Dave's Lonely Weekend

hey all,

The original plan for this weekend got scraped. Instead of having dinner with Michi and watching a movie yesterday, I talked with Brian and played video games. Michi wasn't feeling well, so she didn't come up.

Today was much the same. Michi thought she might be up to the trip today, but still wasn't feeling well. I've been watching Goemon, Valkyrie and Blood: The Last Vampire. Really a pretty disappointing and lonely weekend.

Cheers,

Sweet

hey all,

I believe I mentioned the trip John and I took into Akihabara earlier this week. The trip itself bears a little further elaboration.

I've been looking for an mp3 player, but I actually wanted something to play my ogg vorbis files. I was prepared to settle for a Sony Walkman, and convert everything over to mp3, but at the electronics shop they didn't have a card for that. How you buy one of these items in Japan is there is a stack of cards next to the item, and you take the card for the item you want and bring that up to the counter. They didn't have one for the Sony Walkman I was looking at, so I started looking around for other options, and hit upon the Cowon S9. This is made by a Korean company, and actually plays Ogg Vorbis files without any problem. They had cards for that, so I took one and went to the counter to ask if they had The 40 Year Old Virgin and Fight Club on Blu-Ray. After determining that they didn't, I said "Ok, just give me this, then." It turned out that they didn't have the Cowon S9 in stock either, despite having cards for the item.

So John and I stopped by a different shop, and went through the same thing. The Cowon S9 was $50 more expensive here, but they had it in stock. I started charging the batteries as soon as I got home that Tuesday night, but I actually haven't been able to play with it until today.

I just put about 25% of my music collection on it, and it sounds great. It is pretty easy to use so far, but I haven't really done a whole lot with it yet. Apparently, it can be used to read books, play movies, and view pictures, aside from playing music.

Cheers,

Busy Busy Busy

hey all,

This week has been ridiculously busy. Tuesday, a friend and I went shopping in Akihabara in Tokyo. This is the main electronics district, so we hopped from store to store, checking out games, Blu-Rays, TVs and computer monitors, and MP3 players. I've been meaning to get an mp3 player, but actually that name is rather deceiving. Yes, the machine I bought plays mp3s, but I don't actually have any mp3s. It also plays Ogg Vorbis files, which is the file format that all my audio files are in.

The other main items I was looking for were Fight Club and The 40 Year Old Virgin on Blu-Ray. It turns out that neither of these movies have been released in Japan on Blu-Ray, although Fight Club is actually coming out this Friday. I reserved a copy at a local shop today, so I won't have to spend $10 on train fare just to go and pick up a movie. Why these movies? Because Michi is actually coming up to Omiya this weekend, instead of me heading in to Tokyo. The current plan is dinner and a movie Saturday evening, then Omiya park and possibly Kawagoe on Sunday. During out trip to Jogasaki, I told Michi about Fight Club and The 40 Year Old Virgin, and she was interested in seeing the later. However, as it hasn't been released in Japan yet, we'll probably have to settle for Fight Club. Although I am envious of her English ability, she would probably have a hard time following rapid, slang filled dialogue without subtitles, and the US Blu-Ray release does not feature Japanese subtitles. (Of course, both these movies have been released in Japan on DVD, but neither my PS3 nor my laptop can play Japanese DVDs, and I'd rather not shell out any money for a DVD player, nor clutter my already (electronics- and otherwise) cluttered room with another clunky piece of hardware. Thus my insistence on the Blu-Ray format, since the US and Japan are in the same region for Blu-Ray.)

Today, I went in to Tokyo again to see Inglorious Basterds, Quentin Tarantino's latest piece. A pretty enjoyable film, even more so since I got to see it for free. I even hit up several local electronics shops for accessories for my mp3 player.

Tomorrow, I've got my part time job, and on Friday I've got possible skype appointments.

