Camping with Tentment

Camping 2xs in one week? YES PLEASE!

On the chalk board wall in the kitchen of my apartment had been a long explanation of some event planned for 5/9-5/10. Of course because it was all in Japanese, I could only read: "onigiri" (rice balls), and the times that planned out some sort of schedule for Saturday and Sunday. Asking about it, turned out that the apartment was planning a camp out at the base of mount Fuji, and better yet, there was still room on the bus and I was quickly invited to join. HELL YES!

For the total price of 15,000 yen (about $135) each, we chartered a private bus, had plenty of food, and all the needed camping equipment for the one-night/2-day camp out! 

We left early morning on Saturday. I packed warm clothes, a sleeping bag, pillow, sleeping pad, and toiletries. All the other supplies were a combination of shared apartment items as well as donated items by some extremely avid campers! 

I have never camped in such luxury and with such a well planned out schedule. From bus games, meal plans, campfire dancing, team building activities, birthday celebrations, and a constant supply of beer. 

The team on Saturday afternoon. You can just barely make out Fuji-san through the fog and misty cloud.

Team challenges! Losing team had to cook breakfast the next morning.

A better glimpse of Fuji-san, and one of several large tee-pee tents.

Amazing food all day and night long!! There must have been at least 4 gas stoves going cooking onion soup, miso soup, and mulled wine, along with 3-4 BBQ grills cooking spare ribs and sausages, 2 dutch ovens (prepared in the pioneer fashion) cooking 2 whole chickens with rice and veggies. 

Early morning view of our camp.

Glorious Fuji-san on Sunday morning.

Must have a jumping photo!! From left to right, Erina, Kana and me.

The group was up for anything! So of course a sleeping bag jumping photo which had to be retaken at least 10 times- see our fail at jumping in sync!

After packing up on Sunday morning, we spent the afternoon at the onsen. Relaxing warm waters, great showers, and delicious curry, soba or udon lunch. 

Sun salutation- yoga on our camping trip-

Its Golden Week! That means a slew of national holidays and a 5 day vacation! Hurray.

My friend, Teneal, and I headed out on Saturday night by shinkansen (bullet train) to Osaka (south west of Tokyo). We stayed there the night, then trained and bused out towards Lake Biwa and Shiga prefecture to hike in Kusatsu.

It turned out to be a great way to avoid the crowds traveling around this time of year! In fact, no one was camping with us- we had the place to ourselves and rarely saw day hikers on our 2 days of hiking. perhaps the rain thwarted any but the most die-hards!

We enjoyed our hikes tremendously and incorporated the Sun Salutation Yoga series into the day! Below is the series- taken out of order, but pasted together here for you.

Starting pose:

Forward Bend...

Half bend

Downward facing dog...

High plank

Low plank

Upward facing dog

Low lunge

Namaste

MOVING time

Moving weekend finally arrived. My old Eda apartment friends and I had a farewell dinner and hang out on Friday. Potluck style, everyone cooked a dish and brought beer, wine, champagne and whiskey. It was rather bittersweet. I really enjoyed hanging out with these people. Aside from always having someone to greet you when you get home and eat dinner with, I've been snowboarding, camping, hiking, karaoke-ing, exercising, sight-seeing, picnicking, and roller-coaster riding with these people. Hopefully its not a final goodbye. There are already plans for meet-ups later on. I hope some of these people stick around in my life longer. 

 They absolutely loved my Zumba class! So we had one final 2+ hour finale. So much fun- so much positive energy, cheers, laughter and craziness.

On moving day, they surprised me with a memory book- where most of them had signed and written a small memory and message to me. I was touched. 

Although I originally arrived in Japan 2.5 years ago with only 2 suitcases, I have definitely amassed more stuff! 

Luckily it fit snugly in the back half of this little box of an eco-navi car I rented. My friend, Teneal has a Japanese drivers license and the two of us filled one load and drove the just under 1 hour route to my new apartment. Other people (both old and new) helped to load and unload it on each end. The crazy thing about this eco-navi car was that anytime the car was idling, it would turn itself off. So, as soon as she put her foot on the accelerator, we would hear the ignition- this happened very frequently! Rather annoying- but super gas saving as we only used 5 litres traveling over 72km. (thats 45 miles/gallon)

My new room- partially unpacked at my new social apartment: Shirokane-Takanawa. (click on the link to see photos of the shared space). 

My commute this morning was a breeze. I got to sleep in a full 40 minutes longer than previously, and the ride was short and not crowded! What more could I ask for? Now, I just have to start making some new friends. 

But I leave for Malaysia on Wednesday, so maybe it will have to wait. 

Birthday weekend

I turned 31 last Thursday and got to celebrate my birthday for several days! At school my students were on quite good behavior all day and there weren't any of the daily tears! Jo, the 1st grade teacher, (she and I combine our classes together a lot) made the collage below with all the 1st and 2nd graders. (One student is missing because of illness). In fact, last week we had students out on various different days- influenza was going around as well as a stomach bug that caused diarrhea and vomiting. (I was never affected, hoping it stays that way). In typical January fashion, the day was grey, cold and wet. But with my all-weather boots from Dans, I stayed toasty dry. That evening, Jo, Ran (my supervisor) and I went out to celebrate at a small Italian restaurant down the street. The tiramisu was quite delicious! 

 This poster was a gift from my co-workers- a street scene in Kyoto (which will look wonderful in my new apartment- post about that soon!). 

On Saturday, I celebrated with a great group of friends- chosen specially because they are not afraid to eat! We dined at an all-you-can-eat Brazilian BBQ restaurant. For 2 hours we had a constant stream of waiters stopping by our table with choice cuts of beef, chicken, even grilled pineapple and cheese and with their incredibly sharp knives, would load our plates up. There were salad bar fixings as well, but we were here for the meat. It was absolutely delicious and we were quite proud of ourselves for making the relatively expensive dining cost worth it! (Many of us had fasted earlier in the day in preparation). 

From left to right, Romica (my ballroom dancing friend who lives on the military base with her husband and son), Jaimee (we met working at the English language school and enjoy rock climbing and swimming together), Katy (we've been friends since I moved to Japan and hang out most weekends), me, Ces (originally from the Philippines, but lived in San Jose for many years, we met through Crossfit), Teneal (originally from Australia, we also met through Crossfit). They are a fantastic group of women and we had a really enjoyable evening together full of laughs. Notice how the meat was definitely the center of attention by the miniature sized dessert plate! It was more than plenty- by that point I was stuffed. 

 We continued the evening with karaoke, and another good friend, Michele, joined us. With tambourines and maracas we crooned and shimmied for 2 hours! Oh the entertainment. 

 I received many wonderful email messages and facebook posts from family and friends all over the world. This particular email made me chuckle! 

And this photo and message made me grin like the cheshire cat! I can't wait to meet my nephew- March 20th can't come soon enough!! 

I feel so loved from all of you! 

Thank you