Naomi In Nihon

Home Sweet Home Chicago

2009-09-20T01:39:00.002+09:00

Since being home, I’ve been putting off updating the final leg of my year in Japan. As fast as the last month went, I can’t believe how much I was able to squeeze in. I’ll try my best to rack my brain for the memories that took place nearly two months ago…

Wrapping it up with a visit from Naomi

2009-09-20T01:12:00.016+09:00

Upon returning, I made a little book picture book for Naomi to help keep the memories of Japan fresh. It went a little something like this:

On August 11th, 2009, Naomi made her way to the country Naomi had been living in for the past year. Reunited, the Naomi-Naomi-best-friend duo visited the must-see spots of Japan. They cycled around Kyoto, body-boarded in Shimoda, dominated Mt. Fuji, and wandered the neighborhoods of Tokyo. Every time these two particular Naomis get together, there's many entertaining adventures to be had. This trip did not disappoint.

July 11th: Tokyo, the arrival

*Asakusa and conveyer belt sushi.

July 12th ~ 14th: Kyoto, by bike

*Day 1: Kinkaku-ji, Ninna-ji, too late for Arashiyama, Mr. Donuts, Tofu dinner.

*Day 2: Kiyomizu-dera, Nanzen-ji, Gion, Nishin-soba, Ginkaku-ji, riding up and down the river path, colorful bike shop, Bibimbap.

*Day 3: Kyoto station, Arashiyama, monkeys, koi, and tako-yaki.

July 15th ~ 16th: Shimoda, the beach

*What do you know, there's a matsruri going on.

*Body-boards, 'Tummy' Yasu ... yup, free onsen, Kinmedai fish, Indian curry.

July 16th ~ 17th: Mt. Fuji, we HAVE to do it

*Dominated the f out of that volcano. With Roland & Raj, we hiked 12 hours up and down Japan's tallest mountain.

July 17th ~ 20th: Tokyo, getting lost

*Day 1: Asakusa tempura with Roland and Raj.

*Day 2: Shinjuku, Shinjuku Park, Kabuki-cho, spicy curry, Harajuku, Japanese pizza, Roppoingi.

*Day 3: Ginza, Shibuya, Puri-kura, Karaoke, Yaki-niku, Blue Seal Ice Cream.

*Day 4: Tsukiji Fish Market and fresh sushi for breakfast.

What the heck happened to that Japan book? We’re actually lost without it!!

Nagoya (August 10, 2009)

2009-09-20T00:57:00.002+09:00

After studying abroad nearly 4 years ago in Nagoya, I felt an obligation to visit with those I was once very close to. The itinerary: Friday night with Keiko and the ‘Coffee Hour Club,’ Saturday with Makiko and Chikae, then Sunday to Monday in Toyota with the Ishikawas, my former host family. Aside from everyone having graduated from the free life of college to the restricted life of work, not much seems to have changed. Keiko’s still giggly, Makiko and Chikae are still BFFs, and my host family’s still hosting exchange students attending Nanzan University. I thought I was the same old same old, but my old neighbor would beg to differ. I was told to go to her house to say hi, so I did. I rang doorbell, the wife and mother of the kids I used to tutor opened the door, and exclaimed “You got fatter!! You got fatter right … right??” I didn’t know how to respond as I had thought I had lost weight after the whole malaria incident. I didn’t want to disagree, that would have been rude.

Goodbye Niigata (August 7, 2009)

2009-09-20T00:51:00.003+09:00

My last week in Niigata consisted of hanging out with those I didn’t want to leave. I took the shinkansen a couple of stops with Jenelle before she left the country for good. She was on her way to Narita International Airport, and I was on my way to see Japan’s #1 fireworks in Nagaoka with Ruu and Futoshi. Tuesday was Colleen’s birthday at a 4 course high class Italian Restaurant (poor girl had mono and didn’t know it at the time). Wednesday I hung out with my grandma and great aunt. We started with a movie, some shopping and of course eating and drinking. That night I went to Ruu and Futoshi’s for our ‘last supper’ which was way more fun than sad thank god. Thursday evening my great aunt, aunt once removed, and second cousins took me out to a clay pot ramen place. It was only fair, as they took my brother to the same delicious place while I was stuck in the hospital. Friday at high-noon I boarded a train southbound for Nagoya. The combination of my grandma, great aunt, aunt once removed, second cousins, Futoshi, and Ruu seeing me off caused my heart to be shattered into billions of irreparable peaces. I couldn’t help but violently weep for 30 minutes after the train took off.

Myoko English Camp (August 2, 2009)

2009-09-20T00:50:00.001+09:00

Jenelle recommended me for an English Camp for elementary school kids in the mountains of Myoko. Three days as a team leader offered an enticing wad of cash that I would need for my upcoming travels so I accepted without putting much thought into it.

I ended up leading a group of 7 girls through the woods orienteering, making a team pink care bear flag, giving a presentation on Chicago, making up a song and dance, cooking curry outside, writing in journals, playing games, and on and on. It was fun and exhausting but by the end of it I made friends with nearly all of the people in the camp. So much to the point that they were demanding my autograph in big letters across the skin on their arms!!

Fuji Rock (July 27, 2009)

2009-09-20T00:36:00.007+09:00

Fuji Rock: a 3 day music festival in the mountains of Naeba in Niigata Prefecture. Holy crap, words can’t begin to describe how phenomenal those three days were. Eric was happily still in the country. He made some comment to one of my friends “I know I’m still young and haven’t done that much with my life, but this is the greatest thing I have ever done so far!!” Friday we got poured on and Dave’s secret girlfriend saved us by letting us stay at her family’s house hotel. Saturday brought us perfect weather for a full day of rock and roll. Sunday, we were happy to still be alive and enjoyed the last day by dancing our butts off. Among the artists there were: Oasis, Paul Weller, Lily Allen, Patti Smith, Tokyo Ska Paradise Orchestra, Cage the Elephant, Franz Ferdinand, Ben Harper and Relentless7, Jet, Public Enemy, Easy Star All-Stars, The Aggrolites, Justin Nozuka, Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Jimmy Eat World, Cobra Starship, Clap Your Hands and Say Yeah, and Basement Jaxx!! I was amazed by how well organized the porta-potties were, the zero garbage on the ground, the recycling of everything into products that will be used in next year’s Fuji Rock, the fact that we could leave our belongings on our tarp without it getting stolen, and the beauty of the scenery: big name bands playing on stages with mountains and forests all around. Thanks to Futoshi, Tomo, Jenelle, Marshall, Dave, Yoshie, Sarah, Scottie, Martin, Keiko, and Eric and everyone else there for making Fuji ROCK!!

Malaria (July 20, 2009)

2009-09-20T00:35:00.002+09:00

Funny story: malaria had been in my bodily system for the past four months without me knowing it until its symptoms of death scratched at my soul. I guess I remember feeling tired and feverish but not full out sick for the past month or so. It came full force with a pounding headache, fever (104.9 F temperature), shaking chills, nausea, vomiting, hallucinations - the works during our family trip to Hiroshima and Tokyo. Since the symptoms are expressed at 48-hour intervals, I suppose at least I was able to enjoy exactly half of the trip. Once my dad said that I probably had malaria, my brother looked it up online, I cried and said that I would probably be dead by the morning, and my mom looked up doctors in the phone book. Another funny thing is that everywhere you check online, websites advise to seek help immediately if one is expressing the symptoms of malaria, yet the doctors of Japan were telling me “Oh no, we don’t deal with malaria.” So once back in Niigata, my grandmother came up with the plan to call an ambulance the next time the parasites exploded out of my liver (ambulances are free in Japan – another positive to what some people would call socialistic health insurance). They drove me around, found a hospital that would take me, and told me that I probably had the pig flu. They tested me for that by sticking long q-tips up both my nostrils and into my brain, only to find out that I didn’t have it. Next they took a blood sample and realized that I did indeed have malaria. After what seemed like at least a century, they got me wicked strong anti-malaria pills and I felt almost immediately cured. I ended up spending two nights in the hospital, missed my last three days of work, and was prescribed three weeks of medicine. I once said that Papua New Guinea was the greatest place on earth. I’m rethinking that statement a bit right now.

The Schrock Flock Arrives in Japan (July 12, 2009)

2009-09-19T05:48:00.005+09:00

Yuki, Tom, and Eric arrived in Japan with a hefty schedule ahead of them. The day after they arrived in Niigata, they rode the train up to my neck of the woods in Murakami. We didn’t have much time, so I tried to show them as much as possible of the narrow samurai roads, the coast, the river, the little mountain, and my tiny apartment. That night we had eating and drinking plans back in the city. The following day we took a bus tour with my aunt, uncle, and grandma to Yamagata for some lavender and cherry picking. I had to work on Monday so the Schrock Flock took off without me to Kyoto. I really REALLY wanted to see Hiroshima so took the remaining of my days off to meet up with them. We saw Japan’s most beautiful castle: Himeji, the Peace Park in Hiroshima, Japan’s most photographed landmark in Miyajima, and then a baseball game in Tokyo. It was a pretty good trip, but not stellar for me. You see, I was sick exactly half of the trip. See: ‘Malaria.’

