More pictures.

Sorry about the delay! Here's the next album from the Christmas trip! Also a bonus album with some pictures of the first hints of Spring here in Japan.

Bali - Komodo Tour

Spring 2009

Back from Indonesia!

So I am back from Indonesia safe and sound. All my travel compatriots got back more or less safe and sound as well. In the future I will elaborate but for now a brief summary of my trip:

12/22: Nagoya - Seoul - Denpasar airports all successfully traversed. Hotels for both parties were checked in to.
12/23: Took our time getting up. Saw Kuta beach. It was dirty. Wandered around town. Booked a driver for the next day.
12/24: Visited some cool temples and a really pretty beach. Had dinner on the beach at a posh restaurant. Tried to go partying but some wires got crossed that were sorted the next morning.
12/25: Successfully made it to the airport and arrived in Labuan Bajo. Most places were closed for Christmas. Managed to find a wonderful little cafe run by a lady from Britain and her local husband where we spent the day relaxing. Got on the boat on time and enjoyed the welcome party.
12/26: Visited Rinca Island. Saw the adult Komodo Dragons that they feed hanging around. Had a nice hike. Later went snorkeling at Spider Island. Saw some awesome fish. That night there was a big storm. Everyone got seasick. My stomach was fine until one of the other girls was sick but I managed to suppress the nausea and get to sleep.
12/27: Visited one of the Gili Islands and walked through the local village to a waterfall in the forest where you could jump into a pool below. Didn't jump but enjoyed playing in the upper pool and watching some of the others jump. Later on went snorkeling at a tiny, tiny island. Choose to swim in instead of taking the boat. Spent some time fishing garbage out of the coral and putting it above the tide line while I looked at the fish. Still scared of dark water. That night disembarked on Lombok Island and were taken to our hotel for the night.
12/28: Took a taxi to the airport and got back to Denpasar by lunch even though it was delayed. Got driven to Ubud where we checked into our gorgeous little hotel. Did some exploring of town and had dinner and checked out the town and the spas.
12/29: Explored some more of the the Ubud shops and checked out the market. Booked a dance. Went to a spa and were pampered for four hours from massages to hair treatment to a rose-petal bath. Saw some traditional dancing in the evening. Ate dinner at a place that looked okay but was not on the same street where we'd eaten our other meals.
12/30: Heather, Maggie, and I were all sick to various degrees of very bad. Figure it might have been non-bottled water in the drinks. Spent the day in the hotel room while Rachel and Shana went out. Rachel and I left the others and took a van to Tulamben that night. Made it there alright. Went to bed.
12/31: Managed to eat some breakfast. Met our diving instructor Made. Finished the book part of the course. Walked into town to look around a bit in the evening.
1/1: Did our five confined water dives in the hotel pool (that was only finished on the 27th of December) Was nervous at first but it went really well and was a lot of fun.
1/2: Completed first two open water dives. One to a coral wall and one to a coral garden. Cannot express how magical it is to get so close to so much amazing and bizarre life. Rachel bumped into a stinging hydroid and got a bit of a rash and we learned to keep better track of the whereabouts of our limbs. After dinner went walking on a black beach (Tulamben is right below a volcano) and down the road a bit.
1/3: Did our final two open water dives. Both to the wreak of the USS Liberty submarine that was torpedoed in WW2 and was originally very close to the beach but was pushed a bit deeper when the volcano erupted. Swam around it and then through an open cargo hold on the second dive. Accumulated three hours of ocean dive experience total.
1/4: Went to a temple, coffee/cocoa/spice plantation, the Ubud market, and a grocery store on the way back to the airport. Had a very relaxing nice day. Got dropped at the airport at 8 and stayed into our flight left at 3:30am.
1/5: Denpasar - Seoul - Nagoya. Slept most of the way. Heather picked Rachel and I up from the airport. Found out that what we had was contagious and that Maggie is still sick. Since my symptoms are over and Heather was just given some antibiotics and told to rest figure I'm probably okay.

I am currently enjoying being clean and being able to drink tap water with the happy anticipation of having a proper sleep in my own bed. Hope all your holidays went well!

Fall/Winter update!

Obviously my intent to update here weekly has fallen by the roadside. Badly. Things have been pretty busy here with some activity or another each evening and usually more than one per weekend.

Winter has kind of jumped right on us. A week ago I was comfortably wearing short-sleeved sweaters and light shirts to work but now it is most definitely sweater season. There was snow on the mountains yesterday morning! It didn't reach quite this low but it was close! I suspect that within a week the kerosene heaters will be making their reappearence in the classrooms. The leaves hadn't even finished changing but they'll easily be gone within a few weeks now!