Cheers,

Jogasaki

hey all,

As foretold, Michi and I went rock climbing in Jogasaki. According to my guidebook, there are over 500 routes to climb there, but Michi and I had a hard time finding any. The Jogasaki climbing area is located on the Eastern facing coast of the Izu Peninsula. It is almost entirely volcanic rock, spread across around 5 miles of gorgeous coast line. Because the climbs often end directly in the sea, the routes are mostly top-rope. I also think that the bolts rust too quickly to be worth replacing when they go bad: they are exposed to sea air and salt water 24/7; 365 days a year. Most of the places that Michi and I looked at had screws still placed in the rock, but the eyelets had been removed.

As usual, there were some shenanigans meeting up. Michi tends to be a little late, and Saturday the plan called for us to meet at Yokohama, which is about an hour South of Tokyo. She was on a different train than I expected, so I rode past Yokohama for a few stations, then waited for her train to arrive. Before going climbing, we went to a grocery store to buy things for dinner. Our hotel room had a small kitchenette with pots, pans, dishes, silverware, a range, fridge, and microwave, so we had planned on cooking our own dinner from the start. We bought things for curry rice and nikujaga, and dropped them off at the hotel. One of the staff members actually drove us to the start of the coastal hiking trail in their car, which was incredibly nice.

Unlike my experience at every other climbing place in Japan, we didn't see any other climbers than us the first day. This is really unprecedented. Yugawara has been busy both times I've been there. Ogawayama's camp site had at least 250-300 people in it, maybe 100 of them climbers. Koutakuji hear Hon-Atsugi was also crowded.

The first day, we only climbed one route. We hiked up and down a small stretch of coastal trail looking for signs that people had been climbing there, and for clues as to which climbing area we were near. We picked one place, and then I chickened out, as it was a difficult looking lead climb with a high start: if I fell before I reached the first bolt, I'd land on sharp unstable boulders after falling for 15 feet. So we changed to a different wall, and set up our top rope. We only got to climb it a few times before it began to get dark, and we walked back to the hotel in twilight. For the first day, we made curry for dinner: just chicken, carrot, potato, rice, and curry mix.

The second day we didn't go climbing at all. We had a very late start, and then we dragged our feet because it was quite cold that day. I probably would have gone climbing still, but Michi declared it too cold to climb. Instead, we went hiking along the coast, and searched for places to climb for Monday. We actually ran into a group of climbers that afternoon, but otherwise the many cliffs were abandoned, although the hiking trails were still quite popular. That night we made nikujaga: literally, "meat-potato," but probably meaning "meat and potato:" just some garlic, ginger, soy sauce, chicken, and yes, more rice, carrots and potatoes.

The last day, we had a slightly late start, and the hotel staff were kind enough to give us a ride out to the climbing place again. We only had to walk about 5 minutes, which was good because we were both carrying the leftover food, all our clothes and toiletries, etc in addition to our actual climbing gear.

We set the top rope in the place where we encountered the climbers the day before, and were able to switch it around to several different routes throughout the day.

One of the features of Jogasaki's climbs is that there are many overhangs, so they require more upper body strength and endurance than a typical 90 degree climb. Because of this, Michi wasn't able to complete a single climb we tried, and I was only able to complete two out of 6. While a little disappointing, we both had fun trying the climbs.

We made really good time on our way back towards Tokyo: only waiting a few minutes for the bus, and the first train, and catching each train after that without having to rush or to wait for too long.

Eve before Battle

hey all,

The combination of lots of sleep, long hot showers, "grandpa's cough medicine," and actual cold medicine seems to have eradicated my cold germs. I still cough occasionally, and hawk up interestingly colored phlegm from time to time, but the racking coughs and constant streams of mucus have gone the way of the dodo.

I know I've been writing about it for some time, but it seems there are always a few people (probably ones that never read the blog anyway, like Bri) who seem surprised when I disappear for a weekend. So just to throw it out there once more: I'm going rock climbing with Michi on the sea cliffs of Jogasaki this weekend (and Monday), and won't be checking email until Monday evening.

