Mt. Tsurumi Dake

Last week, Japan had three national holidays. Monday, May 4th was Greenary Day, Tuesday May 5th was Children's Day and Wednesday May 6th was Substitute Holiday. Thursday and Friday were not official holidays, but many people in Japan take those days off from work , so that they have an entire week of vacation.


I spent most of my time off taking care of random tasks and cleaning and organizing my apartment.



Last Tuesday, however, I did take a day trip to Beppu to climb Mt. Tsurumi with Adam, another teacher. We took a short train ride from Oita City to Beppu and then took a bus to the base of Mt. Tsurumi Dake. The bus ride normally takes 20-25 minutes, but with the holiday resulting in crowded roads and a very packed bus, the trip took about an hour. The road to Mt. Tsurumi Dake winds up the mountain side and on this day there was a long traffic jam. Adam and I left the seats open for the elderly and young children, but we soon realized that standing for this trip would be very uncomfortable. The only way to combat this uneasiness was with a combination of the beautiful scenery outside and of course a 20 minute Tweezer Jam, Palace '97.


Fortunately we arrived at our stop without vomiting, forcing an elderly person out of their seat or peeing ourselves. We made a quick stop at the facilities and starting hiking to the top of Mt. Tsurumi Dake. The woman at the travel information booth in Oita City told me that it took around 2-3 hours to climb to the top. The sign at the trail entrance stated that the climb was 3.5 kilometers and so we figured we could do it in 2 hours.



We started from the trail head and we soon realized that we would be hiking rather sharp inclines for the entire 3.5 kilometers. The lack of heavy backpacks and the scenery among us, however, made the climb enjoyable.


The first kilometer of the trail wound around the base of the mountain and we soon came upon a clearing where we could overlook our bus drop-off point, the city of Beppu and the ocean.








Towards the end of the first meter, we came upon a long set of cement stairs sandwiched between two very large trees. It seemed strange that after hiking a kilometer into the wilderness we would come upon a strange set of stairs.


Within a moments notice, the clear skies became cloudy, fog surrounded us and rain drops began to fall. We contemplated turning back as we had not prepared for rain and feared we would get soaked. Nevertheless, we decided to press on up the stairs.





Halfway up the stairs thoughts that we had ventured off trail crossed my mind. On both sides of stairs we noticed small wooden shelters that I thought at first were overnight sleeping cabins. Looking closer, they appeared to be little temples for mediation. Again, we questioned whether or not we should retreat down the stairs. Adam seemed less concerned than I was. As we neared the top of the stairs, I noticed several grave stones and what appeared to be a small wooden temple.





The temple and surrounding area were uninhabited and seemed rundown. We explored around the site, examined some frightening wooden carvings in the back corner of the temple and looked for the trail.














Suddenly, the front doors of the temple blew open, a small naked man waving a large sword appeared at the entrance and yelled at us in Japanese. Had we encroached on s0me0nes property? Was this some kind of nuthouse? Was this man going to kill us? The man stood still in the doorway, became silent and closed his eyes. I looked at Adam and we both exchanged signs of bewilderment. We slowly backed away from the temple and I noticed a trail head sign to our left. We moved quickly in that direction and starting jogging towards the top Mt. Tsurumi Dake.


About another half a kilometer up the mountain, we started to pass small groups of people coming down the mountain. They weren't breathing nearly as hard as we were and they lacked our intense diaphoresis. They encouraged us, "Ganbatte!" We passed many more groups of people coming down the mountain on our way up. Many people looked surprised to see us. Maybe they were amazed we had survived passing the naked man's temple, or maybe people in Japan only hike down mountains. I didn't know.


The remaining kilometers passed by with more sweating, intermittent heavy breathing, "Konichiwa," "Ganbatte!" and comical conversation about gym pick-up lines. As we neared the top, the trees became smaller and smaller until eventually we reached a grass clearing overlooking our climb, the entire city of Beppu, the ocean and loud music ?!?!