Um, yeah, I have to go do some photocopying now but last night I put together some of the pictures I've taken over fall with a few comments. My kotatsu (heater table with blankets) is set up now so I should be spending more time attached to my computer over the winter. Maybe I'll update more often :D Anyway, enjoy!

Fall 2008

Cambodia Photos~!

So here we go. I downloaded a new image-manager and lo and behold it was a google one and it came with an online photo album. And an easy to mange one no less. So now you can see photos from my trip here:

Cambodia

Also, if you notice any spelling or grammar errors in my captions please let me know so I can fix them!

Cambodia - The journey there

(Pictures will be added later)

The morning we left I was a bit slow. The kerosine heaters they use here and my lungs don`t always get along so I had a rough start to the day. But I got everything I needed packed, left the stuff Ryan would need for Thomas Notacat out, and hoisted my bag down to the car. I got to Keith and Yumiko`s just in time to move myself and stuff into their car, rush to the station, and at a quick trot we caught the train we`d originally wanted.

The ride to the station and the flights themselves were uneventful, which is a good thing, and we were able to spend our Bangkok layover in our airline`s lounge where they`ve got comfy chairs, free internet, and free snacks. Finally we arrived at the Siem Reap airport, a very small airport that looks more like a large, stylized hotel. There we had to wait to get through customs and pay the $20 for our visas. After waiting in the two long lines (I`m getting the online one next time I go to a country that offers them) we finally got through to grab our suitcases, submitted our customs slips, and walked out into the humid hot air where a large number of tuk-tuk drivers were waiting. Luckily our guesthouse provides a free pick-up from the airport and our driver had my name on his sign.

On the way into town we had a stranger from Portugal who thought he was going to the same place accompany us by tuk-tuk. But since he just sandwiched himself in beside our luggage on the other side it wasn`t too bad. The drive was really cool because everything was dark and Siem Reap isn`t a big city by most standards. There are lots of fields and large trees and small houses in amongst the huge ritzy hotels for tourists who want to spend more than $100 instead of $10/night (including the hot water and air conditioner upgrade) on a hotel. I have to say I was very, very happy with The Rosy Guesthouse where we stayed. Nice clean rooms, good service, and a well-run bar/restaurant downstairs. Plus the free pickup. The stranger turned out to be staying somewhere else so he ran away with the tuk-tuk driver while we were checking in.

Massive Update 3/3

So since Christmas life has mostly returned to normal. School started up again and teaching was mostly same-old, same-old. The third-years all have their High School entrance exams (if they choose to continue with school, it's optional past Junior High although your job options may be limited) this semester and they will be finishing school soon. Only a few more weeks. So they are all slowly going crazy with studying or uncertainty about their futures or both. The rest of the kids are just getting stir-crazy because this is the shortest of their three semesters and they're going to be moving on to the next grade soon. Lots of energy in the schools.

I continued going to Japanese lessons, became more of a regular at Gifu Knit Club on Tuesdays, and sung karaoke, hung out, and watched a couple of new movies with friends. Despite this I think I was in a bit of a rut. Which probably wasn't helped by the kids draining more energy than usual. I didn't realize it until recently but I'd been here for almost 6 1/2 months. That's the longest I've lived somewhere without going on a trip home in about 4 years. Since I moved out of home to Prince George anyways. It was time to do something.

Since before Christmas I've been planning a trip to Cambodia with Yumiko. So by midway through January that was really starting to eat at my available brain-cells. Last week we finally pulled it off so soon I'll be updating about that with some pictures (as soon as I can convince my camera to recognize my 4Gb camera card) and a more detailed description of what we did and saw.

Dad's visit (aka Massive Update 2/3)

So firstly I'm going to link you to Dad's Deviantart account where he has a few of pictures from his visit posted.

I picked him up from the airport on Friday night after work on the 21st. It was a close thing since originally I'd miscalculated the time I had to leave for the train station but I made it in enough time to meet him when he came out of the customs gate. Both of us were a bit tired after we'd spent the hour or so riding the trains home so we just called it a night.

The next day we walked around my town and I acquainted dad with the wonders of hot, canned coffee from vending machines. We went to a Christmas party that night where he was able to meet some of my new friends and Yumiko's family. Over the rest of the long weekend we also went up the mountain to the large statues and the viewpoint over Ono-cho, got take-out from the onigiri shop (riceballs and assorted fried food) down the street, and discovered the farm-fresh egg vending machine. On Monday we celebrated an early Christmas and took a picnic drive out to a very large golden statue of a Buddha a ways up into the mountains. And of course since almost all shops are still open over the weekend and Christmas isn't a holiday we were able to do a bit of shopping here and there. I think we went to Tanigumi temple (20 minutes farther into the mountains) over the weekend, too.