Goodbye Murakami (July 10, 2009)

2009-09-19T05:46:00.002+09:00

I honestly did not know that me leaving Murakami would be such a grand ordeal. Between people wanting to have one last meaningful meeting, a last party, and departing ceremonies, I nearly lost my mind. Each school prepared an ‘owakarekai’ or ‘departing ceremony’ for me. The first was totally unexpected, the second one was overwhelming, and the third, fourth, and fifth unfortunately did not happen (see ‘Malaria’). As Senami, I was held back in the teachers room while the school prepared in the gym. The entire school sang as I entered the arena and took my seat on stage. The principal made a speech, my advising teacher made a speech, a couple students made speeches, and then I made a speech. Totally unexpectedly, I choked up and let tears spill from my eyes at the end of my speech. It was at that instant that I actually let myself realize that I was going to miss this school, the teachers, and the students. They really appreciated that I was there. The genuinely liked me. I would probably never see mot of them again. To add to the mess I had become, the students formed arches with their hands, and I was to duck and walk through them with flowers and say goodbye to each student individually. Throughout the rest of the day the students would run up to me and hand me a note, or a stuffed animal, or a cell phone charm and tell me that they would miss me. Man, I hate goodbyes!! At Kamikaifu, the same general ceremony took place. I feel horrible for having missed Iwafune, Murakami Minami, and Icchu’s ceremonies, but I just don’t know if I had it in me to cry in front of an entire school, and spend the whole day missing it already. Among the others I would miss from Murakami were of course my dear friends Flo and Jess; the liquor shop owner, Kudo; my landlord, Kasai, my English Conversation students, my colleagues that I ate and played badminton with, and my Board of Education. Goodbyes are the worst thing in the world when they happen. I sometimes wish I hadn’t ever put myself in positions to have to eventually say goodbye but then I take it back. Each and everyone of these people touched my life. I’ll remember them forever.

Murakami Tanabata Matsuri (July 7, 2009)

2009-09-19T05:43:00.001+09:00

“This is the reason we live.” ~Saori Suzuki about the July 7^th Murakami Matsuri.

The pulling of the oshagiris actually started during the afternoon of July 6^th. I watched them roll down the street from the window of my middle school, wishing it were Tuesday so that I would have the entire day off to participate in Murakami’s main event of the year. Monday’s events were just to briefly show the oshagiris off to the town.

On Tuesday, July 7^th, Tanabata Day, the pulling of the oshagiris was broken up into three stages. At 3:00 am, one neighborhood’s oshagiri was chosen to pull through town to the Murakami’s shrine. Of course we woke up for this. Once it was over though, we took a bit of a nap before WE (Jenelle and I) pulled with Oomachi. One of my English Conversation students (and friend) invited us to pull with her neighborhood!! We got there at 8:00 am to find that a lot of the older men hadn’t napped since 3:00 am at all, and instead stayed up and drank Asahi Beer. From 8:00 until about noon, we pulled and drank, were invited into houses to eat and drink, and then pulled some more. Ruu and Futoshi met up with us in the afternoon to evening stage where we ditched the happi (blue kimoni-like uniforms) to get pretty in yukata (summer-style kimonos). We walked around town and became spectators of the pulling. Later that night, Courtney arrived in Murakami to catch the tail end of the day’s events.

This was hands down, the greatest matsuris of them all!!

What is Italian?

2009-07-05T10:59:00.003+09:00

I think the Niigata chain is yakisoba with Japanese-style pasta sauce. The potato fried were pretty yummy too.

Lobsters

2009-07-05T10:56:00.003+09:00

My wonderful mother sent the Aokis three live lobsters all the way from the North Americas to Japan as a token of ‘thanks’ for all the Aokis have done for me during this past year. Thank goodness for a hot, exhausting, bordering dehydration day of Frisbee that left me painfully hungry for dinner. The feast consisted of three fresh lobsters with garlic butter dip … and tacos!! Oh yes, we went all the way with this surf and turf meal; all including tortilla shells, ground beef (the taco seasoning bought in Okinawa), guacamole, tomatoes, onions, lettuce, and melted Hokkaido cheese!! For dessert we had root beer floats (which Ruu couldn’t stomach since the taste of root beer reminds her of hospitals). I’m actually surprised my stomach did not explode.

Final Date with Kasai-san

2009-07-02T23:13:00.002+09:00

In the back of my mind, I’m coming to the realization that this month is going to be filled with difficult goodbyes. My dinner-date with Kasai-san was extra-ordinarily fun last night. Since we started going out for dinner, I have always mentioned the Nepal Curry Restauruant, Himalaya. She’s been hesitant to try something completely different from the usual Japanese food but last night she mustered up the courage to give it a go. I was worried that she wouldn’t be able to eat any of it, but lo and behold she loved it. She wrote the restaurant details down and vowed to return someday for lunch with her friends. Then for our usual nijikai (round 2) at her house, we drank a bit more beer than usual. We talked a lot and loudly about the war, relationships, and Okinawa!! Definitely going to miss her.

Fuji (Tuesday, June 20, 2009)

2009-07-02T23:10:00.001+09:00

A normal boring day at school followed by an intense swim workout with Flo turned into a delightful meal at a new restaurant for me: Fuji. Fuji is a French restaurant that I’ve heard was delicious a while back but couldn’t ever seem to find its location. While buying little Japanese cakes one day, I stumbled upon it. Jess and Flo were up for trying new food so we gave it a go. I knew it was going to be SWEET when the master offered to cook Flo a special vegetarian meal with a smile on his face. Jess and I asked for the special: clay-pot curry containing eggplants, potatoes, onions, an egg, and topped with cheese. Good God was it all delicious. The owners were so happy to have us; they gave us free salad and free desert. On top of that we had a grand time taking pictures, chilling in the work-in-progress beer garden, and promising to come back.

Okinawa (Monday, June 29, 2009)

2009-07-02T21:59:00.017+09:00

I owe this whole trip to Ruu and Futoshi for finding a cheap package deal, and setting the daily events up. Otherwise, there’s no way I would have been able to afford the trip or have such a great time.

We flew from Niigata to Naha on Friday. The weather was horrendous, and there’s nothing that freaks me out more than turbulence – especially when landing. After we survived the decent, I was up for anything – rain or shine, bring it on. We should have known that this vacation was going to be a good one when our rental car turned out to be a bright green Mazsa Demio. (Did you know that Mazda in Japanese is マツダ, pronounced Ma-tsu-da?!?! I didn’t!!) There was a typhoon in the area so the weather didn't clear for the rest of the evening. We walked around the touristy district of Naha, taking in the yummy treats: saataaandakii, chinsukou, purple potato tarts, Blue Seal Ice Cream (born in the US, raised in Okinawa), and shocked by the stranger treats: pig ears, pig face, pig feet, sea grapes, and ridiculously expensive pineapples and mangoes. We met Nakachi, a friend of Ruu and Futoshi’s for dinner. Nakachi is originally from Okinawa, and a newer helicopter pilot for the Japanese Coast Guard. The place we went to for dinner was AWESOME!! While listening to live Okinawan music (sanshin and taiko), we ordered every traditional Okinawan food on the menu and of course Orion beer and Aomori sake. Nakachi taught us how to do the traditional Okinawan dance and whistle so that we knew what to do when we got up on stage. I’m in love with the Orion Beer song. Fantastic first night!!

Saturday was mostly dedicated to the beautiful sea surrounding the island. We took a boat out around the Karema Islands to go snorkeling and SCUBA diving!! I felt a bit bad that I was the only uncertified diver among the Aokis, as they decided to drop back with me. We snorkeled and saw the most beautiful coral reefs and rainbow-colored fish. There were clown fish, angel fish, red fish, blue fish, green fish, spotted fish, stripped fish, fish that did something different with their fins, dangerous fish, and we even saw a manta!! Because I’m new at the SCUBA thing, we took it real slow. It was the strangest feeling to sink instead of float and walk around on the ocean floor. Un-popping my ears were also a bit embarrassingly difficult but when all was said and done, the ocean floor was STUNNING. Our skin turned white and we saw all the fish we had viewed from above up close. We played with a sea anemone and the little Nemos living in it. I’m really going to have to go all the way and get certified one of these days!! After our short SCUBA was over, I accidentally fell asleep on the boat deck and got RED. Whoops!! We went out again with another one of Futoshi’s old co-workers for an all you could eat, all you could drink delicious meal. Another EXCELLENT day!!

On Sunday, Nakachi picked us up bright and early for an eating and sightseeing tour of the central west coast of Okinawa. Our first stop was to stop on the side of the road to pick up some delicious vanilla and shikuwasa ice cream being sold by middle school girls. The ice cream was so good because it was a perfect combination of sherbet and creamy ice cream. Next, we got some even more delicious Okinawa soba. Contrary to its name, it’s not quite soba. It’s more of a light broth ramen with noodles thicker than ramen but thinner than udon topped with loads of pork. After that, we spent most of our time at the second largest aquarium in the world: Okinawa Churaumi Aquarium. I can’t even begin to describe how magical this place was. It was especially interesting for us because we were able to say things like “we saw that fish yesterday!!” and “remember when we played with that fish?!” On the way back, we stopped briefly at Nakijin Castle – mostly to eat an azuki kakigouri, or red bean crushed ice desert. It was not too sweet and perfectly cold for such a HOT day. On the way back to Naha, Nakachi wanted to show me the American village so that we could eat the famous ‘Taco-Rice.’ It's all of the Mexican taco ingredients on top of Japanese white rice and AMAZING!! I ate WAY more than I should have, but I just could not stop – it was too nostalgic!! I can’t even remember when the last time was that I had tacos (not the octopus). But really, I shouldn’t have eaten that much food, as we had dinner plans with the rest of the Nakachi family. There was sushi, salad, eggs, goya champuru, pork, pork on edible bones, and of course a bottomless glass of Orion beer. Since it was our last night in town, we went out for even more drinks at was seemed like a great friendly bar. They put on Cirque de Soliel, Blue Man Group, and Michael Jackson DVDs for us. After a couple of rounds, and food we never asked for, the bill ended up being triple what it should have been!! No worries though, it was another SPECTACULAR day!!

