Week 6

May 3, Day 35: Mount Izumigatake
I hiked a mountain today! The trail was pretty muddy from recent rain/snow, but we made it all the way to the top. Mount Izumigatake (1,175m) is a ski resort in the winter at which my class will actually go sledding next February! Walking under green trees beside a flowing river made me feel as though I was on a hike in Oregon. After about 2 hours of trekking our way up with some some pretty steep rocks along the way, we finally made it to the peak. That final summit was completely worth it for the view. It was cold, windy, and breathtaking. We sat down for a picnic at 3854.987 feet in the air and my Fuji apple slices had never tasted so good. It only took about an hour and a half to get back down to the base of the mountain and we made friends with a 60 year old respiratory doctor who told us that he hikes this mountain 3-4 times a year! Pretty cool. With cold hands and low blood-sugar, we headed to a famous coffee shop called Flat White Coffee Factory. The owner is from New Zealand and speaks Japanese with an accent (or so I’m told; not like I could tell a difference). I ordered a matcha latte and a chocolate-chip scone. 10/10. Hiking a big mountain really works up an appetite, so we had soup curry for dinner. I’ve been dreaming about pumpkin croquettes ever since I had my first one a couple weeks ago, so I was thrilled to go back to the same restaurant and order the same thing. On the way home, we stopped at the store to buy cat food because we’re going to a cat island tomorrow morning!! Feeling very accomplished today. I hiked a pretty big mountain. What next, Mount Fuji perhaps?

May 4, Day 36: Cat Island
Sometimes, you can do everything in your power to ensure success and still fail. We left for cat island (Tashirojima) two and a half hours before the ferry departed at 9:20am and still didn’t make it on board. It wasn’t our fault though; the boat was operating on half-capacity and filled up within the first 24 minutes of opening. Tourist attractions in Japan are extra crowded this week due to Golden Week, so the chances of us even making it on the 12:00 ferry were very slim. So… we drove 30 minutes to Matsushima Bay! I was disappointed about the cat island, but delighted to go back to one of the most beautiful places on earth! This time, I took a boat ride to learn more about the islands, sampled more rice crackers, and tried sea urchin (uni) for the first time. Will I order sea urchin again in the future? Probably not. Matsushima Bay is known for oysters and I’m not a huge fan but my dad would be thrilled. The weather was perfect, and we avoided most of the crowds by getting an early start on parking, tickets, and lunch. Now, what should I do with this cat food in my backpack?

May 5, Day 37:
Today was a very yellow day. I went with a friend to the neighborhood farmer’s market this morning which was about 4 pop-up tents in total. I bought three grapefruits, a bag of carrots, and 4 bundles of spinach. Unfortunately, this will be the only day I can go to the farmer’s market because I work on Thursdays, but I’m so glad I got to check it out! Now I can say I’ve been to farmer’s markets in Grants Pass, Portland, Gresham, McMinnville, Hawaii, and Sendai! After putting my produce away, I packed a small lunch and headed out the door again to take advantage of the beautiful spring day. Remember the park I talked about last week called Nanakita park? Well, it’s the perfect place for a picnic. First, I stopped at my favorite store, MUJI, and bought a striped shirt, a green pen, and an amanatsu orange baumkuchen. Then I headed to the park to enjoy sunshine and the joyful energy of families celebrating Children’s day. As I sat down on a bench, I looked up to see fathers playing catch with their sons, girls blowing bubbles, kids playing tag, and colorful picnic tents scattered beneath the trees. A coworker lent me her copy of “The Little Prince” which I read as I enjoyed my sandwich, apple slices, and carrots. Baumkuchen was unfamiliar to me before arriving in Japan (which is odd because it is a German cake), but MUJI sells 23 flavors of them and I figured today would be the perfect day to try one. The last time I had orange-flavored cake was on my birthday at home, so it was a bit nostalgic! I will be going back to try another flavor soon though… Yum! Eating orange-flavored cake in the sun by myself in a beautiful park was quite the lovely experience. I’m head-over-heels in love with Sendai in case you couldn’t tell. I wish I could explain how beautiful it is, but neither my explanations nor the photos can truly describe it. You’ll have to come see for yourself 🙂

