Matsuyama Youth Hostel

... to a Meiji Era tea house overlooking the Hijikawa River. I stayed a hostel just below the castle for about $35 which might have seemed expensive for what could have been a huge dorm with futons spread out over the open space, except the I had the spacious second floor to myself with full windows facing the river on one side and the castle (lit at night) on the other. It was wonderful.

On to the big city of Matsuyama, capital of Shikoku.........

... the peak as it was, I couldn't really imagine doing the whole thing...all in one day at least.

The rope-way itself was quite an experience, as it ascends nearly vertically, from the still almost completely green and lush lowland valleys to vibrant, nearly fake looking fall colours at the top. The red, yellow and orange leaves splattered over a canopy of bright green pines was wonderful, never have I seen fall colours like that. Of course our companions from ...

... continued all night long. And when I say all night long I mean it didn't stop until the next morning around 6am. This happened the whole long weekend and though Jess can sleep through anything I cannot and barely got a wink of sleep. I didn't let this stop me from enjoying the festival though.

On Saturday night was the big smashing ceremony and that was really the highlight of the festival. It was amazing how many people came too, from all ...

So many things to tell, and so little time!

My first week of teaching in Hojo has been very very busy, and very interesting. I have come home everyday too tired to even check email (so sorry for lack of communication, guys!). That being said, I am hoping to become used to the teaching routine and get my energy ...

When leaving Edmonton, I decided it was finally time to retire my 15 year old norco bush pilot. I left it unlocked in the bike rack at my apartment the day I moved out and hopefully by now someone is getting deteriorated black rubber handle grip all over their hands and cursing at the stuck pedal. Or maybe they have already gotten sick of it and thrown it in the river valley.

Anyway, in Japan everyone rides bikes. Go to any train ...

**this entry is posted almost a year late, I'm doing this for posterity's sake** The reason for the long time of not posting has to do with the fact that I've now got a sexy new Canon XTi camera and a slew of lenses. The time that I used to spend working on this blog has now become consumed by this new doodad of light-based electronic wizardry. Sorry for not posting sooner. I'm going to post as long as I ...

... a lot. Before some of their big tests, I even have kids falling asleep in my class while we're practicing dialogue. Unfortunately, the JLPT is only held once a year, worldwide. That means that I have until December 3rd to prepare for it. I'm hoping to take the Level 2, but I'm not sure that I'm quite ready for THAT yet. I know a fair amount of the 1,945 chinese characters needed to demonstrate proficiency in the subject, but no where near as much as I need for ...