Monday was our final half-day in Okinawa. We spent the morning viewing the recently named World Heritage Sites of Tama-Udyun and Shuri-jo. Tama-Udyun is a massive 16^th century mausoleum of the Ryukyu Kingdom King, Sho En. Shuri-jo was recently restored into a beautiful castle that was the residence of the Ryukyu kings from the early 15^th century until 1879. Okinawa has so much history and culture from China, Polynesia, Japan, and the USA. From the Ryukyu Kingdom in the 15^th century acting as a gateway for trade between the many Southeast Asian countries to the Pacific War in 1945; from independence to Chinese rule, to Japanese rule, to American jurisdiction, and then back to Japanese sovereignty, Okinawa is truly a place of its own. They have their own traditional clothing, music, and way of speaking. I LOVE it.

To conclude our trip, we ate our final meal at one of the billions of A&W’s (obviously American influence). It was very nice. Two half days, two full days, and three nights were not nearly enough. I enjoyed my time SO much and want so badly to go back right now!!

'Menso-re' = Welcome

Shiisaa

Party #1

Sanshin & Taiko

Dancing on Stage

Awamori Sake

Futosi tasting very rare Aomori sake

Part #2

Coolers in the car for PET bottle

Ice Cream ... kind of like a lemonade stand

Okinawa Soba

Churaumi Aquarium

Giant Squid

Nakajin Castle

Kakigouri

American Village

Taco Rice

Love-Love

Wouldn't it be nice to go to school in Okinawa

Shuri-jo Castle

A&W

OKINAWA!!!

Final Eikaiwa Class (Wednesday, June 24, 2009)

2009-07-02T21:57:00.001+09:00

The Murakami Board of Education gave me the opportunity to teach English Conversation classes this year. I immediately accepted without thinking at all of the work or time it would entail. Quickly, I realized that my class would be larger that the average (15~20 people), and including people of varying ages and English abilities. I’m not going to lie; it was quite a headache at first to find a way to include everyone given the number of people and their differences in language ability. Sometimes my classes were a blast, and other times dull or too difficult. In the end though, I truly enjoyed the company of both of the classes that I taught. The people who attended really wanted to learn and speak English, which makes all the difference. They were overly nice to me, presenting me with gifts and nice words at the end of the session. That AND the extra 7 days of paid vacation I get for doing the class!!

Chidori (Tuesday, June 23, 2009)

2009-07-02T21:56:00.002+09:00

FINALLY, I ate Murakami’s famous Daamatadon at Chidori!! Yoko-sensei enjoys eating even more than I do so it’s always great to go out with her. Natsumi-sensei and Shinohara-sensei also joined us for 20 pieces of sashimi over rice in an excellent chirashi dish!!

Pasta with the Eikaiwa Girls (Monday, June 22, 2009)

2009-07-02T21:55:00.001+09:00

Flo and I were invited out for another extracurricular English Conversation Class with two of the girls from our Eikaiwa class. They brought us FLOWERS!! How lovely to go with delicious Japanese-style spaghetti and talk in Engrish.

Movie Theater (Sunday, June 21, 2009)

2009-07-02T21:52:00.001+09:00

Ruu invited Courtney and I to see Slum Dog Millionaire in Niigata for the shockingly low price of 500-yen!! That’s just simply unheard of in this country as most movie tickets run close to 2000-yen ($20)!! Ruu knows how to enjoy life on a budget though. We ate some fantastic Korean food and Baskin Robins (which, by the way, they call ‘Thirty-One” here – actually it’s more like “Saatiwan” but hardly anyone knows that it’s really “Baskin Robbins”)

Badminton

2009-06-19T11:31:00.001+09:00

Yoko invited me to play badminton with her and some of the other Kamikaifu teachers last night. Sure, badminton sounds cool. In my mind, it’s one of those sports that ranks in the same category as Frisbee, bags, and bocci ball: a summer-time BBQ, laid-back, fun sport. Apparently, like ping-pong, badminton is one of those sports that everyone grows up playing … and excelling at. These skinny little Japanese girls were ‘smashing’ the ‘shuttle’ with such experienced technique that I nearly threw my arm out trying to keep up. I was gripping and swinging the racket so hard that I lost all ability to do anything else with my entire right arm for the rest of the night. I’m not over-exaggerating at all when I say that I struggled to put coins into the vending machine and grip the tea bottle with my right hand. It’s shaking as I type this, but it was SO MUCH FUN!!

Sea of Japan (Monday, June 15, 2009)

2009-06-17T13:01:00.005+09:00

Once in a blue moon, do I get to drive along the beautiful coast to Kamikaifu Elementary School. It’s been a while since the weather has been picture perfect worthy for the Sea of Japan, rice paddies, and a graveyard.

Oo-uchi-juku, Fukushima (Sunday, June 14, 2009)

2009-06-17T10:10:00.006+09:00

There was supposed to be a gyoza party at Ling Ling’s this afternoon. Unfortunately for her, she caught herself a cold from Frisbee. Fortunately for the Aoki’s and I, we had an entire free day. Apparently, Ruu had wanted to go to an old samurai town in Fukushima for quite some time, so that’s what we did!! What would normally cost 3000-yen (~$30) for a 3-hour drive on the express way now costs only 1000-yen on the weekends with an ETC (like an I-pass)!! Sweet deal.

Into the mountains and fog we drove, to a place where Samurai used to stop on their way to a further away town. Flourishing during the Edo period (1602~1868), Ouchi-juku was a post station town, located on the West Aizu Highway that connected Aizumakamatsu, Nikko, and Edo(Tokyo). After the Meiji Restoration, national roads and modern vehicles replaced foot traffic through Ouchi-juki. The town was deserted, but preserved; then later designated a Traditional Architectural Preservation District of Japan, and restored into what it is today. Traditionally thatched Japanese roofed houses line the long dirt road. The grass roofs provide mega-insulation against the brutal mountainous winters.

Of course the main reason we went to Ouchi-juku was to eat the famous negi-soba, or Japanese buckwheat noodles with a fat green onion. It seems like every Japanese mountain town is famous for it’s soba noodles. I feel like I’ve been to plenty of mountain towns to taste a range of soba to be allowed to say that the negi-soba from Ouchi-juku was by far the BEST soba I have EVER had. While taking small bites of your only utensil, a thick green onion, you slurp up the delicious hand-made soba noodles. Though, it got a bit more difficult to eat as our utensils got shorter and shorter.

After Ochi-juku, we stopped by a tourist spot known for its beautiful view of the Abukuma River. We had fun jumping on a suspension bridge and walking along a natural cutout path in the bordering gorge until it started to rain. But then we were given awesome miso-soup for free before we made a run for it back to the car – well Futoshi did while Ruu and I waited to be picked up – thanks Futoshi!!

Frisbee and Someone called 'Tomo's' Birthday BBQ (Saturday, June 13, 2009)

2009-06-17T09:27:00.003+09:00

We left the House of Lights with just enough time to get some ramen and make it to Jon’s monthly Frisbee gathering. I wish I had been able to make it to the first two because it was SO much FUN!! Jon reserved the huge Niigata City Sports Park field for four hours, rain or shine. For the first time in my life, I played around on artificial grass, and to my surprise, thought it was awesome. Over 30 people of varying abilities showed up to make four pretty competitive teams. The team I was on ‘Orange Ties’ wound up getting second place, woot!!

Immediately after Frisbee was some guy named Tomo’s Birthday BBQ. Ruu, Fuu, Courtney and I were all invited to it, but realized once we were all together that none of us knew who he was! He ended up being a really cool, peace-sign-loving guy, and welcomed us to as much drink and meat as we pleased.

House of Lights (Friday, June 12, 2009)

2009-06-17T09:25:00.002+09:00

Somewhere down south in Tokamachi, is a house called ‘House of Light.’ It’s an experimental work of art that was created by a man named James Turrell, AKA: an artist of lights. Going off the website, he was inspired by the essay by Junichiro Tanizaki, ‘In Praise of Shadows.’ He wanted to incorporate his specialty of media and lights with the traditional usage of light in Japanese houses. There was a room with a hole in the ceiling, a porch facing the direction you would hope to see a sun set, and a hot tub with different colored LED lights only. It was a pretty cool house, indeed, but what it ended up being was a 6,000-yen house party with enough meat to feed 100 hungry tigers!!

Sushi with Kasai (Thursday, June 11, 2009)

2009-06-17T09:21:00.003+09:00

I had another dinner date with my new BFF, Kasai-san on Thursday night. It took us a little driving around and to decide on Kamihayashi's kaiten-zushi. She force-fed me more sushi than could fit in my stomach, but it was SO GOOD!!

Kamikaifu Undoukai & Murakami Concert (Sunday, June 7, 2009)

2009-06-08T15:03:00.000+09:00

They tried to teach me in Elementary School to ‘just say no’ but clearly the DARE t-shirts and catchy slogans didn’t stick. I don’t know how to say ‘no’ even though often times, I’m fully aware that I’m double-booking myself when I say ‘yes.’ For example, Sunday: I knew that I would be tired after catching the last train back to Murakami on Saturday night, but still, I couldn’t refuse the invitation to Kamikaifu’s Sports Day. A little while later, one of my incredibly friendly old-lady-neighbors invited me to her chorus concert that same day. I didn’t have the heart to tell her that I already had plans, and instead blurted out ‘yes, of course I will go!!’