May 6, Day 38: a work-day island
It’s very strange to work on a Monday, have Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday off, and then work on Friday before the weekend… Both the students and I were a bit disoriented today. I feel like I have learned a lot, but I also constantly feel slightly behind. Also, I have never lived completely alone before and it’s not exactly the peaceful bliss I was picturing. Sure, it’s quiet and empowering, but coming home to an empty apartment, cooking for one, occupying myself with movies and letter-writing, cleaning alone, and washing dishes while talking to nobody but myself is a bit lonely. It’s definitely not as much fun as living with my best friends. Feeling independent is bittersweet. I miss cinnamon rolls by the way. Anyways, the sunset was nice tonight as I walked home.

May 7, Day 39:
Have you ever started to clean one small thing and then decided to clean another small thing, and then another and another until pretty soon you’ve deep cleaned your whole apartment? Today’s cleaning spree began with the dish rack and ended in the bathtub. You know who makes great background cleaning music? Billy Joel. While hanging up my bedsheets to dry (because my dryer should be called a ‘damper’) my SIM card was delivered to my door! I felt a bit embarrassed greeting the Japanese mailman in my ghostbusters shirt and running shorts, but I’m sure he’s seen weirder things. Can you believe I’ve been on Airplane Mode for 39 days straight? Now I finally have access to the internet outside of my apartment which means I can explore more comfortably! To celebrate, I picked up some Oyakodon from the store for a sunset picnic at the nearby park. Two sunsets in a row! Feeling quite content at the moment 🙂

May 8, Day 40: Mother’s Day!
Feeling pretty sad that I can’t spend today spoiling my amazing mom, but we FaceTimed this morning and she received the flowers I sent from a florist in Grants Pass. Making it work with what we have! I’m currently swishing cold water in my mouth because I overestimated my tolerance for heat, and I’m not talking about spiciness. One of the foods on my “list” is takoyaki which is a famous street food. When I say “octopus balls” it paints the wrong picture, but takoyaki is basically a piece of octopus dipped in batter and deep fried in a lumpy ball shape, so… octopus balls. Anyway, I finally tried one straight from a vendor in downtown Sendai who made them fresh in front of us! Looking at the picture (if you can see past the abundance of green onions), it appears to be just a smidge bigger than bite-size. Completely forgetting this thing just came off of the press, I popped the whole thing in my mouth. Big mistake. My tastebuds soon suffered 17th degree burns as the boiling hot octopus juice/sauce/batter spread through my mouth. Everyone knows that awkward moment when you’ve taken a big bite of something too hot and you sit there with your mouth slightly ajar to release the fire-breathing-dragon-like steam because there’s nothing else you can do. Long story short, it was delicious, but now it hurts to brush my teeth. After our takoyaki appetizer, my friend and I headed over to a well-known ramen restaurant for dinner. Each person got a little booth to his or herself and the ramen was delivered behind a cool little bamboo screen. The privacy was perfect for practicing my slurping techniques (which is considered a compliment here). The booth also had a self-serve, personal water dispenser which was nice. I’ll go back to that spot again someday. After dinner, we headed to a second-hand clothing store where I got a pair of pants, a polka dotted skirt, and two fancy shirts for less than 30 dollars! On our way back to the train station, we stopped for Zunda shakes. Zunda is made from grinding edamame into a paste which sounds gross as a milkshake, but they add sugar and probably a splash of vanilla and it’s actually extremely refreshing! Almost like pistachio ice cream. I loved it. Walked home alone through a very dark park and only felt a little scared.

May 9, Day 41:
I bought Miffy earrings and wore them to school today. The kindergarteners went nuts. At lunch, I played ‘Venus’ by Banarama and some of the students sang/mumbled along because they recognized it from the movie SING. I laughed out loud because one of the girls was singing, “I’m your peanuts” instead of “I’m your Venus”… Did I correct her? Of course not.