A Blog Entry!

Hello Again Everyone. Sorry it has been so long since we last posted about our travels. It's getting busy I guess? First of all we finally got our movie from early September up on youtube.com! Go to youtube.com and search for "Adventures in Yanai Part 1" or "Erin Isaac Yanai Adventures" there should be 5 parts, therefore there are 5 videos. It's kinda cheesy but we had fun making it. Check it out!

Well, life if Japan is still weird but we are adjusting. We are beginning to really enjoy ourselves here now, with less of s shock to the culture and less worry in general. I'm sure Isaac will give you the scoop on his classes when he writes so I will leave that up to him. I on the other hand am still trying to get it together with work and filling my time.

Lately, I have been writing. Which has been filling a huge part of my soul. It's nice. Since I have been feeling this way I have been looking into writing programs for when I get home. I am even working on some writing pieces right now. So at the very least this experience has pushed me in the direction of writing, which is helpful. Isaac is thinking about teaching when we get back so at least one of us will be employable while I continue to "feel" it out. :o)

Money is proving to be a little bit more tight that we anticipated so I am trying to get a business of sorts together for teaching English Conversation. People are interested and I would love to teach them. So far so good. We shall see how it goes! I'll keep you updated.

In the meantime, other than working on making a buck and writing my little heart out I am making friends! I am in three hobby clubs, all of which I have been to at least 2 meetings for. I am in Japanese Kimono, Tai-Chi, and Japanese Tea Ceremony. All of them are so different and have their own personalities. My Kimono class is a bunch of women of all ages who have been sweet and fun to get to know. My teacher is so cute- about 65 and always wears her kimono to class. I gather from the constant laughter at her remarks that she is rather funny. Either that or she's making fun of me.....either way we laugh a lot even if it is at my expense. She's very kind to me and has given me her business card, which in Japan means A LOT! So that's good!

Tea Ceremony is a private lesson a 30 minute walk from my house in a neighborhood on the hillside. The teacher is awesome. Doesn't speak a lick of English. And I don't speak any Japanese, so it's interesting. But a lot of fun and very interesting. The class was arranged by a woman from my Tai Chi class who has taken it upon herself to get me all the things I need for Tea Ceremony- this is a big deal because these items are very very expensive. A fan, a red cloth, and some other things that I have no idea what they are for.....hehe. I will learn and then I can tell you. She's a very sweet lady and has told me, via my translator friend Hatsue, that she gets very lonely in her house since her husband died and would like me to come and have dinner with her. I think I will too. Her house is the first Japanese house I have been to. And I am looking forward to spending more time with her.

Lastly, there's Tai Chi. Let me tell you, it is never a dull moment. I think this class has been together for at least 2-3 years, some of them have even been in attendance for 10 years. They are a hoot. Always joking and laughing. Flirting with the teacher, the teacher flirting with the students. Keep in mind everyone in this class is 60 or older, I am by far the youngest and I feel like I have become something of a mascot for them. And according to my dear friend and constant translator, Hatsue, who I mentioned before, the teacher jokes about adoring me with the rest of the class. I enjoy it even if I don't know what the hell they are saying....all the time....

We have a Tai Chi performance coming up in a week. I am very nervous and excited about it! They are so good and I am still learning. I also stick out like a sore thumb so if I mess up....it's noticeable. I will let you know how it goes and I am sure we will have some good pictures too.

In the pictures you will notice Isaac and I went around on our bikes to LOTS of places......those places including the beach and awesome temples are all right here in our town. We had no idea but now we do....Yanai has proven to be an awesome awesome town!

Our big news is that Isaac and I went on an awesome trip with our good friend Chris Blackstock who studied abroad with us in Istanbul. He's been living here 2 years now and loves it. He is helping us learn to love it too......like I said the culture shock has been rough but our trip with Chris was very therapeutic.

We took a ferry from our town to the Island of Shikoku next door where we spent the day in Matsuyama. We saw the castle, walked all over, ate some awesome Indian food and had a great time. That night we got to our ferry port and hopped another ferry, this one overnight, to Osaka. We arrived to Osaka at 6am with a full day ahead of us before we met up with Chris that night. We walked all over the city with our backpacks on....ugh.....and ate good food, saw the crazy Japanese city life, and even went to the Osaka Human Rights Museum.

When we met up with Chris we all hung out and planned our next three days. We went the next day to Kyoto, which was charming old style Japanese and absolutely beautiful! We went to the northern part of the city, where we walked through some beautiful nature: a bamboo forest and along a big river cutting through the mountains. Then we took the romantic train through the mountains. It was awesome! All of this is in the pictures so please check it out. On the train Isaac and I found a beautiful Japanese baby that we wanted to take home with us......the cute babies here are doing nothing for our baby craze we have been going through lately. Really, the cuteness here is ridiculous. Just ridiculous.

That night we went back to Osaka where the three of us shamelessly searched for a pub serving a decent hamburger. Yes.....that;s what we wanted. Only God can judge us. On our search we found too other Geijin (foreigners) who were looking for a good pub. So they joined us! We didn't find a pub or burgers but we found good food that included french fries and decently priced drinks. The two people we hung out with are Americans and live in Tokyo teaching English. It was fun and cool to hang out with a group of people who spoke English.....again shameless. But also cool to talk with them because they have lived in Japan for over a year and have been living in Tokyo doing what Isaac, Chris, and even I am trying to do now.

The next day we went back to Kyoto where we toured some temples, walked on the philosopher's path and walked around the Geisha district. Which was also very very cool. We tried not to spend too much money so we did a lot of sitting, watching, talking and walking. It was relaxed. That night we went back to Osaka where we found yummy Belgian food and an English Pub. Haha. It was a fun last night. The three of us stayed up late talking and debating about life....we were all in theology and philosophy at Hanover together so...it was fun for us anyway.

On our last day we hit up Osaka all day. We found a Turkish restaurant this day which was AMAZING. They were real Turks selling REAL Turkish food that was Really Damn Good! I literally had tears in my eyes.....I'm seriously not joking either. Ask Isaac and Chris. Then we went to the Osaka aquarium which was so much fun! They have some really strange creatures int he water around here as you can probably imagine.....so it was fascinating to tour it all. After that we had time for one last stop at the Turkish restaurant before we all had to catch our trains heading in different directions. It was sad to say goodbye.....but we all live in Japan together so it wasn't that sad! :o)

Out trip home was easy and since then we have just been hanging out and living simple.

My birthday is coming up and I think I will be having a party with another ALT friend who lives in the town next to us. Her birthday is in a few days also so it should be fun. Other than that we have some fun plans for day trips with American Canadian and Japanese friends. That will all be for another post though so stayed tuned.

Talk to you soon and Take Care!

Hugs and Love

Erin

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