Despite how tired I was this morning, I am SO glad I made it to Kamikaifu’s Sports Day. I LOVE the faculty and students at this school. Even though I only go to there once a month, they make it a point to include me in all of the big events going on. Because there are only 39 or so students in the whole elementary school, I assumed that this was going to be a much smaller-scale undoukai than Senami’s. Wrong again!! The school included the pre-schoolers of the area, plus all of the parents, grandparents, teachers, and neighbors, resulting in a full-out festival. At first I tried to be invisible, but one by one, people saw that I was there. Before I knew it, I was entered into the triathlon relay race with the 4^th, 5^th, and 6^th graders. The first leg was hurdles, second was crawling under hurdles, the third was crawling under a net, and the forth (hmmm wasn’t it called a triathlon…???) was rolling a can with a stick. The kids were so glad to see me – it touched my heart. It’s times like these that I feel guilty about leaving. I was supposed to leave before noon, but the teachers invited me inside to eat lunch with them, and I don’t know how to say ‘no’ so I accepted but then really did have to excuse myself before everyone was done eating so I wouldn’t be late for the Murakami concert.

As it turns out, it wasn’t just my neighbor’s chorus concert; it was much bigger than that. There were about 10 singing groups, and I ended up knowing people in five of those groups. Some were kid-students, eikaiwa-students, collegues, and neighbors. Again, I thought I could get by with being invisible, but this is just too small of a town, and I’m just too known by too many people for that. I never thought that just being there could make a difference in people’s emotions, but it might. When I said ‘hi’ to the performers I knew, they really seemed to appreciate that I was there, which in turn made me really happy. The performances were nice. What made them so great was that you could tell that singing was an actual hobby of each of the performers on stage. I know the kids at Senami voluntarily practice during their recess breaks, and the older people must take time out of their busy schedules to get together and rehearse.

Shirone Giant Kite Festival (Saturday, June 6, 2009)

2009-06-08T14:57:00.002+09:00

This weekend was full of Kite Festivals, the biggest one being in Shirone, near Sanjo. Before reading The Kite Runner, I had no idea that Kite Fights existed. Before hearing about the Kite Festivals in Niigata, I had absolutely no idea that they existed outside of Afganistan!! All I knew about kite fighting came straight out of that book, so I was excited, and expecting to see little kites, and little boys battle with bloody fingers and glass-lined ropes until one was sent flying. Of course I was expectations were completely wrong!

Apparently this is a 350-year-old festival that features kite fighting between two villages. The reason they call it a ‘Giant Kite Festival’ is because the kites that fly are actually GIANT. It all takes place on a river called Nakanokuchi, where spectators can watch from one of the two bridges that are on either side of the events, or in a designated seating area, but nowhere else. It takes about 20 full-grown people to get the kites into the sky. They near one of the bridges and then run toward the other bridge. One by one, the full-grown team members drop off from the back so that the kite can fly higher and higher. Ideally, there would have been wind this weekend so that we would have been able to see the kites fight to the death. But alas, the weather conditions were less than idea, and instead of the kites cutting each the other, they had to resort to getting tangled until they both crashed fiercely into the river.

After we had enough of watching kites soar and plummet, Jess and Flo dropped me off in Niigata City. This gave me JUST enough time to find Geneva a birthday gift before her 30^th birthday dinner party!! Like I mentioned months ago, Ruu and Futoshi have the ins with everybody who’s anybody. Futoshi is good friends with the master of ‘Rocks’ a bar that serves curly fries (which is actually the reason for this place being chosen for the big event)!! Ruu was able to reserve the whole place for our party of 13. All you can drink and eat for 3000-yen, woot!!

Minami Elementary, Senami Onsen, Eikaiwa (Wednesday, June 3, 2009)

2009-06-05T07:21:00.005+09:00

My mom's mom, aunts, and uncles

My grandma literally took the kimono-yukata off her back and tied it on me...in her underware. Nanae's snapping pictures, and everyone is just about crying laughing. I didn't know why everyone was laughing until they explained the funny situation to me. Once I got it, it WAS pretty funny.

Goodness gracious today was a busy day!! Actually the past two weeks and continuing through next week, every single day has been and will be busy, but today was especially busy!

One of my favorite great aunts, Nanae, emailed me multiple times out of the blue from mysterious email addresses. Some probably ended up in my spam folder, but a couple got through. She emailed to let me know that her and my grandma and their sisters were coming to Murakami’s Senami Onsen via two of my great uncle’s driving abilities. It would be great if I could join them, take it easy, drink some beer, and spend the night…only I have to work AND teach an Eikaiwa class on Wednesdays!! There was no way I could NOT meet with them, so I took one of my remaining 7 hours of vacation time left off, hauled butt straight to Senami Onsen, hung out with them for exactly 2 ½ hours, and then rushed to Eikaiwa.

During my 2½ hours with the grandma and great aunts, they fed me generously, gave me exactly four bags of goodies, snuck me into the classy onsen for free, and then dressed me in a kimono-esque yukata. Phewf!!

Before the onsen though: The FUNNIEST thing happened at lunch with the same 5^th grade class from last week, only a different group of kids. One boy was making fun of the girl sitting across from him for sneezing and burping at the same time. He then proceeded to act out action of what sneezing and burping at the same time looks like. Needless to say, the whole cluster erupted in laughter. Meanwhile the boy sitting next to him was in the middle of drinking his milk. Luck must have been with me today as I miraculously glanced over to him at the exact moment the milk started to spill out of his mouth AND nose!!! Oh GOD, THAT was funny!!

Then after the onsen: I rushed to Eikaiwa. From way back when, I remember that a sure-fire way to get a class talking was to offer up chocolate. Well, I had 4 bags of chocolate and have always thought it would be fun to throw food at people. It worked: the class was talking AND it WAS fun to throw chocolate at people!!

A Day Trip to Hagurosan (Sunday, May 31, 2009)

2009-06-02T13:35:00.011+09:00

Flo’s boyfriend, Tom, from Australia is in town, which means that everyone is up for day trips. I was invited to tag along with the happy couple and Jess to Haguro Mountain in Yamagata. The weather was misty and overcast which made for a really eerie and beautiful day. The hiking path consisted of 1000 steep and different sized steps. Along the way, we stopped at Sasagawanagare, a small salt factory, a Japanese Garden, and then a place that had a real mummy. Apparently this guy mummified himself 125 years ago, and now his rotting body is on display alongside his calligraphy work and other Buddhist statues and whatnot. From what I gathered from the genius brains of Flo and Jess, people who thought they had some sort of importance in the world would try (and mostly fail) at mummifying themselves in order to reach the supremest state of Buddhism. It’s a process that took 5-8 years of self-poisoning, starvation, and enclosure. This guy definitely succeeded in that process and is now completely dead but NOT rotting. Apparently there are only about 20 in Japan!! Unfortunately photographing was not allowed.

Away from the sea, and into the mountains, the rain let up and was replaced with a mystical fog. Along the hike/steps were interesting bridges, a 5-story pagoda, waterfall, clearings, birds, frogs, hundred-year-old trees, torii (traditional Japanese gates that mark the transition from the profane world to the sacred world) shrines, and statues. Jess said something about there being four stages of stairs. Some were SO steep and narrow while others were questionable as to whether or not they actually counted into the 1000 steps. To make one stage go faster, Jess and I tried to race up the steps, though we were only able to make it half way before I started to feel the fatigue all the way in my fingers. The way down was even more of a challenge as the steps seemed steeper and narrower and were wet. I had no idea that today was going to be so magical!!

Sasagawanagare

Salt Shop and Factory

Joan's (Holla!!) doing a 'Flat Stanley' project with the kids she nannies for. Here they are with a flooded rice paddy.

Flo and Tom

If you look closely at the house, you'll notice a group of grandmas sitting, chilling, sipping on tea, watching the garden as the rain fell.

Photos of a cute Japanese Garden along the way.

The start of our hike up Haguro-san

Fire Rock

A Freshly Fallen Tree

Ramen Event (Saturday, May 30, 2009)

2009-06-02T13:28:00.001+09:00

This weekend, Toki Messei hosted a ramen event where ramen restaurants from all over Japan came to flaunt their most original ramen. Ramen-yasans from Niigata City, Niigata Prefecture, and other prefectures offered traditional ramen flavors, new wild ramen flavors, ramen with tons of broth, ramen with little broth, ramen with fruit, meat, garlic, and on and on. Of course I only had eyes for the weirdest ramen out there. I went straight to the minestrone-style tomato-base ramen. It was served in two dishes: a regular big bowl of ramen noodles in a buttery, creamy white based soup speckled with tomato seeds, and a smaller cup of tomato sauce with tomatoes, eggplants, peppers, and onions. The plain ramen in the white soup was so delicious as it was, I was a little nervous to add the tomato sauce mixture. After a couple slurps I finally went for it and dumped the whole dang thing in and it was honestly one of the BEST ramens I have EVER had in my WHOLE entire life!! Mark got a ramen that smelled like pizza and had little soup, and Jon and Sayuri both got onion-galore ramens. They were all tasty in their own individual ways, but in my opinion, mine was the BEST!!

A Nice Wednesday (Wednesday, May 27, 2009)

2009-05-29T10:51:00.001+09:00

It might seem obvious that I’ve been living life here mostly for the weekends. The weekdays can be quite dull, though I try to fill them up with mini happenings: dinner at Himalaya, swimming with Flo, increasing my mileage (well, kilometer-age), learning easy songs on the guitar, catching up with MTV shows, my addiction with the ‘Twilight’ series, going to bed early and on and on. I almost always come back from weekend excursions smiling, thinking ‘aaahhhh what a great weekend’ … not so much on the weekdays. Though today, I really did think ‘aaahhhh what a great weekday.’

