) in the ritzy massage chairs. They are better than any of the other places I've been, even massaging your legs, thighs, hands, etc all at once! After we read and relaxed and cooled down, we headed back into the baths for our night view.

Then we got back in the car, and despite a short detour (oops! got a tidge lost!) we ended up at a specialized curry restaurant just in time to order before closing. I got a great beef curry and rice with naan on the side. A great night cap to our girls' day! Hope you all enjoyed the weekend!

Oxfam Trailwalker Japan

2010-03-01T13:17:00.002+09:00

Through the day. In the dark. Overnight. Over ten mountains. Across rivers. Around lakes. Through the forest. Under the shadow of Mt. Fuji. Long stretches of open road. Three prefectures. Five cities. 100 km. 48 hours.

On April 23-25, the Fuji Crew will set out to hike 100 kilometers in 48 hours (that's about 62 miles for those metrically challenged)! We're in it for the challenge, the satisfaction of pushing our bodies to the limit. And to help a lot of people along the way. Oxfam Trailwalker has been coined the "world's greatest team challenge to overcome poverty and injustice." We're up for the world's greatest challenge and we hope you're up for helping us achieve our goal! We're just one of 200 teams working toward Oxfam's goal of "a fair world" by doing our part.

Fuji Crew:

L to R: Ashley (Minnesota), Kory (Texas),
Linton (Christchurch, New Zealand) and John (Alabama)

This goal isn't a small one and requires a lot of training. We've done some practice hikes on the trail (I posted an earlier blog about this and pictures on my flickr) and are planning them more frequently the next two months. We've been running in our school marathons, going to the gym, walking to school, and doing what we can to get into shape for the arduous task ahead.

Oxfam International is a group of 14 non-governmental organizations working with over 3,000 partners in around 100 countries to find lasting solutions to poverty and injustice. The money you give will truly change people's lives. Money from Trailwalker Japan goes toward emergency aid in the Congo, schools in the Philippines, overcoming hunger in Cambodia, women's rights in India, fighting AIDS in South Africa, and many more. See the full details on how the money raised from this event is used here.

What can you do to help?

Each team has to raise around $1400 minimum to do the hike. The money goes to the causes above. A lot of people in America haven't heard of Oxfam, but it's one of the leading organizations in the world. Any money you can donate would be much appreciated and put toward a good cause. I know many people don't have a lot of money to spare these days, but even $5 or $10 can go a long way in the countries above and you'd be helping me reach my goal for the team! You can donate online with a credit or debit card on our team page: original.justgiving.com/fujicrew. Thanks in advance for your support!

Will keep you updated on future practice hikes here. This Friday I'll be doing an all night hike to prepare for the race, as we'll be hiking through two days and one and half nights!!

Winter Strikes Back

2010-02-18T12:31:00.009+09:00

Well, I guess I'm not quite rid of winter as I had hoped!! I am out of my winter slump at least and feeling more motivated these past few days, so hopefully that will hold into the next month!! I woke up this morning to snow! As most of you know, it doesn't really snow here in Fujinomiya. Last year it only snowed one time and lasted about as long as it did today! I think the most that snow was on top of my car, about 4 inches, but the snow wasn't sticking to the ground all that much. It melted really fast, before noon! But while it lasted, it was pretty on all the roof tops and tree branches. It's always nice to get just a bit of snow to make me feel at home, though I am really glad I wasn't living at home this winter! I'm good with 4 inches and one day all winter, not a record 28 snow days and counting like in Minnesota! Sorry guys! Below are a few pictures of the snow. First is from my bedroom window and the second on my drive to school near a bus stop. That's actually a field right there where there are usually veggies growing.

Though it's been hovering around freezing for about a week, people think that it's still not cold in comparison to home. Japan has poor insulation as they think that summer is too hot and they want air to be freely moving for that reason. That's the explanation I have gotten from a few people anyway. Most people have a wall air conditioner in their apartments that doubles as a heater in winter. I have no such luck and decided not to invest in that since I bought a car. Instead I use a kerosene heater. It seems like an old way of heating an apartment, but a lot of people use them here as space heaters. I can comfortably warm up 1-2 rooms with it. I usually use it in the living room and kitchen in the evening, or just the living room after dinner. It's efficient and cheaper than electric heaters. I have a really old electric heater I use in my bedroom at night, but it barely takes the edge off the cold, it doesn't actually heat the room. Same with a halogen heater that I have. As you can see it's a much newer version of the kerosene heater than you would have seen in old times. It has a timer on top so you can make it kick on in the morning or at a certain time, a thermometer, child lock, etc. It's really quite safe except for the carbon monoxide. I have to be sure to let in a bit of fresh air from outside every once in awhile.

As I said, I've been working on being more motivated this week, and that includes cooking at home and not going out to eat all the time. Last night I mixed up a common winter dinner in Japan called nabe. Often people cook it in a special pot and a portable burner in the middle of the table, but I don't have a nabe pot so I just made it on the stove in a big pan instead. I made a kimchee nabe, my favorite. I cut up some tofu, fresh mushrooms, cabbage, a few other leafy green leek type vegetables and added some beef. You just turn it on, let it boil and steam for awhile and then eat it in small bowls with chopsticks (you can just drink the actual soup part). Sometimes we add udon noodles, but I forgot to buy them, so I just had veggies and meat. So delicious and healthy with all those veggies!

That's about all for now, nothing too exciting going on this week! Hope some of your snow melts like ours did!

Random Weekend of Fun

2010-02-14T21:11:00.015+09:00

Happy Valentine's Day! I am not celebrating, but hope that all you couples out there had a romantic evening with your partners!

This Saturday, I went down to visit my friend Kari in Izunagaoka. Our friend Josh was there as well, and we set out to have the most random adventures we could. Well, our main goal was to see the early cherry blossoms in Kawazu as I said in my last post, but when I arrived, Josh and Kari proposed a plan to visit a boar amusement park. I reluctantly agreed, but the weekend conversation pretty much revolved around the boars from there on out.

We went out on Saturday night to one of my favorite pork cutlet restaurants that is one of Kari's regular eating establishments. I got my usual katsudon and Josh ended up drawing the attention of an older drunk Japanese man who chatted with our table for well over an hour!! The conversation was quite random and hilarious. At one point he told Josh to be a rabbit and eat his cabbage so he could be a strong sportsman, funny since Josh really only plays video game sports...and then the conversation digressed as the man at one point told us that his farts smell like lemon. Josh asked him about the boar amusement park, and we found out our hopes and dreams for the following day were crushed. It closed about 3 years ago, but they are still handing out brochures because Kari had gotten one about a year ago. We were hoping the man was so drunk that he didn't know, but unfortunately after an internet search, that wasn't the case.

The night was filled with randomness, including a free pen from the owners of the restaurant, free chocolates for Valentine's Day from the owner's of a really cool bar in Ohito with the walls and ceiling covered in album covers (and the bathroom covered in all women album covers....), and we capped off the evening watching some movie from Kari's childhood that she told us frightened her as a child, but was her brother's favorite video, so she was forced to watch it all the time...it was indeed frightening, even more as an adult!!

This morning we slept in a bit and then headed further down the Izu peninsula to Kawazu. The cherry blossoms line the river and you can walk up and down the path. There are many vendors selling food and souvenirs. This first picture looks quite unimpressive, but I wanted to give you an idea of the bigger picture down the river.

Here's a close up of some of the flowers. These cherry blossoms are much pinker than the regular ones that bloom later in late March and early April.

Kari and I enjoyed some sweet potato fries from one of the vendors. It was a nice relaxing walk that indeed made me see the light at the end of the winter tunnel. Even though we're wearing winter coats and hats, the weather is starting to warm up little by little and the blossoms definitely give the feel of spring!! Unfortunately we did see quite a bit of snow up in the mountains on the drive there though!

