Rain, rain...

I won't say "go away" because I like how cool it's been keeping it here but gosh, it sure is causing problems! It IS still considered the rainy season here, and it rains like this every year, but for some reason we've had record flooding this time. On Tuesday, I saw some of the worst flooding I have ever seen in my life while driving to school in Nagato. Craziness... at least 10 brand new, raging waterfalls were gushing out of the mountain sides like a pipe had burst. Many houses were under water, some with rivers of muddy water flowing through them as it ran down the mountainside; roads were closed every which way because of water and/or debris. I'm surprised my drive only took 10 minutes longer than normal with everything going on, haha. Anyway, I found this in the news today and figured I'd post it. Hofu, the city mentioned in the article, is about an hour from us and is where our boss lives. However, today it has been raining non-stop AGAIN, so I'm sure more flooding is bound to happen. I think we're in a pretty safe area despite living on a river delta though, haha. Unfortunately, our school picnic is due to be held on Sunday and we're not sure if the weather will cooperate. We shall see!

Videos, etc

We've had a pretty interesting weekend so far, and here I am to share it with you!

Saturday night there were fireworks in Akiyoshido - possibly a 100th year celebration? - and there were sooo many people there! Thousands. More than I think I have ever seen in one place at one time. Fortunately, I thought, we finally found a place that was pretty close to the exit, with the majority of the people on the hills... unfortunately, somehow, we were one of the last 100 people to leave. I was quite irritated!! I don't know how it happened. :-p The fireworks finished around 9pm, and immediately after joined the line to wait for the shuttle buses to take us over to the parking area (about 10 minutes away). We finally got on a bus and back at our car around 11pm. Two hours! Insane. Ok, rant over. Here are some of my favorite pictures from that evening (I love to experiment with the different settings to get some unique shots).






Sunday we were going to go to Costco again, with a more specific purpose this time (getting things for the school picnic), but decided to go another weekend. Instead, Jeremy and I went to Kikugahama, the local beach. Here's a view. Next time, I think we'll bring our bathing suits...
*the music was NOT edited in... I just happened to be standing under some speakers!

Monday we went to a taiko concert (Japanese drums) in Nagato. It was the first taiko performance we had seen and it was interesting! I took some videos:


Tonight, we're going to more fireworks, this time in Nagato. I love all the free entertainment this time of year. :-D

Update again on "What's up?"

It was the Japanese defense force - they have a base on Mishima island, about an hour ferry ride from Hagi, that's where they were flying in and out of. And from that topic, I learned an interesting fact: from 2003 back several years, maybe even decades, the North Koreans were abducted Japanese people from Mishima, Omishima (where we all went back in March/April to the whale grave), and Hagi, and took them back to North Korea and forced them to be spies or teach them their language so they could pose as Japanese people - which worked on a South Korean flight that was bombed by a N.K. posed as a Japanese woman. Many people died as a result of that terrorist activity. Sad stuff. And none of the Japanese people have been returned to their families. The abductions only stopped when the N.K. President admitted to them, saying they had 500-600 Japanese people, and they had all died (or were killed?)!! However, the Japanese believe they are still alive and well, and still being used by N.K.

What's up?

Blarg. I'm sure it's nothing to fret about, but I'm a little on edge... we have been hearing and seeing constant (as in every two minutes or so) military jets and helicopters flying over us for the past hour, and on and off for the past few days. What they hey?! They just seem to be circling Hagi... back and forth.
*edit* they finally left the area around 8pm when it was dark out, and came back just as we were going to bed, around 10:30 - how annoying!
*EDIT* We asked around yesterday and turns out that it's some drill they do every year for practice. No worries! We were just uninformed and confused!