Tuesday was my last day at school for the semester (I took the next day off) and dad came to one of my elementary schools as Santa for our Christmas Day. The kids loved him and had a blast! I don't have any close what I can do as follow-up next year. It was great though. And they really enjoyed the candycanes that dad brought since they don't sell those here to my knowledge.

Wednesday was mainly relaxing again although we did visit my Junior High in the morning and I took dad to meet my supervisor. During the evening we enjoyed a wonderful traditional dinner with the two gentlemen who teach me Japanese. It consisted of multiple courses one of which was a dish that cooked in small pots in front of us as we finished the previous dishes.

On the Friday we visited Inuyama castle. This is a beautiful old castle an hour and a bit away from my apartment by car and managed to escape the damage of fires and war. Actually it is often claimed to be the oldest castle in Japan, the current towers dating from 1537 and the original construction in 1440. The stairs are steep and tight but the view from the top floor is amazing. There's also a small museum to Japanese-style marionette dolls with the entrance included in that to the castle. A really nice place to visit. In the evening I had my standard Japanese lesson that Dad tagged along to and they'd brought some books in English while I practised reading and translated a bit of my current project book. Then we watched part of an opera.

The next morning we got to Gifu-city by car and train and boarded our bus to Kyoto. Kyoto is truly spectacular offering over 2000 shrines and temples within the city boundaries, all left untouched by the war although not always by fire and other acts of man and God. Just riding the city buses and listening to announcements in English and Japanese you can learn more than a dozen facts in a very short time. We visted the Pure Water Temple, the Golden Temple, the Silver temple, Ryoan-ji (the temple with the most famous Zen garden in Japan) where it was uncrowded enough for us to sit and watch the garden, and Kyoto tower. And a bunch of other, lesser but still beautiful sights and shopping areas. We ate delicious food and enjoyed the rain and the crowds and the sights in general. Dad finally found a Shogi board in the toy store at Kyoto Station.

On New Year's Eve we went back to Yumiko's mom's house for their New Years Party. Now, this was a more Japanese-style New Years so we mainly ate lots of food and watched TV until it was time to go visit temples. Then we had to wash our hands in cold water in the cold night air, lifted a rock to make a wish at the first temple, threw coins and small garlands for good luck, and lit candles. We also got to see the spectacular food and merchandise booths set up. After visiting two temples we went back to the temple near Yumiko's mom's house and rang the bell there. It was really fun but we slept in a lot the new day. Also conveniently Yumiko's mom lives close to the huge used/new anime and manga store so we were able to visit there twice during dad's visit.

New Years we decided to climb up the mountain the big statues are on. It was a beautiful climb but the was down took us a little further down than we wanted and we had to walk a ways back up the road to the car. The view was amazing though and we got to the top just in time to sit down and hear the town chimes go off. And when you're at the top of a mountain it means you hear five or more town chimes going off at the same time. It was a suprizingly beautiful sound. The entire thing must have taken two hours or so (?). We were tired after that!

I'm getting a little fuzzy on details here but I do believe that the day before dad left we visited Hikone castle with Keith and Yumiko. It's another beautiful old castle and dad and I got some pictures with the castle and town mascots (at different times). They like foreigners :) This castle also has some spectacular gardens that had a couple of cherry trees blooming even over Christmas.

On the morning of the 3rd dad finished packing up and we rode the trains back to the Nagoya airport. It was probably just about the right length but it was a really good visit. I can't wait until Mom, Luke, and Brenda come at the end of March!

(Dad if I messed things up please correct me. You're the one with the timeline XD)

Update!

My walk to school on a nice, sunny day~

I'm discovering that I suck at being a teacher, but mostly only because I lack experience and training. It should get better with time. Maybe. After my first class with any particular activity/topic things go a little smoother but the first one is usually rough. When a class goes well and the kids have fun though... Oh, that's a nice high. It's worth staying for.

Hm, I haven't done a lot of travelling recently but I think I should be looking into doing more. Or at least more exploring. I've been hanging out with lots and lots of people but not doing much exercising or just plain looking around. I haven't even gone hiking although there are tons of places to do that near me. I am going to go to Tanigumi temple for Momiji viewing (enjoying the fall colors in the trees) though. Turns out it's actually a really famous place to go hike and watch that. Who knew? I do want to go north to Toyama-ken to do some hiking though. They have a lovely looking two-day hike on a pair of mountains (some info here) that I want to check out sometime. Perhaps in May.