Also, one of the vendors that we bought dried fruit from was selling some boar!! After narrowly missing out on the amusement park where they had trained boars to jump through hoops and had boar races, we had to at least eat some boar to make the weekend complete. Josh and I split a boar kabob for about $1.50 each. It was pretty tasty, but pretty much just tasted like beef.

After the cherry blossoms, we made a short detour to Toi, another town on the west coast of the Izu peninsula. It boasts the world's largest flower clock at over 30 meters diameter. As the boar extravaganza was a no go, we had to settle for the clock. It turns out, we drove there pretty much for nothing as the clock is huge, but it isn't made of flowers anymore! There was a plaque about it's Guinness Book of World Records standing in 1991, but apparently they stopped making it out of flowers! It was all tile, and around it were a few barely still live flowers. They did however have a nice footpath around the clock that had some foot reflexology rock massage stuff.

Here I am testing out a few of the rocks:

And here I am in front of the clock. Note the crappy flowers around it.

Across the street from the clock was a foot bath. The Izu is known for it's natural hot springs, so there are many spas and many foot baths around. This one was nice after a walk around the clock with the rocks.

Like I said, Happy Valentine's Day! I am off to get some sleep. This week is full of interview tests and essay grading. It's the end of the school year here, so the students are finishing up all their classes and getting ready for graduation in March!

Mexican and Movies

2010-02-13T13:42:00.008+09:00

Last night I had two friends over for Mexican food. The Japanese understanding of what Mexican food is ends abruptly at tacos. I don't suppose that enchiladas or fajitas really brings cultural enlightening, but it's still always a fun thing to do! So we got together and made chicken enchiladas and chicken fajitas, guacamole, refried beans, and in true taco bell style, potato oles! Here's Chiaki and Kyoko getting the enchiladas ready:

Rolling the enchiladas:

Our final product. I should have unrolled the fajita to make it more appealing, but I cared more about eating it than taking a picture of it!!!!

You can see the guacamole in this one if you look closely. Not the best angle to see the food, but here we're getting ready to dig in!

I also included this picture to give you a better idea of kotatsu. I think a lot of people still think it sounds strange when I say I'm sitting under or sleeping under a table. You can kinda see my floor furniture there (the chair behind me) and you stick your feet under that big blanket! The heater under the table heats it up nice and cozy. I have been known to take naps under there as well, of course with my head outside the blanket!!

Anyway, it was a good night. After eating and chatting awhile and them thinking all the pictures on my refrigerator were "kawaii," we watched a movie. I rented two movies, intending to watch a romantic comedy, but for some reason I couldn't get it to work in my DVD player. So instead, watched The Reader, a pretty heavy movie with Kate Winslet about a woman and her affair with a 15 year old who later coincidentally shows up at a Nazi war trial in which she is convicted of murdering 300 people, letting them burn to death in a church as a guard of a concentration camp. It was an interesting movie, but maybe not one to watch with people you don't know all that well! The plot is a little complicated and it's a slow moving film, and there's lots of nudity. Kate Winslet won an Oscar and a bunch of other awards for it though, so it was obviously a film worth watching. Interesting and thought provoking.

Today I'm heading off to the Izu peninsula here in Shizuoka. I'm staying with a friend and tomorrow we are going to see some early cherry blossoms. It's a little bit different kind of blossom and with the location and type of blossom it is, it comes much earlier than the regular cherry blossoms of Japan. I'm really excited to go down and check it out!

On the map above, you can see Fuji, I live just a little bit north of there. The early cherry blossoms are in Kawazu, a town that's mostly at the bottom in the middle of the peninsula there. It's about a 3 hour drive, but remember speed limits are low in Japan, so it's actually only like 60 miles I think! I remember looking at that once and being outraged, so I try to quit thinking about distance and just go by time now! I suppose, that's actually my cue to go jump in the shower and get on the road!!

Karuta Day

2010-02-13T02:45:00.007+09:00

Today at school was karuta day. It's only for an hour of the day, but it was interesting to watch and most of the kids had fun since they'll be studying the next few weeks for finals. "So what happens on karuta day?" you ask...well, let me show you :)

All the kids pile into the gym and are divided into different games. I have no clue as to the rhyme or reason of the groups, but I'm sure there was some as it was a tournament. There are some kids who are scorekeepers, time keepers and announcers on stage.

The kids sit in a circle and there are a bunch of cards laying on the floor. The cards have one half a Japanese poem on them. I believe the poems are taken from some old traditional book and are known as "The Hundred Verses" (it's in the name of the game in Japanese). The announcer reads off the first half of the poem and the kids have to race to put their finger or hand on the card that has the second half of the poem. See the video below to hear the announcer read/sing the poem.

The video above doesn't show it all that well, so see the picture and the video below as to how the kids choose the right card.

This isn't a game just played by kids. In fact, I have a friend here who plays it competitively at weekend tournaments. There are all sorts of strict rules to that, but the way the kids play was mostly just for fun. Each homeroom is a team, so it was a contest to see which homeroom could get the most points. Here, some students are keeping the tally to see who won.

It was fun to check out the kids playing the game, as I use a version of it in some of my classes with English vocabulary and phrases. The gym was freezing, however! It's been raining the past two days nonstop, so the sun hasn't been out to help warm it up! It doesn't help that in the gym you can't wear your shoes, so I was walking around stocking footed!

Will be back soon with an update from marathon day and a Mexican dinner with friends! Be sure to check out the videos on my blog if you receive this by email!

Really Random Cultural Notes

2010-02-13T02:40:00.000+09:00

So I'm back and healthy and ready to blog! I have been putting together a blog book recently, sorta like a coffee table book through the Blurb website. It's a mix of all my blog entries from my first year in Japan and pictures that I've added from the many trips that I took and from school and other local adventures. It's gotten me thinking about some of the things I'd like to share on my blog during my last 6 months. It's actually under the 6 month mark for me now, an exciting and scary realization. So anyway, in my last six months I'd like to try to hit on a few trivial things about Japanese culture and life that most people at home know nothing about as well as just showing what my everyday life is like.

So to start off with that goal, I thought I'd share this video from YouTube with you guys. In fall and winter in Japan, trucks drive around selling hot baked sweet potatoes. They drive around in neighborhoods and songs blare from their loud speakers. Of course they don't all have the same song or tune, but this is one of the main tunes that plays around my neighborhood. This isn't my video or even from my neighborhood, but it's essentially the same. There is also another one that has a really upbeat, cartoony song that I couldn't find a video of. I'll try to remember some night when it's driving around to record it on my camera and post it. It's pretty much a nightly thing and I mostly tune it out now. I've never bought potatoes from the truck, but maybe that should be on my "things to do before leaving Japan" list. Here's the video:

A second thing I was going to write about sort of falls under several categories. First of all, being cute is the be all end all of most everything in Japan. I've befriended a small group of girls in my English club and talk to them all the time. They kept calling me "kawaii" which means cute, and one day they said something before it that sounded like "mucho." It turns out that isn't what they said, but it prompted me to teach them that "mucho" means very in Spanish, so now every time I see them they break into giggles and say "mucho kawaii" and I respond by calling them crazy which they think is hilarious and I think are quite proud of.

So anyway, all things cute are acceptable no matter what your age or gender. Boys enjoy themselves a cutesy cartoon character cell phone charm and some even walk around with pink duffel sports bags, which to me is a bit contradictory. With this obsession of cute, Japan is plastered in cartoon characters. I haven't completely bought into this trend (if that's what you want to call it, I have a feeling it's one that's been around for a long time and is here to stay as well) except for the Minnie Mouse coffee tumbler that I bought at Tokyo Disneyland. I've since kicked myself for buying that thing, because I don't drink coffee enough here and when I go back to the states I am not going to carry around a Minnie Mouse coffee tumbler...people will think I'm nuts! I also inherited this cup holder that I really only kept because of it's practicality as my car has no cup holders. It does however prompt every Japanese person who gets into my car to promptly ask "You like Stitch?!" with hopeful eyes. Sometimes I just tell them "yes" as to not let them down.

