Takao san Hike (高尾山)

March 21 was the Spring Equinox, the official first day of spring. In Japanese it's called 春分の日 (shunbun no hi). So what better way to celebrate than by escaping the confines of the city and going for a little hike?  This hike was the last of the year for the mountain climbing club and the last club outing ever for the newly graduated 3rd years. 

The event was a happy, memorable, but slightly sad event, as it was the last time to hike with the 3rd years. The last club event in Japanese high school clubs is usually something of a party or celebration where the younger club members honour and thank their sempai for their guidance and friendship as well as to wish them well in the next part of their lives. Instead of having a party, the mountain climbing club has one last hike where the kohai (the younger club members) plan and prepare lunch for the sempai on the mountain. Last year, the hike was Jimba san to Takao san, a fairly long trek. This year was just Takao san, a 2.5 hour hike. 

We let at 8:45 am at Shinjuku station and caught the train to Takaosanguchi (高尾山口), from which we started our hike. There are several trails going up to the top of Takao, which is around 600 m in elevation. We took trail 6, which is 3.3 km long and we reached the peak in about an hour. The trail is quite easy, but it can get get busy...

At the top we found a place to set our bags and the first and second years got started on lunch. They did a really good job planning, coordinating and hauling the supplies up the mountain. What did we eat? Cheese fondue with chocolate fondue for dessert. It was delicious! 

Our first and only rest on the way up.

At the top, the first and second years are preparing lunch.

Cheese fondue with lots of vegetables, meat, and bread.

Enjoying fondue. We ran out of cheese first, but we had a lot of vegetables left, so we got creative and dipped the veggies in chocolate. The best combos? Broccoli and chocolate, pumpkin and chocolate, and carrot and chocolate.

Can't really see anything from the top, it was overcast and kind of misty. That direction is Tokyo.

Same thing, can't really see anything... :(

Tengu! There are lots of shrines on Takao and many statues of Tengu, a deity with a long nose. He's a god of the mountain, and is usually represented by two statues, one with a long nose and the other with a bird beak for a mouth and nose. He's pretty scary looking.

Shrine 

Pretty yellow flowers

An altar or shrine with many little bells, I'm not sure what it was for.

Pink blossoms, plum perhaps?

Shrine at the base of Takao.

Everyone at the top.

Takao san is a quick and easy hike. It's not too far away from Tokyo and it's easy to get to. This was a fun last hike and it will stay in my memory.

The graduates :)

In which time runs away again.

Time always flies by and I forget to update my blog. Truthfully, I haven't done anything exciting, just the normal things. 

Since getting back in January, I have started playing futsal again, dancing once a week, and I haven't been surfing in 4 months :(((((( yikes! The drop-in futsal I go to now has two professional soccer players, making me look like a chump. But the guys seem to accept me, they randomly blurt out English, it's rather adorable. I also recently returned to play futsal with the high schoolers that are all graduating (see - time sure flies!), and I was warmly received by them again after a long absence. They were also quite adorable. Three of them insisted on walking me home after futsal, for safety reasons :) that's the most gentlemanly behaviour I've witnessed in Japan!

One thing that I genuinely miss here is care and courtesy for others. Certainly, Japanese hospitality is great, but it's not genuine. I think once you understand the language and the culture (language alone won't help), you begin to realize that the famous Japanese hospitality, or omotenashi (which was their campaign in the 2020 Tokyo bid for the Olympics, by the way), is just forced, in many cases the person doesn't want actually care about you as a person. They're just doing their job, and if they don't have enough omotenashi, they may get in trouble. So, natural, basic, human courtesy is absent from every day life. For example, people don't hold doors for others, people don't worry about others getting home safe, if someone falls, no one helps them, etc. Also, I miss the friendly and genuine chit chat between workers (like waitresses, cash register people, and other service positions) and customers.

That's not to say that all people are cold. Usually, if someone knows you, they will be caring and kind. Usually. So, when I witness the warmth of people genuinely caring for another invidividual that is not close to them, I get all melty. My heart warms and I often reminisce fondly about it. I'm still smiling about getting walked home by the boys, even though it happened two weeks ago.

In other news, I made chocolate chip cookies for Valentine's Day.

Then I made cream puffs for no reason. But, I gave them to my dancing buddies.

The root canal saga continues, the end is in sight. After one of my many dental appointments, I found the first Starbucks in Japan! 

