Silver Week, Plus Thursday

Silver Week was fantastic and I never wanted it to end.  Partly because Ros was here and that was awesome, and partly because I just didn`t want to go back to work.  (What I need is a job where it doesn`t matter when I work, just as long as I`ve put in the necessary hours by the end of the week.)

Saturday morning and afternoon were spent cleaning like a madwoman, and shopping.  And laundry!  For once, it was actually gorgeous, so I was able to hang my laundry out to dry and it actually dried.  Amazing thing, sunshine.  Ros got in just before 11PM, and we commenced with our epic mini-holiday by watching The Emperor`s New Groove and drinking tea.  It`s like we never left university...

Sunday was our lazy day.  Ros accompanied me to the mall and the supermarket so that I could actually learn what some of the things were in my store, buy real sheets, and sign up for a supermarket point card.  Hurray for being a functioning adult, I guess?  Anyway.  The rest of the afternoon and evening were spent in our usual way, with video games, movies, and a massive amount of food.  We made chicken wings (Ros, and I paid attention), nacho dip, and cut veggies, and had a bottle of wine that I loved more than Ros did.  Pomegranate cherry Pinot Noir!  Fabulous stuff.  Like juice, but drier.  We made it through the tutorial and two temples in Zelda, all of The Monuments Men, and half of The Last Unicorn before calling it a night.  During this time, I was also cruising through Facebook (because I have ADD or something and can`t just focus on a movie), and found pictures from a couple of my fellow Mie ALTs who had gone somewhere really pretty.  Ros and I hadn`t really decided what we were going to do yet, so I was like, "Ros, let`s go here."  So we did.

Monday was another beautiful day, perfect for what we had planned.  We left my place in the late morning and took the train all the way out to Akameguchi.  What`s in Akameguchi?  Well, frankly, not much.  But 5km away is something called Akame 48 Waterfalls.  This place is absolutely gorgeous, and fantastic exercise.  There is a bus that runs from the train station to the beginning of the falls trail (and surrounding shop area), but we had just missed one, and would have to wait around an hour for the next one.  So we were like, "Forget that," and decided to walk the 5.2km partway up a mountain to the shop area, and the additional kilometer or so to the beginning of the falls trail.  This area is part of the birthplace of ninja, so ninja-related souvenirs are everywhere.  On our way up, we came across a gate that asked us to make sure it was closed behind us as we ventured along the hiking path so as to not let out the wild boars (um...), Ros bemoaned not bringing her bear bell (there`re a lot of bears in Japan), and we saw the notice asking us not to bother dogs wearing orange bandanas, as these are monkey dogs busy at work.  Yeah.  Monkey dogs.  As in, dogs whose job it is to protect areas and people from pesky and potentially dangerous monkeys.  I can`t make this stuff up! 

Once we actually entered the waterfalls area (there aren`t actually 48; 48 is a Japanese representation of `many`.  Don`t ask.), we were greeted first by tanks displaying giant salamanders.  Japanese giant salamanders, particularly the ones here, are a designated national natural treasure.  Many of the ones in the tanks were older than me, and probably as big as my arm.  And I don`t mean my forearm.  I mean my whole arm.

Beyond the salamander station begins the actual falls trail, which according to the internet is about 4km long, and takes about an hour and a half to walk.  What they don`t tell you (in as many words) is that some of this trail will be flat, some of it will be a dirt hill, some of it will be legitimate stairs, some of it will be tree-root-stairs, some of it will be foot-and-a-half-tall and half-a-foot-wide stone steps, and some of it will just be piles of rocks for you to navigate your way over.  I sort of felt like I was back in Norway, but warmer.  Despite being me, I actually only fell once, and that was on the way back.  The falls were awesome, and I took way more pictures than were probably necessary.

As we reached the last waterfall, we heard the announcement that equates to the ultra-polite version of, "We`re getting ready to close in an hour and a half.  Get the hell off our mountain."  At this point, we`re much, much closer to the other end of the trail (it`s a linear trail, not a circuit), but there aren`t buses to the station at this other end, and we don`t really know that area, so it`s better for us to head back the way we came, from the beginning of the trail and down to Akameguchi.  So we have to go back another not-quite-4km of waterfall trail.  This would be the point when I fell (thankfully not really hurt, but my arm got pretty dirty).  This is also the point wherein we saw the snake (I made Ros walk in front the whole trip for the sake of this eventuality).  We were both quite proud of me, as after her warning I only slowly backed up a few steps instead of screaming and running (narrow, treacherous mountain path may have had something to do with that).  When the snake was a respectable distance off the path and up the side of the mountain, I was able to move past it (while keeping an eye on it the whole time in case it decided to turn around, leap off the mountainside and attack us) and continue our trek down.  By the time we got back to the trail entrance and the souvenir town, we`d missed the last bus back to the station by a lot (we knew we would), so we did the 5.2km back down on foot (but keeping to the road this time, rather than going through the apparently wild boar/monkey infested forest, because the sun was setting and there would be virtually no light in there).  We had a lovely dinner of udon (sitting down has never been so glorious) before hopping the train back home for more movies.