It serves its purpose as long as the drink isn't too heavy...and as you can see also holds my garbage bag! It's even been known to hold an entire bottle of wine (see picture here on Kelly's Flickr). Don't worry, we weren't drinking it and driving, just using it as a holder until we got home! Also note that souvenir Mt. Fuji air freshener I bought at a touristy shop near Sengan Shrine in Fujinomiya. Along with the stitch theme, quite appropriately, my friend Kelly took a picture of this car we saw once at our local CoCo's family restaurant. You'll have to click the link above to check it out. It's not uncommon to see car windows full of stuffed animals or rear windows covered in stickers.

Alright, I guess that's all for today's random Japanese culture lesson. Hope you enjoyed these random tidbits about Japan!

Bobbin' Along

2010-02-10T21:14:00.003+09:00

Bobbin' along, originally uploaded by kellykilgore.

A picture from awhile back at the onsen with Kelly. They had a display of these teddy bears that are jamming out with headphones on. They all bobbed up and down and was quite hilarious. Here I am jamming out myself in my onsen jammies.

Sick Girl

2010-02-05T20:36:00.003+09:00

Because I thought you'd get a kick out of it. Here's me in my mask from the doctor's office...you won't see me walking around town like that though!
I'm on my way back to being healthy, but still doing nothing all weekend to make sure that I'm 100% next week. Hope you all have a great weekend!

Braving the Doctor Alone

2010-02-04T22:02:00.001+09:00

So, I've been sick since about last Thursday. It's just a cold, presumably because I stayed up pretty late almost every night the week before and wore myself out. Totally my own fault, but I'm in a weird February slump.

Anyway, I took a sick day on Friday and thought I was maybe on my way to getting better by Monday. I taught a class with my limited voice on Monday and on Tuesday it was much better, but Wednesday basically non-existent. I decided I had been sick long enough and should go to the doctor. So, I decided to brave it on my own as I didn't feel it was worth it to make my supervisor miss her classes near the end of the semester just because I have a stupid cold. She wrote the doctor a note for me though with my symptoms and stuff and I headed off on a brave new adventure.

I handed them my note at the desk when I first showed up and took a seat in the waiting room. After a few minutes, one of the nurses came out with a mask for me to put on and led me to a back corner of the clinic with a bed, presumably where they keep the contagious people! I sucked it up and put on the mask for show, though I was annoyed about it the whole time!

It turned out the doctor could speak a little bit of English. He was pretty shy however and decided he felt more comfortable writing what he wanted to say down and I read it. It was kinda funny because his English actually was good. But, I suppose it's better that he wrote it down instead of just insisting he doesn't know English like many Japanese do!

He told me I probably just have a common cold, but gave me some antibiotics that I should take if my symptoms got worse, along with a bunch of other drugs for my cough, constipation (because apparently the cough medicine he gave me causes constipation haha), phlegm, pain and fever, and sore throat/inflammation. Quite the cold cocktail if I do say so myself! I put on my mask one more time as I walked out.

I have interview tests coming up starting Monday, so I really need my voice. Therefore, I decided to jump right into those antibiotics along with the other meds, hoping that somehow I'll get better! I took the rest of Wednesday off school and Thursday as well. I have to head back tomorrow (Friday) because I'm supposed to teach two classes, English club and also need to make sure everything is good to go for tests on Monday. I'll probably spend most of the weekend sleeping as well, but I'm so sick of being sick!!! Hopefully I'll be good to go next week.

Turning 25

2010-01-25T11:23:00.007+09:00

Well, it's official, I'm old :) I had a fab weekend with friends to celebrate. On Friday, Nicole, a new but quickly becoming good friend came up to stay with me. I made fajitas while she was driving up and we had some amazing chocolate brownie ice cream for dessert! We watched movies and some episodes of Grey's Anatomy before I talked to some people from home! I got more than one midnight phone call on the eve of my birthday!

The next morning we slept in, and then proceeded to make breakfast omelets with peppers, onions, ham and cheese, croissants and "fruits" granola. I got made fun of more than once this weekend for my new Japan-ism, calling things fruits mix and fruits granola instead of fruit mix and fruit granola. I didn't even realize it wasn't English until people started mocking me! Gonna be a long road back to good vocabulary in July!!

After a leisurely morning and early afternoon, Nicole and I went shopping in Fujinomiya, which really only has a few good stores! We hit up the Uniqlo, which we had an interesting conversation about a few weeks ago during our hike. Uniqlo is short for unique clothes which in turn is interesting because it's a store of basics. Basically everything is solid colors and very few frills. Then we got to talking about how in Japan, that actually is a bit unique because everyone wears such crazy things sometimes! Nicole used to work in retail, so she was my personal shopping assistant! I ended up buying a new outfit for the evening and a few other goodies for the near future (including one work shirt, so I'm justifying the trip)!

Nicole, Me, Kari, and Dion

A few of us headed for the Indian restaurant in Fuji called Namaskar. It's sort of an ALT local favorite. The restaurant is really small, so I was nervous we weren't going to be able to get in (there are no reservations), but it was wide open when we arrived around 7pm!

Above is some of the food you can get there, though the pic is actually from Wednesday when I went out with two girls from my adult conversation class! The bread cut like a pizza is cheese naan, my fave! Many people get the sets when they go there so they can try two different kinds of curry, but I usually just go for one big bowl of curry and my usual cheese naan (sorry, I've realized this has turned into a food entry!)

The other side of the table:

John, Kory, Kelly, Amanda

After dinner we meant to go take purikura (the photo sticker booth things), but for some reason the arcade was closed, so I had to pose in my kitchen later (below)!! After discovering the arcade was closed, we went to a few of the bars around the station. We're starting to discover some new nice places and it's kind of exciting!

On Sunday, I spent all day at the onsen with a few friends and even got a massage! It was a fabulous and relaxing way to end the weekend. I tried to not get too hung up on the fact that I turned 25 despite the comments that I'm halfway to 50! I was a little stressed in general recently about the milestone, but I think that was mostly stress in making the official decision to leave Japan and ultimately probably return home for awhile. Those kind of life decisions at the same time as turning 25, and well, you get an emotional wreck! But by the time my birthday rolled around, I realized it really isn't such a big deal. I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the last 5 years and will continue my daily effort to move my life in a positive direction.

I sometimes get caught up in the fact that I'm on a different track than most all of my high school and college friends, as most of them are married and/or have children and in fleeting moments I want what they have too. But as the grass is always greener on the other side, I'm sure they all have a moment here or there in the opposite direction as well that they had taken time to travel and explore the world while they were young. I guess we all want it all, and it just doesn't work that way! So in the meantime, I'm gonna pose as a young, single and successful woman until I actually figure life out!

Final Decision Made

2010-01-20T09:06:00.000+09:00

I have a meeting this week with my vice principal. At that meeting I will turn in this form and it will be official!! Time to move on.

I've been deliberating lately what my next move should be and I go back and forth on a daily basis in which decision is best for me. Some days I think I should move on to another grand international adventure, and other days I think it's time to go home, get my own classroom and have some American adventures! Everyone has a different opinion and I've been seeking them out, though I've come to realize that a million people's advice is really not going to make the decision for me, it's only something I can do and decide what's best for me. I'm hitting the ripe age of 25 this week, and it's got me thinking a lot about "being an adult," the things I've accomplished in the first 25 and what I want in the next 25 and all that stupid sentimental crap. 25 shouldn't be so much different than 24 or 26, but at some point you've got to assess what you're doing and where you're going, so I figure there's no time like the present!! Next week will mark 6 months left in Japan as well, which also has me thinking about all these things. My mind is working overtime, per usual. Thanks to everyone who's weighed in their thoughts and given me things to think about on both sides of the issue!