I also reunited with the stage and performed with the teachers of this year's graduating class at Kasujo. I was in a dancing number called Dancing Samurai, and I was also in a singing number called Happiness. I was added at the last minute to the Happiness number, so I didn't know the words, I just pretended. The students, being excited and almost free, were super excited and didn't care about how bad we were. They were just happy we made fools of ourselves :)

Life Lessons Learned from Tokubetsu Shien

I've learned some good life lessons while teaching. The most valuable lessons have been learned at Tokubetsu Shien, which is a special needs school. Every semester I get to visit Kasukabe Tokushi, and it always makes me appreciate being a teacher and being in Japan. The students are wonderful. They are all developmentally delayed. To qualify for this school, students' IQ must be lower than 50. As you can imagine, the lessons I teach and the content of the curriculum in general are quite simple. Students at this school learn the skills they need to survive in society. Many of the graduates learn skills that will allow them to get a job in various places. So it seems that these schools are extremely valuable.

So what have I learned? The most important thing is how you treat others. The students at this school don't bully each other. They aren't mean or cold-hearted towards anyone either. The students have varying abilities and awareness of their surroundings, but the students always take care of each other and support each other. That's how we should act. It's heart warming, and everyone could learn a lesson in caring from these students. 

Aside from restoring my faith in humanity and reminding me to be more caring towards others, the ability of these students to accomplish tasks like singing, dancing or interacting in English, is amazing. They and their teachers work so hard, so when I get to see the fruits of their labour, I'm genuinely amazed and touched. The students learn and practice because they genuinely want to learn and do their best. They are a great motivation for me to be a better teacher, friend and worker. They are so inspiring.

Last year, I went to watch the soccer team play in a tournament. Their team was lacking players and there were some players with physical disabilities. Despite their challenges, the better players never showed frustration and each of them gave their all, even though they were exhausted. I was so proud of them. These students have so many barriers in life, yet they just accept it and they keep going and doing their best. They try hard everyday and they treat each other and the people around them with genuine love and decency. It's just so ... I don't know... Wonderful. 

When I go back to my regular school and face normal students with normal abilities and chances in life, I'm sometimes dismayed by how they treat each other and how lazy they can be. Mostly it's the ill-treatment of others that gets to me. Don't get me wrong, my students are generally wonderful, and I don't witness much bad treatment of others, but I know it exists. Working with teenagers is great because you see them developing into young adults, but sometimes it's sad to see the ones who shut themselves off from the world or who are so self conscious they don't make eye contact. I feel for those students and I want to encourage and support them, but a lot of the time they refuse to make any connection. 

Being a teenager is pretty tough, and I think these days it is even harder with the added dimension of the internet and social networking. My special needs students mercifully don't have to deal with that element, and I think they're better for it. Their innocence and ability to take care of their peers is so special, I wish I could get my other students to go back to those innocent ways and basic rules for treating others.

Christmas has come once again

It's that time of year. The leaves have changed colour and fallen on the ground, leaving the bare bones of the trees behind. The wind has a crisp cool chill. The nights are nippy and the mornings biting. My bed has become more of a nest. And I could go on. One more: I have the urge to clean! That must mean one thing - Christmas! Of course, the obvious signs of Christmas are present as well: Christmas decorations, commercials and adverts, red cups at Starbucks AND 7/11 (7/11 sells coffee now, and they usually have white cups. However, they totally copied Starbucks and have introduced some holiday-themed red cups with snowflakes.), Christmas cake displays, KFC chicken advertisements, illuminations (AKA Christmas lights), Pizza-la delivery guys dressed as Santas, Christmas music, fresh strawberries are available in stores (Winter is the growing season. It's this way in Korea, too.), etc. Christmas truly is drawing near.

Today I took a day off, let's call it a mental health day, and I got all in the Christmas spirit. I baked Christmas cookies, I decorated, I put up Christmas lights, I watched Christmas movies, and I drank Christmas tea. It was a good spirit-lifting experience.

I should say, "I tried to bake Christmas cookies." They didn't really work. Why? I'm pretty sure I know why. Butter. Or rather, margarine. In Japan, every year around Christmas time, there happens to be a butter shortage. At this time it is difficult to find anything but margarine. I have lucked out and been able to get butter. However, the other day I thought I was buying butter, but it wasn't. I used this "butter", which came conveniently wrapped in two sticks, to bake sugar cookies. It didn't work too well. When I was trying to figure out what went wrong, I looked at the package and realized I had bought margarine instead :( There were warning signs. The "butter" was softer and easier to cut than it should have been, it was yellower than it should have been, it smelled more buttery than butter does... But I ignored all the signs and my gut, which pointed out to me that something was wrong. When you try and make sugar cookies with margarine, the shapes distort as they flatten out, making for some very unattractive cookies. In addition to using margarine, I used too much sugar... Oh well. They were still edible in the end, and people ate them up. Lessons learned.

It looks fine at this stage.

Still doing okay!

Eh? What happened? Margarine :(

After the baking mishap, I decided to decorate my apartment. I already have my advent calendar out, which is gorgeous, but I added to the decorations by putting up stickers on the walls, stringing some lights and putting out my Christmas tree (it isn't ready yet). 

