Rebun & Mt. Rishiri

We have been staring at Mt. Rishiri obsessively since we got here.  It is about 80 miles away but it is so big you can see it on a clear day from our town.  I always look for it when I take the bus up the coast.  It is usually too hazy to see it but it is stunning when the weather cooperates.  It has a smaller sister island called Rebun which we headed to first.  We took a quick hike and saw some beautiful cliffs.  We then took the ferry to Rishiri, met up with Jim and Dave at the campground and stayed in an awesome little cabin.  It was perfect, two sets of bunk beds complete with clean sets of sheets and down comforters.

The manager of the campground was excited to meet gai-jin and offered to take us to the convenience store to buy food and water for the hike.  He saved us a bunch of time and money in cab fare.  He also told us the best time to head out for the hike would be at first light.  3:00AM!!!!!!   So we bought a lot of instant coffee!  We got up at 3 but made it out around 4.

Chrissy was convinced that she was only going to do a little of the hike and then turn back.  But once she got started my awesome wife couldn't give it up and went all the way to the top!!!  6 hours later I was super impressed and very happy to be sharing the view with her at the top with her.  We ate a quick lunch, took some pics and then headed back down.  It got really crowded up there.  We were so excited to be heading back down but... it still took like 4 more hours to get to the bottom. We took a well deserved soak in the hot spring at the base of the mountain, had some ramen and then took the ferry back to Hokkaido.  Then we struggled to keep our eyes open on the 2.5 hour drive back home.

Shout-Outs

So, the end of our Japan adventure is getting closer and closer and we are experiencing a whirlwind of emotions. I am excited to see my family and friends, nervous about getting back in the classroom, and heartbroken about leaving the friends I've made here. Like we did on our last radio show, I would like to give some shout-outs to the people that have made my time here special:

Ikuko, I will miss our hilarious and sometimes serious talks, and the fact that when Don teased you, you actually thought it was funny. I will miss your super-fast driving in your silent hybrid car and our Wednesday lessons. Thank you for teaching us so much about Japan and for spending hours with us cooking that turkey! I promise I will get that taco recipe to you soon! I love you!

Atsuko, you always had wonderful and wise things to say at our chat club. I will never forget your braveness, whether it was doing charades at the Halloween party, or getting lifted up into a tree! I will miss your subtle sense of humor, your sweet voice, and of course, the delicious treats you make.

Kayoko, you will be my crafting inspiration for as long as I live. I will miss your advice and your recipes and all the times you made me laugh. Thank you for inviting me to many many activities, for helping me get my classes started, and for researching anything I asked you about. You have taught me so much! I will miss the knitting club and nature club and our conversations. Good luck with your new job!

Murasan, I wish we would have met sooner! Our "japanese lessons" were always a treat every week. I really feel like I learned a lot about Japanese culture from you. Thank you for all of the delicious food and tea, and for helping me with my terrible Japanese. I hope you are able to travel to Spain this year, and to New York in the near future! I will miss your laugh and your independent spirit!

Alaina, how I loved our long conversations and your lattes! Thank you for all of the reading material, the recipes, and inspiring me to grow my own food! I hope to invite you someday to my own little farm. Good luck with your all of your hard work in Rumoi. You are doing great things here - the city is lucky to have you, and your family is lucky to have you!

Miki, you have been like a sister to me. I don't even know where to start...our movie nights, our karaoke nights, volleyball, kinball, studying for your exam, booking hotels, translating emails, yoga, snowboarding...I don't know what I would have done without you. I will think of you every time I hear or sing "a whole new world." It's our song! Or maybe "girls just wanna have fun" is more appropriate! I will never ever forget you, your smile, your honesty, and your friendship!

I really really hope to see all of you in New York some time soon...Ok, I'm going to start crying, so I'll end with this. To all of my friends here in Japan:

どうもありがとうございました！

Beautiful View

Don and I went for a walk the other day because it was so nice out and we needed to get out of the house. Our walk down to the ocean is usually more beautiful than the ocean itself. In the distance you can see the mountains in Mashike, still covered with snow. They look like they're hovering like a spaceship to the right, because of the fog and clouds. To the left by the wind turbines are the yellow rapeseed fields of Reuke Farm. Beautiful!

Forgotten Potatoes

Spring In Japan - After Golden Week We Did a Bunch More Stuff

This is another hundred and something pictures of things we did this spring.  With everything in bloom and the snow melting we spent a lot of time outdoors.  And that means we have a lot of nature shots and close ups of plant and bugs for all of you lucky viewers!

This album includes a few different Hanami Parties (Cherry Blossom viewing parties), which is really just a BBQ under or in the vicinity of a Cherry Tree in bloom.  There are also some shots of the mountains in our town and some amazing yellow plants called Rapeseed which is where they get Canola oil from.  They are the brightest yellow and almost blinding.  Then we finish up with some shots of Chrissy chewing on octopus and more sparkler maddness!!!  We have developed a new tradition that whenever we BBQ we light a bunch of sparklers after and take pictures.  This time there was a casualty, i lost a bit of hair and burned a whole in my scalp (a burning chunk of sparkler fell on my head when I was running down the street).  You can see the bald spot in the last picture!  Also, I accidentally hit the camera with a sparkler when Chrissy told me to throw it towards her.  Sparklers fly much further than you think, I almost burned her face off!

Golden Week In Southern Hokkaido and Northern Honshu

We are really behind in updating the blog.  Here are over a hundred pictures of what we did during Golden Week, the big holiday season in Japan.  We took a road trip to the southern potion of Hokkaido and went to Hakodate, the 2nd biggest city in Hokkaido.  We didn't stay in Hakodate but we took a ferry from there to the main island (Honshu) where we went to Hirosaki Castle and looked at the cherry blossoms.  Then we went on to Lake Tazawa and stayed in a bungalow and had a BBQ.  If you go to the supermarket after 8:00pm they mark all of the meat and fish down 50%.  We bought this huge platter of BBQ meat for about $12!!! It was a great deal and we were stuffed afterwords.  It was also Chrissy's birthday dinner and she loved it.

Next we went to Osorezan which is at the very Northern part of the island and is believed by Japanese to be the Hell.  They believe that when you cross the river and enter this area you leave the world of the living and are literally in Hell.  The area is filled with volcanic activity and hot springs and horrible smells coming from the ground but it was really cool, colorful, and beautiful.    We camped near here for a few nights and then took the ferry back to Hakodate where we spent some time with my supervisor and his wife before we headed back to our home in Rumoi.  We put a few thousand miles on the car and had a blast!!!

Last Full Month

I know we haven't posted in a long long time. But here is a summary of some recent news:

• my plane ticket has been purchased (July 26th is the date) but I will not be flying with Don, unfortunately. We don't know any of his flight details yet.
• my wool-felted brooches are on SALE at a local coffee shop! Woo hoo! Too bad on the cute little card, that each brooch is attached to, my katakana-ized name is spelled wrong and instead sounds very close to their word for "shit"... need to fix that ASAP.
• we are looking for teaching jobs in Queens, if you can help, please do!
• last night during a karaoke session I ventured into Celine Dion territory and it was pretty awesome. Thanks for your help Miki!