Same old same old

I have been back for just over 3 weeks now. I am still unemployed, although I have kind of decided that will remain the case until September, owing to one thing or another. I took a trip to Paris with Rachel last week, which was great. We saw all of the major sites, wandered aimlessly and had a great view of Paris from right outside our hotel window, which was great.

On Friday we are off to Scotland to see a few of Rachel's teacher friends and one of mine, as well as a few hopefully hillarious shows at the Edinburgh Festival.

I need a job soon, though...

The last Post.

This is it.

Never again wil I post on this blog from Japan. It's over. 52 weeks down, none to go- just a couple of days in China and then back to life. Back to reality.

I have been looking forward to leaving for some time, chiefly due to the people I am going back to. That said, goodbyes are always tough, and these will be the hardest goodbyes that I have ever had to say. One more curry, 2 more beers and then my Japan time is all but done. Just cross your fingers that my taxi shows up at 5am tomorrow. He seemed to think he knew where I lived...

Sayonara.

Which way to the dole office?

So...as of tomorrow I am unemployed.

I am currently in my way-top-short saturday lunch `hour,` and when it finishes in 4 minutes, I have 5 classes to teach until I have officially finished my contract. (Actually, I am paid for a few more days, but theya already gave me the cash). I guess, with cash in hand, I could go home now. That would be a little like falling at the last hurdle, though.

The weather today is intollerable. I can't remember it ever being as humid and sticky and hot as it is today. I actually can't stand it. There is no fresh air anywhere in Japan, it would seem, just dirty muggy air or cool refreshing but similarly dirty air conditioned air.　Strewth.

It's no molehill

So...to get to the point; I climbed to the top of Fuji this weekend, and feel pretty proud of myself. A few things seemed to try and stop me though.

First of all, I got to Shin-Fuji station, after darting around various schools, arranging things for my now imminent departure. This meant that I got there little later than planned, and unfortunately the buses to the 5th station of Fuji had stopped running. That is, a reduced bus schedule was in opperation because of the fact theat the route I had chosen to climb was, by all accounts, closed.

So...I was in a train station some 3 hours from home, and still about an hour`s drive from the point at which I intended to start the climb. I wasn't too worried. I decided I would get myself to the 5th station and there would be some other people there about to depart. I had been reliably informed by friends and internet alike that many many people departed at the same time as I was planning to, in order to catch the sunrise.

There was only one solution. I hailed a taxi. I decided that as long as I could get to the mountain for cheaper than a hotel for the night, I wasn't really losing anything since these were about my only 2 options.

So...I arrived at the 5th station. Photos on the internet depicted a coulpe of hotels, some coffee shops and tourist tat merchants. I knew I was probably on a different route to the photos, but I wan't expecting to reach an unlit plateau featuring one, closed caravan and a wooden sign saying `5th Station.` I thanked my driver, and set about putting on my headlamp, since I couldn't see anything.

The quietness was soon explained. The inhabitants of the only other car present showed me a sign, informing would-be summiters such as myself that the 8th station was as high as it was possible to climb, because of lingering snow. I was distraught, 5 hours walk from civilisation if I went downwards and about 5 hours from a top that seemed, thanks to snow, unreachable. There were no hotels or restaurants, no people and the only building was a public toilet.

At this point I was a bit annoyed (I didn't travel to Fuji in order to spend the night on the toilet). As grim as it sounds, I had plenty of food and drink, and I had enough clothes to keep warm. I considered my options, and decided that I may as well start climbing, simply because there was nothing else to do. I would get as high as possible and then return.

I climbed for an hour. I passed noone. Noone passed me, either up or down. I could see a light ahead, and I thought it was people coming down but, maybe half an hour later, I caught up to them at the 7th station. It was a party of 3 Japanese guys. 2 about my age and one slightly older person. They were making a summit attempt, and I decided at t hat moment that I was staying with them, whether they liked it or not! As it happened, they seemed quite pleased to make their group `international,` and we set off together.

They travelled more slowly than I had been, which was nice, because I had been a little out of breath. At their pace I was both comfortable, and had the added reassurance that they were sticking to a carefully planned schedule, which seemed to result in us reaching the peak bang on time for sunrise. I was really happy- they were funny guys, relaxed and kind, and we had a good laugh on the way to the 8th station. At which point the road was closed. This is where my solo journey would have come to a crushing end,but...

