Making lanterns and the Iwamuro Onsen Matsuri

I am going to miss the Iwamuro art club. A lot. Last week I went to the Iwamuro community center with them to make lanterns for this week's onsen matsuri (the first picture is our planning map of things that remind us of Iwamuro). A bunch of nice grandparents showed us how to make the lanterns.
Then, last night, we put on yukatas (summer kimonos) and walked in the matsuri parade, carrying our lighted lanterns. One of my student's grandmothers had offered to help me wear a yukata, so I showed up early and she helped me get dressed. After that we did a quick tea ceremony, and then it was time for the parade.
The night was humid - it had been raining most of the day, but thankfully stopped for the matsuri. The air was thick and foggy and a few boys (my students) walked at the front of the parade with sparklers, and the smoke added to the atmosphere. There were men playing wooden flutes, a taiko (drum) player, and an omikoshi (a shrine carried by a group of men).
We finished at a shrine in the center of Iwamuro, where we tied our lanterns to railings on the stairs as a gift, and then said a quick prayer.
After all that it was late, and I was hungry. My friend Maiko had come (also wearing a yukata) and we got frappe (shaved ice with flavor), frozen pineapple on a stick, and popoyaki (like a warm, chewy graham cracker). We stood with my students to watch the fireworks, which were beautiful despite the clouds.
There are a lot of things about Japan that I'm going to miss, but it's experiences like this (and the people that make them happen) that I'm going to miss most.

Swim team sobetsukai (farewell party)

Saturday night I had my farewell nomikai with the swim team. My friend Kaoru had everyone sign a swim towel for me, and also gave me a Maki cap. After dinner (and drinking), we went to karaoke (until about 2 am). By far the best part was when I sang 'my heart will go on' with a friend. Twice.

Nomikais # 1 and 2

Last week I had three nomikai's in a row. A nomikai is a drinking party you do with a large group of people, usually at a restaurant or izakaya. For a somewhat absurd amount of money ($50-100) you get lots of little dishes of food and endless drinks.

Ramen!

Last week I went to a famous ramen place in Maki with Kaoru, her husband, and his friend (who also happens to be one of the ramen restaurant's owners). We had giant gyoza (hand for size), miso ramen, yasai (vegetable) ramen, and butter shio (salt) ramen.

So many flowers...

Bouquets 1, 2, and 3 from my schools.

Fuji-san

This weekend, I climbed Mt. Fuji. In retrospect, I think it may have been one of the most difficult things I've ever done. I count Outward Bound up there, too.
My friend Colleen and I took the shinkansen to Tokyo on Saturday afternoon. We met our friends, Martin and Chigusa, at Shinjuku station, where we had onigiri for dinner. We then caught a bus, which after 2 1/2 hours deposited us at the 5th station on Fuji (about 2000m, I think?).
At 11pm we started hiking, along with hundreds, possibly thousands of other people. One person in our group, one of Chigusa's friends from college, got altitude sickness straightaway, so we stopped often. At around 3am, Chigusa, Colleen, and Chigusa's friend all were quite sick, so Martin decided to take them down, while Chigusa's friend Alex and I continued to the top.
We didn't get to see the sunrise from the top, but we did get a nice view of it from about 3000m up. After that, the weather became pretty bad, with ridiculously strong winds, and not really rain but a thick mist that coated everything with water. There were also so many people on the narrow trails, many of which were just outcroppings of rock, that going was very slow. What should have taken us 3 hours turned into 5. We took a break for miso soup at 3400m, and summitted (sp?) at 8am. There's a shrine at the summit, and a big Torii. I was too tired to take many pictures at the top (sorry!), but I did eat some lovely miso soup.
Going down the mountain was like walking on the moon. The ground was soft, volcanic ash and we were swathed in thick clouds, so that we kind of bounded down the hill. Of course, after about 2 hours going downhill started to really hurt, and we had 2 more hours of it. I did meet some friends from Joetsu on the way, and we hiked to the bottom with them. At 12:30pm, 13 1/2 hours after starting, we were back at station 5. I ate some soba, got on the bus with Colleen (which took 3 1/2 hours this time), caught the shink home, and finally walked in my door at 10:30pm.

Housewarming! (and birthday surprise)

Last night I went to one of my swimming friend's new house for a housewarming party. It was epic - I was there from 6 until 11. And at the end, I was surprised with a wonderful birthday cake from the french bakery in town I've been meaning to try.

Last Korean cooking class

We made shijimi (pancakes, probably not spelled correctly) a chicken soup, and bibimbab. yum!