And the night commences!
Lots of fun with my buddies these days, whether we are eating icecream (three scoops in one trip!!), drinking in tiny bars with bat-shit crazy strangers (who turned out to be minors!), or drinking cup after cup of tea while making copies and lesson plans late into the night (okay, I do that by myself)…
At the moment, I’m still trying to figure out where I’m going to go from here. I have it narrowed down to a few different ideas, but in the end, it really comes down to who will take me.
Votes?
Pro |
Con |
|
| California | Close to Colin
Lot of outdoor things (at least where I’m going) New and exciting! The sun comes out. |
Farther from family
Sales tax Not licensed |
| Washington
|
Closer to family
I think they have jobs there, more resources for public schools |
Crappy weather
Meh. |
| Oregon
|
Close to friends/family/etc.
Familiar territory Already licensed Some jobs, maybe |
Been there
Crappy weather Not really a lot of jobs |
| New Zealand
|
It’s fucking awesome.
And did I mention, it’s AWESOME! |
Long, elaborate certification process
Farther than Japan |
| UK
|
See above | See above
And, have you SEEN these peoples’ teacher aptitude tests. Unreal. |
| Japan
|
Familiar territory
Close to host parents. I like it here Adventure! |
No work
Far from family and friends All the cement stuff gets depressing after a while. |
In other news, the weather has been getting nicer, after the SNOW last week, yes, snow. It’s been sunny the last few days (‘cept for when it wasn’t), and I’ve been meaning to get out more. Then there was this cold. Boy, that sucked. Anyway, I made it over to Shimonita. It all started where I thought, “I wonder what’s by that bridge over there… -” that one past the other one – the farthest point west I’ve been on my bike, maybe. So, I went and saw.
I really was there
I first came to the edges of town, with assorted shrines and temples. Despite my intent to go straight on to my goal, I did as always and let myself get side-tracked. After hiking around a temple or two, I went up to a shrine (that housed another, older shrine) and found a narrow trail snaking its way into the woods. It led up a hillside, along the spine of a mountain. On the south was bamboo, and on the north was pine. As the wind blew, the bamboo rubbed against each other, making a whining sound that I at first took to be wild pigs.
Further down the road and around a bend, I came to the bridge. The river was pretty, but further on looked more interesting, so I followed a little, winding road from a small clutch of houses on into the woods. The road became wet and mossy as I entered another pine forest reminiscent of something around Eagle Creek. Eventually, I came to a tunnel, short and straight, or so it seemed, and I thought, “Well, I can keep going or turn around.”
About a quarter way in, I realized how dark it was (I couldn’t see the walls or ceiling or ground, for that matter), and how much longer it was than I had originally thought. I had no light on my bike (still in my bag), and if a car came, I would, at best, be embarrassed and the cause of huge inconvenience, and at worst, I would become one with the pavement.
I imagined myself years later, at a party, where someone says, “What was the scariest thing you ever did?” And I would say, “Actually, it was also the stupidest thing I ever did…”
On the other side, I came to a path leading into the woods. This one had a sign in Japanese telling me to go one way or the other. It went pretty far in, all the way over, actually, so my bike was to come along with me. Further on, the path forked: one way was easy and wide, the other was steep and narrow.
best friends.
You can guess which way I went – I mean, was I going to have an adventure or not? And I did. And I came out on the other side, into Shimonita, and back to the highway, and back home, after 7 or 8 hours.
Excellent.