For one, they remembered to feed me. Lunch with the 5^th graders at Minami was super sweet. I like it when the kids see me as more of a friend than a teacher from a foreign land. Do you remember those monster cards the boys in grade school used to play with? I can’t remember what they were called but I think each card was a different kind of fighter with different powers, points, and something like that. With kids spending too much of their school time competing and fighting due to these cards, they were probably banned at some point, along with the Tamaguchis, POGs, and Poly Pockets. As we all know, Japan’s population is filled with brilliant people, and it seems as though some of them have come up with a clever way to combine that monster-fighter-game with school supplies: pencils with that circular octagonal shape, each side containing the information of a different sort of battle attack, or something like that. The kids, mostly boys, play by spinning the pencils and scream when they land on a good attack, or something like that. Anyways, during the course of the pizza-toast lunch, they found out that I’m into baseball and got the whole class to agree to play during their lunch break. Even better than playing with the 3^rd/4^th graders at Iwafune, these kids at Minami actually know how to play!! A couple of the other teachers came out to join also, and I was able to show off a couple of my skillzz by smashing a homerun all the way into the soccer field!! Next week I’m going to bring my own mitt, I can’t wait!!

Last week, when Senami Elementary hiked up Gagyuzan, I met one of the volunteering mothers of a first grade boy: Rochelle. She’s from the Philippines, married a Japanese guy, and is now stuck here in Murakami. She speaks perfect English, so Hiki-sensei, her, and I impressed all of the kids on the trek with our English-speaking skills. We hung out again at the Senami Undoukai, and she invited me over for dinner this evening. She had purple sweet potato cake from the Philippines, delicious Italian-style pasta, and orange juice all ready to be eaten since I didn’t have much time before my Eikaiwa class. All that AND she let me borrow Eclipse, the 3^rd book in the Twilight series!! It’s just too bad that we’re just becoming friends this late in the game for me.

The first Eikaiwa class is always a little difficult for me since I don’t know what to expect of the students. Since this was the second class, I was able to cater the lesson plan to the general level of the students and it went shockingly great!! I taught them all about how we REALLY greet one another in English, past, present, and future tense verbs. My problem is that I always accidentally go over the scheduled ending time. I remember hating teachers for keeping me after class was supposed to be over, so I’m really going to have to work on that. The positive feedback I received after class was over though really left me with that: ‘aaahhhh what a great weekday’ feeling.

Dinner with Kasai-san (Monday, May 25, 2009)

2009-05-29T10:50:00.001+09:00

At 6:30pm sharp I pulled my car out of my parking space and parked it 0.01km away, in front of Kasai-san’s house. She told me that she wanted to take me to a Chinese Restaurant where they serve delicious fried noodles. She’s not able to go as often these days due to her back and it being a little far for her to walk or bike to. The meal was indeed great, but even better than that was the conversation we had. We talked about how life was like in Murakami when she was younger.

She remembered how Murakami used to get so much snow in the winters. It would pile up to the second story of their house, and she and her brothers and sisters would leave from the second floor windows!! She was 12 years old during the time of WWII. She had 7 siblings, and when I told her that was how many siblings MY grandma had, she told me that that’s the way it was back then. Families were encouraged to have many kids in order to help the future war efforts. Families were allotted a certain number of tickets for food, clothing, soap, and all other daily materials. Her parents were worried about being able to supply their children with enough food, so illegally bought rice at inflated prices from local farmers. She laughed at how she could remember her mother practicing how to use a stick to protect her family from an intruding American soldier, but that’s what all mothers did at the time.

After dinner, she invited me over for beer and snacks again and we continued to talk about life, people, and her very first airplane ride.

The City (Sunday, May 24, 2009)

2009-05-29T10:44:00.002+09:00

It’s been a while since I’ve been ‘out on the town,’ and a ‘Sado-onsen-reunion’ was a good excuse to do it. Courtney and her Sado buddies were in Niigata City for the night. They made reservations at a Spicy Market, a hot and spicy Thai restaurant. It was very nice to be with old and new friends, though I made the conscious mistake of putting a chunk of a red pepper in my mouth. Within seconds my tounge and throat was on fire and my ears were in horrible pain!! After drinks and 5 billion different Thai dishes, we headed to good ol’ Northern Lights, a lame house event at Immigrants Café, and then a wild hip hop event at Shame.

It goes unsaid that I didn’t get much sleep the night before meeting up with my darling grandmother. No worries though, she supplied me with enough coffee to keep me going through a day at the Aquarium. I’m pretty sure out of all the museums that exist, the aquarium is hands down my favorite. This aquarium wasn’t even that THAT special. I was still memorized and calmed by the beauty in the bright fish, funnily shaped sea creatures, jellyfish, eels, dolphins, otters, sea lions, sea anemones, sea turtles, stingrays, sea horses, and on and on. My grandma might have been even more interested in the little fish tanks than I was. She was so cute the way she marveled at the way they swam. I asked her if it made her hungry because it kind of made me hungry.

The hugest sea lion I will probably ever see in my life.

Funny thing is that Flo and her visiting Aussie boyfriend invited me out to dinner at a conveyor belt sushi restaurant in Murakami after I got back. No matter how tired I was, I can never turn down kaitenzushi!!

Senami Undoukai (Saturday, May 23, 2009)

2009-05-29T10:27:00.002+09:00

In Murakami, the month of May signifies the month of Undoukais, or Sports Day Festivals in the elementary schools. The first through sixth graders practice all month long for the final competition: Red Hats vs White Hats. In fact, many of my elementary school classes have been canceled due to the Undoukai practices/rehearsals. On Saturday, I made the effort to stay in town and watch Senami Shougakkou’s Sports Day Festival. It opened with an opening ceremony where the Red Team chants to the White Team, then the White Team returns the favor. The Red Team then Chants to themselves, and the White Team follows by doing the same chant to their own team. After the bands march around, the kids wave their flags, and the Principal gives his speech, let the games begin!! Along with the traditional races, relay races, beanbag-basket game, tug-o-war, and pyramid poses, each grade comes up with their own competition. The 4th graders did races where they had to hit a tambourine a certain number of times, jump rope for however many counts, and crawl through something. The third graders had some sort of fishing with magnet, carrying water race. The kids seemed really happy to see me there and kept making me help them jump higher and higher. I hung out with Rochelle (Riki’s mother), and we had our simple lunches next to mats and mats of families who had packed extravagant bentos.

A Few with the Landlord (Thursday, May 21, 2009)

2009-05-29T10:23:00.001+09:00

I have this problem where I don’t like to ask for help. If I don’t understand something I either say that I understand it, or just plain ignore it. Apparently my landlord, this really REALLY nice 70+ year old lady, Kasai-san, has been trying to contact me about getting a smoke detector installed and my air conditioner fixed. When I finally realized what was going on, I set up a time and date for her to tell the boys when to come over.

Immediately after school, the guys came over. The smoke detector went quick enough, but whatever they were doing with the air conditioner took hours! They were in and out, in and out, and it was super awkward letting them in and out, in and out, them taking their shoes off, excusing themselves, me saying that’s OK, thank you, and then doing it all over again. When it was all said and done, it was about 7:30 pm.

Kasai-san felt so bad that it had taken so long and invited me over to her house for dinner, snacks, and beer!! So yes, on Thursday night I got drunk with my 70+ year old landlord. It was so much fun for the two of us, we planned a second date for next Monday!

Spring Soccer Tournament in Nagano (Sunday, May 17, 2009)

2009-05-29T10:12:00.003+09:00

The Fall Tournament was so much fun that I’ve been looking forward to this one all year long!! There were a couple unfortunates: I wasn’t in as good of shape as I would have liked to be due to the Road Trip and sternum pains, the weather was rainy, cold, and windy, and I had to play again with kiddie shin guards. Aside from these three things, it was a grand GRAND time. Though collectively, our girls’ team was THE most inexperienced teams there, a couple more girls DID have previous soccer-playing experience and were able to share both their knowledge and skills on the field. We. Actually. Won. A. Game!! At the end of Day One, we were in 3^rd of 5~6 teams. The food and party were a good time as usual. I didn’t get as much sleep as I would have liked but then again, but mostly everyone was in the same boat for Sunday. Sunday was really cold and wet and oh boy was it ever windy. While it would have been nice to win some and move up, I’m pretty sure I wasn’t the only one who was happy with loosing and not having to play in that wretched weather any longer. We ended Sunday in 5^th place out of 6 teams … only the 6^th place team forfeited… Our Niigata boys were AWESOME!! They actually got together to practice before the tournament and kicked BUTT!! They might got 3^rd out of 12 teams!! Watching them play and work their feet was almost more enjoyable than actually playing!

The Boys

Game On

Jason, Hina, and Lauren braved the elements to cheer us on!

Niigata Josei

The mid-party

The Hokkaido Road Trip

2009-05-20T09:15:00.029+09:00

Departure: Saturday, May 2nd. Murakami, Niigata, Japan.

Sasagawanagare, Niigata: we stopped for a look at one of the top-rated beaches in Japan and what-do-you-know, a helicopter was about to land.

Sasagawanagare

May 5th is 'Children's Day.' People all over Japan hand koinobori, or giant carp flags in celebration for their children (especially their boys).

Zenpouji in Yamagata

a really REALY old shrine

monks were singing

the birds were chirping

I really like it when the sakura are 70% flowers, 30% leaves

Jenelle's in Akita-ken, Ruu's in Yamagata-ken

Taking roads through the mountains leads you to things like THIS

and THIS

but be careful of Bears

Fresh Spring Water on the side of the road. Fill-er-up!!

Info about that fresh spring water in Akita

Kakunodate, Akita-ken

Kakunodate and it's hidden samurai houses ... and doors

Nenokuchie Campsite

Sunset over Japan's deepest lake: Towada-ko

First night of camping on the beautiful Towada-ko

This place was so nice, we probably could have made a couple day vacation of it.

LOVE コロッケ - croquet

Nyuto Onsen. Ruu found this place on the map. Apparently it's been featured on TV as one of the best onsens in all of Japan.

We even went in a co-ed onsen!!

Good thing we got there early; it got PACKED!!

