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The End of the Beginning of the End

As it is wont to do, time marches onward. 30 days until departure have become 27, and those three days slipped through my fingers like so much fine sand. I went to work, I said some goodbyes, but I feel like I should be having a party every day, celebrating the things I love about Japan, running all over the island, but instead it has been rainy, I have done some laundry, cooked dinner, lounged around with my cat, and tried to make arrangements to mail stuff home. I have just one more day of school, and maybe then the parties will start. For now, sitting at home, listening to the Goldberg Variations mixed with the sound of rain outside, smelling the sea and the warm straw smell of my tatami mats, and writing - I can think of worse ways to spend an evening.

Swimming

Some time last week, maybe Thursday afternoon, I got home and instead of going back to my apartment I kept scootering right out to where Mori skates. When I got there, I found a group of my junior high school students, but no Mori. I asked the kids where he was and they told me he had just gone out swimming. I looked out onto the water and saw a tiny boat with four or five people in it heading out, and I wasted no time in calling Mori and telling him to come back, because I wanted to go swimming too. I was changed and back at the dock before he even got in, and so I jumped into the boat and we headed back out.


We got to a spot where Mori decided it was good for swimming, and he dropped the anchor. Everyone dove in, and it was wonderful. I don't have any pictures of that, obviously, but it was delightful - the water was cool, but the air was hot and the sun was shining. We swam around for a bit, jumped off the boat, and then headed back in.


Hosing off and drying off in front of Fishing Nakamura - Mori's family fish store.


At some point I started pushing a wheelbarrow around - it seemed like a good idea at the time.

After swimming Mori had to go fishing, so I headed home. It was too nice out to just sit around, so I went out to try and catch the sunset on my scooter.


This is one of my favorite spots on the road out of Osaki, and two of my students were crossing the street after catching bugs.

I headed up the mountain and stopped for a remarkably beautiful view. As I looked at it through the viewfinder, I realized I had taken this exact picture before, almost a full year ago. It's good to see that if anything, it has only gotten better with time.



As I kept stopping to take pictures on the way, about halfway up I realized the sun was going to set before I even got to the top. I got on the scooter and proceeded to recklessly head up. I was riding with my sunglasses on, and there are a few spots where you pass through thick bamboo forests, and it was just pitch black to me. I kept going towards the light at the end, hoping there weren't and new giant potholes in the way. I got to the top and practically kicked the back wheel into the air stopping, and ran up to the observation deck. My efforts were rewarded.




So this picture. I went around the side of the mountain to get a better view of the sunset, except that you'll notice that the sun has already set. That is because the trail that is usually clear was essentially undistinguishable from the rest of the mountainside, except that under the four feet of underbrush, there were steep wooden steps. I half fell down these steps, holding my camera up above the bushes, and then missed my turn onto the loose gravel slope that is so good for watching the sunset. I missed the turn, because the turn had washed away in the recent rains, so I tried to climb over and nearly ended up falling down the mountain. I slid quite a ways on my ass, then had to climb back up, grabbing onto trees and such to haul myself up, and finally - covered in cuts and scratches - I took this picture.

Heading back down was less eventful, I didn't even die once. Coming back to the water, I saw something I had never seen before. The clouds and sun, long below the horizon, were casting shadows up into the night sky. It was hard to photograph but really cool to see.


I sat and watched boats come in while a lightning storm flickered in that big cloud on the right.



Last Day at Higashino

So another day, another farewell to a school packed with cute kids. I am running low on time, so I am not going to write much. Higashino was one of my least favorite schools all year, but on the last day the kids were great, the lessons went well, and I got some nice pictures.




The group pictures are usually not my favorite, but sometimes they just come out perfectly. I think this is one of those cases.

Some of my kids:






Maho - she wins the "cutest kid at Higashino prize"


Maho again.

And that was about it. We said our goodbyes, I gave a little speech in Japanese, and then I headed home as everyone came out to wave goodbye.

A Trip to Kui-cho

So last thing before I crash. Higashino was Friday, that night I went to Kui to visit Theresa - Theresa is a JET from Philly who is in a little mountain town near Mihara called Kui. We got dinner in Fukuyama, and then headed back to Kui as there was no ferry back to the island at night.


By the ferry port - a family of work boats. There was an even bigger one on the left.


To get to Mihara, one can take the Shinkansen of ferries - the Hayabusa fast ferry. This thing is awesome, and big! It carries up to 100 people at 32 knots, using two big engines and thrusters in the front. Sitting in the seat as it accelerates, you are pressed into your seat, a little bit like an airplane taking off.

Pictures from the ferry:


That is a funny looking boat. From my time on the Maritime college boat, and the lectures they gave, I know it is a car transport, carrying 5,000 Japanese cars to parts unknown. Mazda has their main factory in Hiroshima, so that's probably what this is.


In case anyone had forgotten, I live in a tropical island paradise... for 27 more days.

We passed awfully close to the Koyo shipyards. Giant cranes and giant tools making giant ships.




One of the half-finished giant ships. They were making five ships, all for MOL - you can see another one on the right.

After a lovely dinner and a lovely night of sleep in Theresa's impressively air-conditioned apartment, we had a day to kill and see Kui. Kui is a tiny town (about 5,000 people) stuck up in between some mountains. It's a little town in Hiroshima-ken, much like Osaki, but the feeling is very different since it's on the mainland. I couldn't tell you exactly why, but it just feels different. More space, more fields, longer and straighter roads - it feels more rural. Also, you could potentially get lost on the roads - a new experience for me, hemmed in as I am by water. Theresa and I did our best to get lost, and saw some cool things in the process.




Two temples around Kui. The first is in the town, the other is about five minutes out.




What's wild about this to me is that these aren't destinations. Nobody knows about these places other than the people who live around them, but they are beautiful and old and right in the middle of some really beautiful scenery.


The entrance.


Looking back in.


We don't quite have vistas like this on the island.



And that was my trip. Heading back through Mihara, I passed this restaurant that I had seen before, and every time I see it I think it looks very American. What do you think?

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posted by Anonymous Anonymous at 4:00 AM

Not an ounce of fat on that Brooklyn boy, push that wheelbarrow boy    



posted by Blogger MertMengelmier at 11:22 PM

Could have done without seeing you shirtless with my morning coffee, but it will have to do. Like looking at a more cut version of Vin Diesel.    



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