Ramblings and Rambling

Ramblings:

Today, after working in this country for the last 6 months, I have finally gotten a sponsored work visa!  Of course I had a working holiday visa before but it will expire exactly one week from today so this has come not a moment too soon.  I have been trying to apply for this (with some resistence and incompetence on Unitas' part) since November!  But really it is for the best that it took so long.  This way, once my contract with Unitas is up (Sept 28) I can remain in the country and working (say, hostessing) until February 27, 2008.  At which time I will either sign a new contract or, possibly, take a one month vacation from this country and come back just in time for the new school year with a new visitor's visa and another 90 days to get a valid working visa.

Take it easy!

I am thinking that a short trip to Oz might be in the cards.  Depending on how much money I can make (and save) during my teaching hiatus and how much I spend on travelling around Japan itself.  I can't bear the thought that I may have to wait another 4 years or more before I get back there.  I am hoping I can meet someone that I trust in Tokyo who likes cats and is looking for a bit of extra cash for being given the privlege of spending time with the world's cutest feline.  (Cross your fingers!!)

And now that I have a visa that is valid for at least one year, I can apply for National Health Insurance, which I did today within about 10 minutes of getting my passport stamped.  I have been a bit nervous without any kind of insurance for the last 6 months.  bFrom what I can gather, I will be mailed a postcard thing that I have to do something with and then at some time something else will come for me and I have to do something with that too (I love Japanese beaurocracy).

Next on the docket is getting my Japanese driver's licence!  Because I am Canadian I don't have to take a driving test, or any other test for that matter.  All I have to do is get my Canadian licence translated, have an interview at the DMV, and probably wait until I am sent a postcard and then do something with it.  (By the way I have had to wait for post cards for my electric bill, water bill, gass bill, and working visa so far--I think this is how they verify your address here).

The only thing I am worried about is the interview!  Apparently, in order to confirm that you actually have a valid licence and it isn't a forgery, you have to provide answers to questions like "what colour, make, model, and year was the car in which you took your original driving test?", "how many  people were in your Driver's Ed class?", and "what did you learn?"  Easy peasy!  I guess I will just have to prepare the fictitious account of my journey to being a licenced driver before I get in there!  Luckily, I have always been good at bullshitting on the spot.  Wish me luck on this one too...

This weekend I am "volunteering" at work.  We have to teach model lessons which are like demonstration classes for students (and their parents) who are thinking about sending their kids to Unitas in April.  I have no idea what I am supposed to do but apparently there is a manual we follow and there is almost no thinking or creativity required.  Just lots of personality and playing with kids.  Although this counts as one of the 6 mandatory volunteer days we agreed to in our contract, we are actually paid 1800 yen per hour of teaching.  This weekend I am working about 5 hours and next week another 4 so I should be getting an extra chunk of change on my next (April 10th) pay cheque.

I guess my big hiking day will have to be Sunday this weekend.  Haven't picked where I will go yet.  Stay tuned for the exciting and dramatic unfoldings.

Rambling:

Speaking of hiking (and here I will continue to speak of it for a good while yet--just a warning to those of you not interested in the explicit details of a 4 hour hike), I did a beautiful hike on Saturday to Chiyoda-ko (Chiyoda Lake) in the hills to the Northwest of the city.

I started at Midorigaoka Sports Park which is about a 30 minute bike ride from my house.  I have realized that I am not practising my Japanese nearly enough so I decided to try to speak to as many people as I could during the hike.  Saturday was one of the windiest days I have experienced here so far (Kofu is notoriously windy because of its position between mountain ranges.  Apparently the air travels within them like a wind tunnel.)  When I arrived at the park it was difficult for me to even move forward on my bike the wind was so strong.

I saw an old man walking his dog and asked him which way to Chiyodako.  He gave me a big, long explanation in Japanese and, although I could pick out some of what he was trying to tell me, the gist was "that way" up a paved path immediately to our right.  I asked him where I should park my bike and he said "here."  As we were parting he said "kyotsukete!"  This word sound vaguely familiar but I could not think of its meaning.  I said "kyotsukete wakanai" (which means I don't understand that word) and he thought for a minute before saying "kyotsukete" in an "its ok, go ahead" kind of tone.

About 10 minutes into the hike I ran into another elderly gentleman (past a certain age they seem to have nothing to do but hike) who was excited to speak English.  He was obviously in the same situation as me, knowing only a few words but eager to apply them.  He told me, in Japanese, that in the spring the whole area is beautiful and covered with lots of greenery.  Upon parting, he said to me "kyotsukete!"  I said "kyotsukete wakanai" and without hesitation he replied "take it easy!"

The trail zigzagged up a gradual hill on a paved walkway about 3/4 of the way to the top.  The ground was covered with the low bamboo-looking shrubs that I have heard called pampas grass.  But the trees were all light gray with dark stripes and incredibly skinny.  They had no branches until the very top and no leaves even on those branches.  They looked like something out a Tim Burton movie.  The hill went up (not too high) and back down again and lead to a bizarre wooden structure that looked like a look-out tower with signs that said "no climbing" and "do not enter" (in Japanese).  A small track lead to the left up a small hill and back down again.  The view from the small hill was very good and I could see the giant red and green running track from which I had started the walk.  To the left was the real track leading up another (steeper and higher) hill.