I was really worried about today, because one of my elementary school teachers is getting married, and last week he asked me to create my own lesson plans for my classes today. I spent a good chunk of my free time at the junior high school this week preparing some card files, and typing up the lesson plans. So I showed up today, and was still frantically tweaking them, when one of my teachers' mentioned that I didn't have a job today...I blinked at her in surprise, and she explained that all classes had been canceled because of the flu.

Instead of teaching, I spent all day today reading, and surfing the internet. Why did I do that, instead of heading over to the junior high? Because I had already paid for school lunch today, and I wasn't going to pay for some food I'd never get to eat. Anyway, as I was leaving, the vice principal asked me why I even came in today. Didn't so-and-so tell me that my classes were canceled? Nope. No phone call, no email, no smoke signal. Maybe he hired a runner who got too depressed with his life in Japan (maybe he felt no one was talking to him), and jumped in front of a train...Even that would have been a little better than just not making any attempt to inform me at all.

So that little thing is one more example of the Japanese style of communication, or lack thereof. In similar fashion, I don't really know what the schedule of English classes is at my junior high school. They publish a class schedule, which at the beginning is more or less correct, but then for some reason these unexplained deviations start to show up, and I tend to catch a little flack for not being prepared or not being aware of what is going on. I shouldn't have to ask what is going on everyday, and they shouldn't have to explain it either. If they'd just take 5 minutes, and let me know the weekly schedule has been changed, it would save everyone a lot of hassle and mutual annoyance.

Don't get me wrong: as I've said before, there are tons of things I love about Japan. The food, rock climbing, its history (OK, really just samurai and ninjas, but still), my girlfriend, anime and manga, the friends I've made through work and the outdoor club. But the lack of clear communication and organization in my workplace is really getting on my nerves.

Anyway, that'll be all the ranting for tonight.

Cheers,

Trinity

hey all,

My cold is still with me, but I bought some throat and nose medicine, and today I shelled out some big bucks for honey, lemon juice, and brandy to make some cough medicine. Mix equal parts, heat in microwave, and sip. For my time at work, when drinking alcohol would probably be frowned upon, I bought some Halls cough drops.

As much for my health as for anything else, I'd like to get rid of this cold really quickly. It is bad enough having to ride my bike through the chilly weather (and the recent spat of cold rain), without dealing with a cough and the snuffles.

Cheers,

1st Year Classes

hey all,

I'm not sure if I've mentioned this on the blog, so I'll go ahead and tell this story from the beginning.

After my summer vacation back in August, my 1st year teacher asked me to write a presentation about what I did. I thought a slide show plus speech about climbing Mt. Fuji, going camping and hiking would be a little more interesting, so I made a picture slide show. After I showed it to her the next day, she said that it was great, but she'd need to reserve a computer room. I assumed she'd do that, then let me know what days/times I'd have to come in to do my show.

Since that day, until today, she hasn't said a single word to me. Since she didn't talk to me, I didn't feel comfortable just coming to class, and her classes were always the most boring anyway, so I stopped going to her classes. No one asked me why I stopped going, or even seemed to notice, except for 2 weeks ago the vice principal looked at my daily work report, and pointed out that I hadn't gone to any 1st year classes. I told him the teacher hadn't spoken to me for almost 2 months, and that was pretty much it.

This morning, I was a little flabbergasted when she came up and gave me a lesson plan for today and asked me to come to class. Not only that, but no mention was made of her not speaking to me for over a month and a half, nor of the presentation I spent an hour making that was never used, nor the fact that I haven't been going to her classes...I am I really on planet Earth? Are Japanese people really human, evolved from the same species as people elsewhere? In what sort of culture is this OK?

Anyway, I taught two classes for the 1st years today, and they went OK. Since yesterday, I seem to have caught another cold, so I was hoping to just read, study Japanese, and sleep at my desk today, but I also taught a 2nd year class. For some reason, Japanese people come into work even when they are sick, unless it is the flu, which is always treated like communicable cancer. So I came into work despite feeling under the weather (I also receive no sick days, and can't really afford to take time off), and my Japanese students were all imitating how to sound like a Midwesterner with a cold.

That's all for now.

