What's the Matter Mountain?



Unkai, or 'cloudsea', seen from the summit of Daifugen-dake.

August is rapidly approaching which means, among other things, the annual wave of JETs rolling in and out of Japan. August 1st will mark the beginning of my third year here, though for many of my friends it will bring the end of their sojourns in Nihon. Many of you may remember my words a couple of summers ago when I was preparing to leave for the JET program, "I'll see you in two years." I spoke those words with naive confidence that I had the next few years all planned out already and that whatever situation I would find myself in, I would walk away from it two years later. Well.......so much for figuring things out ahead of time.
The next couple of weeks will bring a number of bear-hug goodbyes, goodbye BBQs a the river( the best way to do it), helping friends move stuff from their houses ( and pick up a few choice items at bargain prices), and welcoming the new arrivals, including two non-JETs arriving next week, Matthew and Marc, who will be checking out Japan for a few weeks. School is out now, so I go to the BOE in the mornings and have the afternoons off, providing more time to spend with friends. Matthew, Marc and I will be heading up to Tokyo for a few days during the first week of august.
There have already been a few goodbyes this past couple of weeks. Jeremy and I had our Sayonara Concert in Taiji, and with the exception of a bit more work on our CD, we have said goodbye to Route 42. Jeremy and Sunny will be around until August 7th. And last weekend I said "Goodbye for now" to my friends Julie and Molly, who teach up near Wakayama City. Julie will be going back to Canada to drop off some mochi for the folks before getting back on a plane to France to live with her man, Yves. They will be living in Brest, where Yves family runs a plant nursery. As one of my top priorities is traveling to Brittany after JET, I look forward to seeing her next year. Molly will be moving to NYC, without even stopping first in Michigan to drop off the mochi. As my other top priority is getting back to New York after JET, I will no doubt be seeing her again too, which sure makes goodbyes a lot easier.
Julie arranged a hiking trip last weekend to one of her favorite trails as a goodbye to friends and to the mountains of Kumano that she has hiked regularly with the hiking club at the high school she teaches at. I drove up alone from Katsuura and she came down with Molly, Saijo sensei (her good friend and leader of the hiking club), and Saijo sensei's wife, Junko. We met up Saturday at Mt. Wasamata, set up camp, made dinner, talked, and went to bed early. On Sunday (still felt like Saturday), we woke up at 3:30 am and were on the trail a little after 4:00. It was still dark, but the full moon provided enough light to stay on the trail. We reached the first of two peaks a little after sunrise and enjoyed an awesome view of the mountains floating on the sea of clouds. We did a pretty rigorous 8 hour hike, but arrived back at our campsite shortly after noon. It was a great trip. I arrived home dead tired that afternoon and slept through the summer festival going on that night in the streets of Katsuura, though the taiko drums showed up in my dreams.
Fortunately the next day, Monday, was a national holiday. I spent the day idly, cleaning up, reading and lying in front of the fan. In the afternoon I walked down to the beach for swim. I dove in and was revived in the cool waters. Then, moments later I scraped my forehead against a rock under the water leaving a very visible, slightly bloody wound, which ruined my day. I feel a little better today. It looks better and I got some medication that should decrease the chance of scaring. It could have been worse.


Posted: Wed - July 20, 2005 at 03:44 PM        

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