On Tuesday we headed to Ise so that I could actually see the shrine.  This is the holiest and most important Shinto shrine in all of Japan, holding one of the three sacred artifacts belonging to the goddess Amaterasu.  The thing is, every twenty years they rebuild the main shrine housing the sacred mirror (which no one gets to actually see, you just pray at the building it`s in), so it`s a) not old at all, and b) not decorated.  The less important shrines that have stood for a few hundred years are a lot more interesting. 

There was some sort of special dance presentation, though, so we got to see some of that!  It was boring at first, because I could hardly see the stage thanks to the television camera in front of me, but eventually he went away to film something else, and I got a great view of the rest of the performance.

On our way out of the main shrine complex, Ros saw a banner for free tea.  Free tea?!  Heck yes!  So we had a lovely traditional Japanese tea in a very informal setting that we didn't have to pay for.

These are the little sweets that accompanied the tea.  Basically icing sugar paste.  Tasty!

We had an awesome lunch in the temple-town area that was ridiculously filling and tasty.  After that, we hopped a bus to the other side of Ise to see the married rocks.  Yes, you read that right.  Rocks.  Rocks that are married.  I ... can`t really explain it.

Anyway, it`s a really popular spot for couples to visit, for obvious reasons.  Ros and I kind of stuck out a bit, along with the random solo foreigner dude who had been on the bus with us from the shrine.  From there, we tried to make it back to the smaller shrine close to the station, but by the time we caught a bus back into that area, the shrine had closed.  At some point on that bus ride, I got an inexplicable craving for pie.  I said as much to Ros.
Me: I want pie.  Like, I really want pie.  Which is weird.  Other than crumble or meat, I don`t even like pie that much.
Ros: Huh.  Well, we could try to find a cafe?  Maybe?  But I don`t think we`ll really find anything.  I mean, the point of this city is that it`s super-traditional, holy Japan.
Me: Yeah, I know.  I`m not really expecting to find it.  But I still want pie.  Maybe there`s a Starbucks by the station.  They might have pie.
So when we got to the shrine and found it closed, we wandered the small street of shops and restaurants.  We were a bit peckish by this point, even without the pie craving, so Ros pointed out a taiyaki (pastry with filling, usually in the shape of a fish; while other fillings are becoming more popular, the traditional ones are either red bean paste or custard) place.  I said I would have some if they had custard, because red bean paste is nasty as all get-out.  When we looked at their menu, glory hallelujah!  The solution to all of our problems!  They have apple pie taiyaki!  So I was the happiest panda ever, my craving was appeased, and we still had a somewhat traditional Japanese snack.  We headed home after that for a snack-supper, and more movies and video games.

Wednesday morning I said goodbye to Ros at an ungodly hour (it was 7:30 AM) and headed to school.  It was the last day of our holidays, but the Australian exchange students had arrived on Sunday and there was a trip organized for them and their host students (and the teachers) to go to Osaka, and I was invited along.  I`ve never been to Osaka before, so that was an experience.  I didn`t really talk to the students (except through the bus loudspeaker system to translate the important information from my supervisor), but the teachers are really nice.  We pulled into the Namba area, walked to our designated meeting space, and set the kids loose.  The other Japanese teacher who had accompanied us had made reservations for us at a takoyaki restaurant (the female Australian teacher really wanted some too; it wasn`t just me), so the five of us headed there for a great lunch of yakisoba and takoyaki.  After that, Morita-sensei and the other Japanese teacher headed to a cafe to relax.  There wasn`t really anything in the area I was interested in, since I`m not really a shopper, we`d already eaten, and the district is just shops and restaurants, but there was one shrine, so I figured I`d head there and then hit up Starbucks for a frapp and some free wifi so that I could get a new book from the library on my tablet.  We didn`t have enough time for me to head to another district and do something more interesting.  The Australian teachers asked if I minded taking them to Starbucks first, as they needed to connect with home, and needed some help navigating technology.  I ended up staying in Starbucks the whole time, playing tech support and chatting with them.  This was totally cool with me (like I said, I was going to the temple because it was the only thing on the map that wasn`t shopping; also, it was hot and I like AC).  Then it was right back on the bus for the ride home, wherein I finished one book and read two-thirds of another, making me really glad I`d decided to get ebooks that afternoon.

Today (Thursday) was the first day at school for our exchange students and teachers.  The day began with them introducing themselves at our morning teachers` meeting, and again at a school assembly much like my own introduction.  The students are pretty good at Japanese (they`re studying it in school, and the female teacher is their instructor)!  The principal gave a speech to them in English, and seemed to be channeling William Shatner a bit, but that`s totally understandable.  The rest of my day was spent in classes, preparing for classes, and writing this.  Super exciting.  After school the English club hosted a welcome party for the students, which they really seemed to enjoy.  They did a paper balloon relay (imagine that game where you try to keep a balloon in the air, but you're trying to move across the room with your partner, and the balloon is made of paper) and played bingo.  Now I'm relaxing before heading to bed, and there's only one more day before the weekend!