Hidatakayama Part 2

The second day we went to Shirakawago. It's a preserved old Japanese village. It was quite fun. It's fun to imagine what life would have been like it a village like that. Here is a quite long video that you can watch to see some of the things that were there. If you can get over the motion sickness my shakey-cam will induce, you may find some interesting things there.



In retrospect, I think we may have just walked in the tool shed in the beginning. We couldn't really tell if it was part the the village, or where the hedge trimmer keeps his stuff. However, the bell was authentic, and sounded really cool. And I hope Gabi's wish comes true!

The whole trip was a very fun time with the summer team. There was more, but I'll spare you the pictures of old houses and buildings. Instead here is a completely unrelated video from the trip!

The greatest Engrish poster ever!

This picture speaks for itself...



Want to buy some ice cream and any?

Hidatakayama Part 1

The past few weeks have been jam packed, as it was the end of the summer workers time here in Japan, and the arrival of my parents. There is a lot of stuff to talk about, but I'll tackle them one at a time.

Hidatakayama was a very fun trip with the summer team. Nagaisan has dubbed it "little Kyoto" as it has that traditional Japanese feeling without having to travel forever to actual Kyoto. It was the first time since I have been in Japan (since October 2007) that I actually did something touristy. I had only been in Shizuoka (the opposite of touristy) and perhaps some trips with students, but never to famous places or somewhere you would see in tour guide. Hidatakayama is just that, and was very fun. I recommend it if you come to Japan, although you'd probably just go to Kyoto... Anyway, I could talk about it, but I'll let the pictures speak for themselves.


And I discovered the Triforce! Now I can save Princess Zelda!

Going away

I'm about to leave for Hidatakayama. So, I'll be away for three days. The next two weeks is booked solid starting now, so let's hope I can keep it together. I'll tell you all about it when I get back!

The summer workers have arrived!

"Summer workers" refers to the team of people that come and help BEST club each summer. Why that is the name, I don't know, but they do work hard. I was a summer worker in 2005, and is the experience that launched my decision to return to Japan. Maybe some of the smiling faces in that photo will make the same decision?

They have actually been here since June, and account for most of my time spent recently. Summer workers are the nucleus of summertime events, and it's been great to have other Americans around for fellowship. To be honest, I had forgotten what it was like to actually be around many native speakers. In a world where I am slowly becoming more Japanese, it is nice to be pulled back to the American side of things.


Going places with 10 other Americans can easily become a circus here in Japan, especially when we are all riding bikes in a line down the street, but, there are no complaints here. I've had nothing but a great time hanging out with the summer workers and students. Going places with them has even encouraged my Japanese, as usually I am the one that has to talk to someone wherever we go, since they can not speak Japanese. Well, neither can I, but I guess it's good enough... ^_^

They will be here until August 7th. That time is approaching soon, so I hope to enjoy the time we have left together.

Freshman camp

There have been quite a few things that I haven't been able to talk about recently, so I'm going to play catch up.


Freshman camp is one of the bigger events this summer. This is the first large event for freshman, and it is a bonding experience for both students to students, but also students to BEST club. This is one the first times where freshman get to be involved in activities with upper classmen and get to really meet all the members of BEST.

It was quite fun, and it marks a great milestone in my relationships with students. In BEST club, it has become a tradition for the each grade class to have matching sports jerseys with their names on the back. This way when everyone plays sports, you can see who is in what class. Well, in the middle of the camp, both Mandy and I were both surprised by the sophomore class with matching sophomore class jerseys! It's hard to express the meaning that is behind a gift like that, but it's quite incredible. The current sophomore class is who we are the closest with, and I almost cried at the thought that they wanted to include us as a sophomore! It's a big deal! Anyway, enough sappynesss, here are some pictures.

Argentina colors. And I think they picked number 6, because that is the month of my birthday.

In some ways, I feel like "belonging" is one of the highest values in Japanese culture, (where as in America "independence" is higher) so to be invited to 'belong' is a very, very strong sentiment.

...ok, ok, I'm going to stop, or I may cry again...

I'm still here ^_^

Well, vacation is coming up in a few weeks, which will be great, because I've been working really hard recently. Maybe too hard. I've been having trouble getting some personal time into my schedule.

I know it's been a while, but my schedule has been overflowing with stuffs. Just as a quick rundown, the summer team has been here since August, Aileen has finished her mid-term and has returned to America, Brian VanZante and his family has returned to America to visit family, among other things, my junior highschool classes are coming to an end, I have my final BEST club English class this week, I have taken and failed my Japanese drivers test three times, and my parents are visiting Japan next month.

Yikes!