The Invasion: take two

1000 Jizo

And all of a sudden everything starts happening at once and you realise that you have yet to plan the Christmas treasure hunt for the JHS, the Christmas party for elementary, the transport for your holiday or what you are going to do with your cousin and aunty when they arrive….and then there’s the blog which is now 4 days overdue….

The start of the week consisted of speaking tests for the second graders for which they had to memorise a 20 second speech in English. I was initially stationed in the corridor to grade their speeches. Sen-kun in particular had trouble memorising his, he walked up to my desk, took one breath before muttering ‘oh I’ve forgotten’ and seeing himself back into the class room. This occurred about four times before S-Sensei swapped places with me and I helped the kids fix up mistakes in the class room. I helped Sen-kun practice his speech a couple of times before he toddled back out again – and toddled back in the other door shortly after. Again, this was repeated 4 or 5 times before the kid finally remembered his speech (or until S-sensei took pity and gave him a pass for effort).

Motodaki

That night was another trip into Honjo for dinner at Adam’s house with Liam and Dave. Dinner consisted of soft shell tacos youtube videos.

Tuesday night was a rather posh dinner with the BOE for a combination welcome/Christmas party. And the following night was the end of year dinner for my Eikaiwa (English conversation) class.

This made the week fly past and before I knew it it was time to venture north to the airport to pick up Aunty Lorraine and Sarah.

The weather put on a ‘warm’ Akita welcome and they walked out of the terminal to piles of snow. The rice paddies gradually lost their fluffy white coat as we headed further south and by the time we got back to Konoura there was barely any speckled around.

Akata Giant Buddha

The Agenda for Friday was based in Honjo and consisted of the Akata Giant Buddha, 1000 Jizo statues, part of Kameda Castle, Sushi train, and a trip to the coffee shop. That evening we scrimmaged an assortment of food from the supermarket and sat around my coffee table drinking tea and making origami.

Saturday began with a trip to Motodaki waterfall in Kisakata, where Aunty Lorraine and Sarah were slightly disconcerted upon being met with ‘beware of bears’ signs. Next was Naso no Shirataki waterfall, followed by a visit to the 99 Islands and Kanman Temple.

I introduced the visitors to the glory that is the Lawson Oden which we ate back at my flat with a cup of tea before we headed out for a wander around Konoura. Our timing saw us standing on the hill behind the BOE watching as a mini bizzard flew through the small valley. With the icy wind cutting straight through our skinny jeans we decided to retreat back to the warmth of my flat to defrost before skyping the family back home. That night we drove back into Honjo for a dinner of Yakiniku.

Dewasanzan

Sunday was the day trip. For the first time since I have been here, I woke up to a blanket of white outside my window. The plan was to drive down into Yamagata prefecture and try to get up Mt Haguro of the Three Mountains of Dewa. As the other 2 mountains close during the winter due to snowfall I was not entirely convinced that I would be able to drive all the way up. Despite my doubts, my little Kei car did us proud and we made it. The powder was deep and light, and in some places, completely untouched. It was almost completely silent on the mountain as we walked through the trees to the courtyard in front of the temple. In all honesty this has probably been my favourite trip since I got here. I felt like being in a snow globe, or Narnia where time had thrown you back a couple of hundred years.

Pagoda

On our way down the mountain we stopped at the 5 tier pagoda for more relishing in the snow, a couple of Japanese lads asked if they could take a picture for us - cultural differences crashed into play when they beckoned for us to come closer and Aunty Lorraine and Sarah promptly turned around and walked in the opposite direction as they thought he was telling us to move back. Next stop - Tsuruoka city for a lunch of Soba.

Next it was out to the coast to visit the Kamo Jellyfish aquarium. After spending the morning surrounded by snow, we sat happily watching jellyfish illuminted with rainbow lights float around in lazy circles. The town of Kamo itself reminded us all of parts of wellington (we got to see quite a bit of it as avoiding the toll roads meant google maps sent us in in  quite the zigzag on our return to Akita.

Back to the Lawson in Kisakata to pick up some tea and then home for the night.

After having to brush snow off of my car for the first time (Sarah well and truly got her wish of seeing snow) we loaded the suitcases into the car and made our way north again. A leisurely paced morning saw us trot around Starbucks, some shops and the park before we hunted down some food and began the drive back to the airport.

It was really nice having Aunty Lorraine and Sarah in the flat to chat to and certainly made the car rides more enjoyable. The slight hint of melancholy that I felt on returning to the empty and quiet flat was brief, as my next visitor is just over a week away.

Naso falls

"Narnia"

Kamo Aquarium