Prisons, poison, practice!

Heya everybody :)

So a little update on what I've been up to ;)

Last week, I worked only 2 days, then was off to the infamous "Yashiro Prison" for training. Yashiro is a town about an hour from here, and they rounded us all up for 3 days and brought us here to teach us some things, read our contracts to us (riveting) and remind us that apparently they OWN us ;) Although there are plenty of beer vending machines (one of the upsides) we had a curfew and a lights out time (a good reminder of Jr. High School). At Yashiro, however, we also had a great group of Jets, both seasoned and new years, and one mad guitar player in the kitchen (played us Beatles covers every night). Although perhaps this place doesn't live up to its "prison" reputation, I think we were all a little ready to get out on Friday when we headed for Kobe.

A friend in Kobe graciously let all 10 or so of us stay in her 3 room apartment, and we hit the town Friday and Saturday ;) Kobe, the largest city in Hyogo, has a number of both Japanese and foreign-style bars, restaurants, and beer gardens :) Not to mention karaoke ;)

During the day, we trekked down to the sea, stopped at a few earthquake memorial monuments, and went to port tower. Kobe was heavily damaged in 1995, and around 6400 people were killed, when the "Great Hanshin Earthquake" hit the city. It was a whopping 6.8 on the richter scale (out of 7.2). Needless to say, there are countless monuments around the city, as well as a memorial museum. The monuments I saw were beautiful, and use water extensively. In one, you climb underground to a room with the names of all the victims carved on the walls. Above you, an above ground fountain pounds on glass, creating both a rumble similar to waves, and beautiful lights across the room. Powerful.

Port tower was very cool as well ;) From it, you can see not only the sea, but also the beautiful mountains that lie directly on the other side of Kobe. This includes Mt. Rokko.

Since Kobe, we were returned to our various schools, and started teaching!

This past Monday, I began by teaching a cheery group of 3rd year students about, lucky them, myself :) After a full week of teaching, ESS club, and getting up at 7 am ;) I was exhausted.

So, we headed this weekend to the lovely Takeno Beach to relax a bit.
Takeno is a small town along the sea of Japan that has a lovely beach and was just the cure for a week of work ;) The only downside was the jellyfish that infest the waters around now. About 3 stings later, we were on our way back to Yoka, a nearby town.


The next day, we visited the Sanctuary of Nagusa Shrine near Yoka. Around 1000 meters up into the mountains, it was a beautiful drive and then peaceful, spiritual experience to visit the Shinto shrine that houses seven shinto Kami (gods) and some buddhist figures. Speaking with a wonderful old couple who told us of the shrine, their journeys to Europe, and their history with this shrine made the afternoon even better, and further illustrated the kind nature of many Japanese.

Shinto, the indigenous religion of Japan, holds a close tie with the Kami (gods) present in all things and with nature. This ideology was reflected deeply in the shrine that we visited. Surrounded by massive sugi (cedars) the shrine was incorporated into the mountainous surrounding. Although my knowledge at this point is I'm sorry to say a bit limited, I'm looking forward to learning more about this and the other religious traditions of Japan, which have many ties with the way that society and traditional culture is carried out ;)

Now, its back to school tomorrow, studying Japanese, and other business for the week! Thanks for reading, and Ill be posting again soon!

Killing time..Or time is killing me ;)

Hello!

So, this week has been my first full week of school:)
While I'd like to say it's been exciting (which it has in some ways) most of it has consisted of me killing time at my desk until I'm up for time at work :) I have spent a little time studying Japanese and meeting some students, but since school isn't in session it's pretty dead around school.

The one saving grace is that the teachers and students are really great! Yesterday, the Principal took me to the Ikuno Silver Mine, which is 1200 years old! Now closed, the mine has been opened as a museum. We walked through 500 meters of cold tunnels, looking at demonstration puppets that were set up imitating the miners. (Better than Disney's Pirates of the Caribbean I might say). At the end, he bought me ice cream (so so so nice!).

There's also a sweet water fall in Ikuno! In one place, you can jump off a 7 or 8 foot ledge into a very deep cavern in the rock! Although I was a bit scared--I finally worked up my courage and jumped into the water! It was great to go swimming however, as the temperature here has been from 30-35 every day (around 90-95).


Today I hung out with the badminton club (many of them shy to speak with me --they tend to try to hide when I come their direction :)) It was great fun! I think my new plan is just to play as many sports and hang out with as many of the kids as I can. They're super fun---and it makes my day go a bit quicker!

This past weekend has been filled with going away parties ;) My wonderful predecessor, Trevor, left the country, as did a few others. The good news is that these going away parties are great chances to meet people! I met a ton of Jets, as well as some community members which all seem really great! Definitely feeling a bit more connected!

On Saturday, I traveled down to Himeji and met up with a few friends! It was the Himeji Castle Festival, and so we were lucky enough to see dancers, musicians, taiko drummers, and even some Kendo demos (see last week's post if you need to as a reference for kend0!) It was great! Of course, we didn't get out of the city without some karaoke :) In Himeji, the karaoke is not only dirt cheap, you can rent rooms with dinosaurs on the wall!

On other notes, I've also hooked some tickets for the Hanshin Tigers Game on Friday in Osaka (yippeee) and will come back for the Oban festival this weekend here! Their festival for the dead, there'll be dancing, drinking, and they'll put lanterns that represent the dead in the river to escort them out of town! Exciting things to come!