A Real Vacation

This past weekend was the July three-day. It happens every year and I can't for the life of me remember what we did last year or even the year before... Probably some kind of endtimes bender to prepare for the fact that early leavers leave like... well too soon to think about.

But for this July three-day, I was on the ball months in advance. I figured it would be a big weekend for the folks at HappyRaft and really wanted to get in that river in July, not September, because my only other experience there was awesome saving the one factor of the (relative) cold.

That part of Shikoku, down by the Oboke and Koboke, near the Yoshino River, right about the smack dab middle of the island, is unlike any place I've ever seen before. I went white water rafting for the first time in Tennessee, and the second time in Shikoku, and I liked Shikoku way better. It may be because I was more comfortable then (with the idea of rafting), or ready to see the landscape around me with more awe-infused eyes... Or it may have been that the whole atmosphere was different, the cliffs and the guides from Japan, Australia, and New Zealand, the fellow boat-mates from Japan. Rafting is a team effort and it helps to have a good team. Japanese folks are pretty good at teamwork, you know?

Everyone in that valley that we encountered seemed relaxed and laid back. The homes and businesses were almost all built clinging to the sides of the mountains, as there was no real flat valley area to speak of. Going to the grocery store requires you to just take what is available (which may not be enough meat for your group for that night) because it's a little mom n' pop place. Everything down there feels older, most lost somehow, like if you went down there without a cell phone, no one would ever find you again.

It's perfect for a vacation. Back  home, there's an apartment to sort, sift, pack, and clean. There are Last Lessons to conduct and all kinds of paperwork to begin or continue or finish. There are speeches to think about and write, there are books to read and just.. a lot of stuff to do. Even more (haha, yeah) than normal. But when you're in the middle of Shikoku, where it takes twenty minutes to zig-zag your way up to whatever small cabin you happen to inhabit, when you're under the sun on the turquoise water, when you're neck deep in the ice cold canyon creek.. it's like all that stuff doesn't exist. When we're cooking dinner in our cabin, drinking our beers, it's like.. you forget that this is the last weekend we're going to do this kind of thing together, maybe ever. It's like you're so far away that nothing matters.

So you get back, and yeah it's all still there. It's all still waiting for you. The endtimes are still upon us. And now you're three days closer to the deadline, and no closer to done. And all you may have to show for it is a sunburn, a digicard full of photos, and the memory of mountains vastly different from these, a valley much steeper and deeper and wilder than this one full of mundane Shire-like idyll.

But that's kind of what vacation is.

Tales from the road, Day 1:

All five of us in our massive van.

Carl expresses his feelings about our first stop: the Sapporo Winery Okayama

Sam has the driver sticker despite his position in the backseat.

The long bridge

Last minute decision to stop at Kompirasan, home of one of the biggest ships/seafaring shrines 

The approach to Kompirasan

We note that everyone coming down from this shrine looks like they have been on a log flume. We hope there is a log flume but expectations are low.

A very cute dog.

Tales from the River, Day 2:

Morning view from our Wada Hideaway

Way better than a log flume.

This is not the highest rock jump

THIS is the highest rock jump.

This is what we look like after

Tales from the canyon, Day 3:

The way home

Complete with little origami on the dash that we picked up at some tollbooth or other

And this is how we all feel at the end.

The View from Friday, or Because shit is worth doin’.

Well, it’s Friday again, and you know what that means!

Actually, with the way the end of the school year is changing all the schedules, it does not necessarily mean anything at all.

But, it’s bright and pretty warm, so the window is open. I’m dressed down in my KU fan gear because of NCAA stuff happening far away (Vandy.. I heard the tales.. I am saddened). I spent the first part of the morning cleaning my desk, wiping off all the dust and organizing the binders. The sum total effect is it feels like a college weekend, right now. In which I would be at my desk a lot, but pleasantly so.

I didn’t have any classes to teach today, and yesterday’s intro to a third of the incoming 6th graders (I’m heretofore assigning animals to the classes to differentiate them so I don’t have to keep saying ‘current whatever-years, about to be nantoka-years’), or FROGS class, went really well. Awesome-sensei had approached my desk on Wednesday to ask if I would teach English with him to elementary students. For just an instant I thought he was personally informing me that he had been transferred to one of my elementary schools in the end-of-year teacher swap, but I soon realized he meant just the one class on Thursday afternoon.

