So I had a great weekend, first I went to Matsue with Jeremy for a friend's birthday. We caught a train and got to Matsue in about 2 hours. Matsue is a really cool town, or so I hear. We went out to a some bars and stayed out all night and caught a train back home at 5 am...It was quite the experience. If you want to hear some more details, ask me later..
The next day I decided to climb the local famous mountain. This mountain is awesome because in the old days there was a castle at the top of it. I was excited to see the ruins. The castle was at the top of Mt. Kyusho and in the early 18th century it was burned to the ground by a rival clan of samurai. I got that information from this board, I couldn't believe I understood the Japanese!
The climb was a lot of fun, it is a path that twists and turns all the way to the top. I decided to get a work out in and ran up the whole path. I ran past some old woman and scared them, one actually screamed...guess that is what happens when you are the only white guy around. I ran into them again later and talked to them in Japanese for about ten minutes! It felt good to have a long conversation in Japanese. When I got to the top I was taken back by the beauty of Tottori. There is the city, but right on the other side of the mountain is pure nature. I love being in such a peaceful place. I ended up hanging out at the top for some time before heading back down. The pictures didn't capture the pure beauty of the sand dunes. The sand is a bright gold and it is really BREATH TAKING(Seinfeld "The Hamptons"). I miss watching Seinfeld...
After I finished climbing the mountain I hopped a train back to Tottori University and met my Japanese tutor Mitsue. She is the sweetest old lady, she picked me up and was bumping ENYA in her car! I told her that I secretly love Enya and she turned up the volume and we sang together. Quite the experience, you can knock me for liking Enya, but that woman has the voice of an Angel. Joe Tierney will respect this Enya story. Anyways, we went to her house and had a two hour lesson. After which she said that I would be able to pass the 3rd of 4 Japanese Competency tests for foreigners. That was refreshing to hear, by the end of the year I will pass the highest level test. I am taking the 3rd level test in the spring, it will be a piece of cake!
So that was my weekend, Japan is getting better and better. I cannot wait for spring to come so I can go to Mt. Daisen! Till next week. またね！
Johnny, it sounds like you are having a blast! I am glad that you are out enjoying nature and getting in a work out at the same time! It is also good that you are practicing your Japanese so much! Think how fluent you will be!
ReplyDeleteNice Storm jacket!
ReplyDeleteAnd knock off the all-night partying. It's bad for you.
Haha I will stop with the late nights, we were out late because we had to catch a train early.
ReplyDeleteOf course I gotta represent the Storm over here!
Keep playing well and I hope you guys win Districts!