roughin' it Japanese style....

Classes were canceled this week and everyone in my program split up to do different things. Some of them went to Tokyo, some stayed in Iida and relaxed, but I chose to go up to the mountains with Professor Holman and 12 other people from the program. We stayed in old traditional Japanese houses. We had to bring sleeping bags because there weren't any foutons. A great majority of my time was spent tending to the fire that we built in the hearth in the middle of the house. Each night we cooked a huge pot of stew over the fire. It was a little bit of a challenge because right now Japan is in the middle of the rainy season, and so dry fire wood was hard to come by. The entire house was filled with smoke that lingered above our heads. I brought smore's makings with me and it perfected the campfire experience and made me very popular with the other students who were there. The first day that we were in the mountains, I went with 3 others from the program and climbed a couple of mountains. There was a trail that led up a ways into the mountains, but that wasn't quite adventurous enough for our taste and so we slinked off of the trail and hiked up through the brush and undergrowth. Luckily, I had decided to wear jeans that day, knowing full well that hiking through the wilderness requires the proper attire. However, My friends Micah and Chris had both worn shorts and they both got very torn up from the thorns. It was a terrific walk. Half way up the mountain we came across a monkey forest. I swear that there must have been 100 monkeys! It was a little bit intimidating. We climbed up past the monkeys and through thousands of reeds that were as high as 9 feet tall. It was very difficult to make our way through the reeds. It felt as though my legs were combing through them. We reached our destination and were in awe and the wonderful view before us. I exclaimed that it was like being inside a green can of paint, because to me, that's exactly what it felt like. We descended the mountain shortly after and went down to the river. It was very refreshing to wade through the ice cold water after such a challenging hike. The next day it rained and rained some more. I decided to spend my day doing nothing. I was actually quite happy with my decision. It was like a vacation. However, my friends Nick and Brett didn't not want to spend all day sitting around when they were so close to such beautiful scenery, and so at around 4:00pm, they set out to hike the tallest mountain in the area. When they weren't back yet at 8:00om, some people started to get a little worried, and by 10:00 professor Holman had called the search and rescue. I also started to get worried. I didn't think that they would be lost, but there are bears and other dangerous wild animals in the mountains here. Thankfully they returned at 11:30 safe and sound, although very wet. The sun had set on them while they were on the top of the mountain, and so it took them several hours to descend because the path up the mountain was only 1 foot wide and one false step when mean a very steep descent to the grave. It did not help that the only lights that they had was a small flashlight built into a lighter and the LCD screen of Brett's camera. It was great that they were safe, but now they were in tons of trouble with the teachers. They spent many hours apologizing for being out so late and worrying everyone. The last day there was very somber and we were all glad to return to Iida. Now I'm trying to make plans to visit some of my Japanese friends, but we are always so busy with class that I don't know if it will be possible. Hopefully I will have the chance in a couple of weeks. Now it's time for another lazy Saturday evening lounging around the hotel.