It’s been a while. Though I have my excuses. A lot has happened recently, but I’ll try to break it down.
- By now I’m sure everyone knows about the earthquake/tsunami/nuclear reactor triple threat disaster in Northeastern Japan. The epicenter was near Miyagi prefecture which is about 800 miles from where I am. So I was far enough to be safe, but also far enough to feel just as useless as anyone else. The best thing to do is donate money to the Japanese red cross, though at this point more charities are taking food stuffs and clothing and other necessary items then they were after the initial disaster.
- I’d been hoping to go to Okinawa with some friends over the school spring break, but that didn’t pan out. My supervisor wanted me to stay here for some school parties and various events at the same time. In the long run it was a good thing because I ended up making an emergency trip home. My grandmother had taken a turn for the worse after a couple years of various medical troubles. I was able to see her, but she passed away on Saturday, March 26th.
- Despite that, I did have a nice trip home. It was good to be with family and I managed to have some fun too. Got a fair bit of skiing and partying in. Went to the Festival of Colors, which was awesome, etc.
Amalie, Chalee, Me, and Karli celebrating Spring
- Coming back to Japan was much more difficult this time then the first. The first week back I was more homesick then I had been my whole time here. I knew I had to keep myself busy and find things to look forward to. I was talking with friends here in Japan and started making plans for the weekend. Rebeca (who I spent winter break with and have seen many time since then) drove down Saturday morning to visit me for the weekend. We drove around Mizukami and Hitoyoshi with Amanda on Saturday taking pictures of sakura and just having a good time.
This is a water spout thing in the Ichifusa Resevoir. Surrounded by cherry blossoms.
Rebeca and Amanda. Nice pose!
We had quite a bit of fun setting the timer on all our cameras and posing in different spots.
This is a waterfall in Hitoyoshi that Jake led us to.
On Sunday Kristen joined us for a hike up Mt. Ichifusa. It took us a good 2.5 hrs to climb up and 2 hrs down. We rested at the top and ate lunch and took lots of pictures. Basically it was exactly the weekend I needed.
There were some pretty crazy parts to our hike. Such as ladders like this.
But we made it to the top! 1,722 meters.
It was a great view of the dam and Mizukami
- Finally school was starting up too. Though I didn’t have any classes until this week. I got to go to the opening ceremonies for the Jr. High and Iwano Elementary school. It was so exciting seeing the new students come in and sing the school songs. I’ve also been meeting the new teachers and going to plenty of enkais.
- Once I got back I finally got around to paying for the triathlon I had signed up for, so it’s basically official now. I will be doing an Olympic distance triathlon (1.5k swim, 40k bike, 10k run) on June 5th, 2011 in Amakusa. I’ve been training a little but probably not as much as I really need. I started swimming at Ohga Swimming School in Taragi 3 times a week. Sometimes I bike before that, but recently I started running with Kristen again so I’ve been alternating bike and run days.
- Finally, I know it’s really spring because the bugs have been starting to come out again. I heard the first cicadas the other evening. And it’s warming up so it’s time to start putting the extra blankets away! Also, I’ve already started getting a tan line just from the hike up Ichifusa, and a longer run yesterday.
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