Hiking Pictures!!

At the end of October, Shimon, Kato (Shimon's good friend), and I went hiking. At one time there was a well-marked and well-maintained trail. That was at least 10 years or more ago. It was an adventure! To show just how much an adventure it was... here are the pics. :-)

This was just starting out. Notice how nice it looks. A great day for a hike!

Oh wait, there's a river. The river is quite clear and runs pretty quickly.

Yup, we have to cross the river! Here are the guys preparing a log bridge for our eventual crossing. The sad thing about this particular crossing is that we had gotten a bit "lost" and were on the wrong part of the trail.

Really the scenery was quite nice. Even if it was a bit overcast.

 Here's another river crossing. How come it looks so easy in the picture?? It was a lot more difficult than this shot would make it seem. :-)

Lunch time!! Instant ramen (yup, cup o' noodles folks!!) and rice with some chocolate for dessert! Gotta love it.

Not sure when this shot was taken, but I really like how much green there is!

Getting ready again after the rain started. Blah! Not a fan of hiking and crossing rivers in the rain!

Getting closer to the waterfall (which is the final destination!).

This is a rather unclear shot of the waterfall, but this is as far as I went. What with the rain and the slippery conditions Shimon didn't want me to get hurt, so I waited for the guys at the bottom. To be fair, I was tired and didn't mind waiting.

This is what the guys got to see. Pretty cool really!

Victory!! We finally made the waterfall and needed a victory picture!! Shimon's in the middle, Kato in the red, and me.

Rushing on the way back, I climbed over a log and my momentum landed me just like this. Haha!

We only made it back just before dark. On our way back we actually ran into some people who were lost... and totally unprepared for the weather we were hiking in.... and they didn't have a proper map. So, we helped them find the way back and kept thinking - man they are really silly to come out on a day like to day so unprepared!

I'm not sure I'll volunteer for this hike again right away, but I think I might like to do it sometime in the future. When it's a bit warmer!

hope you enjoy the pictures!

Saturdays!

(Beware: This is a bit of a rant!)

Back sometime in March or April, I wrote about having to work on Saturdays and how I wasn't looking forward to it. Some people commented that I should give it a chance as having Monday off is kind of a good trade sometimes. I'd like to say that my initial misgivings have been proven completely correct.

My Saturday routine: wake up at 6am, leave house by 6:25. Catch a 6:45 train. Ride train (primarily standing) for about 1 hour and 25 minutes. Walk to the convenience store and buy breakfast (usually bready thing, veggie juice and a small energy drink). Complete the walk to school. Arrive at 8ish. Eat breakfast. Plan lesson and make printouts for the lesson. Teach from 10 until noon. Eat lunch (bought at now open grocery store). Plan lesson for next class. Teach from 1:30-3:20. After class, try to sneak out since there is no more work OR be forced to stay until 5pm.

So, it may sound like I'm making a big deal out of nothing. The main problem is that in Japan there are many 3 day weekends built into the work calendar. I haven't had a 3-day weekend since I started working. I haven't even had a 2 day weekend because I teach a night class at a university on Mondays and the Monday holidays during the year don't count for my class. When you have no three day weekends or even very many two day weekends, it's awfully hard to plan a nice weekend away. With friends. With your boyfriend. With anyone! Recharging my "batteries" is nearly impossible because there just isn't the time.

I just needed to get all that off my chest! I only have a few more months (until March) of this schedule. I will be SO ready to be done with it when the time comes!!

Hope everyone else is having a lovely day!