This week at school was good enough again. Not much has really changed recently. We get a new head teacher this week. She came in on Saturday and we all met her. She seems nice, but she was very busy so I didn’t talk to her much. I will miss Hideo though. He was a lot of fun and very organized. He helped keep the stress level down. He was also the only other male in the office. I will be the only guy among 6 women at work now. I have never worked with only women before. I am not sure if I am looking forward to it or not. It will definitely be interesting though.
All week I was preparing for my camping trip on the river in Yoshino. It was Claudia’s birthday last week, so we all planned a camping excursion to celebrate. There were 8 people in total. Only 2 or three of us had ever been camping before.
We all met at the train station nearest to our campsite around 11am. It was about 50 minutes from my place, but I think I had the shortest journey of all.
When I finally got there and met everyone we all were laughing about how much stuff we brought for one night of camping. We had a ton of food and beer, plus tents and other stuff. It was really tough to fit it all plus all the people into the two cars we took.
We were all responsible for bringing a few things each. Everyone brought more than enough. It was a tight fit in the car but we were prepared.
We finally arrived to the campsite around 1 after stopping at the grocery store for some last minute items. We set up the tents right away then had some lunch. Everyone had to bring something for the lunch. I was originally joking when I said I would bring peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, but everyone was actually very supportive of the idea. Greg and I were the only Americans, there were 2 French people, 3 Japanese, and one British. Apparently most of them had never had a peanut butter and jelly sandwich before. They were quite excited to try one.
Originally I just pulled out the bread, jelly, and peanut butter and told everyone to make their own, not thinking about everyone else not knowing how to make a proper PB&J. Everyone protested. So, I made a few sandwiches and we feasted. I was a little self conscious about my PB to J ratios. Everyone likes a different proportion. I tried to explain this to everyone but no one seemed to understand.
After lunch we went scavenging for firewood. We all wanted to build a massive fire so we found some downed trees and teamed up to drag 3 of them over to the camp. It was a bit tiring but very worth it. Our fire was quite nice I think.
The rest of the afternoon we just chilled out and went swimming. We did some fishing, but didn’t catch anything. The BBQ was fired up around 5 and we continued to grill out until around midnight, drinking and messing around. We did some night swimming, and we lit off a bunch of fireworks too.
I ended up passing out around 1230 or 1 I think. I was awoken by the sun coming over the mountains around 5ish. I opened my eyes completely confused, in a chair next to the fire, with no shoes or shirt. I decided to move into the tent and sort out the details later on. I went to sleep again, thinking how my night and morning of camping in Japan reminded me so much of my camping and bonfire experiences in the US… I love camping and bonfires.
When I finally woke up on Monday morning, everyone else was already up and the grill was already on. I had to B-line it to the river and wake myself up with a refreshing dip in the chilly river. It cured my morning lethargy… for a few minutes. After I got some food and coffee in my system I felt alright. We went swimming again and tried to organize the camp a bit. The plan was to hang out all afternoon and head home around 4 or 5.
We were hanging out around the grill when the rain started. It was light at first. We decided to take a few things to the car in case it started to rain harder. It did start to rain harder. It poured down rain for about 2 or 3 hours. We all were hanging out in the tent for a while thinking the storm would pass. Eventually we all fell asleep in the tent.
I woke up after a solid nap and the rain seemed to be lightening up. When it finally stopped, we tore down the camp and headed home. It was about 5 by then, so I guess our timing was good, but I don’t think that was exactly how we imagined spending our afternoon.
I got home around 730. I hit the grocery store on my way home and then made some sushi for dinner. It wasn’t as good as last time, but it was good practice. Even with my mid day nap, I went to bed early and slept well.
I woke up today really sluggish, but made it through the day. Got home, made dinner, and now I am watching sports center and typing this about to go to bed.
Thanks again for reading, I hope everyone has a nice week!