A New Challenge

2010-01-20T08:55:00.000+09:00

Again I'm trailing behind a bit on blog entries, but I suppose I wouldn't be living if I posted everything as it happened :) The weekend before last, I headed out on a 36km (about 22 miles) hike in Hakone National Park. Hakone is a popular tourist destination for Japanese and foreigners alike. It's a hot spring area as well and popular here are black eggs, boiled in the sulfur hot springs there.

The reason I went on this long hike was because I'm beginning a new challenge. I've decided to join a team for the Oxfam Trailwalker.

Oxfam is an British based organization that fights poverty and injustice around the world. They provide emergency aid to places like Haiti and Sudan, as well as ongoing support in countries like India, Cambodia, South Africa, Laos and the Philippines.

The Oxfam Trailwalker is a 100km hike over 48 hours, with basically no sleeping in between. It's completed in teams of 4 and the team must begin and finish together. Below is my team, now unofficially named the Fuji Crew. Each team must raise the equivalent of $1200 for Oxfam, with most teams raising on average of $3000. You can check out how the money is used here if you're interested. So our team started our training with this all day hike.

The Fuji Crew

There are several Trailwalker events around the world, but Japan is said to be one of the three most difficult courses, if not the most difficult. Here's one of the uphills (is upmountain a word?) near the beginning of the hike. We were training on the actual course, from Start to Checkpoint 4 (there are 10 checkpoints in all to get to the end). Hitting checkpoints 1 and 2 were about 9 kilometers each with a lot of uphill and a little bit of downhill.

To stay on course, we have maps that include lots of landmark pictures. They are quite helpful and can be easily printed off the internet. It's a great system. Anyway, this scrapped car was halfway up one of the mountains. It was a landmark on the map and all of us thought it was strange that it was marked on the map. Gave us something to talk about - trying to decide how a car got halfway up a mountain full of trees!

This is one of the tourist hot spots that we hiked through. The Old Tokaido was the highway that used to run from Tokyo to Kyoto. This used to be the checkpoint where people had to go through. Most of the checkpoint has been restored, including the gates, fence, housing for officers and foot soldiers, a prison chamber and a lookout tower. We obviously didn't stop to see it all, but we walked through the gates and the main shopping street.

The gate is located next to Lake Ashi, which has a popular view of Mount Fuji and its floating torii gate. This is a different one than the other pictures I posted. It's much closer to my house. It wasn't super clear that day, so Mt. Fuji is blending in with the sky a bit in this picture, but if you look close in the background you can see the snow-topped Fuji. Also is the pirate tourist ship, apparently a must have at tourist destinations.

We saw a few of these trees like this, upturned so you could see all the roots. Pretty cool.

The third checkpoint was a bit more flat (well, more like lots of downhill and no uphill) and to the 4th checkpoint was pretty much flat walking around the lake. This picture is taken on the same lake as the Mt. Fuji picture above, but near sunset. Though the last checkpoint was flat, it was longer than the others at around 13 kilometers. After climbing earlier in the hike, it was still exhausting and our bodies started aching and blisters forming. But we made it.

We actually didn't take many breaks during the day. It was cold (there was frost and a bit of snow in several parts of the course), so if we stopped for much more than 10 minutes we would start freezing. The actual race is in April, so this shouldn't be as much of a problem then! It was good to keep us moving. We mostly stopped at each of the checkpoints, so about every 2-3 hours. We stopped and ate some of our food and snacks, and obviously hit up some vending machines along the way for water and Gatorade. While we were moving, the temperature wasn't really an issue, especially in the sunny areas.

Here we are exhausted on the train after hiking from 7:15am til about 5pm. It was a long day, but felt awesome that we finished. Still exhausting to think that in the real event, we'll have to do what we did that day 2 more times without sleeping. More training needs to be done so we can get to that level!! Our team will continue working hard and we'll be looking for your support in the months ahead!

2009 Review in Facebook Statuses

2010-01-15T00:37:00.001+09:00

A Japanese New Year

2010-01-13T23:23:00.012+09:00

Alright folks, this one is coming a little late, sorry. After this I'll start posting in the present again, instead of the past :) But I couldn't NOT post about my one and only New Year's in Japan!! So I spent New Year's in Kyoto. After doing the zen garden stuff during the day, I went back to the hostel to freshen up, relax and most importantly warm up! The hostel was having a soba party for New Year's. Most Japanese eat this special kind of soba, called toshikoshi soba. Soba are buckwheat noodles and are popular year round, but are eaten at New Year's for a long life. On top of the noodles is daikon (Japanese radish), green onion and some sort of dried tempura flakes. Some put on a raw egg, but I ate mine without -- still took a picture of someone else's with egg!! I've eaten a lot of things raw in Japan, but I can't bring myself to do the egg!! So I had some soba and watched a little bit of a show that many Japanese watch on New Year's called kohaku uta gassen. It has popular singers and idols perform and most of the younger generation and families tune in. I suppose it's equivalent to watching Dick Clark and watching the ball drop in Times Square for Americans.

After that, I made my way to the hot spot of Kyoto on New Year's and in the center of Gion (the land of geishas). Many people put up their New Year's wishes at the shrine, so I decided to join in on the tradition and put up mine too!
At the year end, many things are burned at the shrines. Many people buy charms for the year for good fortune in business, driving, school exams, love, having babies, etc. At the end of the year they burn them. They were also selling some sort of sticks and people had written on them and they were burning them too...not exactly sure about what that is, but I would assume it has to do with leaving the old year behind. People also buy small pieces of rope and light them on fire and twirl it around to keep it lit. Tradition was that you would keep it lit until you got home and you would light your stove to cook the first New Year's food with it. Kinda cool, though I doubt many of the people doing it were using it for that reason!! Many people also get omikuji, or their fortune for the New Year. I got mine too. Sometimes they have the English translation, but this one didn't, so I have yet to know if I'm going to have a good or bad year according to the Buddhas. Might ask a Japanese friend one of these days....

They also had some sake they were pouring for people. Not sure on this tradition either, but people typically drink sake on New Year's, so apparently this was some special stuff from the shrine... (?). Anyway, I put in 10 yen and got one little sip of sake to end 2009. Got a cool souvenir bowl/plate type thing. It's not really a cup, it's flat...looks sorta like a jewelery dish I suppose.

People could start lining up at 11 pm and they definitely did!! Shortly after that, they stop letting people into the shrine area. There is a HUGE line of people to say their first New Year's prayer, a tradition in Japan. They had police all over to control the crowds and later when we left the shrine, I saw that the main road of Gion was blocked off to traffic and was shoulder to shoulder people and it went back for blocks. All the people were waiting to get into the shrine to pray for happiness and health in the new year. This picture below actually doesn't do it justice. This is inside the shrine, but the line that went out into the street was even more crowded if you can believe it.

At midnight, everyone began cheering, and people rushed up to the shrine to toss in money and say their prayer. I've seen many people do this at uncrowded shrines and it's much less chaotic :) Pretty cool to see though. Watch the video below:

I met a few other foreigners at the shrine around midnight, and they talked me into going out for awhile. We went to an English pub just down the street. We sat and talked til 3 in the morning when the bar closed. I sent lots of text messages home to wish people a Happy New Year and drifted off to sleep until the late hours of the morning (possibly early afternoon in true New Year's fashion).

Though it wasn't the funnest New Year's I've ever had, it was definitely one of the most interesting. It was cool to experience how a different culture approaches the new year. Some customs similar, and some different. My students write about it a lot in their essays, so I actually knew a lot about it before going, so it was cool to experience it and understand the customs and the reasons behind it.

I thought about watching the New Year's first sunrise (another Japanese custom), but I deciding sleeping was better since I wasn't going to get to watch it from a mountaintop or anything cool like that!!

I went to a temple the next day, and there were crowds and crowds of people again, waiting in line to say their prayers and get their fortunes. It seems I always visit Kyoto at the busiest times of the year, but it's interesting to have so many people bustling around such old and historic sights. I actually don't mind it.

