The gallery remains inop (or borked if you’re as l33+ as me), so I can’t add the photos of earlier (Marutomo - still going strong) or the ones from FujiQ. Amazing in every aspect - amazingly long time to get there (trains and buses for a combination of 5 hours), amazingly long lines, amazingly cool rides, amazingly few rides ridden (uh, 3 in 5 hours).
[EDIT] Actually, the gallery isn’t borked. I switched image resizing programs and things are running smoothly. Take a look![EDIT]
Dodonpa was cool, but too short for the 2 hour queue. The acceleration was impressive, and it felt like air was entering my body thru my skin. It goes completely vertical for a little bit as well. Fujiyama was by far much better. Can’t go wrong with trad coasters. 79 meters of fall. 3 subsequent big drops after, a few 90deg banked turns, and S-curves made for an amazing last ride of the day. Didn’t have time to go to the haunted hospital, so that’s on the agenda for next time.
Finished all the renovation today as well! A new screen door and new screen windows will help keep the lower level cooler in the evenings. Also painted the concrete part of the shower room, which will keep it much cleaner (especially after I removed all the crap that got caught under the tub).
Lookin’ to be a good summer. And I emailed the new ALT that’s coming to Yaizu. He’s from NZ somewhere (I’ve yet to learn), and sounds be a great chilled out guy.
As my one year anniversary with Japan comes up, I’d say things are pretty good. Teaching feels normal now, tho a bit mundane at times (it would be nice to work with higher level students who were motivated). I think I’ve spent my free time well and saw a lot that Japan has to offer. Looking forward to seeing a few more places. Lots of cool perspective-expanding experiences and conversations. Anti-corporation views just don’t exist in my area. No one thinks twice about getting food from Maku Donaludo. I do appreciate how little drinking is condemned - at least some cultures are honest to themselves.
The culture shock waves still come and go like the tides. But, I’ve been feeling better about speaking now, and less worried about mistakes. I’m glad to be staying on another year so that I can explore this new confidence and finally get to the ‘learning’ the language bit. It’s like when you’re in high school and have to learn algebra and radicals. What a pain, right? Then, you get to uni and calculus makes things so much more interesting (easier in ways, more difficult in others). Language has been the same for me. Learning vocab and grammar can be a pain, but using it (like using algebra to integrate some crazy function) is really relaxing now. There are still days when I’m too tired to be bothered to speak Japanese (or even try), but I’m sure that problem isn’t so unique.
So, a good year to be had!