Climbing Mountains and "Grub Crawling"

Saturday I was able to go with my student Norihiko and his work's annual hiking trip. The mountain we hiked was just outside Nagai and it took all day. Three hours climb up, then we prepared a delicious lunch with all the mountain vegetables picked on the way up, miso soup, and other assortments of fresh vegetables. For a veggie lover I was in heaven. Not to mention the people Norihiko works with were super chill, friendly and didn't seem to mind having gaijin around. They included Wilfred and I in all the conversations and to my surprise I was able to comprehend a lot of what went on. Participating in physical activity really helps language learning because the conversations do not stretch too far and many gestures are used naturally. It was a great experience and good for learning Japanese! Though I still need a lot of practice but I feel this weekend I was able to get out there a little more and be with Japanese people more than usual. Here we are, Wilfred and I happy teachers enjoying a nice hike, weather and beautiful scenery.

Norihiko was a great tempura cook, one of my favorite dishes in Japan!! Freshly picked mountain vegetables that we just peeled taste even better after a three hour climb. I guess the fresh air and exercise make you feel like you deserve the fried food! haha
Here I am at the top of the mountain. Just a ten minute hike further up from the hut we ate lunch at. Just behind those mountains through the mist you can see part of Nagai surrounding countryside. It sure is a beautiful area when everything is nice a green!

To end the day I met with a gaijin friend, Jack who lives in a small town nearby called Oguni. It is quite a bit smaller that Nagai so we have a lot to talk about considering out situations. He has a car and drove up for the evening to get out of town. We ended up randomly, how I don't know participating in our own made up Grub crawl. Like a pub crawl but focusing on eating at different locations. I don't normally frequent a lot of restaurants here so it was good to check out some new places. The night included everything from Japanese food, pizza, dessert and random drinks. The best part of all was trying to find a dessert place because about that time it was past 8 pm and apparently even on a Saturday night places close quite early here. We had a hilarious time walking into a place and asking in poor Japanese if they served apple pie or dezato. Probably the question seemed awkward but it was so funny to us. I accidentally busted out my nervous laugh and left Jack to deal with the Gomenasai's and mata kondo's, sorry we'll see you again! I think we went into 9 different places, then ending at my favorite drink spot Paradise where Rebecca met us. I was glad to have someone to explore Nagai with who doesn't know the area or speak a ton of Japanese. Someone who didn't order for me or tell me where to go or to mind my manners. Just the way I want to get to know my city, mutually, in a fun relaxed kind of way where mistakes don't matter.

Sunday I went for coffee with Wilfred's student and then Rebecca and I cooked a delicious fish supper together. Kudos for a good weekend spent with fine people and eating delicious foods. Finally what I expected my experience to be like in Japan...hmm only took 5 months to get to this point.