you`re everybody`s satellite ~

...okay, so what with internet access being thirty minutes from home, I may not be the most faithful recorder, but here`s an update.

Along with a bunch of other Ibaraki JETs, I will be climbing Fuji this weekend, sadly with no tuque in tow. I knew I should have brought one from Canada! Oh well, you can`t win them all. Despite hearing that parts of the hike are much like standing in a cattle line, I`m looking forward to the climb and the sunrise ... the view from Fuji at sunrise is one of the most celebrated in Japan, and apparently the basis for the old national flag (the one with the red sun with the rays.)

With any luck, I won`t be too broken to train by Monday; I`ve only been to two aikido classes so far, but quite enjoy the sport. It is definitely an adjustment, but the other participants are kind and very talented at the martial art - and a lot of fun to hang out with afterwards. I`ve adopted Carl`s word - nomunication; a blend of the Japanese verb nomu, to drink, and communication - to describe the afterwards, where we hang out in the kitchen/common area and talk, laugh, play guitar, dodge divebombing hornets, and share a drink or two. The shrine and dojo themselves are historic, which is both odd and perfectly natural. Maybe it`s just my Canadianisms acting up. It`s odd... Japan is very much a country of the synonymous past and future, whereas Canada is very much about the here and now. Not in all things; of course, that`s a generalization, but still, there`s something to it.

I have no doubt I`ll be able to put a more eloquent spin on that thought by the end of the year - maybe by the end of the week! Classes start tomorrow, but I don`t teach until Friday... I have my lesson plan completed, and my introduction practiced for... I am nervous, but it`s more anticipation than anything. I hope.

Cheers, and take care, everyone. ^^