So, to all, a Happy Year of the Tiger, which according to Wikipedia is roughly equivalent to Aquarius, so I'm gonna go all out here and say that it's my year :) Ready to take it on in 2010! Wish you all health, wealth, love and happiness in the new year!!

Kyoto Zen

2010-01-12T08:59:00.014+09:00

I spent a full day on the train to get from Beppu to Kyoto, and after needed some time to chill!! I spent a full day just going to different zen gardens in Kyoto. Mostly the first day I just checked out a few all at the same temple, Tofukuji. This first one I just happened upon and was unoccupied, so I didn't even have to pay to get in. I think it was closed for the new year. There were a few others wandering in and out, so I figured it was okay to go in!

I had the garden mostly to myself, so it was definitely relaxing!! It also started snowing while I was there. They were such small flakes that my fellow Minnesotans wouldn't have actually called it snow...but it was snow! It didn't stick to the ground or anything and it was nice and sunny still, so it was perfect.

Wishing you a Happy New Year on January 31st.

A few New Year's offerings for Buddha

Next I headed off to one of the other popular gardens, the one below that's got a raked tile design. This one is more popular and was much more crowded. There was also some New Year's ritual going on. The monks there were walking around and chanting something or other, so it was interesting to watch for a bit...but only for a bit since I didn't really know what was going on.

Next, I ventured off to see the one garden that I had looked up before going that I really wanted to see.

Like most buildings in Japan, you have to take off your shoes to go in any building on the temple grounds - even if you're going to see a garden.

Here I am....relaxing again. Do you notice a trend for this trip?

So I can't remember exactly, but I'll do my best to explain. This garden was designed by Mirei Shigemori. It's supposed to look like a waterfall and something else. Here's the waterfall...do you see it?

I think this is supposed to be like the water running down the stream....

And this is down and around a corner, I'm not exactly sure what it's supposed to represent...

But anyway, it seems pretty cool. Hope you enjoyed it as much as me ;) That's about all I did on New Year's Eve Day -- went back to the hostel to get ready for the Eve!!

Next Stop: Heaven....

2010-01-06T09:35:00.011+09:00

...or hell.

That was a lame joke that only a few of you probably got. Beppu, a town full of hot springs, was next on my list of places to see. The town has two types of hot springs - ones for looking at, and of course ones for bathing in. The ones that are for looking at are called Jigoku, which translates to hell, but in this case, just hot springs :)

I started my day by viewing a few of the natural hot springs. They all had foot baths, and I couldn't resist dipping my feet even before I went to look at the many hot spring attractions.

After a relaxing foot soak, I was ready to take on the day! Doesn't take much motivation to look at hot springs and then soak in them however! It really was a relaxing time!! Above is one of the naturally red hot springs.

Though Beppu is far from tropical, many tropical plants are able to be grown there because of the steam and warm water! Kinda cool, though I'm not sure that it's true outside the greenhouses they have there...

This hot spring is naturally an aquamarine blue, so pretty when the steam wasn't clouding my view. In this hot spring they boil eggs (you can see the basket) and it's pretty popular to buy and eat the eggs from here. I didn't buy any because you had to buy them in bags of five, and I'm not a huge boiled egg lover anyway. I think there is some superstition that if you eat an egg from there, you add years to your life. Don't quote me on that however, I don't really remember.

The whole city of Beppu steams, even the rain drains on the side of the street! It's an interesting sight to see!!

The last hot spring I went to see was this muddy one. It looks more like gray paint than it does water - even muddy water. It's called "Oniishibozu" named for the big bubbles that look like a monk's bald head. This one was probably my favorite.

The spots like these just kept bubbling and bubbling in the same spots. There must be some certain hot spots that cause the boil. There were several other hot springs I could have seen including a white one, a geyser one, one with alligators running around, etc, but I opted out to try out some onsens instead so more than just my eyes would benefit from all the natural hot water!!
On the first day I went to just one of the regular onsens, one much like the one I go to all the time where I live. They did have a nice waterfall bath where water falls in a big stream and you stand or sit under it, letting it massage your back. Fabulous!! After getting clean, I decided to get dirty and go to the mud bath! Above is the sign which I though was quite hilarious. In reality, the mud bath was not all that hot, though definitely quite natural. Looked like just a big mud lake! I wasn't a huge fan, but it was an interesting experience anyway! The mud was the same color as the paint looking hot spring, though a little more watery as the mud settles on the bottom when it's not boiling like the hot spring. Either way it was great.

On day two in Beppu, I didn't go to see any hot springs, but I did decide to soak in a few more! I took a bus out to Suginoi Palace, an onsen with a great view over the city of Beppu. After that, I went and did a sand bath, where they bury you in sand that is heated from below from the hot springs. You stay in the sand for about 10 minutes before you break free of the weight on top of you and go to wash it all off and soak yourself in a real bath!

I just happened to run into a friend in Beppu -- she was my roommate at Tokyo orientation and we took a trip to Osaka together, so it was nice having a familiar face. Though I still went off on my own and kinda did my own thing, I met up with her and a friend a few times throughout the two days. We also had some amazing Italian dinners together in the evenings! It was good to have a mix of both doing my own thing and hanging with friends.

My last stop on the trip was Kyoto for New Year's! Next post to come a bit more quickly than this one I hope!! I actually tried to put this one up several times, but was having trouble uploading the pictures. Finally got it to work today!!

Nagasaki 12/26 and 12/27

2010-01-04T22:32:00.009+09:00

I stayed in Nagasaki for about a day and a half and just took it easy and hit up the most popular spots that I wanted to see. I started out with the museum that was all about the atomic bombing, the events leading up to it, Japan's relations with other countries, and the aftermath as well as current information about nuclear testing. I thought that the Hiroshima museum was much more detailed and interesting and definitely had more exhibits, but maybe I just found Hiroshima more interesting because I was there first and there was a lot of repeat information and exhibits.

So when you first enter is a clock, frozen (or burned?) on the time that the bombing happened -- 11:02 am. The time is a little hard to see with the reflection and shadows, but if you look close, that's what it says. They had a watch similar to this at the Hiroshima museum. It really does make a thoughtful entrance to the museum though.

I wandered through the museum for awhile checking out the exhibits that weren't such a repeat from the Hiroshima museum and then headed to the Peace Park.

This is ground zero, a small space that is preserved behind glass in the park. The rest of the rubble has been built over and looks like nothing happened really, but it was interesting to see this spot.

The park has a monolith, some prison foundation that was left, the remains of the Urakumi Cathedral, and lots of statues given to Nagasaki to promote peace in the world. One was giving (someone ironically) by St. Paul. I didn't know before going, but St. Paul and Nagasaki share Japan's oldest sister city affiliation, a great tidbit to know! Glad I happened upon it. Anyway it's seven humans who represent the seven continents and our interdependency on each other. Thought it was interesting. There were lots of cool statues in the park, but I'm not gonna post them all on here. You can see the rest on flickr if you want!

So you know how I'm always posting pictures of the big torii gates on here? Well this one is just one half because the other half was blown away by the bombing. It's about 900 meters, over a half a mile away from where the bomb was dropped. Insane how powerful that kind of bomb is. I can't really say much because I don't know enough of the history, but looking at the damage firsthand (and of course a little second hand and obviously biased because, well, it's a museum from Japan's point of view), I can't believe how horrific the results are of using an atomic bomb. But I'm also realistic, and I know that we'll probably never be rid of all the ones that are already in the world and that a lot of crazy people will probably find ways to make them (and are already right now). But, I signed a petition anyway to get Obama to come to Nagasaki :) It was at the entrance of the museum and they want him to visit there because he's expressed his interest in lowering the stockpiles of atomic bombs (Russia and America have the most by far). Again...like I said, I'm not so much in the know when it comes to history and WWII, but the museums were really interesting and I feel like I know a little more now that I've been to both of them!