I inherited the Christmas lights this year. They look so cheerful! 

My advent calendar!

Close-up for details. Every day there is a new decoration to hang on the tree. So fun!

Amidst the baking and decorating I managed to watch "the Bestest Present" and "The Santa Clause". I watched them while drinking my Christmas tea :) 

Mmmmm! Candy cane lane!

Also spotted in stores, are some special Christmas treats. Some will have to remain secret, but I'll show you a teaser ;)

Pepsi Pink!

Also, this past weekend I attended a bonenkai (忘年会), otherwise known as a "forget the year" party. They are akin to our Christmas or holiday office parties. This bonenkai was with my dance friends. It was a fun evening to just talk and drink and reflect a little on the year (some friends got married, some had babies, some got a girlfriend... Hahaha).

踊りマンの忘年会 Odoriman dance group's bonenkai

So, while it's getting cold, and Christmas is foreign here, I'm finding lots of warmth and a lot of Christmas cheer :) Can't wait to get the real thing though ;p

I have a microwave oven!

Over the summer I acquired a microwave oven from a friend who was moving away from Japan. Up until recently it was too warm to use it for baking. However, I've been a busy bee making baked goods, something I haven't done for awhile, and have never really done in Japan. 

Before getting the microwave oven, I just had a plain old microwave, so if couldn't bake. I think most foreigners living in Japan, the ones that can cook anyway, miss their home kitchens. Having a microwave oven truly increases quality of life. 

So far, I have cooked two delicious things with my oven. The first thing I ventured to make was persimmon gingerbread loaf. Unfortunately, I couldn't find ground cloves, so the taste wasn't perfect. It was pretty good though. 

Persimmon Gingerbread Loaf

Since I don't have a mixer or blender, I mixed everything by hand, I was worried it wouldn't turn out, but all was fine. I chose this recipe because I received a lot of persimmons from a local farmer I know. There were too many to simply eat, so I made something with them. 

This recipe was well-received and I will make it again, especially since I just received another large amount of persimmons. 

My second adventure in baking was actually cheating. I used a muffin mix I found online. The mix is a high fibre, low calorie, wheat free mix. The muffins are a little bland, but they were very easy to make. I'll be making them again, too.

Chocolate Oat Muffins

Because they were bland, I will level up (Japanese English...) with cinnamon and maybe some coconut. 

I'm really happy to be baking again. It's so fun. At first I was worried, because I wasn't sure what I made would be tasty, but my guinea pigs gobbled it up :)

In other news:

At the grocery store near my house, I found these very large pumpkins. They're just being thrown away... What a waste! I would have loved to steal them, but they were too big.

Red cups were in Starbucks shops all over Japan on November 1... This isn't my first and it won't be my last, but the barista drew me a cute picture of a polar bear! It made me smile.

Played futsal with other ALTs. It was a gong show, but fun, nevertheless. In our group, there are many different countries represented, we have such an international group!

On the express trains, they have catalogues full if crazy things to buy. One morning on my way to Onjuku, I found this lovely suit. I need this. So. Bad. It's like a sleeping bag with arms and legs!

After surfing in Onjuku, I found a beautiful butterfly.

This contraption is to keep your feet warm while sitting. I want this too. It was so soft!

The fields in Onjuku have all been harvested. Fall is here and winter is on its way.

Surfing

Recently I have been surfing a lot. Usually, in a good month, I get out 2 times, but in the last 7 weeks, I've been out a whopping 5 times!

Mostly I leave my surf board at the surf shop in Onjuku. However, because I wanted to go surfing with a friend elsewhere, I brought my board home. I was so nervous to take it on the train. I had visions of broken fins and lots of dents. Luckily it was fine.

One thing that bothered me was that people kept getting too close to my board. It seemed that they were trying to tempt me. The whole time in the train when people were too close I was stressed out. I was worried they would kick my board, or hit my fins, or fall on it. Luckily (for the crowders) nothing happened and no board protecting tactics had to be employed. 

The next time I went surfing, I had to bring my board back. I got quite a few stares from people stumbling out of bars and host clubs at 6 am in the morning while carrying my board. Taking my board on the train was fine, it was just sad because I couldn't sleep. So I was quite tired as I missed out on my naps on the train. But it was nothing a little red bull or monster couldn't fix.

While I dreaded bringing my board on the train, it turned out to be fine, however, the trains were not so crowded. I have a feeling in a crowded station or car, it would be awful. As it was, with the scarcity of people, I almost hit people with my board. I needed a signal to let people know they should clear the way because I was coming through. Hehehe. If my board were any longer, there would be lots of problems. At 7'2" it is the perfect size for train travel. 

My baby's first train ride. 

The beach. This is Katagai beach. It is north of where I usually surf. This day was before a typhoon, so the waves were HUGE. They were more than huge, the sets were all over the place and the frequency of the waves was high. We didn't surf here. 

