Camellia flowers

Zao fox village!

I don't know where we first heard about the fox village in Zao, but I want to say it was reddit. Needless to say we go to anywhere we hear is full of animals we can't normally be around. We travel a lot and have never heard of a place where you can interact with foxes in such close proximity

So when you first walk in you're like, what's going on. Honestly nothing inside is much worth the time. They should get rid of the smaller enclosures with the rare fox breeds that "need to be isolated" I guess they are better there than dead....but it's not worth it in my opinion to keep them there for the sake of advertising that they have loads of fox breeds. We did stop and have a look at all the different foxes though. Inside is also where you can hold a fox for 400 yen.

This is where the magic starts happening. Down this path leads to the start of the circuit track around the large free roaming outside area. Fox paradise! Yes it was cold (5 degrees C). Yes I had a coat, and two pairs of nylons so it wasn't too bad to get the photos. I just hate photos of me in five coats. I look like a homeless person and it's not flattering.

Keeping a respectful distance towards my loved ones

This fox was out for treats. He knew someone somewhere had to have them, lol. The feeding area is separate and very strictly observed. Chaos can break out very easily, you don't want to be swarmed by a hoard of hungry foxes!

Kids are so cute. This reminds me of all the times little kids come to the train station to see the trains with cartoon print wraps on them, or just to see any train. A lot of times they wave as the train pulls away. Sometimes when the train goes through the countryside and farmland you see little kids with their parents watching the trains and waving too. I'm gonna wave back from now on. So adorable.

Working on Sundays and my Love of Taxis

Last weekend I decided to mix it up by going to another city for the weekend. This plan turned out to be very convenient because I had to fill in for someone at work and needed to be in that same city on Sunday. Bret picked me up from work and dropped me off at the train station at around 9:45. After texting furiously to coordinate with everyone, we all met up and had a good night. Matsuyama currently has a great number of people from England, which I LOVE, so it was fun.

The trouble came when I had to wake up at 9 am the next day to go to work. Sundays there are irregular classes, sort of like special training seminars for kids about to take a standardized English test. My company faxed (yes, faxed) me all of the teaching materials, which amounted to three 20 page scrolls that I rolled up like a wizard. I was soooo tired, and I don't think my coworkers found my lack of preparation or my scrolls amusing, but it was all really straightforward and everything went fine. I did abandon the scrolls, as there were back-up copies of the materials at the center.

The classes were held in a convention center-like building that had big auditorium rooms. I really enjoyed the acoustics in some of the rooms. My voice became louder and echo-y. The room format also made me feel all professional and proffessory. I usually teach sitting on the floor with my students at a low table, so it was a nice change of pace to be in a big room with regular chairs and tables, and me standing at a podium with a big whiteboard.

The students were great too. They were all about 16-18, and a lot of them could communicate in good sentences and had a lot of interesting things to say, especially at the end of the lesson when the content was specifically aimed at encouraging the students to express their own opinions, something that is really really really difficult for ESL students. I can usually never manage it in my normal lessons, I just get startled/alarmed/confused looks when I stray from the sentence patterns of the lessons. It was great to hear the thoughts and opinions of regular high school kids.

One of the lesson sections about opinions had questions like, "Some say that the trend in Japan is going towards western style and culture and that Japanese culture is becoming less popular. Do you agree or disagree and why?" It was interesting hearing what they thought about this. I would say that the trend is definitely this way where I live, as popular consumer goods are almost always western. From housing trends to clothing. Whereas Bret and I love antique shops and living in a samurai house, most people regard antiques as junk and old houses as undesirable. Anyways, the students said no, citing popular places like Kyoto as evidence that Japanese culture is still valued. I do agree, but I think a lot of aspects of Japanese culture are being lost. I wish they would re-embrace the old architecture style in particular. It's so much more interesting to see the traditional style rather than masses of concrete, rectangular buildings.  But, I was talking to kids with limited English and limited time, so it was better to not launch into that spiel.

About my love of taxis...

I have decided, that hypothetically if I were ever to become rich, a personal driver would be the best luxury service to have in my current living situation. During my time in Matsuyama this weekend, I admit I indulged a bit on taxis. This was in part because it was very cold, and also because I didn't know where I was going for work. A 10 minute taxi ride is approx 10 dollars and is the equivalent of a 30 minute walk, but without the possibility of maybe getting lost. For me, it's always worth it. Also, taxis in Japan are pretty much everywhere, especially when you're in the city. If you're wandering around, attempting to figure out which way the trams are going and if you have the precise amount of change to ride them, the lure of a warm taxi to casually climb into and go exactly where you need in half the time is too strong. Additionally, out of the three taxis I took last weekend, I got presents from two of them. It was awesome. They were small presents, an orange and a chocolate bar, but when else is this going to happen to me? I love taxis and wish I could take them everywhere all the time.

Pizza Party 2011

Who doesn't love pizza? Our friend works at a stone garden with a woodburning oven, and we have had two awesome pizza parties there. The most recent one was before Christmas, who remembers exactly when.

Showing how it's done :)

 With our broccoli powers combined...

 Everything was homemade and delicious!

 Mai working his magic

A colorful character drives this motorcycle. It has a rocking chair strapped to the back. We see it and the owner most of the time when we visit the stone garden.

Yesterday was a very random Thursday.

My friend asked me if I wanted to have lunch before work and I said yes. Then she asked me what else I was doing that day and I said not much, just a couple of classes and that I had to catch the train about an hour before they started. She said that she'd drive me so that I wouldn't have to take the train, and after many, "are you sure?"s we made plans to meet up, go to lunch in the city where I was working, and hang out in the vicinity so that it would be convenient for class.

I usually keep things low-key before work, so that I can de-stress and prepare for everything, but I figured lunch would be no big deal.

So we get on the expressway, and I zone out for a bit, but then I start paying attention to the exit signs and we are going waaay out north east. It's okay, we have plenty of time and everything, but I just wasn't expecting we'd travel so far. We kept passing more and more signs, before I finally asked where we were going, and my friend's like, "it's okay, just 38 more kilometers!" This was like someone in Seattle asking you to lunch and taking you to Bellingham. Not what I expected at all.

We had a lovely time, got lunch, went shopping, etc. But I couldn't understand why we went so far.

When I got home I told Bret about my lunch date, and he was like, "Oh yeah, lots of people out here just like going for drives. It's like a hobby." I'd heard this before but I guess I forgot since I regard long drives solely as an inconvenience. We didn't even have a destination! I could see if there was a specific awesome restaurant or attraction, but we had zero plan.

In the end, it was a great day. Next time I will be more careful what I agree to :) It's interesting to see things from new perspective. I feel like just going for a drive went out of style with the rise of gas prices, but for some it's still worth it!

A day in the life: To and from work

Some days I work on Islands in the Seto Inland Sea. In particular, Hakatajima and Oshima, which both have several Zosen (Shipyards). In particular, I am going to IS Zosen and Shimanami Zosen. Both are owned under the Imabari Zosen group (Imazo for short, kinda how like Nissan = Nihon Sangyo [Japan Industry], or Nikon = Nihon Kougaku [Japan Optic]. I have to take Ferries to and from them most days, so here are some pictures from the ferry.

A tower that functions as a lighthouse for the port where the ferries take off from. You can see someone walking out on a concrete sea wall, which serve to barrier the harbored ships from waves. It must take at least 15 minutes to walk to where this guy is.

The beginning portions of bridges that island hop from Shikoku to the main island of Honshu, connecting the prefectures of Ehime and Hiroshima.
My port of arrival on Oshima Island.