Anyway, back to my day. I wanted around the city and park a bit more, and then headed to the Nagasaki port. There are mountains in the background and it was a perfect evening to watch the sunset. I stopped at a small cafe near the water and got some pasta and wine. It was fabulous -- some real pasta, which doesn't happen so often in Japan! It was nice watching the sun go down and the stars come out over a great meal! Excellent!!

I was rejuvenated after the food and made my way down to the river, which had a line of bridges along it, some of them very old. This is one of the more popular ones - a "spectacles" bridge because it looks like a pair of glasses with the reflection in the water. There are quite a few of them in Japan and I'm sure all over the world, but it was a nice walk at night. I actually randomly saw a friend from Shizuoka that I know when I was getting on the tram to come here, so we met up later and went to get and a drink and catch up. It's nice when traveling alone to see a familiar face and have a good chat.

So my time in Nagasaki was complete. I was able to get well rested in a hotel with a big bed!! The beds in my apartment are both singles and I usually stay in hostels which are more like dorm rooms with a bunch of bunk beds, so the real bed was a nice luxury for two nights. I could actually roll over (twice if I wanted!). Next stop: Beppu, the land of hot springs!

See the rest of the pictures from my trip at www.flickr.com/jans0176/sets.

A Miyajima Christmas

2010-01-04T11:06:00.017+09:00

Well, I didn't see any reindeer for Christmas, but I definitely saw lots of regular deer. And by regular I mean dirty, pretty domesticated deer who stick their noses in your pocket and try to eat your map/anything paper within their grasp. After the Castle on Christmas Eve, I finished riding the train and arrived in Hiroshima after over 12 hours on train that day. So on Christmas Day I took it easy, slept in, and took the ferry to Miyajima, a small island near Hiroshima. I've been there before, but the last time I was there, the torii looked like this:

Well, that big torii gate is supposed to be floating, but it really only looks that way around high tide. So I decided I wanted to go back when it was "floating." See below:

I feel much better having gone back and gotten this more traditional Japanese photo. Might sound silly, but something I can mark of my list before leaving Japan.

My Christmas dinner was quite nontraditional. I was fine with that because of all the holiday parties I went to before leaving on my trip. I ate in a really cute little restaurant and had katsudon, a rice bowl with egg, onion and breaded pork cutlet on top. It's one of my favorite Japanese foods and this was one of the best I've had! With some miso soup and a beer on the side, it was a great Christmas dinner, I'd say!

I did some random souvenir shopping because it started raining, but I love just wandering around shops. I always have, but I feel bad about doing it when I'm traveling with other people. A lot of shops do have the same things especially at touristy places like that, but I still enjoy it! I bought maybe too many things, but hey....it was Christmas! A few gifts from "Santa" can't hurt!

After the long train ride the day before, I decided to cheat just a little bit and take the fast train down to Nagasaki. It was my only fast train of the entire trip though and quite necessary so I could get there before midnight! More adventures to come...

A Castle on Christmas Eve

2010-01-04T10:37:00.008+09:00

I spent Christmas Eve traveling down to Hiroshima by local train. As most of you know, I bought the "young person's" cheap travel ticket to travel around Japan for the holidays. I woke up at around 4:30 and was on the train by 5:45am. Absolutely crazy!! I spent the day changing trains, sleeping, eating, listening to music, changing trains some more and then some more. In the early afternoon I was really sick of the train and happened to be going through Himeji. Himeji has one of the best castles in Japan, the best according to Lonely Planet. As there isn't much else there, I've intended to go for a long time but never end up spending the money as it's far and there aren't many other attractions around! So, this was actually the perfect opportunity to stop and see the castle.

I walked up along the walls with different shaped "windows" in them, apparently some of which used to be used to pour boiling water onto enemies who had gotten past the mote and exterior walls. Such a grim thought and extremely painful sounding, but resourceful all the same.

I think what made this castle better than others I've seen is the inside. They had lots of museum type stuff (the usual), but also lots of things like above showing where they used to keep their weapons and hang their ammunition and stand on elevated platforms to shoot. It was pretty interesting.

Also, the view from the top was pretty nice!

And the start of a solo adventure with many self-taken photos. I haven't traveled alone since coming to Japan and though I have enjoyed my adventures so far, it was really good to travel alone again. More adventures and pictures to come!

The Holiday Parties Continue

2009-12-21T21:35:00.010+09:00

This past weekend, my friend Amanda was so gracious to offer up her small living room for the sake of Christmas cheer! She made us wassail, bought us Kentucky Fried Chicken, and even made two boxes of the blue box macaroni and cheese. I can tell already, she's gonna be a great mother ;) The Japanese have this weird tradition of eating KFC on Christmas, presumably because they think that's what Americans do on Christmas. So, we decided to "follow the norm" and get some chicken. We also had some fabulous Ghiradelli brownies and our Christmas cookies made the night before!

There was a special guest appearance by Santa Claus and Rudolph, and really, what Christmas party is complete without them?

Nicole happened to have the exact same sweatshirt as me, so I decided I should of course wear mine too. Seems we've reverted back to junior high when wearing the same clothes as someone else was cool.

After dinner we just hung around and enjoyed each others' company. Above is our gracious host, Amanda. Below, Neil models one of his Christmas presents. He grew a mustache last month, so someone gave him a fake one just in case he missed it too much. Also, note that amazing Christmas sweater bought for 900 yen from the local second hand store. Classy.

We ended the evening with a pajama party and the next morning climbed into two cars and road tripped back to Fujinomiya for some Montego burgers. Because that's also what Americans love. Obviously that one's true.

I think that's the last holiday party for me in awhile unfortunately, but I know everyone else back home is gearing up for a week with family! Travel safely everyone!!

I'm starting off on a travel adventure on Thursday morning. I'm taking local trains (aka very slow trains) all the way to the south island, Kyushu (green on the map of Japan below). I'm excited to go on a solo adventure. When I was in Europe and South America I did quite a bit of traveling alone, but in Japan I know so many other teachers and everyone wants to travel. So since coming here, I haven't gone anywhere alone! So this will be my first solo venture and will be good "me" time to charge up for the next year.

After Kyushu, I'm going to ring in the new year in Kyoto, the cultural capital of Japan. I'm planning on hitting up some of the Mirei Shigemori Japanese gardens. He was a landscape architect and designed a bunch of dry landscape gardens in Japan (over 200). A friend recommended a few to me, and after looking into it, I'm definitely going to make that a part of my few days there (I've already been there and hit up the main tourist areas)! Below is an example of one of his gardens, since I'm sure "dry landscape garden" doesn't probably evoke an image in your mind.

I'm also thinking about bringing in the New Year in the traditional Japanese way by watching the sunrise and going to a temple. Thought it would be a good thing since it's my first and only New Year's in Japan! Also, since I'm traveling alone, I probably won't be going to any rave New Year's parties or anything.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year People!

Christmas Cookies 2009

2009-12-21T19:38:00.006+09:00

Friday night was girls night, cookie decorating style! Four of us ladies from the Fuji area (+1 from a far off land) got together to bake and decorate Christmas cookies. I actually haven't made Christmas cookies that much back when I lived in the United States, but we got to talking and it seems that was the case for all of us. I think when living abroad, things like this just provide a comfort of home and an air of familiarity. And well, who doesn't like eating cookies?!

We ended up with more cookies than we knew what to do with, and also too many and not enough frosting!! Above, Fiona, Kelly and I pose in front of the cookie decorating station. Below are all of Kelly's Christmas tree creations. She's Ms. Artsy and definitely won the "best cookie" awards :) But we had a few "think outside the box" winners (a yellow snowman comes to mind) as well!

My mission to have a great Christmas has been successful thus far, and I hope it continues through the new year! Love you and miss you all back home - Happy Holidays!