This is Hebara. The beach next to Onjuku. It was also pretty much unsurfable with a long board. Paddling out was big trouble. The surfers that went out took a long time to paddle out and then they just hung out not catching waves because they were big, and because they probably didn't want to have to paddle out again.

This is Onjuku, Hama beach. We decided to surf here and it was fun but still very difficult. We couldn't paddle out far and there was a very strong current pushing is towards the middle beach (chuo beach). So that left us playing in the soup, as the Japanese call it. To westerners, soup is known as white water, where the waves have broken, and it's smaller and safer than further out. Unfortunately, or fortunately, there was a lifeguarding competition on chuo beach, so I had to keep exiting the water and walking back to where I first got in. At one point, some lifeguards that were competing in a kayak event lost their kayak. I had just finished surfing a wave and resurfacing, found that the kayak was upon me and lifeguards were running toward me. I was lucky because if there had been a strong wave slightly sooner it would have slammed the kayak right into me and my board. At least there were lots of potential rescuers.

This weekend I won't surf, but I probably will next weekend. I'm loving all the time in the water :)

Oct 4-5, Eastern Japan ALT Soccer Tournament

At the beginning of October, the Saitama JETs participated in a soccer tournament in Nagano. This is the same tournament as last year. We had two teams: a boys team, and a girls team. This year was a little different because I was in charge of organizing our teams this year. Those who know me, probably know that I'm not an organizer, or even organized, but due to my passion for the game and senior status (and for lack of any volunteers), I was asked to do it. Organizing is much different than simply paying your money and going, but in the end everything worked out, so I'm relieved. 

On Friday Oct. 3, most of the team headed up to Nagano on the Shinkansen. It's really fun to travel together on the Shinkansen. Everyone buys snacks and drinks and it's a relaxing time. The funny thing is, as a group if foreigners, we are either very annoying or very scary, as Japanese people move away (if they can) when we sit by them. It's called the foreign bubble. It even happens to foreigners travelling alone on the trains. For example, if I sit down on the train and there is a spot next to me open, usually no one will sit there, even if the entire train is crowded and people are standing. It's very strange and a little unnerving at times. Anyway, on the Friday night, the train to Nagano was quite full, so we stood at the end of the car together, so no Japanese felt compelled to move. However, I'm sure they were scared off going to the bathroom, because that's where we were standing. 

Once we arrived at Ueda station, we were picked up by the hotel shuttle and whisked away to the Hotel Yamabiko. Upon arrival, we went to our rooms, and as usual, we were given the same rooms as previous times. The girls' room is huge, so everyone usually congregates there. After settling in everyone went to have a soak in the Onsen. Onsen are separated by sex, so the girls have their own and the boys theirs. Where the girls have a nice, peaceful, relaxing soak, the boys do something quite different. The stories the boys told about their bonding experience in the Onsen were hilarious, almost enough to entertain the idea of being a fly on the wall. Almost.

After the Onsen, everyone came back to the girls room to talk, chill out, and in the case of the boys, discuss strategy for the games the next day.

The strategy for the boys team. He he. 

Chilling in the girls room.

The next day, we had a full schedule if games. Each team would play 4 games. Unfortunately the girls tournament only had 3 teams, so we played each team twice. The boys had 9 teams, so they had a more interesting albeit challenging tournament. 

The pitch at Sania Sports Park in Sugadaira, Nagano.

The girls had a good day, we won 2, tied 1, and lost 1. The boys had a good day, because they won a game! It was the last game of the day that the boys won 2-0. I also played in the game, because by that time, the boys were getting pretty tired with no subs. 

Playing with the boys. 

Day 1 girls team. 

After a full day of playing games, it was time to go back to the hotel, wash up, dip in the Onsen, eat and then party!

 Having drinks and snacks in the girls room. Private Saiborgs party.

Don't know what's going on here. Something funny.

Everyone had to be up early the next day as the games were starting earlier than usual due to the incoming typhoon. The weather was awful. It was windy and pouring rain. The girls only had one game, the championship game. Unfortunately, we lost, but the refs were ridiculous and we just gave up. People were tired, cold, wet and a little mad about the reffing. So in the end, we lost the game 1-0. We came 2nd place, again. However, we were okay because we got a trophy and chuhis (fruit cocktail drinks). 

They made me drink from the trophy on the bus.

The boys had to play two more games so I played with them as they were tired, wet and cold, just like the girls. We lost both games, but oh well. 

2014 Saitama Saiborgs

We made it back home before the full force of the typhoon. Once again, we took the Shinkansen. This time we were able to sit, resulting in dirty looks by other passengers (they eventually moved - the foreign bubble strikes again). It was a lot of fun, mostly I was relieved because everything went smoothly :)