Top Inn Matsuyama

... other smaller portable shrines down a very high set of stairs, followed by a brawl to collect the pieces.

I am not really sure of the significance of all this, but it was definitely interesting to watch! I will try to find out more about the meaning behind this festival and make another post about it at a later time.

For the first night of the festival Jess and I walked down to the water to watch them parade around. It was really ...

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 back ...

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 ...

... we were a group of twelve we got our own boat!

We all met up in the afternoon at the Matsuyama JR ( JR stands for Japan Railways if you hadn't guessed ) Station and caught a train to Ozu, a really old city with many many historic buildings. We plan to return in the day sometime and explore the city a little better.

Once in Ozu, we had to walk, quite a long ways to the meeting place and then again to river where our boat was. We hopped on the boat and we were ...

Ok, so I have a bit more time, I am going to write a bit more detail about my Voyage. I don't have a USB cable with me so I will have to wait to upload pictures.

So after my last Edmonton post, Jess left for Japan, I packed, tried to catch up with friend and moved in with Jess's sister Emily. Em and I had a lot of fun living together for my last couple weeks in Edmonton. I managed to get a lot done, but still felt like there was more to do. Isn't there always ...

I arrived in Japan last night! Yay! I am finally here...actually is snuck up pretty quickly.

So I would like to start by apologizing to all the people I lied to about my flight date. I just couldn't risk Jessica finding out, I wanted it to be a surprise.

I had a really nice couple days with my family and visiting old friends ( and by friends I mean friend )

Then it was off to Vancouver to catch my plane to Tokyo. The trip from ...

... on the boat, which had a plastic deer on the top of it! It was so quiet and peaceful, and I received plenty of stares from locals who looked like they`d never seen a foreigner before! Anyway it didn`t take that long to walk around the island, but there were some lovely little sandy coves that I had all to myself, and the weather was perfect. There were more impressive views of the coast when I scaled Mount Takanawa in the centre of the island, and I spent a good ...

I've never really talked about my work, so I've decided to let you know what being an English teacher is like for me. For one thing, I really dig the work, as exhausting as it can be. I'm working 9 hour days, but it feels like I'm working more since I'm always busy. Part of that is the 30 min bike ride and the 10 mins it takes to stop sweating from the trip, but the job itself is exhausting. Usually, I'm making copies for students, planning lessons, proofreading translations and ...

... that I'd be as confused as I was. It was refreshing that I could finally see eye-to-eye with my mother. After my mother got situated and I showed her around our apartment, we rode bikes to the grocery store to grab food. My mother was nervous about riding a bike, especially since i'd never seen her ride a bicycle ever in my life. But I was extremely curious if that saying "you never forget how to ride a bike" held true. Turns out it is. My mom was perfectly capable of riding a bike, tho ...

I`d like to take a moment to share with you all a little story I wrote. You see, there`s a wonderful chain of convenience marts here in Japan called Lawsons. They are everywhere and many times Sarah and I will stop at them to use the bathroom or even to eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner. They are always around when you need them. Anyways, in order to express our ...