Ruu whipped out the 'air-guitar'

Oga Peninsula

this guy seemed famous enough for a statue pose

Baba Aisu (grandma ice cream) - actually sold by grandmas ALL over Akita-ken.

Hokkaido waterfall

Hokkaido sake, not as good as Niigata's

No one but us on the open road.

Hokkaido Sea

Billions of hanging fish on the side of the road.

Rebun Island

Ruu and our taxi buddy, Masashi

On and around Rebun Island

The taxi driver cut us a deal, and we were able to go EVERYWHERE on Rebun.

Pretty view from Rebun Island

Sukoton, the most northern point of Japan

UNI

Opening a LIVE Uni

The insides of an Uni

Cleaning out the Uni

Eating a male Uni

Eating a female Uni

Ferry to Rebun Island

I just really want to learn how to ride a motorcycle!!

To: Futoshi. With love, Ruu

Actually high-kicking a bell

Point to where you're from.

Statue pose

A Japanese tour group taking pictures at the most northern point of the mainland Hokkaido.

Finally, a Russian store. Too bad for Jenelle it was closed due to the Golden Week Holidays.

Still practicing...

Apparently that stuff is GOOD.

Jenelle goes crazy when she sees waterfalls.

THIS much snow

We were hiking up this mountain thinking, this kind of looks like a skii-slope, and then we saw a skiier.

Yup, we were definitely hiking up a closed ski-slope

Made it to the top ... or as high as we were up to going that day.

Not going to lie, I was a little nervous about bears.

We met some snowboarders on the top, barbecuing lamb. They had also hiked to the top of the mountain to practice jumps.

Running and jumping down the mountain.

Lake Daisetsu was still frozen.

Hokkaido's pretty pretty.

The reason Japanese farms look so perfect is because they do most of the planting by HAND.

We were shocked to see that we passed through a town called Saroma ... isn't that where Sean lives??? Yes, yes it is.

Ocean, farm, mountains

Utoro sunset.

Made it to the Shiretoko Peninsula just in time to see a beautiful sunset.

We made a couple friends from Tokyo while watching the sunset.

Closed Campground = Free Campground

All these warnings about bear, but no sightings ... which is perfectly cool with me.

Jenelle has never seen so many deer in her life ... AND she's from Canada!!

Cleaning and repacking the car while waiting for the visitor's center to open.

Shiretoko National Park's Go-ko, or Five Lakes. All but one was closed to it being too early in the season, or construction, or some other kind of BS

So we hiked around the one open lake.

Tried to get around the gate to the natural waterfall onsens in Kamuiwakka-no-taki

Couldn't quite make it up the curb

So we hiked some more around that one open lake.

Disappointing but still stunning.

Bear Onsen, why not?

FINALLY we see Russia

'Cow' mowed into the side of a hill

Grazing Cows

This was probably the first time I've ever worn flip-flops in the SNOW

Akan National Park's Mashu0ko, an ancient volcano crater that has become a beautiful lake.

Good ol' suburban house.

Akan National Park's Kussharo-ko

Reminds me a little of Indiana

Free Open Campsite. It must have been early in the camping season as we had the whole place to ourselves.

Hanabatake-bokujo Caramel Factory

Pony

Lama

Nama-Caramel Shop

Holy crap this ice cream topped with hot caramel was delicious!!

Pretty in pink Nama-Caramel Ice Cream

Futoshi to the rescue. The place we went to for dinner was really interesting. In the old days, all throughout Japan, little portable restaurants filled the roads. With modernization, wide streets, and cars though, these little box-restaurants nearly went extinct. In very few areas, they still survive. We ate some pretty delicious Hokkaido karaage (fried chicken), omelette, and salad.

Obihoro Hospital

Futoshi's Hokkaido ride.

They grow GRASS to feed the COWS in Hokkaido!! AMAZING!!

Waiting and reading 'Twilight' in the police station ;)

Inside a famous chocolate shop in Obihiro.

It's difficult for me to read kanji as it is, but this crazy Ainu-inspired Hokkaido kanji is impossible even for Japanese-Honshu people!

Bathroom break.

Actually, the reason Jenelle went walking around with a bandage on her head for a week was because of this very Ainu bear.

The set of 北の国から, or 'From the North Country.' Futoshi told us to sleep in the car while he secretly searched for Furano, the town of one of his favorite childhood TV shows.

Futoshi, happy as a kid in a candy store ... or as Futoshi would be with good sake, on the set of his favorite drama.

Pictures from 'Kitanokunikara'

Life on the farm

Shockingly, raw chicken is delicious!

A Hike Up a Mountain in Arakawa

2009-04-30T09:33:00.005+09:00

It’s Showa Day!! Flo and I drove to Jess’s neck of the woods for what ended up being a 4.5-hour hike up a rather steep mountain. For the first time exactly four days, the weather was perfect. The sun was shining, it was warm enough to put the jacket in the backpack, and cool enough to climb straight up without sweating buckets. After PNG, I was under the pretentious impression that nothing I ever saw for the rest of my life could ever compare to the beauty that exists just below the equator, BUT today’s trek was pretty pretty, and to think it exists in the greater Murakami area!! Jess’s lengthy legs forced Flo and I to bounce up the mountain until a pretty flower or gnarly root distracted us from walking. At the tippy-top we joined the party of some other hikers for a bento (packed lunch), only we felt a little out of place as we neglected to pack the standard floor tarp, sake, and chocolate. Thanks to not listening to Flo or my sense of direction, and instead leaving the navigation down the other side of the mountain to Jess, we were able to get back down. What better way to end a beautiful strenuous day than with the Kappa-zushi (cheap, delicious, conveyor belt sushi) and Starbucks in Shibata?!?! Needless to say, I was EXHAUSTED and STUFFED at the end of the day, definitely hitting the sack before 9:00 pm, ahhhh to be on my very own schedule. [On a side note, as I write this, there is a crazy man in the teacher’s room singing some song LOUDLY, and no one knows what to do with him… just going to ignore it all…]

A Day Trip to Zenkouji (Saturday, April 25, 2009)

2009-04-30T09:26:00.002+09:00

Having Ruu as a friend is GREAT because she’s awesome, AND because she knows of all the cool things going around this prefecture and the next that I would never ever know about otherwise. For example, in Nagano, there’s a shrine called Zenkouji that has a statue that was made by an ancient Buddhist person in India way back when. This statue has never actually been seen, nor is it allowed to be seen, but it’s kept at this Zenkouji shrine in Nagano. A replica of the statue thing was made, but even that is sacred, and is only shown for a month or so once every 7 years!! Guess what guys?? I saw that replica!! Ruu booked a classic Japanese bus tour for herself, Jenelle, and I that took us from Niigata to Nagano. Aside from the weather being nothing but RAIN, it was GREAT to finally experience another stereotype of this country. On the itinerary, we were to first stop at shrine for 10 minutes, then move on to a bread house for 3 minutes, a cave for 25 minutes, a souvenir shop for 20 minutes, then back to the bus, drive to where we would be provided with a soba lunch for 40 minutes, souvenir shop, and then Zenkouji for a group picture, a quick explanation, a chance to see a little bit of the shrine, meet up again to go to another souvenir shop, stand in a line to stake out of good spot to be blessed, race to get in line to be able to see the closing ceremony of the day, stand in line to get blessed for the second time by the same nun, back to the bus to drive to a shabu-shabu dinner of vegetables, pork, beef, and horse meat, and then bus ride home being forced to listen to the tour guide tell us for the billionth time that we should use caution when getting our bags together when we leave the bus in 2 hours!! Haha, I had fun J

A Hike Up Gagyuzan (Friday, April 24, 2009)

2009-04-30T09:19:00.003+09:00

Lucky for me, the weather sucked yesterday, so the Senami Elementary School hike up Gagyuzan Mountain got pushed back to today!! I was told to pack a backpack, lunch, and gloves. Why gloves you ask? Well that’s because the trail gets pretty steep at the top and we must grip a rope to help us up those parts. Why a lunch? Well that’s because we love to eat cute bentos consisting of rice, little bits of meat, veggies, and fruit at the top of mountains. Why a backpack? Well that’s to hold not only our gourmet lunches, but also huge containers of tea, handkerchiefs, tissues, picnic tarp (duh, we need something to sit on at the top), and candy. I packed mittens (thought we needed gloves because it was going to be cold toward the top), a sandwich, and a backpack containing mittens, a sandwich, and a water bottle.

The WHOLE entire school, hundreds of 1^st through 6^th graders, got into a single file line and walked from the school to the base of the mountain, and then up the narrow trail to the top. It was so much fun to walk amongst the crazy students pushing each up and down and off the rope, and listening to their ridiculous stories that little kids that age talk about. One of my 3^rd grade friends even shared her tarp with me at the top so I wouldn’t have to sit on the dirt-y ground!! Obviously, this was one of the best school days I’ve had in quite some time.

Niigata Road Race

2009-04-21T08:21:00.002+09:00

A couple weeks ago Aya-sensei told me about the Niigata Road Race. We had three options: a 5K, 10K, and 16K. After some deliberation, we both ended up choosing the 10K while Hiromi and her husband trained for the 5K. Having to be in the city for the Sunday race, this was a great reason to spend another one of my dwindling weekends with my obaachan. We walked around Hakusan Park to look at the falling cherry blossoms on Saturday, which actually I think are prettier than the blooming sakura. A combination of growing green leaves with the falling pink sakura flowers and a carpet of pink petals over the grass makes for one really pretty Spring day. The race route the following day was along the river and also through falling cherry blossoms. It was a nice run, with a few familiar faces. Futoshi even came on his bike to cheer us on!! As always though, I went out too fast and ran out of gas on the way back. They award the top 6 finishers of each category with not medals, but boxes of sports drinks, tea, mushrooms, and so on. Immediately after finishing the race, you can stand in line and get a certificate printed out with your time and place. I got 7^th, JUST missing the giant box of mushrooms!!