The Christmas Cheer Continues

2009-12-17T08:59:00.005+09:00

Merry X'mas! I enjoy that they went to the effort of getting a sign made, and still used the shortened version. They must have charged by letter! Last night Kelly, Kory and I headed up to Gotemba around the other side of Mt. Fuji. It's at a bit higher altitude than Fujinomiya, so it was pretty cold up there, but that to me just made it seem more like Christmas!! There still was no snow however, but since I really only want the snow for effect, I'll say we're better off without it! We went to the "Gotemba Illumination" and we continued to call the Christmas lights illumination all night long. Some things just creep into our vocabulary and never leave. Conbini instead of convenience store comes to mind. I'm sure there are more that I'm going to have trouble reverting back to English when I come home!

So at the illumination there was a big tunnel of lights you could walk through, and outside the tunnel were a lot of lit up deer and snowmen. Inside the tunnel at one spot were a bunch of reindeer and sleighs. Here, I'm taking over Santa's sleigh. Just don't expect too many presents this year ;) There was one bigger tunnel and then one smaller tunnel, and also another section that you had to pay for that I think ended with a big lit up manga character, but we didn't want to pay $5 to see it. Though we could actually see the character anyway, just from farther away I suppose. There was also a bit lit up dome with a fountain in the middle and illuminated swans all around it - pretty cool! We wandered up and down the tunnels for awhile, before going to dinner.

The resort where the illumination is at has quite a few restaurants, but one of the more popular ones is an all you can eat buffet. It includes all you can drink beer, but unfortunately I was driving so I couldn't take part in that!! They have a selection of 4-5 beers. The food was delicious. They have sort of an international cuisine. Below was my first plate of chips and chili, caesar salad, steak cubes, pizza, CHEESE, rice gratin bake, and potato salad. My second plate was mostly meat, which I only regretted a little bit after reading an article on CNN yesterday right before going to the illumination "Eating animals is making us sick". The steak cubes were fabulous and I would go back there again just for those!!

It was a fabulous evening! Can't wait to continue my efforts to make it actually feel like Christmas this year with some Christmas cookie decorating on Friday. I'm having some girls over to my house to bake and decorate cookies! Will post pictures this weekend after the fact!

Happy Holidays!! I wish a safe flight to my sis and good health to my bro! Wish I could be there for the festivities!!

Onsen on a Tuesday Night

2009-12-17T08:57:00.004+09:00

Onsen Nite, originally uploaded by kellykilgore.

Kelly and I realized it had been a really long time since we had been to the onsen, and decided we needed to do something about it...so we got together on Tuesday night for an out of character weeknight onsen. It was just in time for Kelly as she finished grading for the semester that day, and though I don't have much going on at work these days, I was stressed in the previous weeks! This pic is actually from a different time at the onsen, but I enjoyed our towel heads and entertainment selection (thanks to my recent visitors for providing us with literature aka trashy magazines).

Final Days with Sarah

2009-12-15T15:29:00.013+09:00

I'm closing out the sister adventure blogs, though long overdue. This seems to be a trend for me, but a week's worth of travel is hard to pack into small blurbs! Sarah and I were able to make it over to the Shimizu port area in my prefecture, about an hour's drive through city-ish traffic. We drove up to Nihondaira lookout, which usually has a great view of Fuji and Suruga bay. Unfortunately for us, Fuji wasn't out to play, but we took a ropeway across some trees changing colors to a nice Toshogu shrine and later that day were able to see Fuji on a "bay cruise" at the port. I've been wanting to do this for awhile, so it was great to do something new in my area. I need to do more things like this -- finding things in my area to explore. It's easy to get set in your ways and not seek out these mini-adventures! I hope you enjoyed it as much as me, Sarah!

At the Nihondaira Parkway Lookout:
Tea fields, fall colors and mountain ranges

Still Nihondaira Parkway Lookout

Suruga Bay and probably what would be Mt. Fuji were it not cloudy.

Actually at Nihondaira, we see where Mt. Fuji should be through the clouds...

Taking the cable car across to the shrine

Lots of fall colorsAt the Toshogu Shrine

Our Bay Cruise Boat:

On the boat - note Mt. Fuji to the right of my head, she finally came out to play:

There were tons of sea gulls getting food from the tourists on the boat. I think you could buy food to feed them...I just took pictures instead. The sun getting ready to go down.

After a long day of sightseeing, we were off to meet my friends for a night out on the town. We met up for dinner and drinks at our local Australian bar. It was a great day near the end of Sarah's trip!

'Tis the Season

2009-12-15T12:48:00.009+09:00

Christmas is approaching fast, it feels like only a month ago I was home to visit for summer vacation! I would definitely love to be home this Christmas season, but I'll settle for an extended stay in July and August ;) Save the date!

Things have felt quite festive recently, despite the fact that they don't really celebrate Christmas in Japan. Some people have Christmas parties, most eat Christmas cake (what is that, really?), and others go on dates. But for the most part, it's a completely different holiday, and really the children are just looking forward to New Year's when they get a huge envelope of cash to spend on whatever they like.

I, on the other hand, have tried to really get into the season this year, as last year I was sick in Thailand and just wishing that I could be at home with my mommy to bring me chicken soup. So I put up my Christmas tree a few weeks ago.

Also, a few weeks ago I was having a movie day on a Sunday and quite conveniently a package arrived at my door. A special shout out to Dawna (the sender) and the Japan Post office for their Sunday deliveries. It was the perfect gift, my favorite Christmas movie, Love Actually. It's playing on the TV here actually :) I've rewatched it like 5 times in the last week, and it's really put me in the Christmas spirit!

The Thanksmas Spread

Also this weekend I had a Thanksmas party at my house. We were all busy at Thanksgiving it seemed, and so we decided to have a combined Christmas and Thanksgiving party, which really ended up being mostly about Christmas. It was a fabulous day if I do say so myself! My friend Kelly who claims to not be a cook made her fabulous homemade rolls, sweet potatoes with and without raisins and all with marshmallows, and a Jeff Davis pudding pie.

Showing my domestic side

With the help of my esteemed (?) guests, I made mashed potatoes and gravy, homemade stuffing, herb crusted chicken, and green bean casserole. Colin tossed us the perfect Caesar salad, and Liz made a bannoffee pie, which had no bananas, so it was more an offee pie, which was just as delicious! With everyone's help, the meal was the best I've had all year! Absolutely American, (sorry to you non-American guests, but I heard no complaints), and absolutely fabulous.

Most of my guests in post meal bliss...

We watched lots of Christmas movies and television shows, had snacks and drinks, and enjoyed each other's company into the wee hours of the morning! Thanks to everyone who helped cook, let me boss you around in the kitchen, washed my dishes, opened my wine, brought movies and entertainment, and didn't spill beer on my floor! I was worried about having 14 people in my apartment at once, but it was just the right size for fun, friends, and food. I hope you have a fabulous holiday season!

Happy Birthday Avery!

2009-12-14T10:45:00.003+09:00

This weekend was my niece's first birthday! Throughout the last year and a half I have missed all of my friends and family, but one of the hardest parts of being away from home is not being able to watch my little angel grow and develop! She's my first niece and I swear has to be the cutest baby ever! I hope that you all had a great time celebrating this weekend. I'm sure there was cake everywhere, I can't wait to see pictures. Happy Birthday Avery Elise and I hope to be there to celebrate with you on the next one! XoXo, Your Auntie Ash

School Days

2009-12-07T14:25:00.010+09:00

The language lab is where all my classes are held.
The students have most of the classes in their homeroom classroom.

Once we came back to Fujinomiya, there was still no rest for the weary! I had to work two days while Sarah was here because it was time to give my final test! So she joined me on Wednesday to see where I work. I thought this was as good a time as any to show you a few pictures of my school as well, so this entry actually has more pics of me than Sarah...oops! But I can't really ask my teachers to take pictures of my with my bulletin boards - that would just be strange.

We piled into my Minica and drove in the rain to school. It was nice that if it was going to rain, that it did it when we had to go to school, and not when we were trying to sight see. Sarah laughed at my car pretty much every time we were in it! So of course she had to take a pic of me driving....it's close because we sit so close to each other in the car.

