Belly Dancing
Last night I took my first belly dancing class with some of my friends. It was so much fun, although I am so sore today!! It is fun to be doing something active, plus we actually talk to Japanese people! I am excited for the next class!!
Osaka-jo
We spent Sunday afternoon wandering around Osaka Castle and the surrounding park. Osaka castle is beautiful, and the park was really great! It was a beautiful day, so it was full of people relaxing. Also, there was a music festival happening at the same time, so we got to hear some Japanese bands for the first time! One lead singer started waving to us as he was singing, which was exciting! We also saw lots of crazy things, including girls on unicycles, people playing hockey, a dog that could jump from post to post, and a clown that was busking for money!!!
Osaka
This past weekend we headed to the big city of Osaka for the weekend. It was our first time, as we had been slightly prejudiced against the city, expecting a Tokyo but without the cool parts of Tokyo. However, Osaka was really great! It had a much different feel to the city than we expected, and we really enjoyed it. One of the top highlights was a yakiniku lunch in the Yakiniku (Korean BBQ) district of the city, in the most famoun yakiniku restaurant in Japan, as recommended by one of my teachers. It certainly didn't disappoint, as it was great!!
Tour de Noto- Day 3
Zach finished the Tour de Noto back where he started-- in Matto, on a beautiful day! (Typhoons will do that- after a typhoon the next day is always hot and gorgeous!). I know the sun was appreciated after the rainy day before. Zach was so fast on his bike that he even beat me back to the finish- and I had a ride! He was pretty happy, but exhausted! It was great, because again he finished at the very front!!!
Tour de Noto- Camping
On the second day of the Tour de Noto, we decided to camp on the beach on the island of Notojima, which is absolutely beautiful! I arrived early in the afternoon and set up camp in a campground that was in the absolute middle of nowhere. I discovered that the campsite was in fact closed, as camping season ends on August 31, but we had heard it doesn't matter if you still use them. As you can see from the pictures it was a beautiful day. When we arrived back after the race, also with our friend Katie, it was pitch black and the wind had picked up considerably, as the impending typhoon was coming close. After much deliberation as to whether or not we should still camp, considering 1,200 cyclists plus families and friends has descended on this island of 1,000 people and all its hotels already, we discovered the bathroom was actually quite large! So, we decided to move camp into the bathroom in case the typhoon actually came-- all of this in pitch-black, except for our one 100-yen flashlight. We were extremely nervous, as it was really storming by this point, we were in the middle of nowhere, and could not see anything when we heard voices. The owners of the campground had arrived to make sure everything was alright! Luckily for us, they didn't mind our tresspassing, and even turned on the electricity for us so that we had lights (they even offered to turn on the hot water for us!) So finally we were able to spend a rather uneventful night camping in the bathroom! (Except, of course, for the couple coming to find a quiet place! They were very surprised to find us instead!)
Tour de Noto- Day 1
Here are pictures at the end of Day 1. Zach finished in the very front of the group, which was very lucky for me as waiting for him was a bit nerve-wracking! He was very, very happy!! Also, there are some pictures of Wajima later that night.
Tour de Noto-- The Start
This weekend was Zach's big 450km bike race around the Noto Penninsula! It was a long, but really fun, weekend, in which we saw so much more of Ishikawa then we had before (especially Zach!). It was really exciting, as Zach finished in the front of the race each day-- of more than 1,200 racers!!! These pictures are from the start in Matto on Saturday morning. It is also important to know that there was a typhoon that was scheduled to hit Ishikawa, specifically the Noto where we were camping on the beach, one day this weeknd.
Cricket and BBQ!!
This last weekend we headed down to the river for some cricket and a BBQ!! We suspect it was one of the last great summer days. so we definately made the most of it! I think both Zach and my cricket skills improved greatly since our last adventure-- plus I had my first taste of Australian beef! While I may be from Alberta, I am now officially advocating Aussie beef-- it was really, really, really great!!!!!
Nishikigaoka School Festival
The past two days my school had its annual Festival. The school festival is a huge event, as there are no classes and no work for two days- a big rarity here, and all of the students just have fun! There is food, of course, skits and entertainment. It is a lot of fun, and a great chance to meet the students!!!
Also, there are pictures of the construction that is happenning at my school. My school is being rebuilt one building at a time, so the Junior HIgh is brand new, and now they are tearing down the old Junior High, where they will build the Senior High. This is just ouside of our teachers' room, and as they are tearing it down the entire teachers' room shakes, and then everybody runs to the window to see what is gone! When I started last month the building was entirely intact, and by the end of the day yesterday (the picture was taken in the morning), there was nothing left of it at all.
Also, there is a picture of me giving my welcome speech to 1,500 people in Japanese!