Hanami

2009-04-13T14:49:00.002+09:00

Hana = flower; mi = look; Hanami = going to a park to view the blooming cherry blossom trees while drinking!! Takada Park in Joetsu was the location, about 3 hours south of me. It was great times with other ALTs from this prefecture and the next. I’ve been waiting my whole life to see the Sakura in Japan!! They were pretty in the daylight, and got even more good-looking into the night. The next day’s soccer practice (with a little bit of softball catch) but a cap on another fantaubulous weekend J

Papua New Guinea

2009-04-08T14:27:00.011+09:00

With my limited vocabulary it’s impossible for me to accurately describe the sheer magnificence of our Papua New Guinea trip. Part of me wishes I would have journaled better so that I could read and remember every single detail of our two weeks in the jungle. I have never before been to a place as pure, magical, stunning, real, tranquil, and beautiful as the villages of PNG. I hope the memories and images will never fade, as I re-grow accustomed to living in the developed world.

It took 10 minutes in a car from my apartment to the train station; an hour and 15 minutes in a train from Murakami to Niigata; 6 hours in a bus from Niigata to Narita Airport; 7 hours in a plane from Tokyo to Port Moresby, PNG; 1 hour in a plane from Port Moresby to Lae; 10 hours in a ferry called ‘The Rainforest’ from Lae to Bau; 1 and a half hours in a Banana Boat from Bau to Saigara; and finally another hour in a Banana Boat from Saigara to Pema, which is the village where our charity donations were used to build a classroom.

PNG is made up of over 800 different tribes and languages that live in villages with no electricity, pluming, phone lines, and all those amenities that all but rule our daily lives. While the majority of the world is rapidly developing and exploiting the earth’s natural resources, PNG has managed to, for the most part, live with what is around them. A rising problem in the country is deforestation and mining for gold by other countries. Greedy companies can too easily trick a village into signing a contract that allows them to ruin their luscious jungles for a small price. The Village Development Trust (VDT), the organization we donated our money to, is a grassroots, non-government organization that works with individual villages to promote practical sustainable development of village resources. Some of the things we saw first hand were schools being built in villages so that children would not have to leave their homes for the cities to receive an education, and a ‘Wokabout’ that allows lumber to be cut from a tree right where it is cut down. For every tree that is cut down, a certain number of trees must be planted. The Wokabout eliminates the need for smaller trees the be cut down in order to get to a more desirable big tree, and the lumber is then carried out of the jungle. We helped (a little)!!

We spent two nights in Lae (only supposed to spend one night there, but The Rainforest Ferry needed a repair ~ as they say, ‘expect the unexpected in PNG’), one night in the coastal village of Bau, one night in Saigara, a village on the Waria River, 4 nights in Pema, a village further down the river in Waria Valley, and then another night in Saigara, 2 nights in Bau, and the last half-a-night in Lae. Each village welcomed us with open arms, cheers, and some kind of tribal dance and song. The welcome in Saigara consisted of a man running at us and screaming with a plant spear, showing us that he could have killed us, but didn’t. We’d follow the processions of painted people singing and jumping into the villages where the people would yell ‘Oro, oro, oro!!’ (‘welcome, welcome, welcome’) at us.

We spend most of our time in the villages belonging to the Zia Tribe in Waria Valley, Morobe Province. Within the tribe, people belong to one of four clans: Yewa: symbolized by the Bird of Paradise and in charge of planning events, Wapo: Eagle, farmers; Sakia: White Cockatoo, fishermen; Bago: Hornbill and pig hunters. People can only marry outside of their clan, and children become the clan of their mother. I was chosen to be part of the Yewa Clan, Bird of Paradise, and Party Planners!!

Each of the villages we stayed at had a guesthouse where we slept in mosquito nets, ate loads of delicious dishes of fruits, vegetables, and rice, bathed in the river and ocean, and hung our laundry to dry. Some of the guesthouses were kind enough to supply us with a generator so that we could charge our camera batteries and hang out. We pooped in outhouses, one broke…woops!! The only thing we really had to take heed of were the bugs. Some mosquitoes carry malaria, and sand flies can cause a person to want to chop off their bitten limbs. For whatever unknown reason, I’m not as tasty to these bugs as other people in the team were. People hated me for being able to get by without covering every inch of my skin while they rubber-banded their long pants shut.

PNG kids have the most gorgeous smiles, and are too much fun to play around with. We’d chase them, swim with them, play Frisbee, soccer, volleyball, and teach them games from our childhood everyday. They gave us necklaces made from shells, seeds, and bananas, bracelets made from leaves, bilum bags made from tree bark, grass skirts, and drums.

The sounds of hornbills woke me up in the mornings. Each day we would do something new, play with new kids, dance a new dance, learn a new song, hike to a new place, eat a new dish, and so on. I drank and ate the most delicious coconuts multiple times per day. At night, we could see the billions of stars shining so bright, even the Southern Cross!!

Our group of 17 consisted of Christian (team leader), Colleen, Etsuko, Jess, Margaret, Matt, Megan, Mia, Mike, Nicole, Nicole, Rick, Reed, Sean, Troy, Tsuneo, and I. The enchantment of the trip caused us to get along so well, I can’t imagine what the two weeks would have been like without them. Our 3 main guides, all from the Waria area, Maine, Dzia, and Tuja were fantastic. They taught me so much about their villages, customs, way of life, and tribe history – Maine even taught me a couple of chords on the guitar!! It was so difficult to say goodbye, but hopefully we will be able to keep in touch forever.

Hina Matsurin (Friday, March 20, 2009)

2009-04-07T10:18:00.003+09:00

Families with daughters have been displaying their Hina-dolls during the month of March in Japan for centuries. Murakami is an old samurai town with families dating back to the Edo-period. Some have passed their Hina-displays on and on to the next generation and kept them in pretty spectacular condition. It has become a tradition for shops and houses to display their old dolls for public viewing. Ruu, Sako, and Sako’s daughter, Hina, and I walked around all day Friday (another Japanese holiday) and even say the SL train pass through!!

Sake no Jin (Sunday, March 15, 2009)

2009-03-19T10:08:00.006+09:00

Unfortunately, Courtney, Jenelle, and I had to be checked out of our single hotel room by 10am. Fortunately, this time there was no lifeless bloody body lying on the ground outside of the elevators (last time we stayed at the Toyoko Inn, this was the case L). We met up with Ruu, Futoshi, and Tomoko (moon moon child), and headed out to SAKENOJIN!! All of the most delicious sake makers from Niigata Prefecture get together for two days a year in a Convention Hall (Toki Messei) to serve all-you-can-drink sake samples, all for the miniscule price of 1500 yen (~$15)!! One of my goals in Japan was to be able to enjoy sake, and on Sunday, March 15, that goal was achieved!! We drank strong sake, sweet sake, plum sake, and on and on and it was spectacular!! At one point, us foreigners were even invited on stage to pound rice into making it mochi – ‘mochitsuki’!! In the end, Jenelle’s craving for Pizza Hut prevailed, and we ordered pizza to the lobby of Toki Messei (a pretty wild idea in this country). It took Ruu 3 times to get it right, haha.

Snow White and the Seven Samurai Finale (Saturday, March 14, 2009)

2009-03-19T10:01:00.005+09:00

After a long afternoon of killing time in Niigata City, and walking around like lost hobos, we finally made it to the performance hall. This performance ranks as one of my favorites, as my grandma, aunt, cousin-once-removed, and cousin-twice-removed were in the audience (along with many other friends). To celebrate the last show, raise more money for PNG, and also observe St. Patrick’s Day, there was an all-night dance party at Immigrants Café.

I guess this means I'm 24 (Friday, March 13, 2009)

2009-03-19T09:53:00.003+09:00

Today was my 24^th year anniversary since being born, and 4^th year anniversary of living to see March 13^th fall on a Friday. They have the same superstitions here in Japan about Friday the 13^th, but none affected me. Conveniently, Futoshi was in Murakami and graciously gave me a ride to Niigata City immediately after I got out of school. We went back to the delicious sushi place with Jenelle, Sim, and Cus. If you go on a birthday, they make a sushi ‘roll cake,’ or the hugest maki I have ever seen, garnished with sparkler (firework) candles. Futoshi and Jenelle were TOO nice in making this one of the best birthdays I’ve had. After stuffing ourselves silly with raw fish, wasabi, and rice, we made our way to Northern lights where they came out with an ACTUAL birthday cake!!

Cute Construction 'Cones'

2009-03-12T11:32:00.002+09:00

The Musical Floats to Sado

2009-03-09T11:01:00.003+09:00

Not everyone was completely happy about taking the musical on a boat to The Sado Island. As it turns out though, this was THE most fun we’ve had as a group yet!! Due to stubbornly getting a little bit lost, and loads of traffic, there were a couple minutes that I had my car believe that we were going to miss the ferry. Nope, we made it!! The sea was full of swells that brought on seasickness to some, and loads of fun to others!! Walking through the cabins, we discovered early on that if we skipped with high knees, eventually the boat would drop and we would fly!! We had so much fun acting like our elementary school students skipping and jumping on the bottom, side, and top decks. Eventually Christian and his Spiderman abilities ran up a slightly angled wall. Monkey see, monkey do; we all saw and HAD to do too.

With there being a 3-year gap between The Musical being performed on Sado, Saturday night was a BIG deal. There was a pretty good turnout including friends, students, colleagues, and the MAYOR. A video man came to tape the whole show so that they could show it on TV later that week!!

