Zippity doo da

I went to the YKK zipper factory, the largest zipper manufacturer in the world (go ahead look at your zipper right now its about a 50/50 shot you will see YKK on it) and made a zipper here is how

Steps to making a zipper:

1.  Choose a tape (I went with hot pink, Surprise suprise)

2.  Bite it with a metal alligator looking tool thing (no I am not up on my tool names other than the basics) and wrap a rubber band around it 3 times


3.  Stick the teeth on one by one…all facing the same direction or you will have to start over again…that direction should be towards the middle or you will have to stqrt over again again

 

 4.  Pound it 5 or six times using the wheelie machine

5.  Hammer in the zipper stops or in our case have the professional hammer the zipper stops in place

6. rub it along wax (which helps it run smoothly and quickly in case you have any slow zippers you wanna touch up)



7.  Ta Da You have yourself a zipper…back in the day a skilled worker could whip out like 100 of these a day…I do not think I would have been one of the skilled ones



Anyway, I didn’t think I would find this part of my tour to interesting…instead I was annoyed we had to leave so soon and I didn’t have much time to look around and read the displays in the zipper museum.  So I focused in on just one section of the exhibit, which was about the air tight zippers they use (or used I don’t know if they still do) on astronaut suits.  I really enjoyed it, and the fact that I did tells me I might be turning into my dad (which is okay...so long as I never take as long to go through a museum as he did at the Royal Observatory and National Maritime Museum)

Kurobe Gorge

Happened 9/17
Written 9/27

This post (and the next few) are all things I did in my prefecture with a great group of other foreigners living and working in the area.  I broke the posts up because it would be way long if I put it all into one.  I am starting with Kurobe Gorge because I get really camera happy whenever I hike in the hills, and it was one of my favorite parts of the weekend. 

 These photos are from the town we caught a sightseeing train in...I believe it was called Unazuki.  The whole area has hot springs and things running through it so that fountain is warm and we had a lovely little foot soak before heading out.

 The western european castle looking thing is actually a hydro-electric power plant.

 These bridges (all along the way) are for monkeys not people...but I never saw any on them

 We were on a curve so I caught the front of our adorable orange train in a pic

 Fog, Fog, Fog ............and more fog

 One with me in it to make the rents and G-rents happy

 This area is known as the jumping monkey gorge...the name once again getting my hopes up that I would see some cute critters...sadly it is named that because it is the skinnyest place along the water so monkeys used to jump across there (I suppose they still could now but they have all the convienient bridges so why bother)

I hope to make it back here soon cause there are lots of trails in the area other than the one I was on...also I need to get a picture of this bridge without that pesky branch!

Vegan dinner a truly foreign experience

People who know me, know I talk about food constantly...and when I am not talking about food it's probably because I am busy eating.  In particular I find Bacon and Cheese to be as close to perfection as is possible (notice the capitalization just like with names, because they are like close friends to me).  So when I was invited to a vegan friends birthday dinner I had my doubts.  That being said most the food was tolerable and some of it even delicious.  The first course was some appetizer type stuff including marinated veggies, beets, and a sweet potato type thing.  The second course was my personal favorite and had some salad, bread, and something that tasted like deep fried chicken poppers (my fav. item of the meal).  There was also beans and rice which did for the most part manage to stay in my spice capacity though I picked my way around some fiery peppers.  After that was a pesto pasta dish with some cherry tomatoes.  And finally a Carib cake...I will admit I still despise Caribs, but everyone else found the cake delicious.  The others appreciated my piece more than I probably would have even if it had been a cake of a non Carib base.  Anyway I enjoyed myself, with good food and good company.  But, veganism and veggidom is just not for me.       

The (long delayed) Tateyama Adventure

Took Place: Aug. 11
Written: Sept. 2

     Tateyama or Mount Tate is one of the three holy mountains in Japan (along with Fuji and  Haku).  I have heard it referred to as “where the gods live.” In my mind I refer to it as the “happy mountain” (because obviously it is compared to Fuji or as I think of it Mount Doom).  

     Anyway Tateyama happens to be in my home ken of Toyama and as part of my orientation I had the opportunity to hike it or to go to the onsen.  This was before mount doom and I chose to hike!  It was wonderful.  You get up in the cool fresh mountain air and go for a lovely hike and at the end of it there is a shrine (Shinto I believe, possibly called the Oyama shrine but I could be messing that up) and a priest to bless you and give you sake.  I thoroughly enjoyed my day even if we did spend some of it in the mists/clouds rather than with a view.

