it's not life that matters but the journey...

It's time for more pictures!

I had a fairly busy weekend. I know - you're saying it's already Wednesday, what the heck have you been doing? Well to be honest, not much! and that's all I want to be doing. But there have been a few outings since I last posted...

After being done with school (yay!) last Thursday, Masahiko was kind enough to take me out to Fujikawa River on Friday afternoon to meet up with some of the other ALT's for a BBQ/swim. Of course we did neither BBQ nor swim, though I wish I'd taken something to swim in, because the water turned out to be much nicer than I imagined. M didn't want to go at all, because it was a very hot day and we thought we'd be standing in the sun, melting! But as it turns out, the place was very shady, and being near the water, it was significantly cooler.
One of the ALT's, an American named Elton, lives very near the river in a town called Fujikawa (just about 30 minutes from where we live), and he has a little swimming spot where he takes his 5-year-old son Louie. I thought the water would be dirty or that it would be crowded, but the spot was just gorgeous, and the water was the perfect temperature and not dirty at all. Plus, there was only just our group there - no other people around, except a rafting party came through at one point, but they were on the other side of the river. Since I was wearing a skirt, I just waded into the water and got my feet wet, and we enjoyed the scenery for about an hour or so.
Here's some pics of the swimming spot, which I plan to visit again in the future:











and two of the guys in our group (young, crazy ones) decided to swim across to the other side, and climb up the cliff and dive in! they didn't even know if it was deep enough. I'm very glad to report that they made it safely. here they are on the top of the cliff, contemplating life (and death perhaps!?):









Saturday I stayed home all day and as a treat to myself, I watched New Moon . Twilight haters, don't say a word - but I loved that movie even more the second time around.
I can't wait to see Eclipse - I plan on going when I get to Port Angeles next week! It's only fitting I see it in the pacific Northwest, right? Anyway - after M got back from his music gig, he reluctantly took me out again, this time to meet my friends in Fujikawa for a fireworks display. We drove to M's friend's house, and his friend drove us to the train station - we then got to the very crowded destination around 7 p.m. and after about 20 minutes, managed to meet my friend Fiona. She had run into a friend of hers, another ALT living in Fuji (but working for the JET Programme), and this friend was lucky enough to have a spot inside these gates right underneath the place where the fireworks would be held. It cost 5000 yen (about $50) per person to get in, but we didn't have to pay at all, since Fiona's friend had a VIP spot - apparently paid for by some friend's company. So we got in there, ate some food and watched the fireworks which started a little after 8 p.m. I couldn't get good pictures, sorry! But they were pretty amazing! We started making our way back to the train station just before the fireworks finished, but it was still really crowded, and it took us forever to get into the train station and back to Yoshiwara station. Fiona and her boyfriend missed their train, so they walked to our car with us (about a 30-minute walk) and we drove them back to their bikes. It was still unbelievably muggy and hot even at 10 p.m., and I was hot and sweaty and tired when we got home! But it was really fun - probably the only fireworks I'll see this summer in Japan since I'll be in the U.S. for three weeks in August.

Sunday I stayed home all day in the air conditioning and didn't go out at all. I don't remember much of what I did - just studied Japanese and watched stuff online. I'm trying to step up my Japanese study, and recently ordered an electronic Japanese-English dictionary and a subscription to Hiragana Times magazine, which has online audio files that you can download to accompany the text. So I hope to improve my Japanese soon!!

Anyway - on to Monday. I had planned to go into Shizuoka this day to get my re-entry permit from the Immigration office (the very important stamp I need so that I can get back into Japan with my spouse visa after going to the U.S. for three weeks in August). So M was nice enough to go with me, but since we were already going that direction, we were cajoled into taking Daiki, our 13-year-old nephew to see the Giant Gundam Robot that is stationed at Higashi-Shizuoka station (just one stop east of Shizuoka station, where I would go for my re-entry permit) from now until March. Daiki couldn't wait to see the robot, so we agreed to take him after I went into Shizuoka to get my re-entry permit. We left the house around 9 a.m. and M's dad took the three of us to the train station. We got to Shizuoka around 10-ish, got to the immigration office, handed my paperwork and waited about 30 minutes. The immigration office wasn't incredibly crowded, but there were tons of little undisciplined kids running around making noise - so it wasn't really fun! Anyway, we were out of there by 11:15 or so, then went to the department store inside the train station and had some ramen for lunch. It was delicious, but sadly it ended up causing me stomach problems for the next 24 hours or so! After lunch, we took the train one station back, to Higashi-Shizuoka, and braved the heat to see the giant, 18-meter Gundam statue! We got some photos, then stood in line (thankfully it was shaded by a tent) to get into the plastic model store, where Daiki and Masahiko bought a bunch of models - then we went to the plastic model museum, which housed a whole bunch of really amazing, classic plastic models made by the Japanese company Bandai (which makes Gundam models), going all the way back to the '50s! I took a bunch of pictures inside the museum, and I wish I could show them to my dad - he used to collect airplane models and at one point, he had several hundred (or more) very rare, very cool plastic models made by the Japanese company! I think he sold them all years ago, but I'm hoping that there are one or two remaining at my mom's house so I can give them to Masahiko.

anyway, even though it was hot, we had a good time, and Daiki especially was happy - he got to see a giant Gundam (which he's loved since he was really young), and got a bunch of great plastic models, and a good memory.

Here are the pictures from our day:














And here's the entrance to the store:








And inside the museum - check out the old Star Wars, James Bond, Alien, Godzilla and other cool plastic models! What I wouldn't give to own some of those!!:



























Tomorrow I have my second to last work-related commitment before my real vacation begins - 3 hours at city hall editing and voice recording Japanese junior high schooler's English speeches! *sigh* I have no plans on Friday, but Saturday evening I've been invited to a BBQ at my friend Naomi's house - that should be fun! Then no plans until next Wednesday when I have my last work-related commitment - this stupid teaching training demonstration that I'm for some reason very nervous about. I'm not really prepared, and don't really know what to expect - but I guess I'll just grin and bear it, as the next day, Thursday the 5th, I'll be on that plane for America!!!!!

and sadly I really wish I didn't have to come back here at the end of August! Sometimes I just really want to run away from this crazy place, run away from learning Japanese and dealing with Japanese people - and just run back home to my mom.
Thank goodness I can do that at least for three weeks...