We were able to rent futons and a house for everyone to stay in on Saturday night. I had TOO much fun playing Slap Happy, one round of Texas Hold ‘Em (no chips), and Circle of Death. Jenelle convinced me to go on a walk into the darkness, and when we returned everyone was asleep and we had no futons!! Luckily she’s a relentless detective and caught the futon thief red handed!!

The ferry ride back was less wavy but still nice. A hawk joined the seagulls that normally follow the boats from the mainland to the island and back this time.

I stopped by Obaachan’s before heading back to Murakami. The weather was perfect, so I dragged her out of the house to go on a walk to the beach.

Ohinamatsuri

2009-03-09T10:58:00.001+09:00

Kawamura-sensei invited me over to see his dolls, and eat dinner with his family again. The month of March, in Japan is known as ‘girl’s month,’ especially March 3^rd, ‘Girl’s Day,’ or ‘Ohinamatsuri.’ The Kawamura family explained to me that when a family has a baby girl, they buy a massive Ohinasama set. Every year, it’s brought out during the month of March to celebrate the growth and happiness of their daughter. The first platform (top) seats the imperial dolls, representing the Emperor and Empress. The second platform holds three court ladies, or sake bearers. The third platform holds five male musicians. The fourth platform displays two ministers of completely different ages. The fifth platform holds three samurai who protect the Emperor and Empress. The sixth and seventh platforms hold a variety of furniture, tools, and carriages. If the dolls are displayed past April 6^th in Murakami, they risk the chances of their daughter getting married!!

Murakami Musical Weekend

2009-03-02T10:18:00.004+09:00

The doors were open to a more convenient weekend as the musical finally came to MY stomping grounds. My current Vice Principal at Iwafuna-sho was also once a VP at one of Jenelle’s elementary schools. She’s one of the coolest VPs out there, and invited us over for mochi, dinner, and drinks on the Friday night before the next day’s performance. Her husband is coincidentally a principal at another elementary school in the area. As we talked and talked, we learned that they had grown up next door to each other, and actually still live in the VP’s childhood home. They had no idea who the other one was, due to a 6-year age difference, just missing one another in the 6-year elementary school system. Apparently their marriage was arranged, and yet they seem perfect for each other. Their story is fascinating, and Japan continues to widen my eyes.

Because there was a tiny bit of alcohol involved, we spent the night, but made sure to wake up early the next morning to get some snowboarding in before Saturday night’s performance. Aimee, Jennelle, and I got a solid 2.5 hours in before going to one of the Senami onsens that had a waterfall, and then straight to the Joho Center to start setting up for Prince Snow White and the Seven Samurai.

In my opinion, and I might be a BIT bias, the Murakami Musical was the BEST one yet. A couple hilarious mishaps happened and were brilliantly and just as hilariously overcome, the audience was fully engaged and responsive, and most of them were people I know!! We had our largest audience yet, and everything for the most part went smoothly. Even with my tiny ninja role, friends, students, and colleagues were so nice and gave me 4 bouquets of flowers and Murakami beef curry!! LOVE flowers!!

Of course, Sunday Courtney, Jenelle, Casanova, Futoshi, Ru, and I went back to Wakabuna. The slush snow was a bit better than the ice from yesterday. I did a BOX … TWICE!!!

Kamikaifu's 6th grade send off Party (Friday, February 27, 2008)

2009-03-02T10:13:00.001+09:00

The school year in Japan runs from April to March, which means it’s graduation season!! Once again, Kamikaifu was thoughtful enough to invite me to their 6^th grader’s send off party. The program was comprised of dances, instrumentals, singing, presentations, and a hilarious play by the 1^st through 5^th graders and teachers. It’s remarkable to see how much a small school can accomplish with the flexibility and individual attention teachers can offer to each student. The five graduating 6^th graders each had an impact on the other students and will be missed very much at Kamikaifu as they move onto middle school.

ナイタ →Naita → Nighter at Tainai

2009-02-27T08:19:00.002+09:00

One of the only things I talk about with the head teacher at Minami is snowboarding and skiing, the best places around here, and the times that they’re open. He mentioned something about how the teachers often get together after school to go to a ‘nighter’ at Tainai and I demanded to be invited the next time out. That next time was last night!! The snow around here is quickly vanishing, and even though the conditions were quite icy and painful, I have to cherish every moment in the mountains – unfortunately I can’t live like this forever.

We were supposed to go to the Tokamachi Winter Festival, but went snowboarding instead ...

2009-02-24T12:33:00.011+09:00

Japan is a country that prides itself on having the number one this and that, and tends to rank anything and everything that can be put in order. For example in Japan, the #1 most delicious beef is raised in Kobe, the #1 tallest mountain is Mt. Fuji, and #1 best rice comes from Niigata. Japan has the #1 best snow powder in the world. Within Japan, Hokkaido’s Niseko Ski-jo is the best. Hokkaido also has the #1 best Snow Festival, followed by Tokamachi’s yuki-matsuri. In an effort to save $1000, I opted out of the trip to the northern most island of the country, and instead drove a couple hours southeast to Tokamachi. Since we were so close to Nagano and the Joetsu mountains, might as well snowboard while we were there, right?!?!

After my hip hop dance class, and the debut of my #1 favorite super sweet purple and black and white cow print Nike shoes, I met Jenelle in the city, and we road tripped it to Tokamachi. We hadn’t even escaped the city limits when we found ourselves in adventure #1. Some ‘yankee’ or ‘young trouble maker’ blocked us in the 7/11 parkinglot. When Jenelle gave him a dirty look, he reluctantly backed up to let us out, but then proceeded to follow us out of the lot, onto the road, then onto the bypass, and nearly on the expressway!! There was no doubt about the fact that he was tailing us, changing speeds and lanes just as Jenelle did. If it weren’t for some tricky thinking when the bypass and expressway split, he probably would have followed us all the way to Tokamachi!!

Marshall graciously let us, Laura, and Mark crash at his place on Friday and Saturday night so that we could get up and out early. I had been looking forward to Nozawa Onsen Ski Resort in Nagano ALL week, and it did not dissapoint!! We couldn’t have asked for better weather with powder snow falling in the morning, and the sun shining through after noon. It felt like a Christmas Winter Wonderland with snow covered trees and mountains all around. Marshall couldn’t wait to show us his favorite ‘natural half pipe’ powder run ~ a run through a tree-filled ravine that, despite being roped off was fairly popular among the skiers and snowboarders who were equip with the right kind of powder-specific gear. The powder was REDICULOUS!! It HAD to have been well above my height of 63cm. The first bit was wicked fun, bumping and jumping, having virtually no control and narrowly missing collisions with trees until I fell … and sunk. Marshall and Mark had a bit more control over the powder while the powder had complete control over Jenelle and I. Trying to just stand up in that much powder was near impossible as my arms went straight down, rolling around sunk my body in further, and even if when I did find a way to beat the odds and get up, my board was completely covered that I’d fall and have to start the whole process all over again. Jenelle struggled through the powder that was directly under the lift and had to deal with the applauses and laughs from the audience above, while I slowly slid and rolled to the bottom of the ravine. There were points that I really thought I was going to suffocate and perish. I never thought I would be so happy to feel hard snow under my board until I miraculously made it out of the quicksand-like snow trap. It was a great experience that I never want to experience again. After a necessary lunch maybe-free coffee, we goofed around on a few more runs, onsen-ed in Nozawa, and slowly made our way back to the end of the snow festival.

Whoah, back up!! When I dropped my car off at Ruu and Futoshi’s, they completely shocked me with an early birthday present – a PERFECT pair of orange-lensed, anti-fog snowboard goggles!! The whole world looked clearer and brighter with the goggles ~ THANK YOU THANK YOU SOOOOOO MUCH!!!! No more tears ;)

The Tokamachi Snow Festival, from what we heard from people who actually watched the show was ‘wicked.’ We were still able to see the sculptures and the empty stage, eat winter matsuri food, Korean BBQ, and meet up with friends later so it was alllllll good. The streets were super slick, and at one point Jenelle slipped and fell, Mark went to help her and fell, then I laughed and fell. We all fell the same exact way, loosing traction in the feet, trying to run in place to get a grip until plopping on the behind.

After sleeping in a little, and enjoying Marshall’s home cooking, we met Ruu, Murayama, Casanova, and Dave at Joetsu Kokusai for MORE boarding!!! The weather was unusually warm, and the views from all around the mountain were gorgeous.

That, and we had to go on another adventure to relocate Jenelle’s lost phone. We went back to the Korean BBQ place, and as Jenelle was inside looking for it, I was outside calling it. The first try didn’t go through, but a man answered the second call. ‘Huh? Um…where is this phone?” “It’s at the police station.” You know you’re in Japan when you loose a phone in the street, and someone brings it to the police station. Furthermore, you know you’re in Japan when the description we gave of where it was lost (maybe where we fell on the ice) didn’t at all match up with the report, but were still able to get it back, no problem.

Dinner was delicious and hilarious as usual. Futoshi prepared nabe, cobb salad, sweet soy sauce potatoes, amazing fish, sashimi, beef, and vegetables while we were on our way back. Jenelle and I picked up a chocolate chiffon cake that later went perfectly with the Godiva Coffee - which helped keep me awake for the drive home.

Dinner at Masami-san's (Thursday, February 19, 2009)

2009-02-24T12:32:00.000+09:00

Since arriving in Murakami, I’ve been hearing about the wonderful Masami-san and finally had the privilege of meeting her!! From the moment I spoke to her on the phone, I knew she was as great as everyone had said because both of us for some reason couldn’t stop giggling. Over the years, she’s been a tremendous help to ALTs in Murakami, helping with Japanese, doctors, cars, and anything under the sun. She cooked Reed and I a huge chicken, pasta, potatoes, vegetables, salad, cake and tim-tam meal. The conversation was great fun, and we ended up staying much later than we thought we would.