whew

Wow . . . A week has gone by fast. That happens though, when one is recovering from losing one day out of their weekend and then starting their vacation the following weekend.

Basically, the day after I wrote that crazy angry rant, I was over it and equipped with a new attitude on how to approach how I do my job. From that day till now, I have been doing my best to do everything in my job “by the book.” Of course I am not perfect and I adjust certain things according to certain situations, but I will be giving nothing for anyone to notice in terms of trainers or any one else above me. Who knows; maybe the students will learn better this way.

A funny teaching experience did arise. On Friday, one of my kids’ classes was reduced from 6 to 2 and it went really easy and well. Both of the boys are really smart and they were very enthusiastic about participating. Since there were only two of them, there was more time to play and I taught them two variations of handshakes one might see in the states. One was the version where you bump fists three times and the other was the one where you smack hands 3 times and end up in a hand-shake/half-hug. They really seemed to like it and one of them tried it on his Mom when we got downstairs. It was really cute and a handful of the other kids wanted to learn it. Haha, it really was one of those precious moments for me. Even the parents were entertained. One even asked if that is how Americans great each other. I told her that boys often do, but boys and girls usually hug if anything.

On Saturday we celebrated two coworkers’ birthdays that are going down this week and the kick off of our vacations. The day (as well as the entire week for that fact) went really quickly and it was nice just to hang out with my co-workers and some of the students amidst the stress free atmosphere of the oncoming weeklong bout of freedom. There were cakes, laughs and well wishes and then we were all off and the break started. I had no plans for the night, but decided to go chill with some of my training mates in Yokohama for a drink. I was only there for about an hour and a half, as I could not miss the last train and just wanted out of the house for a bit. I wasn’t about to party hard the night before I would climb Mt. Fuji. Which turned out to be a memorable experience.

Since mid July, about 5 training mates and I decided that we wanted to climb Mt. Fuji. It had been one of the top things on my “to do” list since I had arrived here, and our first week long vacation was the perfect time to do so. It was fortunate that we had starting planning nearly a month in advance, as getting the tickets and everything else in order amidst working was a bit of a challenge. Everything ended up working out perfectly and we decided to climb up at night so we could get a good view of the sunrise. The only issue was our concern for weather and one of our group was even trying to get us to reschedule for this coming Sunday rather than last, but I didn’t really want to worry bout the weather or push it back. So, I admit being an idiot for not considering the weather more -_-

Sunday evening came around and everything was working like clockwork. Everyone was more or less on time and getting the tickets was a non-issue. We grabbed dinner and hung out in the area till the bus was to arrive. The bus ride up was uneventful, but pleasant and we were definitely anxious to get there. When we arrived, it was a bit foggy and the temperature was great. Some guys put their stuff in lockers and dawdled a bit and we were off. The initial climb was moderately challenging, and the weather was mild and still just foggy in spots. This lasted till the 7^th (of 10) station and then the hike turned into a perilous adventure.

At around the 7^th station, the moisture around the mountain decided to come down on us a little bit and the winds started picking up. Not a biggie. I put on my layers and everything was good (more or less) until the 9^th station. At that point, it was just myself and one other mate that could manage our pace and the wind had really picked up and the rain was steady and cold. To top the situation off, all the shelters were closed at the station. We had to keep going. For anyone considering going up Fuji, you should know that the trail from the 9^th station to the top was the hardest for me. It was long and really steep in many places. Not to mention the weather is severe as hell. On this final stretch, all my clothes had soaked through and the wind was sweeping all my body heat away. I was feeling the hypothermia creeping up on me. As we approached the top, I let my partner know I needed to hasten my pace or I would have been in danger. Thus, I rushed off and was at the top in a hurry. Of course all the shelters seemed closed, but I was so desperate that I was gonna break windows to escape the weather.

Fortunately, the door on one of the places wasn't locked. I got in quickly and stripped myself completely of all wet clothing (everything) and changed into dry ones. I shivered with my partner (who arrived after 10 minutes) till my body was back at a comfortable temperature. Turns out that the shelter was a sort of hotel and it cost about 65 bucks to stay. As we woke up the staff with our movement, they asked for the money and let us stay till 5. I was scared for a second as it looked like we might have been kicked out into the horrible weather that lasted all night. That would have sucked. Well, 530 came around and we headed out. I had bought a plastic rain suite at the shelter, and I was ready for the bad weather that had not let up still. We got down to the 5^th station in like 2 hours and I managed to stay bone dry (thank god). The trip back home was long and I was exhausted, but proud to have overcome such an adventure. When I got home, I threw all of my wet gear in the bathroom, took a shower and slept.

Monday, I just chilled all day that day as well as Tuesday. I wanted to give my body optimum time to recover. I just cleaned and ran small errands in my town for both of those days. Wednesday was freakin awesome though. I went to the gym and then down to the city of Odaiba. It's a really cool place. There is super unique architecture everywhere and a 1/1-scale model Gundam mobile suit. The model is from a Japanese anime I enjoy and the nerd in me just had to see it. The trip was so worth it. I got plenty of pics of the gundam and explored Odaiba for few hours and soaked it all in as I walked around. Whoever comes to Japan should visit Odaiba for sure.

Yesterday was another chill day and I caught up with people from home mostly. Now I am about to head out the door to explore more of Tokyo that I haven’t seen yet. I’ll let you know how it goes!