Sky Hotel Matsuyama

... 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.........

... year I was born ). It is also an important center for Shugendo, a mixture of Shintoism and Buddhism.

We got up at around 5:00am Saturday morning to catch the train to Saijo a town bigger than Hojo, but smaller than Matsuyama about an hour away from both. We caught the train and made our way to Saijo. In Saijo we just had enough time to grab some snacks from the combini ( Japanese convenience store ), before we had to catch the bus to the Ishizuchi rope-way.
Saijo, Shikoku, Japan astralcars

... There was also a stand that sold the most amazing fried chicken ever!

Another interesting point ( though once again not conducive of sleeping ) was that one of these giant shrines was being built right below our balcony. It should be mentioned that they also drum constantly the entire time the shrine is at home in the makeshift garage they built for it.

Anyway, despite all the noise and lack of sleep it was a very enjoyable weekend.

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 you are somewhere, where rules and manners are so important. So I often feel weird just snapping away. Especially at things like temples and shrines. I'm not even sure if you're allowed??? I'm going to try and find out though, because there are some beautiful Buddhist temples in Hojo, especially the one, it is just gorgeous.

I am also going to upload images for the journey here entry. So you can check that out if you want.

... just shared one.

So the first part of the trip, we just journeyed peacefully around the river being either ruddered or poled in the shallow bits, by a older Japanese man wearing traditional Japanese clothing.

Quite a long while of this went on and we didn't realize, that this was the time we should be eating our Bento boxes...oops. So when someone finally decided to ask, he was pretty much "hurry up and eat!!!" Finally it was dark enough that the Cormorant ...

... up after they'd come from Kyoto and Tokyo. They were only staying for 2 days, and then heading right back to Tokyo to catch a flight home. We started off going out to dinner with some of my students. We at ate some fancy schmancy restaurant where they were really slow with the drinks. The dining part was on the second floor, and the kitchen was on the basement - talk about bad design. They probably were slow with the food and drinks because ...

... with others. Including learning a phrase that is supposed to help my love life...of course I've already forgotten it... sigh... The baths are so relaxing, and wonderful. If you ever get a chance, DO IT. There are hot springs all over the US too. I really wish we had another day or two in this town. It is really beautiful, and I would love to go gallivanting in the castles and the hills. Will just have to wait until next time, I suppose!

... good, and were quite a hit at the party, with everyone but Rachel, of course, who is vegan. I think she's the sort of vegan who just really loves animals and feels bad at the thought of eating any of them, so I was careful not to say too much about the little octopus I had dismembered. Two (hopefully) interesting tangents that popped into my head while writing that first paragraph: 1) I taught my 5-year-olds the word "squishy," and they love it. ;-) We were talking ...

... motives were even if something was fizzing in my glass. Free alcohol is free alcohol! Sunday was too hungover to do anything productive as usual. Spoke to Roz as well who had good news. She said that she had got my digital camera back from being repaired in Tokyo. Can always rely on the Japanese. In England it would have taken about a month just for someone to look at it. Also got some photos developed from a disposable camera I've been using so will hopefully be able to ...