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

First 2 weeks of November

A few noteworthy excursions over the last 3 weekends.

1. A day trip to Yamanashi Prefecture and the 5 lakes around Mount Fuji. I borrowed the best bike in the world (cannondale below) and combined with smoothly paved roads around the lakes, and crisp autumn air and color, I enjoyed the rides immensely.

2. I am no artist, but Romica invited me to an art and wine event on the military base (hence all the Americans- mainly moms and teachers). Dans, I think you did a similar activity relatively recently (a red background with some birds on a tree??) Ultimately, I was satisfied with the outcome and it will decorate my classroom nicely :)

 3. Festival near Zushi beach. Morning Samurai parade and afternoon Yabusame- traditional archery on horseback dating back to this beach location over 900 years ago!

This is Halloween...

Happy Halloween!

Our school went all out for Halloween. For the last month, my class has teamed up with the 1st grade class to learn a dance routine to Ghostbusters. The 10 students then performed on Halloween day for some very excited parents during our joint class party. 

I had the students help with the decorations of the room (Mindcraft creepers, Halloween themed paper chain and a few other bits and pieces). All students were allowed to come in costume for the day and I had: a Ghostbuster, Vampire, Olaf (the snowman) and 2 Elsas (from Frozen). 

My floor team (Adam- Kindergarten teacher, Seiko- Kindergarten teacher, and Jo- 1st grade teacher) all teamed up to be the main characters from the Wizard of Oz. 

As it turned out, the Wizard of Oz is not known AT ALL in Japan, so that night when I decided to go out to Tokyo for Halloween night with my apartment friends, I decided to change my costume. Being very last minute- I had to pull something out of my closet in about 20 minutes. My solution was an 80s girl- and I had all the pieces! Leg warmers, star-spandex, thick belt, off the shoulder shirt, finger-less gloves, side pony-tail, big earrings, purple eyeshadow...I thought I pulled it off. Turns out it was too "normal" by Japanese standards and I was even asked at the club if I was dressed up!! Haha! 

Japanese interpret Halloween as an opportunity to be as gory and scary as possible! So when we headed into Tokyo there were a ton of bloody brides, and very intricate face paint of wounds and blood! Check out this news about Shibuya on Halloween. 

So that night, about 15 of my Eda apartment-mates headed into Tokyo- Shibuya to be exact and were met by millions of costume-clad revelers! 

I attempted to take some photos of the night. But this video montage has a much better display of what happened that night!

My German friend, Ken (tallest guy) with new Waldo friends!

 Where's Waldo was a HUGE hit! (what a simple costume, right?) But Ken made friends with other Waldos wherever we went, and took many photos with them!

Still crowded at 5am the next morning!

Aomori- Northern Honshu

Katy and I took a quick weekend trip up to Aomori prefecture- the northern most point of the main Honshu Island- about 700km from Tokyo.

We left at 6:40pm by Shinkansen from Tokyo station and 3.5 hours later, we arrived. We booked a ryokan (Japanese style place) near the station for one night. The next morning we were up bright and early to catch an infrequent bus (all public transport runs much less frequently outside of major cities) to see some fall foliage. Our intension was to get off the bus at a gondola that would take us to the top of a volcano- so we could hike around the rim.

The drive to the volcano was a burst of color through the lush forest. Unfortunately the weather wasn't on our side. As we rode the gondola up, the misty rain turned to thick fog and we were pelted with icy rain and poor visibility at the top. So, we rode the gondola back down, got back on the bus, and continued down to the river hike. Fortunately, we were met by sunny skies and fresh forest smells. The 10km or so that we walked along the riverside was absolutely magical- right out of a magazine edited for color, contrast and autumn beauty.

                                                                         

But we just couldn't seem to catch a break, and our last hour of hiking was in steady rain. Neither of us were totally prepared to be walking through such incessant rain, so sopping wet, we jumped on the bus to take us the final 4km to the lake-front. We warmed up with a hot lunch and tea, walked along the boardwalk next to the lake and hiked up to see a temple in the woods. By 5:30 pm, we found our backpackers hostel and by 7pm we were asleep!

Well Sunday's weather, while windy, was clear and sharp- the crystal clear lake reflected the blue of the sky and the browns, oranges, greens and yellows were in their glory. Our hostel allowed us to borrow 3-speed bikes for free, so we attempted to ride as much as we could around the lake. However, the hilly portions are nearly impossible on a speed-less bike, so we got about 15-18 km around, when we had to turn back. Next we jumped on the ferry that would take us on a cruise around the lake. The front row seat, the sun baked couch and the smooth lake was a perfect setting for a nap! That's right, I slept through most of the cruise! It was fantastic.

