Big Wall

hey all,

So the low down is this: you're climbing up a rock wall and you run out of rope, but there is still plenty of rock wall up above you. Instead of going back down like a semi-rational person (to be a rock climber you probably have to be a bit off your rocker), you let your climbing partner climb up to your position. And then you keep climbing until you run out of rope again and notice that there is still more rock above you, etc etc. This is big wall climbing or multi-pitch climbing, and Michi and I took our first lesson in it last weekend.

I guess there are several things to know about multi-pitch climbing. First is the general process as I outlined it above. Second is the details of it: who climbs first, and how does that climber make him/herself safe once he/she reaches an anchor point (what knots, what gear, and what techniques etc), and what kind of communication is necessary for multi-pitch climbing to work and be safe. Once you get to the end of the rock, you need to know how you and your partner can get down quickly and safely.

I wish this picture didn't make me look like a dufus, but you can see I'm wearing my helmet, and the backpack Michi just got me. I'm belaying for Michi, who is climbing up to my position.

So that is the gist of what we were taught. It consists of a process of checks, a knowledge of a few knots, a few terms to facilitate safety and good communication, and a lot of double checking and triple checking for safety hazards, for which knowledge of what a dangerous situation looks like is necessary.

Another slightly uncool picture. But you can see how high up we are.

Nice pic of Michi.

The video should give you some idea the scale involved. The guy dressed in yellow at the top of the wall is our teacher, and that is where we finished the climb. Mt. Joyama is about 340m tall, and the wall that we climbed is easily 120m, or almost 400ft.

Although the classes were done in Japanese, most of the climbing terms are English, so that was pretty easy. And I guess my Japanese has gotten good enough for me to understand safety and some climbing instructions. I really appreciate our teacher, a climber who has over 30 years of climbing experience all over the world, and has actually published articles in climbing magazines, such as Rock and Snow. (No joke: I've seen the articles.)

Cheers,

Lots

hey all,

Made it back from the multi-pitch climbing lesson safe and sound. As usual, a detailed account will have to wait a little bit. Suffice to say, it was pretty fun, and I think I learned a lot about how to climb multi-pitch routes safely, and got some good advice on climbing in general. Also a good refresher on climbing terminology. Climbing with foreigners whose vocabulary and listening ability is limited, you necessarily develop certain ways of saying things, but it is good to return to the real terms, which our instructor used.

I've got some insane pictures and some video that should give you an idea of the scale we're talking about, but even when I look at the rock face from 1km away, it is hard to believe that I've just climbed all the way up that face.

In other news, I have exactly 14 days until I take the JLPT, the Japanese Language Proficiency Test, and I'm a little nervous. There are still many kanji and words that I don't know that could be on the test, and I haven't figured out how to practice for the listening part. I know where the test location is, roughly, and I think I'm going to try to find my way there once before the test to make sure, but I think I'll just have to spend 30-40 minutes each day practicing and reviewing. As it is, there are some days, and yes sometimes a week or two will go by, when I don't read my Song of Ice and Fire in Japanese, or when I don't go to smart.fm to review.

Anyway, once again it has gotten late and I need to brush my teeth and tuck myself in.

Cheers,

610 Part 2

hey all,

The schedule is starting to pick up a bit at work. More lessons in the afternoon, and then I'm trying to teach myself origami so I can teach my students without needing their mom's help. The boss is pushing for introducing more words more quickly for my afternoon students, which means more and more reviewing, more and more practicing new words, etc.

Since they don't study at home much, they will probably forget many of the words they learn anyway, but if we introduce more words, we expose them to more and increase the chances that they can retain more words, whether they can remember exact meanings or not. At least that is the theory, but to me it seems like my fun class has become more than a little unfun.

Cheers for now,

610

hey all,

As of Tuesday, I'll have been in Japan for 610 days, or one year and 8 months.

I thought I'd share a silly story about lunch. As most of you probably have read here, I'm kind of a fan of Muji. They don't advertise (much...), their products are usually, well-built, simple, and convenient, and they also don't have brand names I don't care about plastered all over them. So when I wanted to by a lunch box, I went to Muji first. But the lunch box they were selling was too simple. It was just two interlocking plastic boxes with lids. If you wanted chopsticks, you had to buy them separately and the chopstick box was a different color and a different length than the lunch box. And if you wanted a band to attach the two together, that had to be bought separately, and if you wanted a bag to put everything in, that too had to be bought separately, all of it just didn't seem up to the usual Muji standard.