We sidestepped the no entry signs, just to scout out how bad the conditions were. They weren't bad at all- just a bit of ice that needed to be bypassed. My new friends had come prepared and rigged up a rope to get past the ice. Anyone who can hold themselves up with their arms could have got across, so it really didn't feel like a challenge. Also, the potential fall was no more than sliding down a dirt-track for a few meters. Noone fell, and we re-joined the route after maybe 30 mins of ice negotiation. Happy days.

Having lost a bit of time, the more sprightly Japanese climber and mysely set about pushing for the peak as quickly as possible. We weren't going to miss sunrise on Fuji. And miss it we didn't. We were in a great viewing spot a good 10 minutes before the sun popped up. It was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. That and the infinitely more populated and touristy Tokyo side of the mountain that I then walked to in order to pick up souvenirs.

The walk down was boring but easier than ascending. The train journey back to Gifu was torture- but it is all over now!

So...in to the final 8 days of work. It's amazing how working with no pressure can make any job so much more enjoyable. A few decent things have happened to my schedule over the last few weeks which have also meant an easier time at work. The new teacher will arrive to a much less daunting timetable to the one theat greeted me, thanks to a combination of class mergers and the loss of the two wildest children that I have ever taught (they aren't dead...they just don't come to this school any more).

Over the weekend I went into Nagoya for possibly the last time. I lunched with a good friend, and then set about accomplishing one or two tasks that I had left unaccomplished. Firstly, getting a visa for my trip to China. Having already tried to deny me a visa based on the fact that I lived in Gifu and not Nagoya (they wanted me to do the 100pound 4 hour roundtrip to Tokyo), I was ready for this to be more of a challenge than it should have been. It, however, wasn't. I paid my 4,000 yen and left with a shiny new visa.

I then went shopping. On Monday/Tuesday I intend to climb Mt. Fuji. I bought a lamp to go on my head (which is funny to look at but useful in practice) and also some lighter gear to climb in and stay warm. It should be a good weekend.

5, 4, 3...

Nearly there now. I am utterly broke, what with having now paid for my airline ticket, but also genuinely excited about moving back to the UK. I haven't done too much recently. Last night my 3 co-workers and I had a small-scale fajita night, which was good fun (before watching the football), and other than that, I have mostly been getting everything in order for the new teacher. Her name is Rachel (nice name) Kinnear, and she is from England. This is nice for my students, as they are thoroughly used to the English accent. That said, she could be from Liverpool or Newcastle, which would certainly be a change from my bland northern tones.


I just told my last class that "next week will be your last lesson with me." I have been looking forward to saying that, but it's a shame it had to be with one of my favourite classes first (3 three year olds). I realised I will miss alot of my kids- particularly Mina from today who tearfully asked me why I was going to England (in Japanese I might add. I am not that good a teacher- she is only 3). She will forget me soon enough.

Back in Time

So, I have less than three weeks to go. Only 12 days of work, too, so I have been thinking about what it will be like when I get back home.

I've heard differing reports. Some people warn of doing too much to soon when I get back, trying to see everyone and do everything in as little time as possible. I can see why this might be a problem for me. I get bored very easily, and I already have so much planned for the first couple of months that I guess I could experience some reverse culture shock. Having said that, I never really suffered any culture shock when I got here, but that was because I was pre-prepared. I had been here before, and I knew that everything was going to be completely different.

I have never, however, returned after a year away to a place that, although undoubtedly familiar, will be utterly changed from both how I am living now and, to some extent, how it was before I left. I think it will be highly unusual.

Having said that, I also know people who went home and felt as though they had travelled back in time. I don't think I will let that happen. I have too much to get on with. It will be nice to re-do a certain amount of things that I can't out here, but ultimately I want to get home not so that I can hang around the house doing that. I want to get on with planning the next step, whatever it is. I hope I have a seemeless transition fron outskirts of small Japanese city, where my contact with foreigners is restricted to a tight-knit community, and seeing a new English-looking face still a novelty, to walking down the street, or riding the bus and being able to understand everything.