Cheers,

Shakespeare is a Liar

hey all,

This weekend Michi and I hung out and celebrated my birthday a bit. Saturday, we met up and made chili. As I've been writing about what a pain it has been to find the ingredients, I thought I'd document the recipe here.

250g chopped stew beef
500g kidney beans
500g canned sweet corn
500g salsa of choice
1 beer of choice
bag of tortilla chips
2 tablespoons chipotle Tabasco
black pepper, salt and oil
1/2 tsp cumin
1 tablespoon chili powder

I searched my own local grocery store (a Maruetsu), 2 grocery stores in Ageo (a Co-Op and an Ita-yokado), an international food store in the local train station, a Kaldi in Saitama-Shinitoshin (Kaldi is a coffee/international food store), another Kaldi in Ueno train station, and a Meiji-ya in Kyobashi (a highly reputed international food store), and couldn't find anything resembling a can of chipotle peppers in adobo sauce. The Meiji-ya was the last store I searched, the afternoon Michi and I met, so I settled for a bottle of chipotle Tabasco sauce.

What you do is toss the meat with black pepper, salt and oil, then brown it. Remove the meat from your cooking pot, and deglaze the pot with half the beer. Next you add everything to the pot: spice, salsa, corn, beans, meat, (and the rest of the beer) etc, and cook for 25 minutes. At the end, and a few handfuls of crushed tortilla chips to your chili. Serve in bowls, and enter paradise.

There is no chopping, no dicing, no peeling the skins off of tomatoes, no 5 hour cook times. This recipe is quick, easy, and delicious! I was a little worried that the chipotle Tabasco wouldn't add enough flavor for a whole pot of chili, but the flavor was perfect and Michi was quite impressed.

Michi also made me a birthday cake that was pretty good. The chili recipe above is my own adaptation of one by the almighty Alton Brown, and Michi made my birthday cake in a manner that would have done Mr. Brown proud. Most Japanese homes, apartments etc do not have ovens; only toaster ovens, so I was wondering how she'd make cake. Her recipe was okara mixed with cocoa powder, plus eggs beaten with brown sugar over a double boiler until thick and foamy. Combine the two, then add milk, chopped nuts and chocolate, then bake in the microwave. For a pan, Michi cut one side off a cardboard juice carton, and lined it with a brown paper bag. The last bit is particularly like Alton Brown: who needs a cake pan when you have a juice carton and a brown paper bag? Why buy a specialist tool that only does one thing when you can build your own, or use something else that can be used in many ways?

On Sunday (today), we got to skype with one of my friends, and afterwards went to the Tokyo National Science Museum near Ueno station. Pretty interesting place, with lots of displays geared towards kids, which was perfect for me. We even got to investigate a display about what types of rock found in throughout Japan, so we could see what type of rock we'll be climbing on in Jogasaki next weekend. After that, we had a late lunch at the International Children's Library, also near Ueno train station, where we finally said good bye until next weekend.

What makes Shakespeare a liar is Romeo's line "Parting is such sweet sorrow." Personally, I've always seen Romeo and Juliet as a cautionary tale more about adolescent infatuation than about true, lasting love, but I really don't understand this line. There is nothing sweet about saying good bye to someone you like; I'm not even talking about someone with whom you're deeply, passionately in love with. Michi and I like each other, and I like to think that we're old enough to take things a step at a time. Still, saying good bye (even for the span of 5 days) sucks.

Cheers,

Something Japan is Not

hey all,

I mentioned earlier that Michi and I are planning on cooking some chili this weekend. Because of that, I've been haunting grocery stores near my house looking for ingredients, but have not had much luck finding some of them. No, I'm not looking for things like Dragon's Eyes, Unicorn Tails, or jellied manticore brains. I've been looking for salsa, tortilla chips, tomato paste, and canned chipotle peppers. I have seen salsa and tortilla chips, and something that might be tomato paste, but chipotle peppers are apparently in the same class of items as Unicorn tails, etc.