So I went to Don Quixote, which is one of the weirdest stores I've seen in Japan. I used to go shopping there sometimes when I lived in Tokyo, but they have the shops in most major cities and in Tokyo there was one for each major (and minor) shopping area.They are weird because of their selection of goods. They don't seem to sell cuts of meat, but you can buy eggs, tofu, cheese, milk, bread, snacks, juice, coffee, alcohol, etc. They also sell socks, underwear, shirts, suits, ties, etc. And they also do dishes, kitchen ware, appliances, weights for working out, make-up, toothpaste, shampoo, jewelry, etc. The strange thing is probably not the types of different merchandise that they sell, although they do sell some strange things, but rather the presentation and organization of it. For example, you can buy suits, work shirts, and business socks on one floor, and right next to that area without any separation is pastel elephant underwear...You can guess what is supposed to go in the trunk...

And all the regular clothes are mixed in with nurses outfits, Mrs. Santa outfits, school girl uniforms with too short skirts, etc. The food section is more or less normal, but the health and beauty section and the clothing sections can be a real eyeful if you're just wandering around.

Anyway, I went to the kitchen goods area, and immediately saw a lunch box: two matching interlocking boxes, which included chopsticks and had a special compartment to store them in. It came with a band to help keep everything together, an insulated bag to help maintain temperature, and two miniature ice packs to keep your lunch cold, should you so desire. And it was all the same price as the Muji lunch box by itself. How could Muji have dropped the ball so badly, I thought. Their notebooks are nice, I love their storage boxes for clothes and house goods, I have a pair of their house slippers, and 4 work shirts from their clothing line.Why couldn't they make a decent lunch box for a decent price? Why do I have to put up with a really nice lunch box that happens to say "We are passionate about lunch communication. The lunch is a good day pastime."

At any rate, the weekend was really fun. Michi made some ginger marinated pork with soup and salad, and a double or triple chocolate cake. The cake was really something of a work of art, but all of it was delicious. She also bought me a carabiner for my birthday...At least that's what I thought. The last time we went climbing, I dropped a carabiner and it rolled off into the woods and down a steep slope. It was almost the end of the climbing day, and I had barely been able to find Michi's shoes when she dropped them down the same slope earlier. There was little chance I'd be able to find the 'biner, so Michi said she'd buy me a new one, which she did. But she also secretly bought me a day bag: an 18L Osprey bag, with a built-in 3L hydration system including a drinking tube that hangs just below your mouth and with lots of pockets and straps and crannies to put stuff and a really nice reinforced back that allows air to flow through, instead of leaving your back a sweaty mess. I had been salivating over this bag for months, and I guess she noticed.

Instead of going to Kotakuji like we had originally planned, we decided to go to Tenno Iwa. I had gone there last year with Ayako and Tatcha when Michi was busy, so it was a first for her. For some reason, there was almost no one there, which was nice because there are not that many routes to climb. We did pretty well, but Michi fell twice and cut her shins a little on the second fall. The first fall could have been much worse, especially if she hadn't been wearing her new helmet. Now when we climb, we wear the helmets. I think I've been pretty lucky not to have busted my head open in this life yet, and I'm really starting to want to keep it that way.

Anyway, another day in the life of this English teacher, right?

Cheers,

In Sum

hey all,

I'd like to start by saying thanks to everyone who's taken a second to remember me on or near my birthday. Especially here in my relatively anti-social guesthouse, it helps to know that people are thinking about you.

The week has been busy and eventful to say the least. On Monday my boss watched one of my classes and was quite upset because the students weren't reacting to class: they couldn't remember what we had been studying, they couldn't do memorization, couldn't fill in the blanks, etc. Only one student could do anything at all. She was angry at me at first, but after talking to the students' mothers she discovered that only that one student and another student who was absent were studying at home. After that she said it wasn't my fault and to continue as I was. Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were more or less regular days, but I've been busy after work cutting my hair, doing laundry, cooking for dinner and lunch, looking for a new lunch box and finding some origami paper, in addition to trying to study Japanese and keep in touch with Michi.

I now have a bike which has been a great help in making all these errands possible. It is only a mama-chari (a mom's style bike) but it is better than walking for 30 minutes just for groceries, work, or to get to the station.

