Forgive me; it’s been a busy month…
So how are things on your end of the terminal? Staying cool?
Well, I managed to go from cold winter in Australia to blazing hot summer (we’ve already had several over 100°days) in Japan in almost the blink of an eye. I think my body is still very confused by the whole thing.
So let’s see if I can sum up the past month (no small task I assure you).
°Australia
As you may have reasonable determined, I was in Australia for ten days last month. It was a great time spent with my close friend Brian, his awesome wife Sarah, and their bath loving baby Alex. I spent the first week with them in Adelaide, not the first stop on most tourists’ lists, but a great place if you have an excuse to go. We spent our days checking out the sites (such as driving to the top of Mt. Lofty), visiting wild life parks (including petting a koala, among other things), dining out at organic pizza restaurants, off-roading in the hills, getting to see an Australian football match (much different from American football, and no, not soccer either), and buying the new Harry Potter book (tell me, what’s up with Cho Chang getting as much face time in the book as she does in the new movie, i.e. practically none?? boo-boo!!). While I was there we also took a two day trip up north to the fabled Clare Valley vineyards. We got to visit many wineries, tasting many different excellent wines, and I was able to pick up a few choice bottles to bring back with me to Japan. After a wonderful week I had to bid my dear friends goodbye, and then caught a plane to Sydney, where I spent two days touring around by myself. Sydney itself was great, lots of things to do and see (including catching Harry Potter in IMAX 3D!!), but definitely paled in comparison to the time I spent with the Coopers. They’re back in Grand Rapids now actually, having finished their time in Australia, so those in the area might even catch a glimpse of them! :o)
click here to see my pictures from OZ
The Wedding
So the week I got back, I was in a wedding for one of my friends from over here. And when I say I was in the wedding, I mean I was actually the best man for this thing. Now before you start wondering how I could be best man in a wedding and not bother to mention it until now, but let me clarify by saying that while I may have been best man, I was in fact best man by default. Ah default, the two sweetest words in the English language. The date for the wedding was a little late in getting decided, and because of both schedules and price, I ended up being the only white guy aside from the groom who could actually make it (even his parents were unable to come); hence the defaultiness of my position. It was a small wedding, sweet, with lots of food, and the added bonus of me being required to give a speech…in Japanese…to Japanese…following after many other eloquent speeches by Japanese… and of course me being best man (by default!) meant that my speech was the big finisher for the whole thing and made for a truly memorable experience (gah!). The upshot was that I got a cool present and a free cake out of the deal, so there you go!
you can see pictures from the wedding here.
The Move
So then to top it all off, the next weekend I moved. My doctor recommended that stress in fact is actually really good for my heart, and so prescribed me this well thought out itinerary. AHHHH!!!!! Aside from the nightmare of packing up everything before the deadline, and then the subsequent unpacking of everything in my new place, the move I’d say went pretty smoothly. Wait a minute, isn’t a move by definition the packing up of things, and then the unpacking of those things in a different location? Never mind then, the move was a one way ticket to insanity ville!!!! hahaha, well maybe not that bad, but still not something I’d like to do on a frequent basis. I’ll have all the ramblings about my new city, school, life etc. in a future post, but for now it’s enough that I’m here. Phew!
Mt. Fuji
After seeing my progress, my doctor felt that I could still be doing more for my heart, so had me go climb a dormant volcano just to make sure. Any would do, as long as it was mammothly large and cumbersome to ascend. I figured I could do worse than that icon of Japan that has inspired painters and poets for centuries. It had been a long month already, but I figured a chance was a chance, and who was I to question a doctor’s orders? On the plus side however, despite putting on excessive amounts of sunscreen, I still managed to get burned in unlikely places. Yay!
I may complain a lot, but Mt. Fuji truly is a beautiful place. I wasn’t able to see sunrise from the summit this time, but there was some really great views, including a fantastic sunset that defied understanding or logic. It was a hard climb though, I had forgotten how annoying it is to try and scale that thing. The trouble is that most of it’s face is covered in ground up pumice rock, which makes it feel much more like trying to climb a sand dune than a mountain. For every step you take, your foot sinks back about a half a step, so it takes bleedin forever to make any progress. The view was beautiful however, as I sad, and despite getting back home at 4 a.m. after having not slept the previous night either, and still expected at work in four hours, it was definitely worth it. Maybe. Well, I’ll think about it…
Anyways, to see the sights without the hassle, please click here!
Well, I think that about sums up my past month in Japan. Once things begin to settle into a more normal routine over the next couple weeks, I should be able to post with more frequency. I’ll be continually posting new pictures over on my flickr site however, so check back there often for new images from me at the very least.
Until next time, stay cool, and take care!