Livin' in the Inaka

I climbed Mt. Fuji yesterday! view from the top this entry is long, so only read if bored and have no where to be. otherwise just look at my pretty pictures. After Tateyama I thought of maybe backing out of the Mt Fuji climb I was signed up for with A-JET. Climbing a bigger, colder mountain 2 days after Mt. Tate did not seem at all appealing. But when I woke up on Thursday morning feeling much less sore than what I was expecting, I decided to reconsider. I was incredibly ill prepared- no winter clothing whatsoever (not even a long sleeve), no coats, good shoes, natta... So I went shopping and spent over 300 dollars on stuff to bring up including new sneakers, a wind breaker, and oxygen. I borrowed winter/climbing stuff from Danielle, Ivy, Dan, and Chiara as well (thank you!). I packed myself a few bentos, rice balls, and snacks, and some Pacari Sweat (Japanese Gatorade). My pack was heavy but I was thankful for it all later. As some of you have read from my previous journal, this is ...

I'm way behind on posts and should have updated our climb up Mt. Tate BEFORE climbing Mt. Fuji. I had a ton to write about our lil' adventure up Tateyama but now in view of our Fuji climb I don't have much to say. Here's the basics- Last week was Toyama Prefectures 3 day orientation. 1st day with all the toyama jets in Toyama City, 2nd day with our respective regions, and 3rd day as a climb up Mt Tate for whoever was interested. Mount Tate, aka Tateyama is one of three holy mountains in Japan. The two others being Mt. Fuji and Mt. Haku. I think Tateyama is the 3rd highest in Japan, 1st in Toyama. We are fortunate enough to have Mt Tate in our very own prefecture- most people who live in Toyama I've talked to have climbed it at least once- my supervisor 8 times! This is impressive- Tateyama is no hike. For the first half there is a narrow, rocky path to follow at a fairly steep incline, so its like climbing stairs for 2 hours. I found this part a lot harder than the ...

My old Tokyo host family were visiting their folks up north, and since I happened to be nearby they invited me to stay the weekend. My host dads sister just had her 2nd child, a baby girl named Hanoka \(^o^)/ omedetou! So I got to see the newborn while up there too. Really cute baby! sorry I didnt take any pics... Niigata is the prefecture just north of Toyama. I took the Hokuriku Express from Takaoka, which followed the shoreline of the Sea of Japan all the way up. Pretty fine way of traveling, but a bit on the pricey side. View from my window- They picked me up at Naoetsu station which is a maybe a half hour drive from the parents home. Niigata's landscape looks similar to Toyama's with rice fields everywhere and mountains on the horizon. This was in fact my second time visiting there- my first was during Golden Week last year. See here for old entry. It was a lotta fun going back to the house and seeing the family and friends again. I ate like a queen and they made me a...

this just in... rockin photos from Ivy: and from Amanda: jeremy reuben tim ross ivy me timmy

the festivities continue~ pictures of our backyard:

check it! a masterpiece by my roommate Ivy: we live there among the rice paddies. This week is Obon so ivy and I are chilling out at our supervisors office instead of going to work. Obon is a kind of a big holiday in Japan when families honor the dead and theres a big festival at night where they place lanterns on the lake/river to guide the spirits home. The schools are still open but all the teachers are on paid vacation, so we don't have to go. So its internet and air conditioning all day everyday this week xD On saturday a bunch of ALTs in the area attended an indigo dyeing workshop in Fukuno (two towns from fukumitsu) They described it as being an old art form that our city is well known for. We each received a piece of cloth to dye and they wipped out the "materials" - a bunch of rubberbands and beads, and we were all like dude this is tie dye! it was pretty sweet. They took our picture for the newspaper and we were in the community section of the Sunday paper. I w...

I was flipping through the textbooks I'll be using for the 1st level students, and I found a chapter that covers the Seattle/Tacoma area! I was trying to explain to my coworkers that of all the cities in the world to have a chapter on it was funny that they should choose Tacoma, WA... the other day I got a call down from the office saying the principle of the school wanted to see me. I was thinking maybe I had abused my internet privileges, but then when I get down there he makes me coffee and then proceeds to explain how in 60 million years the Euroasian plate and the North American plate will collide, all the volcanoes will explode and kill every living life form. But then he says (in japanese) "you have nothing to worry about! Minnesota is in the middle of nowhere. It will be ok" Then he gives me a Japanese article about the Earth's plates shifting and sends me on my way. An interesting character... it'll be fun to see what he's like at our first enkai ...

I've been here for over a week and haven't had any time to update! gomen ne I only have a few min on the internet so I have to make this short. I will try to fill in the details when I get hooked up with Yahoo BB at my house. Our house is small, but bigger than anything I was expecting. It has three tatami rooms, a living room, a large kitchen and a wash room. There's also have a bit of backyard that's surrounded by rice crops! The neighbors are all older couples who tend the crops. Harvest is in 2 weeks. Until then the town has some time to relax, so they had a small neighborhood festival where I got to make my first town introduction. I wore a yukata (summer kimono) and got up in stage in front of the whole town where they interviewed me and had me sing karaoke. They insisted I sing the oldie song "Diana" which I only know maybe 2 or three words of, but they didn't seem to care. the yukata nakayama san lent me this is the stage I had to sing from- sorry...