Today has been an especially busy day. We had a teacher's meeting at 8:15AM to discuss our teaching materials, during which we kept noticing that one of our teachers still hadn't shown up. He apparently had a really bad stomach ache, and wanted to take the day off. From what I've heard him talk about during down time at work, it wouldn't surprise me if he was just hung over from drinking too much. Needless to say, the boss and the other teachers were all put out. It didn't affect my morning too much, but I had to cover 3 of his baby lessons in the afternoon. That wouldn't be too much of a problem, but I have a very demanding and challenging 1.5 hour long class from 5PM to 6:30PM which I need to be energetic for. The students are all very good elementary school students who come in from Monday to Friday to improve their English. They've all had to go through more than 6 hours of Japanese public school before they even come to my class, and I need to get them interested and excited about English in order for the class to go smoothly.

The boss had received a few complaints about my class being too loud or having bad attitude, but when she observed the class today she thanked me many times for teaching such a good class: for making it fun for the students, for making it challenging for them, for getting them to speak in class, etc. It was actually a little embarrassing, but it made me feel really good because I've been trying all sorts of different teaching styles and methods, and for each class the students have to try hard and be prepared for it if they want to do well in it. So basically, I've been trying really hard and I've gotten not only a pat on the head, but maybe a nod of respect and appreciation.

The weekend looks to be as eventful. Tomorrow I make a new housing contract and finally get to see Michi and celebrate my birthday. I guess she's making me a cake and dinner. Then Sunday, we're heading to Kotakuji again. We haven't been there in almost a year, so it should be pretty interesting. Michi says she's buying a rope tomorrow, so I won't have to carry mine, which is always the biggest pain in the butt. It is the heaviest part of my gear, and we can't go climbing outdoors without it. And then if we plan on lead climbing indoors, but decide to only do top rope once we get to the gym, I'll have carried my heavy rope around for no reason.

Next weekend, it looks like we've got a climbing lesson on how to multi-pitch, so that will be a busy weekend as well.

In short, I'm really busy and pretty happy at the moment and I don't think I could ask for too much more out of my situation.

Cheers,

BD

hey all,

Once again, it is my birthday in a few days. One of the presents I received was a DVD with over 1100 pics of yours truly. As I've looked through all of them several times now, I can't help but wonder: Should I apologize to my parents for the royal dick I must have been from age 12 to 17? And how did I manage to turn out the way I am now when I was such a cute baby? How will I keep myself from strangling my own offspring once they turn 12?

What was especially eerie was watching the ever-smiling face slowly disappear around 1993-1994 and almost never be captured on film again until around 1997. Yes, there were pictures of me smiling between 1993 and 1997, but they are few and far between the glowers, frowns, absent-minded/empty-eyed stares, hands blocking the camera, etc.

Back in the present, today was pretty fun. Michi and I went to Saitama to hang out with my Michigan friend. The situation was relatively interesting: me and John talking about gaijin problems, and Michi and Tomoko talking about the problems of dating gaijin.

Cheers,

First Pay

hey all,

So I've finished my week at work here, and the weekend is shaping up to be a busy one. Tomorrow is skype with the 'rents, gaming/catching up with a friend, and then meeting up with Michi. We're thinking of heading to a sports shop and picking up some gear, which I can now afford thanks to the paycheck. Sunday we're heading up to Saitama to do lunch with my Michigan buddy and his girlfriend.

The paycheck was pretty nice. Less than I can expect for a full month's work, since I missed the first week of October due to finishing up my contract with the previous company. But even for all that, almost the same as what I made full time last year, so a regular month should be quite impressive. There was even attached a little calculation sheet which broke everything down by class type and pay rate per class, which to be honest I hadn't even asked about before hand. So now at least I can compare my pay to what I have recorded in my personal spreadsheet. Not that I suspect anything, but in any average month, there are so many classes, scheduling changes, etc, that sometimes there is bound to be a minor mistake somewhere.

Cheers,

Week Day Holiday

hey all,

Today was a national holiday, which naturally resulted in a rock climbing trip to Yugawara.

Pretty good climbing. We got there around 8:30AM, and beat many other climbers to the spots, and went out of our way to find a couple out of the way locations that proved pretty fun.

I thought I'd comment briefly on the new job. It has been about one month, and it is going pretty well. The hours are a little long, but I'm slowly getting used to them. I've gotten some good feedback about some of my classes, and it appears that the parents, my boss, etc are satisfied. My first paycheck is coming up soon, so that will also be interesting.

One of the housemates who's leaving seems like he wants to give me his bike, so that will shorten my walking commute.

Cheers,