'

Backpacking in Japan

It was an absolutely beautiful weekend, and although we had several major challenges, I could not have enjoyed this trip more! After months of talking and dreaming about hiking in the southern Japanese Alps- specifically up Kita-Dake, the 2nd highest peak in Japan (3,193 meters/ 10,476 feet), our trip finally became a reality. Turned out, early October was by far a better time to visit the mountain anyways! I went with 2 friends from my social apartment, Kyohei and Kazuma. We made a really good team. We didn't get discouraged when we made some major mistakes- rather seeing the adventure and challenge in everything. We made decisions together regarding safety and our own physical limitations. We saw the positive in everything and kept reminding each other to enjoy the surroundings and take it all in. We were about the same fitness level and kept up a really good pace. I got my peace and quiet alone time when they would carry on in Japanese and I could just tune them out. Overall it was nice to hang out with people who love the same things that I do, or who go along with taking goofy photos, and who appreciate nature, and like a challenge.

Kita-dake is the tallest peak in a series of a mountain range in Yamanashi Prefecture. (The same prefecture as Mount Fuji). There are hiking options for multi-day trips so as to hit all the major peaks in the range. With only a 2 day/1 night weekend, we opted for just the main mountain. Our second decision was whether to camp in a tent just below the peak or stay in the mountain hut. I might think I'm hard-core, but staying in the mountain hut was a very wise decision!

We left early Saturday morning- 5:15am train from Eda to the capital, Kofu, of Yamanashi prefecture (a 2 hour ride). From there we had about an hour to wait for the 9am bus that would take us 2.5 hours up the windy mountain road to Hirogawara- the start of the trail!

"The air was crisp, the sun was warm and a hint of color on the leaves (at the trail start). Already giddy with excitement, we had no idea what was in store for us. The scenery and surroundings were magical, breathtaking, out of this world. The Japanese word for it is pam-pa-ne!" (from my journal).

The colors, the scenery, the majestic chain of mountains surrounding us, the intensity of the climb and elevation gain (we started at 1,500 meters). The river, the massive rocks, the trees. We all just couldn't stop gushing. Not to mention, we had the trail entirely to ourselves!!




Due to a massive error on all our parts, not reading sign posts or the map I had, we were forced to back-track and basically added 2.5 hours of extra strenuous hiking to the already long day's climb. The upside? We got to watch a cloudy sunset from the trail and enjoy the magic of the descending dusk and hike with headlamps. Once we reached the ridge line, we only had about 30 minutes to go. By this time it was pitch dark- 6:30 pm, but the cloud cover in the valley below was like a misty illuminated sea. Although my lungs were burning and my ankles felt weak, I loved every minute of it.

We made it to the mountain hut- stinky toilets right outside, access to clean water and a small hut with tatami floors for sleeping, an area for cooking and about 30 other hikers. (Japanese over the age of 40). We cooked our veggie/chicken/tofu/udon soup to much delight and then lights were out at 8:30pm. Our goal was to wake up at 4am, and start the final ascent to the peak at 4:30- with the intention of watching the sunrise. When we woke up at 4, it was cloudy, foggy and pouring rain.

Change of plans!

Enjoy a leisurely breakfast and then just climb back down. Full rain-gear was absolutely necessary as it rained the entire 3-hours down. In fact, its still raining 24 hours later as I write this (we are in a typhoon). The trail was incredibly steep, small rivers and puddles and miniature waterfalls collected and cascaded down the rocky/muddy trail. Each step seemed to potentially be a death-trap. This went on for 8+ km. Then it was a quick change out of my wet clothes, and back on the bus by 10:20 am.

Enjoying the start to autumn weather

Lexi's and Abba's recent blog posts of exploring their cities gave me the ganas to do the same. The temperatures have been perfect recently and so it was extra incentive to get out and about.

On Thursday night, after work, a coworker organized an excursion to watch a professional baseball game. This is one of the lower ranked Tokyo teams- the Swallows (so cute) and they were playing the Hiroshima Carp- a much better team. The stadium was small and intimate and we were sitting right next to the cheering section and when the Swallows were up to bat, the fans had a unique clapping cheer for him. At several points everyone knew to bring out their miniature fan umbrellas and wave them in the air to the beat of the chant! Since it had been raining earlier that day, I also had an umbrella (not really the correct size), so I waved it right along with everyone else.

On Saturday, Katy and I explored a new park that boasted a beautiful field of cosmos. The cosmos didn't disappoint! The park was huge- with a large lake with people in small boats. Wide open fields for BBQs and picnics. Plenty of walkers with their little dogs, and even paths for cyclists. We enjoyed catching up and taking in the autumn weather and greenery.