Mt.Fuji Climb

An old Japanese proverb says: “He who does not climb Mt.Fuji is a fool, but he who climbs Mt.Fuji twice is an even bigger fool.”  I would definitely have to agree with this little proverb because there is no way in hek that my body will ever go up that volcano again.  Definitely worth it, but once was enough for me.  :)

Beginning of the trek was super foggy....

And then there was light  :)

Taking a little break at a hut along the way..

 
Had I known Mt. Fuji was still an active volcano, maybe I would have thought twice about climbing the thing.  For some reason (probably due to my lack of research) I thought it was a dormant volcano.  But either way, since you are reading this blog, I think you can gather that there were no eruptions while I was climbing....thank God. :)

Climbing Mt. Fuji was both easier and more difficult than I thought it would be.  It wasn't super strenuous, but it also wasn't super easy if you know what I'm saying.  Great description hey?  :)

Looking down on part of the trail

I was kind of obsessed with the clouds

I spent the night in a mountain hut almost on the top of Mt. Fuji at 3450 meters.  I think this was the highest altitude that I've ever slept at and I could definitely tell by the way my head was feeling.  The couple of people that I saw who got altitude sickness and the oxygen machine that was being used by a bunch of people in my hut didn't freak me out at all (that was sarcasm.) 

  

Happy to be at my mountain hut for the night :)

Staying at this mountain hut was officially the most people I have ever shared an accommodation with.  Let me first start by saying that this hut wasn't big by any means.  Seriously. Not big. At. All.  And how many people do you think they squeezed into that place?! 150! I now know what it's like to feel like a sardine.  I'm usually not a claustrophobic person, but when I found out that I was sharing a blanket with 7 other people and would be spooning the Japanese stranger next to me, I think my heart stopped for a split second.  

My sardine bed

 

Not crowded at all

I slept about a wink the entire night...and by the entire night I mean I didn't sleep.  Everyone tried to go to bed around 9pm but I seriously doubt anyone got any sleep.  I mean how could you when there were a billion people snoring, you were sharing a blanket with 6 other strangers, and you had the amount of space about the width of a ruler?  The answer is you can't.  :)
People started "waking up" around 1am to start hiking in order to make it up to the summit before sunrise.   Thank God for my headlamp otherwise pretty sure I probably would have had a bunch of falls.  Finally made it to the top around 4:30am and watching the sunrise from above the clouds was pretty nice.  :)

Going down the volcano was NOT EASY...but the views were pretty darn spectacular.  When I finally got home, I felt like I get hit by a tornado.  The following 5-6 days I spent recovering from this nice little climb....so needless to say, Mt.Fuji kicked my butt.  :)

Bonus Question:  How do you know that you and everybody else on the bus back to Tokyo are exhausted?   

Answer:  When u don't even realize that the girl next to you is sleeping on ur shoulder...until you finally wake up.  :)

Why I Love Life...in Japan :)

Doing the "I Love Life" project with my Japanese students was a bit different than the last time I did it with the children in Nepal.  I had to have the Japanese translation of "I Love Life" so the students could understand what they were writing about.  Many of their answers included their families, food, sports and flowers.

When I did this project in Nepal, the children wrote in complete sentences and even wrote full paragraphs on their own about why they loved their life.  Because of the difference in English ability, the Japanese students here wrote one word answers....which was still of course great.  I definitely had to assist them quite a bit but I guess as a teacher, that's my job, right?  :)  I think overall they enjoyed this little project.  :)

Aoi

Hika and Nanako

Junna

Saki's Reason :)

Junna's Reason

Rin

Ria

Keisuke

Kuuta

A Taste of Taiwan

I found out that going to Taiwan for a "vaca-shan" meant that I now need a vacation from my vacation.  :) I guess maybe it was because Core and I decided to pretty much exhaust ourselves in the first three days by walking around and exploring for about 15 hours every day in the hottest heat of my life. Note to self:  Don't do that again. We were averaging walking about 13 miles/day...and in 90-degree weather - that was not smart.  Maybe that's why we drank the famous Taiwanese bubble teas everyday. They are SO GOOD. Either way, I discovered that I don't do very well in the heat.  :)

Yangmingshan National Park

Fumaroles from all the post-volcanic activity

Mt. Qixingshan

Taipei, which was once known as the ugly duckling of East Asia, is now a vibrant, bustling city with scooters, Chinese-influenced temples, and street food galore...and might I add CLEAN street food....at least for the most part.
It's easy to eat like a queen here....the street food is delicious, quick and cheap! There are awesome night markets all over the cities of Taiwan. Some are busier than others and they all offer a huge variety of different kinds of dishes. The places right alongside the harbor had a crazy amount of seafood stalls, there were dumplings galore, and of course pig intestines and stuff like that.  And no, for the record we did not eat any disgusting brains, intestines or anything that looked or sounded ridiculously gross. We did, however, try the stinky tofu. And for some odd reason, I kind of liked it. Someone else on the other hand (no names mentioned) literally almost threw-up. But I will be honest...this stuff seriously smells terrible!