Let's see... So I haven't become alcoholic from stress like so many other expats (click word for definition), yay me! I'm actually usually a DD now. I was a little worried about a major personality change but it doesn't seem to be. Or not in that regard, at least.

I saw my first hummingbird moth today!! (And guess who looked at her camera and then left it on her table this morning?) It was feeding off one of the bushes outside my school! It was only about two inches long but it was beautiful. I got so close, too! I'm going to take my camera every day from now on. Just in case. I think George, the huge spider living over the stairs to the teachers room, is dead though. It's sad. We were friends in that, 'you exist and I exist, that's nice. Please don't touch me.' sort of way.

I have also successfully paid for and received my order from Amazon.jp. You can pay at convenience stores here and I managed to understand the delivery lady when she called so I'm feeling pretty good about my infantile listening and communication skills right now.

Oh my that was random.

(I'm working on a potential photo gallery program. Hopefully I'll be able to post lots of pictures if it pans out.)

Recent life...

Yeah, I'm no good at this updating thing. I did actually try to upload pictures but my internet is having none of this constant connection stuff tonight so I couldn't make the program work. This is just going to be a 'what have I been up to' post.

So... I think I mentioned how amazingly awesome my middle school's sports day was? The elementary one I went to last Saturday totally blew it out of the water. Here they not only make the parents and grandparents participate in a lot of the games but the PTA has to play a game, too! It's so funny watching adults running around a field trying to guide giant inflated balls.

Sunday I went to Tokyo for the day with Keith and Yumiko and four of their friends. One was an ex-ALT but the rest were Japanese and couldn't speak any English. Practice day for me! We took the bullet train to Tokyo in the morning and then ate at Subway (it was so good, I haven't had it since I left North America) before heading to Tokyo Game Show 2007. This is a huge, huge video/computer game convention where you can try out games before they come onto the market and check out the booths of different game companies. I was very please to see a large Canadian booth there.

I spent most of the time there with Patrick, the ex-alt, and the Japanese girl who came with us who's name absolutely escapes me. But it was cool! She likes a lot of the same kinds of games I like so we were able to chatter away in some Japanese and bits of English and gestures. We visited the Square Enix booth (they created the immensely popular Final Fantasy series) and just generally wandered around. It was my first experience seeing cosplayers (people who dress up like characters from games or books) and their costumes and hair were just amazing. I was so impressed. I am absolutely going to go to more cosplay events with a friend from Nagano who's into that.

After the Game Show we went to Akihabara (geek and technology central in Tokyo) and went to a maid cafe. The Japanese girl really likes the costumes and wanted to visit one. Maid cafes are resturants where you can go and be greeted by girls dressed in stylized maid outfits who will then serve you a meal or drinks. Often they are mainly visited by guys going to see pretty girls in costumes with less than chivalrous motives. It's part of the job to talk with the customers. I think the girls were all very pleased to have some visitors who just wanted to talk with them for the sake of talking. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures (a very good rule with the clientele they have) so I can't show you what it was like.

On Monday I slept in very, very late and then Yumiko and her friend Chiho showed me a new mall where they have a store that sells both nice yarn and knitting needles! This is the first store I've found with such things. I was really excited. And there's an import store that sells Walker's shortbread there. They have real Canadian maple syrup, too, but it's about $20 a bottle. Since I almost never had it in Canada I can most definitely do without! The shortbread is wonderful~ In the evening Yumiko and Keith had Chiho and I over for okonomiyaki, which is kind of like a giant omelet except there's no cheese and you mix everything in before you pour the egg onto the large griddle. You make it on a griddle in the center of the table where you're going to eat so you can talk and watch it cook. It was delicious! There was only shrimp and veggies in the one Yumiko made because she's vegetarian, too.

Sunday I slept in again and then did a massive house cleaning. Keith told me that it's okay to throw away paper and cardboard products in the burnable if you make sure it's in 10x10 cm or less pieces. So my arms kind of hurt from tearing up all the paper/cardboard I've collected on my own and from guests. But my house is clean! Or at least, it was before I made dinner. As soon as I find places to put all my little knick-knacks I can actually take pictures of my house. And just when I was starting to think about dinner Ashley called and invited me over for dinner with her, Alice, and Brandon. It was really nice and relaxing.

I have discovered that my nighttime nemesis is indeed the Japanese mosquito. The little jerks have the normal, irritating bite that itches for 10 minutes and swells for about 1/2 an hour. Unfortunately, when the swelling goes down I and the rest of the foreign ALTs I've talked to get a little pink welt that's occasionally itchy/painful and persists for 3-5 days. Thank goodness it's getting cold enough to keep my balcony doors closed at night. See L, I told you they weren't as nice as you thought.