Angkasa Hotel & Oriental Villa Matsuyama

... clouds. But even more hair-raising was looking ahead to the actual peak of Ishizuchi, still towering far over head and far off in the distance.<br><br>Down the other side of the peak was another set of chains back to the main path and we continued what would prove to be an increasingly steep and difficult climb to the top.<br><br>There was one easy section not long after the first set of chains, where the forest opened up to open fields of low-lying bamboo. It was ...

... a amazing to see all the shrines all lit up at night and clambering out a cacophony of bells and drums all playing different notes at different times. Jess has really become somewhat of a celebrity amongst the young children in Hojo, everywhere we went little kids taking part in the festival were yelling "Jeshka sensei! Jeshka sensei!" It was really cute.<br><br>This was all quite exciting until later on that night when the drumming and bell ...

So many things to tell, and so little time!<br><br>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 ...

... and there is a massive parking lot overflowing with bikes. So, I decided I had to buy one and a couple of days ago I finally did! It's called "Tea Cup." It's a beautiful cream and brown beauty and I love her. So today I took a nice shot of her and road around snapping a few ( very few ) pictures of the neighborhood.<br><br>I plan to take more, but the thing is, when you are just a tourist somewhere it is a lot different than living there ...

... attract the fish...which I'm pretty sure is illegal in Canada??? Anyway, the lights and burning lantern thing attract the fish and the Cormorants catch them. When one of them is full ( apparently they can hold up to 16 fish ) the fisherman reals one of them in and sort of chokes them until they cough up the fish.<br><br>The boat got us quite close and I got a pretty nice video, which I will try to upload. It was a pretty amazing experience, even if questionably a little cruel.

... We had a really nice day out and then a dinner at my parents house with my aunt Paula. It was nice to be back with my family again, even if for only a short time.<br><br>The next day ( 16 AUG 2009 ) I hung out all day in Kelowna with my old friend Dustin. After a quick stop home for dinner I went back out with Dustin, his brother Ethan and his wife Cassandra to see District 9: one of the most unique and interesting movies I have seen in a very long time. I ...

... a pillow under my t-shirt to make me nice and fat (the kids loved this!). There was only one student, one of my fives named Hideki, who pointed at my stomach with an impish grin and said, "baby?" :-P Back to the subject of the jack-o-lanterns: they have crazy pumpkins here, and they all seem to be very thick-skinned. Unfortunately, most Japanese "kabocha" are green, but we did get two good orange ones. One of the ...

... hassled when I walked thru alone, but as soon as they all showed up behind me, I could hear "Hello!" and "How are you?", which is probably the extent of their English abilities. We sat down on some benches and were promptly chased away from them. Apparently, many families rent the benches to watch the fireworks, so we were shooed away since we didn't pay anything for that spot. I was wondering why they were ...

... bartenders to change it to the game. I then realized that what I thought was a talk show, was actually a sports show. Whenever there was an exciting point in the game, the hosts of the show got really excited as they watched something. Turns out the something they were watching was the world cup game... Basically, the TV program/station didn't pay to get rights to display the game on TV, nor use any images of the players. Their solution was to have the ...

... of what I'm talking about, know colors, days of the week, stand up, sit down, body parts, animals, etc. Well, most of them do. The ones who're new to Aiko will learn pretty quickly tho. I'm currently reviewing (not really reviewing, they don't have a summer vacation to forget everything, so it's not that hard) all the information that I have in my desk to see if everyone is up to speed. I'm kind of jealous of Ashleigh and Brian - they teach the 4-5 year olds ...