My Minnesota bulletin board. I made this when I first arrived, and haven't taken it
down because I think it's sorta a good reference for the kids.

The morning started off with our usual morning meeting. My supervisor was gone that day as well as the vice principal who knew Sarah was coming. Also the other English teacher who sits near me was gone with the flu. So when it came time for the morning meeting, they asked me to introduce Sarah to the other teachers! This is only the second time I've ever spoken in the teacher's meeting, and the first time I had a rehearsed self-introduction speech written down. This time I totally had to wing it and hadn't thought I would have to do it, so it was quite terrible actually. I stumbled through a small introduction and said she was coming to my classes that day. Terrifying!

Sarah's self introduction

During my classes, the students had a listening test that I had recorded with Dion, who is the ALT at a local school (and of course most of you know him as my friend too :P). After the test, I had the students play a conversation bingo type game and they had to ask each other questions, as well as me and Sarah. Sarah gave a short self-introduction and then she helped out in the game by answering students questions.

A newer bulletin board I made with American Holidays

The kids were turning their heads all day as we walked past them in the hallway. We also had lunch with a few of my faves, who enjoyed talking to Sarah and asking lots of questions.

Lunch with the kiddies

Sarah was my first visitor to come to class and it was really cool for both me and the students. The students are always excited to meet another "foreigner" and it was nice for someone to see what my work is like here! It wasn't a regular schedule by any means since it was testing, but still nice.

Finishing Out the Tokyo Adventure

2009-12-01T23:44:00.011+09:00

On our final day in Tokyo, we woke up before 5am and headed to the fish market! Tsukiji fish market is the largest fish market in the world (according to Lonely Planet). There is a huge tuna auction from 5am-6:15am. We came in for the tail end of the auction. It was a room with hundreds of frozen tuna fish (I never knew they were so big!), auctioneers and buyers from restaurants. Below we're posing in the auction room before getting kicked out at the end of the auction:

After the auction, we went for a sushi breakfast in one of the nearby restaurants. We enjoyed our green tea and different kinds of tuna sushi.

Then, we went off to Sensoji temple a second time and got our fortunes. Sarah got a great fortune, though mine was terrible. I think I should just stop getting those fortunes because they're always bad!!

Sarah getting her fortune

Then we did some shopping and headed back to our hotel to pack. Sarah claims she "packed light"...but that resulted in her sitting on her suitcase to shut it:

After that, it was extremely heavy and we had to take turns wheeling it to the station! Here I'm taking my turn!

Sarah and all the luggage (mine too...). She had to take the backpacks so I could carry the suitcase up the stairs. There was no elevator! Thankfully some Japanese man decided to help me and we carried it up together!

We finally made it to the bus at Tokyo station and Sarah got her first glimpse of Mt. Fuji on the bus back while I took a nap! We got ready for the rest of our week in the Fuji area!

We slept like babies that night, each in our own bed thankfully since we both snore!!

Tokyo Day Two

2009-12-01T22:55:00.014+09:00

We started off our morning with a trip to an unimpressive shrine in Tokyo. I'd read about the torii gates leading up to the shrine, which led me to believe it would be really cool. Let's just say that Sarah didn't get the best first impression of Japanese shrines!! I guess the walkway up was okay, but I have been to Fushimi Inari in Kyoto, where the gates go all the way up a mountain, so a stairway is nothing to write home about. But I'm writing home about it anway ;)

Anyway, here's a pic of us with the torii tunnel behind us. Though the shrine it'self wasn't all that cool, there was an important holiday here recently called the Seven-Five-Three Festival. People celebrate their 3 year old and 7 year old daughters and 5 year old boys. They bring them to shrines or temples to pray for their health and happiness. Below is a little girl I'm assuming turned 3 this year. It's too cute when even Japanese this young are already flashing the peace sign! Love it.

And as with all shrines, we had to take a quick pic with the barrels of sake. Do you think they would notice if one of those things was missing? I'm sure Buddha would and I would live with bad karma forever! I'll keep my klepto tendencies to a minimum while at shrines and temples.

Next we were off to Imperial Palace and Gardens. Not my first visit, but beautiful nonetheless. Imperial Gardens is actually one of my favorite places in Japan. It's so peaceful. It was extra special this time because of all the fall colors.

The pond and bridge in the garden.

Posing at a lookout above the gardens.

After a long morning and early afternoon of walking, we needed to rest our feet! We stopped in for some Chinese ramen and a beer before continuing on!

Oishii ne!

Then we were off to the international forum. Basically all that entailed was looking at the cool architecture of the building. See below:

Last we stopped off at the Tokyo Metropolitan Government Building for a night view of Tokyo. The city lights never end.

After that, we seriously couldn't walk any further!! Our feet were killing us, so we headed back to the hotel for a rest! Our hotel room was super small, but it got the job done.

After resting up for a bit, we made one more venture out to see Sensoji Temple, with the huge lantern that's lit up at night and the huge five story pagoda. I have posted pics of that several times, so I'm going to opt against adding anymore photos to this post!! I already have too many!

It was a great day, with the highlight definitely being the gardens and fall colors.

Sarah and Ashley Do Tokyo

2009-12-01T08:23:00.010+09:00

Hmm....is that title déjà vu? Yes, it seems I have "done" Tokyo a lot in the last year and a half! But, I finally made it to the morning fish market after trying two other times. I guess the third time's the charm when trying to wake up before 5 am! Anyway, more about the fish market later.

Sarah was supposed to arrive on Saturday the 21st, but due to the fog in LA, her first flight got delayed and she missed her flight to Japan!! Poor girl spent all day and all night in airports before finally boarding the plane to Japan in Dallas, spending more time on a plane than originally planned just so she could get here a few hours early! We boarded the train from the airport and headed into Tokyo. It's actually about a 60-80 minute train ride to get to Tokyo from the airport, which a lot of people don't realize. We took the middle option at 70 minutes. After freshening up from hours at the airport and on the plane, we headed out to a nice dinner at Watami, a Japanese style bar and restaurant.
Then we headed off to Tokyo Tower to get a night view. It has new lights on it, and they are lit up on certain days, though I have no idea as to the rhyme or reason. The first night we were in Tokyo however, despite rhyme or reason, it was lit up with the lights. I personally prefer the natural look of the tower, but I suppose, no one asked me! We walked around some of the shops and posed next to the replica of the tower inside.

After that, we were off to Shibuya for a walk-around, of course not without taking some purikura! Sarah was not a fan, so this was the only time I got her to do it! Sad story friends :)

Shibuya crossing and all the lights!

Another pic with Hachiko

Beautiful Sisters in Purikura

Help! I'm stuck in a bamboo shoot and can't get out!

It had to be a long night for Sarah after traveling for so long, but it was a great evening! More to come! Alot happened in our 7 days crammed full of sightseeing!

Mid-year Seminar Online

2009-11-26T09:04:00.002+09:00

Last week our prefecture had our Mid-year Seminar, I think I already posted about it a little bit. My presentation is online here. Thought you might want to check it out! It's mostly on intercultural communication!

I'm busy busy with work and Sarah being here. I don't have much time to write, but we went to Tokyo for a few days for the compulsory sightseeing, then came back to Fujinomiya and came to school together yesterday. It was nice to show someone where I work, and the students enjoyed having her in class. Today she is off sightseeing with one of my friends. They are braving the bus system for the first time together, so hopefully they figure it out!

One of the English teachers that I teach with is home sick with the flu, so I have had to teach a few classes alone this week. Also, one of the homerooms (40 students) was sent home and couldn't take my test yesterday. Because 14 of them were sick, they just sent home the whole lot to make sure that no one else got sick. This flu business is crazy, I hope I don't pick anything up from school! I haven't been spending such long hours at school lately, but I have been out in public and around lots of people with Sarah! I'll keep popping the vitamin C and hope for the best!

Alright, I better get to work, got class in a bit! Just thought I would do a short update!