No one has ever accused Japan of being a cultural melting pot, and that is probably with good reason. Although there is the indigenous Ainu people, they receive less attention than the aboriginals of Australia and the US: Japan is basically just for the Japanese. Even second and third generation ethnic Koreans born here are treated as foreigners, despite being educated in Japanese public schools and speaking only Japanese.

Their food is about the same. While you can find curry, spaghetti, and pizza in the grocery store, don't look for tacos, mascarpone cheese, barbecue sauce, or anything else like that. Like in Amsterdam, the average grocery store here is about 1/4 the size of its US counterpart, and has 1/4 the variety of items. I've even searched two nearby international grocery stores, and still have not turned up any chipotle peppers. I remember being able to buy these at Meijer's, Kroger, and Harris Teeter in the US. (I think part of the problem might be that I live in Saitama, which is just outside of Tokyo, and has a lower population of foreigners.)

I started asking some of my ALT friends about it, and they (at least the ones from other countries like New Zealand) seemed to think that the US is unique in this regard. Growing up, I never thought it was strange that I could eat pizza, spaghetti, macaroni, and tortellini, all Italian foods, in a country that is 5000 miles from Italy. Or eat Kung Pao chicken, Mongolian beef, or lao mein 8000 miles from China. Same thing for Indian, French, Middle Eastern, and Mexican food. Not only could I eat these foods at a restaurant (you can do the same here), I could easily find the ingredients to make them at a normal grocery store.

For all that the rest of the world is forever complaining about Americans' lack of knowledge of the rest of the world (What is the capital of Columbia? I sure don't know off the top of my head.), we experience the cooking and culture of other countries much easier, much more often, and expect to be able to do that. America is rightly called a cultural melting pot. The sheer lack of variety in other countries is hard to understand.

Cheers,

Pics

hey all,

I've gone back over the last month's posts and added pictures where I had them. If you're bored, check them out.

Cheers,

Splurge

hey all,

Today I had a day off. I was supposed to work on Saturday, but they informed me too late to change my doctor's appointment, so I didn't go to work that day. Because they wanted me to come in on Saturday, they gave me Monday off. Even though I didn't go in on Saturday, nobody would go to school today anyway, so I didn't go in either. The doors would have been locked, and no students would be there to teach.

Instead, I did more laundry, researched a recipe, and went over to Bic Camera to splurge on a HD monitor. I picked up a 21" HD computer monitor so I could play my PS3 games and Blue-Ray DVDs in Hi-Def, and even after playing on it only one day, it has been worth it. Confirming my thoughts about school today, I ran into two students while I was carrying my prize back to my room. Despite being "larger" than the TV that came with the room, it takes up less desk space, and of course has much higher resolution. I can actually read the text in my games now, and of course the images are much clearer, sharper, and the colors are better too. I can even adjust the brightness, etc.

Tomorrow is my birthday. I'll be turning 27. To celebrate, Michi and I are going to cook some chili together on Saturday, and she promised to bake me a chocolate birthday cake, which was sweet.

Cheers,

Another Nice Weekend

hey all,

Just another nice weekend here in Japan. Saturday, I went to Shinjuku for a check-up at the doctor's, did laundry and played video games. Result from the doctor's office is that I'm healthy. The game I played afterwards was Demon's Souls, which is an incredibly punishing RPG. It is tough, but I've come to like that part about it, and its difficulty makes it more rewarding when you succeed.

I had originally planned on doing more of the same on Sunday, but one of the outdoor club members invited me to go rock climbing outdoors, so I couldn't pass that up. We went to Tenno-iwa, near Musashi-Itsukaichi station, which is in Okutama, which is technically still in Tokyo, but is pretty rural.