This hill was entirely covered in dark gray stones and rich brown dirt.  Most of the way the stones were made into a staircase that looked like it had been laid by a professional tiler.  The edge of each stair was perfectly lined up and looked almost as if the stones had been cut to fit!  On the way back down this hill, the path followed the Western side from which you could see surrounding hills where row upon row of trees had been clear cut.  All you could see were huge, dark, horizontal lines made by the felled trunks.  But this hill generally came and went without interest.

By this time I was starting to wonder where the heck this lake was.  I was now back near the altitude at which I had started and from the top of each of the previous hills I had been able to spot no water in any direction.  I kept going, up yet a third hill.  This hill was covered in huge white boulders and white sand.  The low shrubs were bright green and I felt as though I were in the Lord of the Rings or something.  At several points, smooth stairs had been carved into the boulders and looked like they had been formed by some ancient waterway.  This hill was a little slippery and a little confusing!

Eventually I got to the top where there was an excellent view of the city below and, to the other side, a glimpse of the lake.  For a moment I contemplated declaring this as the end of the hike.  I had seen the lake and what was the point in going too close in the winter anyway?  Of course, I decided that I had not yet reached my goal and so proceeded down the hill toward the blue expanse.

At the bottom of the hill, the path lead into a wide driveway with a long rope tied the length of it on each side.  I only wondered what these were for for about a minute before I looked up and saw two white, tiny, samoyed-looking dogs barrelling up from the house at the other end.  In Japan dogs are bred smaller due to space constrictions and they have so many bizarre looking breeds.  Miniature huskeys, miniature german sheppards, etc.  I'm not sure if any of these dogs actually come from the larger breeds--but they sure look like they might!  These dogs were two of the prettiest and nicest dogs I have met in Japan.  They followed me down the driveway and onto the road.

I asked a woman standing nearby what time it was (as I had forgotten my watch) and she said "around 2:30" (all in Japanese of course--that's 3 people so far).  I could see now that the lake was not very big and so decided to walk the circumference of it instead of just turning on my heels and heading back from whence I came.  The walk around was fairly mundane.  There were several people fishing and I even saw a couple of Japanese teenage boys walking down the road with their tackle boxes and fishing poles.  They had no spikey hair, no cowboy boots, no sparkles, nothing that you would typically find on city boys here out for a stroll.  This was definitely a bit more country than Kofu.  I was able to see what might be a good place to wade into the lake if I decided to do this hike again at the height of summer.  One man asked me what I was doing (four) and I commented to another who was feeding some ducks (five).

After asking another man what time it was now (six), I headed back into the woods.  I decided to take a shortcut to the right and quickly realized that I did not recognize this path, or any ajoining ones.  I reached a fork in the road and decided that I should be going to the right because I was fairly sure I had approached the lake from that general direction.  After about 10 minutes of walking along that path, it suddenly split again.  One road veered down a steep embankment with "no entry" signs and the other swung around to the far side of the lake from which I was sure I had not come.  I turned around and walked back to the first fork in the road and went to the left.  I went up a steep hill covered in white sand and pressed on for quite a while before the path went straight up a slippery slope to a giant boulder that would need to be scaled.  I turned around again and went with my original instincts one more time.  At the second fork, I chose the one that was not a cliff and it lead me back down to the lake.  This was ok as it meant I could just start all over.

I went back through the dogs and decided this time not to take any shortcuts.  I went up and down the three hills and when I was just reaching the Sports Park, I asked a girl walking her small dog what time it was (seven).  She said it was around 5:00.  This wasn't too bad because I had to meet my neigbour who was giving me a ride to church at the library near my house at 6:15 and wanted to get home and shower before heading out again.

That was exactly what I did and at 6:15 I met a friend of my neighbour's (Kimi ended up being sick) and we headed to the pastor's house for church.  It was a good time (it is always more fun--and more sociable--at the pastor's house than in the big auditorium at the University) and when people started to leave I heard the now familiar phrase "kyotsukete" bantered around generously.  It is amazing how once you learn a new word, it pops up everywhere.  I wonder how many times I have heard this word before and just never paid attention.  I have come to find out that it is usually translated as "take care" or "be careful" and literally means something along the lines of "keep your wits about you."  I have heard and used it every day since Saturday and don't think I can ever forget it now!

My camera was not charged when I left for this hike.  Again, I have tried to be very descriptive (if you didn't notice!) and I think I will do this hike again some day (probably when the greenery is out in full) and will take some pictures then.

On that note, I should mention that I have lots of pictures of two previous hikes (Mt Okasa and Torisawa) that I have not gotten around to posting yet and some others of random things around town.  I was supposed to get these posted on Sunday but ended up having a most unproductive day lounging in bed.  Hopefully this weekend I will get to it although with all the model lessons, church, biking, and (hopefully) hiking, I am not making any promises!