Where are all the cars?

Guandu temple

No,  I was not scared.

Yes, she ate it ALL.

August in Taiwan is typhoon season and sure enough there was a pretty big typhoon that struck the island while we were there. Lucky for us we were safe in a small lake town called Sun Moon Lake.  The day the typhoon came was considered a typhoon holiday so almost everything was closed. All buses, trains, and planes were cancelled for the day. The only thing for us to do was to go back and forth between the Family Mart and 7-11 convenience stores to buy food and hang out. But let me tell you, these were definitely the places to be during a typhoon holiday....Thank God they were open!

While the typhoon was happening....

We were enjoying tea-soaked eggs

And relaxing in our lovely little dorm.  :)

We stopped in the Southern part of the island for a few nights in a city called Kaohsiung. The city had a much slower pace than that of Taipei but had some pretty awesome places to visit. The Buddha Memorial hall, Lotus Pond, art district, and tiny little island off the coast were just a few we had time for.  :)

These weren't actually steps....we were only pretending

Buddha Memorial Hall

Lotus Pond

Tiger and Dragon Pagodas

While we were in Hualien on the east coast we decided to take a tour to check out all the sites. Usually we don't do tours but this was one of the best ways to see the coastline as it's lacking in good public transport. Our "tour"actually turned out to be private with our own cab driver since no one else signed up, which was amazing. And funny enough, we ran into the Taiwanese news station who wanted to interview us and ask us why we were taking a cab down the coastline. They are trying to get the government to get a better public transportation system down the east coast. Hopefully we were able to help...although our mandarin isn't quite up to par. :)

Of course we're speaking Mandarin

Coastline :)

On our last Saturday night, we went up to a harbor city called Keelung for what is known as the Keelung Mid-Summer Ghost Festival.  It is one of the biggest sacrificial ceremonies in Taiwan and dates back to 1851. "It is believed that spirits of the dead are released from their realm, or hell,  during this time in order to return to the world of the living. The festival is created to pray for peace and pay homage to ancestors with a variety of activities, such as the offering of sacrifices and water lantern releasing. The practices of offering sacrifices is to please the souls of the dead with flowers, fruits, and delicacies. "

Ghost Festival

Two weeks in Taiwan was definitely enough time to get a good taste of the country and eat enough dumplings to last a lifetime. After spending our last night sleeping in the airport.....back to Japan we go!  :)

Find Core

A Japanese Kind of Summer

Like many cities across the world, summer is a time for many awesome festivals and Japan does not fall short on that list.  To sum up the festivals (matsuris) that I've been to so far, they consist of a lot of street food, Japanese dancing, floats, drums and booze. Not too shabby. :)

Here are a few pics from the Narita Festival....

Everyone loved the airplane bird...man?  not sure

so. cute.

 The best festival of all, of course was the one that was held LITERALLY right outside my front door step.  Like. literally.   I mean how can you beat being able to walk to and from your house in a matter of two minutes to get a cold beer out of your fridge?  The answer is you can't.  Which is why this festival was awesome.

Us with our favorite little man...and HE initiated the peace sign!

work it boys

One of my students and her mom wanted to go to the festival with us for a bit.... little did we know they would be bringing over yukatas for us to wear.  A yukata is a Japanese dress similar to a kimono. It's not as formal though and it's made of polyester rather than silk which is what is used for a kimono.  Sara's mom put the yukatas on us....in a very methodical way.  It's not like you just slip these things on, that's for darn sure.
Sidenote:  Wearing a yukata on a hot summer night does NOT help with the heat factor.  Oh and I now understand why people walk the way they do while wearing these....they are NOT easy to walk in!

this is NOT an easy process

I think I'm turning Japanese....

My little BFF :)

This same weekend was also my friend's last weekend here....we had one last partayyyyy at our favorite bar. :)

Literally one of THE best places in the world.