To our left stood a large and slender white building producing music over loud speakers. From the building outstretched a thick wire line which supporter a Gondola between our current location and the place of our bus arrival.





After potato chips and Coca-Cola we took the gondola back down the mountain, returned to Beppu, ate a late lunch, and waited to board the train back to Oita City.




















While waiting, a Japanese man traded hats with a Adam for a short period.








Overall, a great trip!


Much Peace and Love


Jeremy


P.S. Just kidding about the naked man.

I am still Alive!

Luckily, the swine flu has not over taken peoples daily lives here in Japan. After reading the initial US news reports online it seemed as though armageddon would soon be upon us. I feel for those of you working at Reg-ER and hope the apparant hysteria has not increased the normal spring -> summer census dip.

My life here in Oita City, Japan has continued to be exciting and rewarding. Since my last post I started teaching at three junior high schools. During my initial visit to each class I have been giving a personal introduction to the students. I tell them about myself, where I am from (I tell them Athens, Georgia as it is more exciting than most places I have lived 'sorry Hattan and GRAPS'), my family, my hobbies, my work history and of course why I came to Japan. During the presentation I show a lot of pictures.

For the older students, I came up with a Jeopardy style introduction where I have six categories (Jeremy, Family, Famous People, Animals, Food and Sports). The classes get into groups and I ask them questions within each category. They don't get as much information about me and where I am from, but they have a lot more fun, they interact with me and they read, listen to and speak English rather than just listening to a presentation.

I typically keep the presentation for the younger kids much shorter and then let them ask questions. Some classes have asked me questions for 30 minutes which was surprising at first, but it makes sense when considering I maybe the first foreigner they have ever met! Most questions are straight forward (what do you think of Japan, what was the first thing you noticed in Japan, what kind of food do you like), some are personal (are you married, do you have a girlfriend) and some are I find a little strange (what is your favorite flower, how many different kinds of bears are there in America).

Per my contract I am required to teach no more than four classes per day. The school year in Japan began a few weeks ago, so the students have been busy with many beginning of the year activities and requirements. With that in mind, most days I haven't been teaching four classes a day. Which has left me with a lot of free time to study Japanese and talk with the students in between classes.

Primarily, my job as an ALT is to provide international awareness for the students and to engage them in English conversation. Secondly, I am a teacher. So, I guess it is not surprising that I often do not teach four classes a day. I have been focusing my energy on interacting with the students outside of class as much as possible. At my main junior high school, I have joined the basketball team for practice several times. Most students here join a club which they participate in after school. Students are only able to join one club and they participate in that club year round. Which I find unfortunate that they can't be active in up to three sports like I could in high school (fall, winter, spring). Nevertheless, they do become very skilled in one sport as opposed to mediocre in three separate sports.

About two weeks ago, many schools went on an excursion. The students and several teachers hike from their school to a field where they play team games, give presentations (I can't understand Japanese, so any time someone gets up in front of a group of people with a megaphone, I just assume it is some kind of presentation) and eat a picnic lunch. The following pictures are of an excursion I went on with Hetsugi Junior High School.

Outside of work I have been having fun and taking care of business. I have been busy buying things for my apartment (desk, desk chair, bookshelf), going to the grocery store, getting my clothes dry cleaned, taking care of financial stuff. I guess the same kind of stuff I would be doing back in the states.

There are several bar districts here in Oita City, so I have been out a few times on the weekends. Since the school year just started, schools have been having their beginning of the year parties (en-kie). The teachers and administrators meet up downtown and go to an all you can eat and drink celebration to kick off the new school year. I have been to two and they are a lot of fun. All you drink really opens the teachers/administrators up to engaging in English conversation.

Other than that I have spending time going out to eat with the other English teachers. I will soon post pictures and info on some of favorite places to eat in Oita.

I hope this post finds you all in good health and good spirits.

I must send out a Special Congratulations! to my Mom and David, who are getting married this weekend. I love you both and wish you the very best.

Much Peace and Love.

Jeremy