cho gotsui, ne.

Recently, there's been some amazing sunsets that I've been watching from my front door. The picture below was taken on Saturday night before going to the ume-shu party.


And, speaking of ume-shu, our homemade plum alcohol turned out great. Back in June I posted about how a group of us went to a farm and picked plums (ume) and bottled them with rock sugar and liquor. Three and a half months later, I opened mine on the night of the party and was surprised at how good it was. Here are the various jars of ume-shu (mine is on the far right...photo credit to Sarah).


Having many different mixes to choose from was nice because they all had a distinct taste. Yuko made her batch with brandy, I used less sugar than was called for, some people's plums were of a different variety, etc.

Afterwards, me, Caitlin, and Dianne (a first year teacher from New Zealand) headed out to karaoke. It was an intense two hours of singing, concluding with a seemingly never ending version of Led Zeppelin's 'Achilles' Last Stand'. I woke up in the afternoon yesterday feeling pretty bad, mainly because I was sore from singing and getting acrobatic in the karaoke booth. We were grossly overcharged for our two hours spent there but upon a day's reflection I'd say that it's karma for our un-Japanese behavior.


It's Monday and I am feeling good. The weather is nice and cool, my classes are going well, and next week I will be in Korea hanging out with Jon. Sugoi.

hanging around ehime

I had a four day break this past week so I decided to hang out in Ehime-ken, another one of the four prefectures (states) that make up the island of Shikoku. Ehime lies in the northwestern part of the island and, from my experiences, it seemed to be a bit different than the areas in Tokushima that I'm used to. Rika showed me around the capital city of Matsuyama and we took the ropeway up to Matsuyama Castle, a place that I would love to visit again. From the top of the castle there is a 360 degree view of the entire city and on a clear day you can see the mountains that surround the area in the distance. Fortunately, we had really nice weather that day but unfortunately I forgot to bring my camera with me.

Another incredible draw to Matsuyama is the Dogo Onsen. This was a place that I've heard a lot about from Japanese people who have been there. Here is what it looks like from the outside:


The whole area caters to people coming to or from the onsen (public bath) and there's a nice relaxing feel as you walk around. The building is about 800 years old (I think) and the sides of the second floor are not enclosed which lets you feel a nice breeze as you sip green tea after emerging from the natural spring water. I could have spent a long time in this area without a doubt.

The long weekend was also full of great meals like this one (below) that we had at a really small restaurant in Matsuyama. Rika had heard from her mother that this was a good place so we both ordered an 11 course meal that included a variety of traditional Japanese dishes and some really smooth sake to wash it all down. The chef prepared the food directly in front of us as we watched him create what would be our next dish. My possible favorite was the shrimp and sashimi dish served on ice (2nd picture, below). One of the best meals I've had in Japan, I'd say...and that say a LOT.



The next day, we rented a bungalow near some good hiking spots in the west. There was an amazing tea house next to our place that we hung out at for a bit before we went back to make dinner. This room kind of looked like it would be in a Stanley Kubrick movie or something...


For dinner we made Mexican food and I was happy to be the first one to introduce Rika to the wonders of homemade guacamole.


The hiking we did the next day was a bit surreal. We drove up to the highlands (called 'tablelands' here) and trekked above the tree line to the top of a mountain as the clouds slowly made their way across the sky.



At the top, a man emerged from the trail wearing a huge backpack and, while taking it off, he unfolded a parachute as he attached its cables to harnesses on his shoulder straps. We knew he was going to attempt to catch the wind and fly off but it was still hard to image what that would actually look like right in front of you. But, as quickly as he had came, he pulled the cables and the wind caught the chute and carried him up into the air. He circled the mountain top for about 20 minutes and then landed right near his tent on the side of the mountain. As we were leaving he was about to take off once again, this time with a different parachute.


So, I feel like I have grown accustomed here to a point where I can really explore and do the things that I want to do with my free time. Being in year number two (as opposed to one) also has its benefits. Even with this being true, though, living in Japan will never be 'normal', but I kind of like it that way.

back to being busy

I'm back in school and although my job doesn't require much (if any) work, I've been busy with other things as usual. Last weekend my friend Rika and I ventured out to Mt. Tsurugi and we were lucky enough to see it at a really nice time of the year. We didn't make it to the summit but the views of the misty mountainside from the trail were totally worth the drive out there. I'm really hoping that I can get to Tsurugi once more before it's too cold.


My schools had their culture festivals over the last few weeks as well. A lot of preparation goes into these and usually they are a lot of fun (but exhausting) for the ALT in attendance. Either way, it's always nice to interact with the kids outside of class.








Also, I went to various parties to signify the end of the culture festivals and the summer as well.


And over the weekend I hung out in Kobe for the first time and went to a Hanshin Tigers baseball game...





And now I'm really, really tired.

the last weekend of summer '08

Here I am, back at school, eating more school lunches that used to be strange but are anything but after a year of them, and taking in compliments due to the first professional haircut (meaning not done myself) that I've had since the summer of 2002. The first classes of this year were with my most easy going students so it was a nice way to ease into doing actual work again after a very, very extended summer break.

The last weekend of the summer was a good one. Caitlin and I were looking to camp out in Kochi-ken, a prefecture which has some great scenery and a variety of nice beaches. We managed to set up on the beach without getting hassled, which does not come as a surprise in Japan. Southern Shikoku is a bit different from the north but observing the people definitely reminds you that you're still on the same island. I'm excited to go back with the intention of giving surfing a try...

dramatic haircut pics

9/1/08. After about a year, it was about time.