Bondai

(PICTURE: The start of the trail.)

(PICTURE: The end of the trail.)


Once and a while I get a tad behind on posting things. This is one of those times. A few weeks ago Paula and I had a day off and decided to hike Bondai mountain. The hike was absolutely gorgeous. There is something about the forests in Japan that are like nowhere else I've ever been. Between the trees, the changing foliage and the way light trickles through the canopy, the forests appear almost mystical. I read a Murakami book last year called, "Kafka on the Shore." In the book one of the characters continually wanders through a dark forest despite warnings that he could easily lose himself in it and never make it back. If it wasn't for the well-marked path, I could see that happening quite often out here.

As with most hikes, the payoff at Bondai was at the top. The view was gorgeous.

Happy Birthday, Katie!

(PICTURE: Katie waiting for the bullet train. The only thing quicker than the Shinkansen is how fast one's 30th birthday comes after turning 29.)

Today is my coworker/friend/next-door-neighbor Katie's 29th birthday. Last night I went out and bought her some socks that happen to be really funny and warm. It is getting cold here and the floors in our apartments are sort of freezing. Katie also likes leg warmer type stuff so I thought they were a good gift.

After buying the gift I went to the gym. At the gym I bumped into one of Katie's students and told him that I had just bought Katie a birthday gift since her birthday was the next day. The student was surprised and asked what I bought her. I told him and then he said to me, "That's a good gift. I'm gonna go buy her socks too after the gym." I couldn't believe that kid was gonna steal my gift so I told him to just buy chocolates. I thought I trumped him until he showed up today with a beautiful scarf.

Japan Is Not An Island

I was having a conversation with two students today and learned an interesting -- and very disputable -- fact. Apparently Japan is not an island.

One of my students is from a very small island off the southeast coast of the main land. I was asking him questions about his island and he told me it was the third or fifth largest island in Japan. I was shocked because he had just told me that there are only about 50,000 people living on his island. I then asked him, which islands are bigger. He rattled off two random islands and I said, "What about Hokkaido?" not even thinking about the island we were having our class on. Both students in my classroom at the time laughed at me and said, "Hokkaido is not an island!" I said, "Really? Is it attached to the main island?" They said it wasn't. I asked if it was surrounded by water. They said it was. I said, "So its an island." And well, they disagreed.

Am I crazy or is Japan not considered an island? Is Australia considered an Island? Is New Zealand considered an island? Is Iceland considered an island? I would say that I have a little island fever these days but if I'm not on an island then maybe I just have a fever (hit the symbol sound for my bad joke).

Crickets

(PICTURE: A jar of marinated crickets.)

I've said it before and I'll say it again: You can take the boy out of Fear Factor, but you can't take Fear Factor out of the boy.

As I've mentioned once or twice, I worked for the television show Fear Factor for a number of years. Every once in a while the show would pay me $100 to taste test something revolting. Well, old habits are hard to break. As class was ending on Friday I heard Katie next door talking with her students about crickets. One of her student's mother had marinated a jar full of crickets and the student had brought them in for Katie to try. I walked into the classroom, approached the table and was the first one to gobble one down. Unlike the stuff I would eat at Fear Factor, the crickets were actually delicious.

(PICTURE: The cricket is in my hands and soon to be in my belly.)

Katie -- after bugging out for a few seconds -- eventually ate a cricket too. Paula then walked into the room and matched my bravery as she ate a cricket without flinching.


(PICTURE: Katie in her moments up to eating her snack.)

Super Flu

I got an email the other day from the company I work for saying that a couple of students had "Super Flu." Super Flu is the rough translation for Swine Flue/H1N1; at least that is what my company is calling it.

There have been a few students out sick recently and an escalating rate of kids wearing masks. For Halloween two weeks ago we had a party and we had all of the students decorate their own surgical masks to wear as costumes. Mine was straight to the point...

Parking

If you look at this not-so-great picture I took you'll notice something. Take a moment and see if you can figure it out....

Okay, time's up. All of the cars are parked facing outward. To me, this is just one of those little things that makes Japan so very different than Vietnam. In Vietnam you park wherever and however you can.

In the states we usually park our cars in head first. We pull up to a spot and go right into it. In Japan, it is never that quick. If you stand around a parking lot you can always watch people lining up their car to fit in a spot perfectly. I live around the corner from a big shopping area with a huge parking lot. There are always tons of spots available yet everyone takes their time making sure they are parked as perfectly as if they work at a car dealership.

I can guarantee you that if I had a car in Japan I would be the only one pulling in head first.

Platte, South Dakota

As some of you may have noticed on Thursday, my mother made a blog comment that she was going to email the Governor of South Dakota since that was the only state which had never read my blog. I thought she was kidding but, well, she emailed the Governor. Perhaps it is just a coincidence but...

...someone from Platte, South Dakota logged on the site on Thursday! Thank you random kind stranger from Platte. With your log in, Ahoy Hanoi has now been read in all 50 states!!!

And they said it couldn't be done.