(Ill add more photos later, but I did not take any of the priest or shrine at the top because I was not sure if it would be polite or not)
      

Daily Life: School Club Activities

I have heard good things and bad things about getting involved with club activities while here.  The good are that the students get more comfortable around you, and are more willing to try to use English with you.  One bad thing being that they can be a huge time commitment.  Another negative thing I have not heard, but predict, is that it is one more thing that separates me from the other teachers.  I am very young compared to many of the teachers, I am clueless as to what’s going on a good portion of the time, and when other teachers are involved in the clubs it is as a supervisor or coach where as I am a participant.

Needless to say I wanted to give it a try since most of what I had heard was positive.  Now, I have visited two clubs.  At my base school I went to a girl’s soccer club practice.  At my visit school I went to the co-ed gymnastics practice (They have a trampoline, I got more excited than a 10 year old counting their candy Halloween night).    I noticed the benefit of the students trying to use English with me instantly.  Especially at the soccer practice where the larger number of students may have been an advantage, as a few of them liked to confer with one another about what to say before approaching me.  The downside was not what I predicted, but I should have.  Someone who has been referring to 20-30 minutes of jogging as a good workout for the last year is likely unprepared for 3 hour long practices, in the Japanese heat, with students who do it everyday.  Turns out I am slow and out of shape (duh).  I quickly got very sweaty, sore, and sunburned.  I may even have pulled a muscle though I won’t be able to confirm or deny this until tomorrow.  The other half the equation is that in summer clubs happen during the day rather than at the end of it.  It is decidedly unpleasant to change into business clothes after exercising.  It also was probably rather unpleasant for any teachers near me as practice ended at noon, and I spent the whole afternoon gross.  

Even so, I am really glad that I went and hope to visit a variety of clubs during my time here.   (Though I may try to get away with cheering instead of playing some of the time) 

The Morning Show

At my visit school we record a brief English radio program with a highlighted phrase or word per day.  It consists of a short English conversation between another native English speaker and me, and then two students using the key word or phrase in "their own" sentence.  The most amusing thing about this is that the students don’t volunteer, have time to practice/prepare, or get to choose what they will say.  No this is no Wayzata New’s Break where I imagine getting air time was competitive (though I don’t actually know, because I would have had give up a gym class in order to try a class like that, No thankyou!).  Anyway, the students are chosen at random by the teacher in charge of the program.  He just walks around the hall grabbing whatever students happen to cross his path.  It was hilarious watching a group of girls launch themselves into a classroom when they heard him around the corner.  And they didn’t stop there, they proceeded to shove into the only area in the room (right behind the door) that is not visible from the hall.  Surprisingly enough since I have never enjoyed hearing my voice as it actually sounds rather than as it is in my head, I really enjoy doing these recordings and letting my newly discovered cheesy DJ alter ego out.  

Climbing Fuji

happened 8/20 and 8/21

I climbed Mt. Fuji and it was miserable!!! I almost don’t want to describe it because I’m sure you will read it and think “okay that doesn’t sound like a blast, but it’s wasn’t that bad, quit your whining.” …so if thoughts like that cross you mind, know that you are imagining it wrong, make what you are thinking 100X worse and you might be approaching the appropriate amount of anguish our party was feeling.  Even so I am glad I did it, and might be a masochist because I think I enjoyed more of it than most of the group.

General info:
     The plan was to hike up Mt. Fuji at night and summit in the early hours of the morning.  Rest and hang out up top for a couple hours, watch the sunrise, then hike down in the early morning before it gets to hot.

Preparation:
     Fuji is the tallest mountain in Japan.  Like hiking in any mountains you need to be prepared.  Weather can be unpredictable.  You need gear in preparation for the wet, and extreme cold, even in the summer． I felt relatively good and prepared.  I had my winter jacket, two long sleve layers, one cotton, one a quick drying synthetic, leggings, my “waterproofs” (the pants I got for hiking in Scotland), a hat, gloves, wool socks, and hiking boots.  I also had separated everything in my bag into three separate plastic bags.  One was for extra layers of clothes I was not wearing, One was for food (I had all the hiking usuals like snickers, peanut butter, assorted candy, calorie and soy bars, etc.), one was for valuable necessities like my wallet, my phone, and my camera.  In addition to the items in the bags I had water, Gatorade, 2 cans of oxygen, and a head lamp easily accessible.

  Before hiking:

            We started with a bus ride which knowing we would be hiking for a good 10 hours or longer I tried to sleep through.  I did manage to dose in and out and whenever I did wake up there tended to be beautiful low mountains around to look at.  Or rest stops with ice cream.  Then we arrived at the 5^th Station of the mountain.  We had some time before we started so we looked at gift shops, got hot chocolate and relaxed.  Several people bought wooden walking sticks that you could get branded at each of the huts/stations along the way up.  I didn’t bother because I have tend to get annoyed at carrying walking sticks but I still think it’s a cool idea. 

