Week 20
Tuesday, November 22nd - Monday, November 28th
So today I have officially been in Japan for 20 weeks, or 5 months! It is so weird. It seems like such a long time, five months, but it feels like I go here just yesterday. It is weird how time works that way.
And I get to go home in less than a month! YAY! :D
This week it has gotten down to 0 degrees nearly every night. Nearly every morning the frost on the ground makes it look as if it had snowed.
But we have also been blessed with some beautiful skies.
So last week I forgot to post this. I was given an adorable letter and a pretty origami by a 2nd year student named Riko.
It thanks me for teaching English, and that she has learned a lot, and asks me to continue to teach her the words she doesn't quite understand yet. It also asks my favorite color and food. :D
On a walk last week, I also discovered a creepy shrine on the top of a hill in the midst of a neighborhood. It was kinda cool cause I really felt as if no one could know where I was--as if I had suddenly become invisible. But then again, all I could think of is Fatal Frame.
On Wednesday I had a day off. My phone says it was "Labor Day", and I think it is similar to our holiday in America. Either way, I had the day off! I decided to go to "Takigawa Gorge" in Yamatsuri. It was a really pretty hiking trail flanked by a river and several waterfalls. Supposedly it is one of the top 10 hiking trails in Japan. The last two pictures are of the state of some parts of the "trail"... it would never pass in America. Someone would slip and die and then the town would be sued!
On Friday it was Thanksgiving in the States, and I was SO happy to find this as a part of my school lunch for that day! It is a pumpkin tart! I find it so strange that it came on "Thanksgiving"!
Lately it has been WAY too cold to go out after school to exercise, so I have decided to go on hikes on the weekends, and do toning on the weekdays.
On Saturday I went to a waterfall in a village called Samegawa. It was beautiful, like everything else around here, but I really wish the bridge that led to pretty much 2/3rds of the walking trail was broken. D:
The sign says "watch your step". It makes me think twice about stepping foot on that bridge, even if it weren't broken.
Since I couldn't really hike that much at the waterfall, I ended up stopping by a park in Hanawa on the way back home. It was a nice simple hike. And no one was around, so it was like I had the place to myself. :)
I decided I wanted to eat at Framboise again on Sunday, so I went down to Daigo to look for places to hike. I stopped by the "michi-no-eki/road station" aka rest stop, and grabbed a few tourist pamphlets, including a map. Really, if you don't have a navigation system around here, it is really difficult to drive without a map.
Tuesday, November 22nd - Monday, November 28th
So today I have officially been in Japan for 20 weeks, or 5 months! It is so weird. It seems like such a long time, five months, but it feels like I go here just yesterday. It is weird how time works that way.
And I get to go home in less than a month! YAY! :D
This week it has gotten down to 0 degrees nearly every night. Nearly every morning the frost on the ground makes it look as if it had snowed.
But we have also been blessed with some beautiful skies.
So last week I forgot to post this. I was given an adorable letter and a pretty origami by a 2nd year student named Riko.
It thanks me for teaching English, and that she has learned a lot, and asks me to continue to teach her the words she doesn't quite understand yet. It also asks my favorite color and food. :DOn a walk last week, I also discovered a creepy shrine on the top of a hill in the midst of a neighborhood. It was kinda cool cause I really felt as if no one could know where I was--as if I had suddenly become invisible. But then again, all I could think of is Fatal Frame.
On Wednesday I had a day off. My phone says it was "Labor Day", and I think it is similar to our holiday in America. Either way, I had the day off! I decided to go to "Takigawa Gorge" in Yamatsuri. It was a really pretty hiking trail flanked by a river and several waterfalls. Supposedly it is one of the top 10 hiking trails in Japan. The last two pictures are of the state of some parts of the "trail"... it would never pass in America. Someone would slip and die and then the town would be sued!
On Friday it was Thanksgiving in the States, and I was SO happy to find this as a part of my school lunch for that day! It is a pumpkin tart! I find it so strange that it came on "Thanksgiving"!
Lately it has been WAY too cold to go out after school to exercise, so I have decided to go on hikes on the weekends, and do toning on the weekdays.
On Saturday I went to a waterfall in a village called Samegawa. It was beautiful, like everything else around here, but I really wish the bridge that led to pretty much 2/3rds of the walking trail was broken. D:
The sign says "watch your step". It makes me think twice about stepping foot on that bridge, even if it weren't broken.
Since I couldn't really hike that much at the waterfall, I ended up stopping by a park in Hanawa on the way back home. It was a nice simple hike. And no one was around, so it was like I had the place to myself. :)
I decided I wanted to eat at Framboise again on Sunday, so I went down to Daigo to look for places to hike. I stopped by the "michi-no-eki/road station" aka rest stop, and grabbed a few tourist pamphlets, including a map. Really, if you don't have a navigation system around here, it is really difficult to drive without a map.
I decided to go to a waterfall called "Tsukimachi" after seeing a really cool picture of it. It turned out to be one of my favorite places I have been thus far. They have a bunch of waterfalls around here, but the beautiful thing about this one was how distinct it was. According to the website, it used to be a place where people would pray to the god of safe delivery when the moon came out on the 23rd day of the month. I can understand why people might feel compelled to pray here. The restaurant that bordered the river was also just lovely.
Because the first place required little exercise, I headed towards a forest on the eastern border of the town. It was such a beautiful place! A lot of the the trails were blanketed by this green mossy stuff that felt like carpet. There was really unique landscaping, including various statues of carved marble. I only walked about probably 1/3rd of the trails, so I want to go back soon.
Sunday had to have been one of the best days since I came here. It made me realize how lucky I was to live in Tohoku, or northern Japan. It contains a beauty that I have not witnessed elsewhere. I can't wait to explore more.
Today it was cold. Just darn cold. Like there wasn't frost on the ground this morning, but it felt absolutely freezing at school. I am lucky that my schools like to use their heaters, because other teachers complain that Japanese schools don't use heat during the winter, but it just felt so darn cold today!
See you later~
Because the first place required little exercise, I headed towards a forest on the eastern border of the town. It was such a beautiful place! A lot of the the trails were blanketed by this green mossy stuff that felt like carpet. There was really unique landscaping, including various statues of carved marble. I only walked about probably 1/3rd of the trails, so I want to go back soon.
Sunday had to have been one of the best days since I came here. It made me realize how lucky I was to live in Tohoku, or northern Japan. It contains a beauty that I have not witnessed elsewhere. I can't wait to explore more.
Today it was cold. Just darn cold. Like there wasn't frost on the ground this morning, but it felt absolutely freezing at school. I am lucky that my schools like to use their heaters, because other teachers complain that Japanese schools don't use heat during the winter, but it just felt so darn cold today!
See you later~
8:08 PM |
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