Which I planned and prepped and which went off more or less without a hitch..! I am absolutely floored by his ability to interact with a class, somehow simultaneously joking with them and putting them at ease, and not taking any crap from them, expecting nothing lower than his exacting standard. Although Awesome-sensei has been difficult for me to work with at times, doing this class with him reminded me that his nickname comes from somewhere.

But I’d been looking forward to today for a long time. My first class-free day, without plans for the next day or even next week? Sounds like time to clean my desk! And catch up on a lot of things I had put off.

One of those was “look into PEPY riiiide”.. because one day I innocently inquired when and where the Hyogo-ken charity bike event would be held, if you please, though I have little biking experience or knowhow, and ended up being asked if I wouldn’t like to organize it myself!

As of yesterday I was thinking, oh yeah right. And honestly, I don’t think I could do it by myself. My initial reaction upon reading a bit more about the event and thinking about doing it was to ask Big Brother JET if he wanted to co-lead with me, but that makes little to no sense, because he has a marathon on the weekend the ride is supposed to take place.

So I asked The Illustrator JET what he knew about it, since I knew he biked to Himeji from time to time, and Himeji would be a lovely city in which to hold this ride… were it to occur.

But he immediately was able to tell me about last year’s ride, in which he was a participant, and ways he thought we might be able to schedule and plan it. I know very little about Himeji and bike riding, but I’m more than willing to do some of the legwork. I’m not very good at research, but I am good at planning when I put my mind to it. Plus I’m at the stage of my Japanese language learning experience where I see trying to make bike rental reservations as a fun, potentially impossible challenge and not an impossible task. It’s been a while since I put together a group event, and on this sunny Friday afternoon, doing it seems like a very good thing.

I intend to evaluate the route and plan as we formulate it as though it were my personal ambitious afternoon.. Where would I want to stop, what would I want to see or visit? This is probably not a bad idea, since I personally am not in super-biking-shape, but I am eager to get out there and try it. All of this is going down (weather permitting) April 17th, maybe with room to push back a day or a week for weather reasons. I’ll write about it more as it comes together. Today’s brainstorm mostly only washed out a “yeah, let’s do this,” and notions of beginning near the station where there is a handily located bike rental place, and talk of Shosha-zan around lunchtime.

In other news, my weekend-event schedule was changed without warning yesterday when my Kyoto-sensei informed me that the Okayama enkai to which I so looked forward was not any longer an Okayama enkai, but a Shingu enkai. And rather than an overnight stay (see: mental visions of carousing and karaoke late into the night, inexplicable images of poker games in a smoky room), the women are all leaving that evening. And I was like, where the hell is Shingu? Who is this bag?! What about my plans to spend the rest of the weekend in Okayama City’s environs?

But the view from this Friday is? It’s going to be great anyway.

Coming weekends:

3/19 – Three day weekend Tokyooo!
3/26 – Non-Okayama enkai and subsequent Himeji-area/Shiso weekend
4/2 – Okinawaaaaaa (from the 1st to the 5th)
4/9 - (take a deep breath)
4/17 – PEPY riiiide!
4/24 – Pepy uberrain date; 25th Hanshin Tigers baseball if I can get off the waiting list and onto the ticketholders list…
4/28 – leave for Hong Kong, return 5/4.

Kurashiki

Since Naked Man Festival happened in Okayama City, we were close enough to visit the cool town MiriJET was always talking about going to visit: Kurashiki.

This city also appears in my travel book, so I read a little about it before going. Because no one could explain to me the draw of Kurashiki.

Turns out, it’s all in the charm. Which you can’t explain so well, you just have to see it.

We didn’t spend as much time in the city strolling area as we did in the temple area on the hill up above it.

Is this called a Shisa? I forget. Anyway, this one is cool.

DaneJET explained that if you toss a rock up on top of the tori, you get your wish. So, we tried until we got it. The gods admire persistence, too.

You may not know this, but I love important rocks. I also love the way Japan treats them.

He explains that, as in the other case, if you can float a coin on the water, you get something nice.. good luck, or your wish granted, etc.

He did it!

Then I did too. (photo by Erik)

A peaceful spot for the dead.

Making udon. (photo by Erik)

In addition to hanging out in this sweet town, we are also models in peaceful bamboo forests. This is the coolest fence ever. (photo by Erik)

I could never be a photographer. My one edict is "look pensive."