Some really nice climbs there, but we ran into some trouble with some of the "locals." Tatcha and I wanted to climb this one route, but all the bolts already had quickdraws hanging from them. We debated what we should do for a bit, then decided I'd climb and take the quickdraws off before replacing them with my own. I didn't feel comfortable using someone else's gear, and the other option (putting my own quickdraw through the same bolt as the abandoned quickdraw, then trying to sort out which to use (all while hanging from the rock by one hand)), seemed too much hassle, besides being outrageously dangerous. Anyway, I climbed the route, and brought the "abandoned" quickdraws down with me, and a Japanese guy approached Tatcha and I and wanted to know why we took their quickdraws off. I explained, and this dufus (who is apparently a corporate sponsored climber), said I should have done the dangerous option. He and his friends seemed really upset that I had removed their quickdraws on a route they weren't even climbing, hadn't climbed for hours, and didn't seem to have any plans to climb in the near future. Tatcha and I disagreed, returned his quickdraws, and moved to a different spot.

The thing about this is that there were only about 40 routes to climb at this place. We arrived at 10AM, and this route already had quickdraws on it when we arrived. At 2PM, when we decided we'd climb it anyway, of course the same quickdraws were still there. So these people climbed it, then prevented others from climbing it for 4 hours by not removing their gear. That's rude, in my book, at least.

Other than that incident, it was really fun. I climbed a nice 5.10a, a 5.9, and a fun 5.10b. Michi couldn't come because she was busy with a yoga conference, but we ate dinner together at a Thai restaurant.

Cheers,

Weather

hey all,

I've been asking around about Japanese weather recently, because I can't quite believe what's happened. Sunday, the day we went rock climbing in Hon-Atsugi, was really warm. For the last several weeks, it has been getting gradually cooler, but it has usually been comfortable in the afternoon. But since Monday, it has stopped getting warm in the afternoons and now stays cold all day. One day the weather was decent, the next it was cold.

It feels like there was no transition between autumn and winter, but more like someone flipped a switch.

I don't remember any specific days where it felt like "Ah, summer just started today," "Ah! Fall just started today," but for some reason, this Monday I said to myself "I guess winter starts today..."

In somewhat weather/seasonal related news, most of you probably don't realize that Japan has not yet joined the rest of the world in daylight savings time. So now I am waking up when it is dark, spending all my daylight hours at work, and riding to the train station at dusk (16:20).

Cheers

Anticipation of Need

hey all,

I just had a chat with a new ALT friend tonight. Pretty interesting guy. During our conversation, as ALTs are wont to do, we ended up talking about the downsides of the job. Invariably, one of these is always working with Japanese teachers, but he expressed a particular grudge of mine very clearly: anticipation of need.

I work from 8-16, 8 hours per day, from Monday to Friday. It seems like my teachers often come to me at 15:55 with something that they urgently need done, and are mildly surprised when I say, "OK, I'll do it tomorrow morning," and proceed to leave. These same teachers were sleeping at their desks from 13:00-15:00, and there are numerous breaks during the day when they could have asked me to do something, but it rarely occurs to them. I am always told about things at the last possible minute, because for some reason my co-workers only just realized that they would need me to do something 5 minutes before they need it done.

A specific example involves this weekend. On the weekly schedule today, there was a notice about working on Saturday, and one of the secretaries stopped by to collect money for Saturday's lunch. Today was the first I'd heard of it, and I had already made plans for this Saturday two weeks ago. But as usual, the people at my school were surprised to find that I had a life outside of school, and 3 days prior notice was not enough. I politely refused, and sent an email to my company notifying them of my intentions.

This kind of thing strikes me as very Japanese. I've already commented on one of the trends in Japanese manga and anime: empathy and intuitive understanding, the sheer amount of thought and time and effort that characters devote to puzzling out each others' thoughts and feelings and needs. Unlike Japanese people, I do not pretend to read minds, nor do I have the willingness to think about what someone might be thinking or feeling for hours at a time. If I'm not sure how someone feels about something, I generally ask them. If I don't feel like my feelings are being understood, I usually confront the person. Directly asking someone what they need, or directly telling someone that you need something, seems to be looked down upon in Japan. In Western culture, open direct communication is how adults deal with each other. In Japanese culture, being subtle and indirect, and relying on your partner to fill in the gaps is the adult way.