Yakitori and 1 year

Japanese barbecues are amazing (I think I may actually prefer them to American ones!), BUT there is always so much food! Last night we went to a yakitori shop called Lark in English. Granted, it's not quite the same as a REAL barbecue, but we were same the same way. Food, food, food, eat more food! Even after we've eaten so much meat that we can barely move, still more is coming. I don't know exactly what they do to the food to make it so delicious, but it's so good! We've decided to make the little shop one of our regular places to eat though! Jeremy and his iron stomach scarfed down 13 sticks of chicken meat (including 1 stick of pork, 1 of chicken gizzards, 1 of skin, and 1 of liver - NOT our favorite, but the gizzard wasn't bad), and I had 10. In addition to the chicken, we each also had about 5 pieces of grilled eel (which IS my favorite!!), potato salad, edamame, and two bottles of oolong tea - all after 10pm. Our companions also had 3+ glasses of beer and had to take a taxi home (even though they have just walked home in 30 minutes). They must be cheap. It was not fun to try to sleep on such a full belly, and next time it will be MUCH earlier in the evening!



Approximately one year and three hours ago we landed in Japan, and in 4ish hours we'll have been in Hagi for one year. One year down, ? to go! Praise! I think we'll have no problem renewing our contract at the end of our term. Nakashima-san, our boss, seemed to be thrilled to learn were hoping to stay longer. :-) But again for all those back home, we won't know for sure until early next year. Our plan is for Jeremy to start graduate school online (he wants to study Library and Information Science) while we're here, as he would easily be able to go to school full time and continue teaching with our convenient schedule. We've talked about it on and off for the past year and we're sorry we haven't started on it sooner, as it will take about two years to complete. We still need to do a lot of research and find out what he needs, if we qualify for financial assistance, how living abroad will affect things, etc. Maybe, hopefully, he can start this fall. Please keep us in your prayers as we hope to start yet another new journey!

Aiden Patrick

We have a new nephew! He was born naturally today (July 2nd) at 9:49am weighing in at 8lbs 2oz and 21 1/4" long. Everyone is doing fabulous and Stacey is expected to leave the hospital tomorrow. We're so thankful mom and dad were both able to be there with them today! Brianna loves being a big sister. Welcome to the world, Aiden!



*pictures stolen from Patrick's blog :-)

We're back!

Happy one year to us! It's been great! :-)

So, did ya miss us? So here's the random picture update on our rainy 2.5-day trip to Masuda...

On our anniversary, the only day it didn't pour, we had lunch at a nice [French?] restaurant overlooking the beach - it even had a cute little outdoor wedding chapel. We were served a delicious four course meal consisting of a salad and quiche, gobo soup, choice of lamb or fish (we had each), and a cream cheese dessert topped with tomato sorbet. It was an interesting, delicious meal!


After which, we took a stroll through lovely Manyo park in Masuda. (sorry, no pictures, except of the "thunder evacuation shelter" signs!)
We found a KFC for dinner and enjoyed a taste of home and pictures with Colonel Sanders, but suffered long-lasting effects from it...

When we first arrived in our hotel room we couldn't figure out why the electricity wouldn't work... we just about to go back down to the lobby to ask when we saw this on the wall. We must have our key card in the tray in order for the lights, TV, A/C, etc to work. Honestly, I think it's a brilliant way to save on energy costs!

Monday, it began raining as soon as we stopped at a scenic spot we planned to hike around in. We didn't let it stop us though! Thankfully, Jeremy found a tiny umbrella in the trunk of the car (we hadn't thought to bring our own, even knowing it was supposed to rain, ha!) and offered it to me, opting to get drenched. How sweet. :-)

Jeremy heard some critters scurrying away from us in the woods as we walked towards the coast then we discovered that it was most likely these guys:

We were following a trail we thought would take us down to a rocky beach, but we came across a small waterfall and decided the beach was a no-go. We were quite wet by then anyway!

Later, we went shopping at a small local mall and bought 3 polo shirts and 2 pairs of shorts for Jeremy (for under $35 - rare deals in Japan!). I also found a nice new purse and an Engrish T-shirt for myself. Best of all, we had our first "perikura" experience together. We had no idea what we were doing. I asked for assistance and failed trying to explain ourselves, didn't have the chance to look through the backgrounds, and never had the chance to fancy the pictures up... but they printed!!

Even the Colonel came inside because of the rain.

A rainy view from our room:

And of course, no weekend trip is complete without some board games. :-)


Time to head to work now!