The beginning:

At about 6:15 the medium/slow group (these are my people) got started.  It got dark pretty quick, and I thought it was a good temperature for hiking, cool but not to cold (at least not for those of us from the Midwest).  We turned on our hiking lamps and headed off quite happily for a few hours.  After about 2 and a half hours of hiking the other (“medium” fast) group passed us.  They had only been going for like an hour or something.  Anyways the biggest challenge during this portion was that a few of us struggled more than others with the altitude and had to stop constantly to catch our breath. 

Things start to go downhill:

Not literally we still had a ways up to go.  Somewhere between the 7^th and 8^th stations it started to rain.  As we got higher and it got later, the temperature was dropping.  Then the wind picked up.  I think we all had most our layers on by the 8^th station, but were still in relatively good spirits (or at least I was) and were still keeping pretty warm and dry.  But, by the later huts between the 8^th and 9^th station my waterproofs and winter coat proved to only be water resistant, which at this point I hardly noticed because I was getting a touch nauseous. 

The split:
     The medium slow group split at this point.  After being told the hut was full so we could not enter and warm up one girl and guy who were exceedingly cold went to loiter in the restrooms to try and get warm for a bit, while me and our fearless leader sat on benches trying not to puke.  The other half of our group continued on.  After a bit of rest and several hits of oxygen, I felt a little better, and wise or reckless decided to force down a snickers, thinking if I could keep it down the energy might help me stay warmer and maybe make me feel less sick.  Success!  But, sadly the other girl was still really chilly, so we begged and pleaded and the hut agreed to let her in for a short while. The rest of us had to continue on because it was getting to cold to sit still.

Reunited: 
     before the summit we caught the first half of our split group.  We all went through phases where some people were struggling more than others and kept eachother going.  We all went slow, most of us struggled to breathe, we were cold, and wet.  This portion was not fun! Not even for a minute.  We reached the top at about 2:30 AM in a staggered group.  I don’t even think I was able to smile I was so cold.  Those of us who got their first tried to huddle in a group, in a doorway, to get out of the wind.  No good the wind felt like it was coming from all directions.  I was shaking with cold from this point on non stop the rest of the hike, and several hours after. 

The decision:
     We lasted about 5 minutes at the top.  There would be no sunrise, we were getting off this mountain, and we were doing it now.  Just in time the final members of our group got to the top.  Only they were not ready to keep moving.  They had to stop, but we had to go!  So the group leader gave a much needed pep talk, “the way down is smoother and easier, the air will get thicker, the temperature will get warmer, it will start to get light”  It worked everyone was ready to move on.  And we almost got off the top before he started to puke.  He refused to let even that slow us down and was practically moving before done being sick (I think he wanted off the mountain more than anyone)

Going down: 
           It was still pretty miserable.  At some point though I became numb to it all. I had been cold and wet and shivering for so long that it ceased to matter.  I actually became deluded enough that I was having fun again for awhile (though I didn’t say anything because there was still occasional puking, and people in a lot pain for other reasons.)    My happy place lasted for a good couple of hours…unfortunately a couple of hours out of six or seven for the hike down still isn’t that good of odds.

The final countdown:
            After awhile going down got painful.  Mostly in the knees but a bit everywhere.  Also we were all sleep deprived.  We became a bit zombie like just shuffling one foot in front of the other.  But we were almost there.  Oh wait no we weren’t.  We began to separate again into two groups, and at the end my group managed to think we were nearing the end 4 or 5 times.  The earliest when we still had about 3 hours left, it was like the never-ending hike. Until it finally ended.

After:
     We went into the restaurant we got hot cocoa in the day before to rest, get warm, and wait for the other group, and girl to get down.  The only problem was with every layer wet even sitting inside I could not get warm.  I decided to get a hot chocolate and in my mind began to panic a bit.  I could not move my fingers well, particularly my thumbs.  Grabbing the coins to get my hot chocolate was incredibly hard.  I got very frustrated when I dropped a coin and could not grip it to pick it up.  I was nearly in tears and started having very paranoid thoughts “isn’t loss of movement a sign of frostbite” “do my thumbs look kinda blue”  “Ive been inside for half an hour surely I should be able to use my fingers by now”  Anyway  I pulled myself together got my hot chocolate, continued to blow on my hands and try to warm them till everyone was back, we got on the bus, and we got to the onsen for hot showers and a hot bath. 

The hot tub:

In the hot tub I stopped shivering for the first time in 9 hours.  All was well in the world again. 
 
The aftermath:

I lost my phone and my watch to the mountain.  My knees are still sore especially when I go down stairs.  My apartment smell like wet dog because of my soaked through jacket.  But for some reason I am still glad I went, and can’t convince myself that I didn’t have fun.  Clearly the mountain took what remained of my sanity as well.