With Michi, I've tried to make her feel that she can say anything, ask me anything, that nothing is taboo, and she has encouraged me to do the same. Since we come from different cultures and speak different languages, open communication is even more important than in a regular relationship. Part of the appeal of our relationship is in fact these cross-cultural conflicts, where one of us will do something or react to a situation in a way that seems strange from the perspective of the other. But what makes these appealing when it happens with Michi is that we give each other an explanation, and we understand each other better afterwards. With my teachers, they never seem to learn, and I don't get paid enough to explain where the communication is breaking down.

Anyway, that's my rant for today.

Cheers,

Weekend and Weekday Holiday

View from the middle of the climb.

Michi on an an easy (but tall!) climb.

hey all,

Last Saturday, Michi and I met up near Tokyo station, had some lunch, and yes, actually studied a little English and Japanese, respectively. Afterwards, we went to a book store and picked out some study materials for each other: an audiobook for Michi (Little House in the Big Woods, if I remember correctly), and a 2nd grader kanji puzzle book and listening/speaking practice book for me.

Sunday, as I mentioned before, I organized an outdoor rock climbing trip for the outdoor club. It went pretty smoothly, but we had some trouble meeting each other at the beginning, as there was some confusion over where we were meeting. 6 people signed up, including Michi and myself, but only 5 were able to make it.

Access was a little difficult. From Hon-Atsugi train station, you take bus number 9 to Koutakuji onsen iriguchi, and from there you walk about 20-30 minutes to the main rock: Ben-Ten iwa. Those with good memories might recall that this is the goddess (Ben-Ten) who breaks up couples that visit her places, the same goddess that has a shrine in Inogashira park (where Michi and I had our second date). Anyway, Ben-Ten iwa is quite tall: it has routes that are at least 35-45 meters tall, which meant that we couldn't actually climb some of them from the bottom to the top.

We spent the first part of the day on some underwhelming routes, really just hiking up steep slopes, but eventually the Japanese climbers started to leave and we took over some of their routes. These were the longer routes: more interesting because of the greater height, but still quite easy. Tatcha and I ended up doing a semi-multi-pitch route. Basically, she climbed up about 10 meters, created an anchor point, then belayed for me as I climbed up to her. From there, I lead climbed another 25-30 meters, then came down to Tatcha's anchor, and belayed for her as she climbed the same route, only top-roping it.

After that, we moved over to another rock face across the road from Ben-Ten iwa. Here, I finally got to climb an interesting route, a lead 5.10a/b. I set up a top-rope, and a couple of our climbers gave it a shot, but this wall proved a little too much for most of them (yes, I am bragging slightly). By this time, it was getting darker, clouds were rolling in, and it looked like it was going to rain, so we jetted out of there, caught the next bus back to the station, and parted ways at Shinjuku station.

Yesterday was just a regular day at work. I studied in my new kanji puzzle book a little, taught a class, and started creating a worksheet for my 2nd year students.

Today was a holiday. What holiday, I don't know, but Michi and I got to hang out the whole day, so I'm grateful for it. We had a picnic in Shinjuku park: this time I brought some curry I'd made the night before, and Michi brought some azuki beans (sweet red beans). This is a reversal from the last meal we made ourselves, where she made the main dish, and I made the dessert. It was a little cold, so the park was empty til a little after noon. After that, we headed to Kinshicho, and, of course, went indoor climbing.

The last time we went indoors, we both had scary falls while lead climbing, so this time we just top-roped it. I didn't really push myself difficulty-wise, but I still climbed a consistent 5.10a-d range all day. I think I'm getting a little more stamina in my forearms, and today felt kind of like a consolidation day: reviewing and reaffirming recent skill and strength gains. Michi still surprises me at how good she can climb. She weighs more than 30 pounds less than me, is 4-5 inches shorter, and 6 years older besides, and on top of all that, has only been climbing since this September. But somehow, she can do some really amazing moves.

The rest of the week should be pretty good, as I've got my part time job to look forward to, skyping with family and friends, and a meeting with some fellow ALTs tomorrow and also Friday night.

Cheers,