Conquered a MOUNTAIN!!

Long time no post!

I've been a busy bunny recently. I think... yeah I've done quite a bit actually. So...

GO GO LIFE UPDATE!!!

Golden Week in Japan came and went in the blink of an eye, I spent the first half of it relaxing and the second half CONQUERING A MOUNTAIN!! In a bid to join the rest of Japan and do something traditional, myself and a couple of mates headed out to the western edge of Tokyo to Mount Mitake. I adore the mountains around Japan, they really are breathtaking, and Mount Mitake is no different.

Beautiful!

Getting the train from Ome to Mitake was amazing, the scenery took my breath away.

It was a pity it was such an overcast foggy day, it meant there was no view from Mitake. Usually you can see right across the skyscrapers of central Tokyo and Mount Fuji on the other side. Alas you could hardly see your hand infront of your face on this day. The sign in the picture says 'Skytree'....

Climbing mountains in Japan is very different to the west I think, it's not really climbing, more following as path and taking a cable car. The best thing about mountains in Japan is they have plenty of booze stops along the way, so hot sake was at along the way as well as beers at the 2000 year old shrine at the very top.

We made the mistake of walking all the way down to the waterfall, which was pretty lame, but it meant we had to walk back up half the mountain. Now that was a beast!

A lovely day out of the chaos that is central Tokyo, but at the end of the day I do love that chaos.

Last Saturday I was invited by my friend Kee-tan to her parents house for a dinner party, what an amazing house that was, I had such a good time. Her Dad is in a band and they were playing away all night long, it felt more like a jazz bar.

Later that evening me, Ke-tan and ryohei headed to a random para night down the road. They had a projector playing random para DVDs on the wall. It was weird seeing us three on wall as your sitting there having a drink... For the record it was a really bad para night.

That weekend I went into para overload actually. I hit Chiba Euro Rave on the Friday, the Throb on Saturday and Megahit on Sunday. I was exhausted halfway through Megahit. Oh yeah, B-1 Dynamite had a Golden Week special as well which was so much fun, lots of people there, unlike this week... but it was raining like a mother fucker.

SCHOOL!!

Work is fantastic fun as ever. I adore the new years kids, they are all fantastic, I have a whole crew of awesome kids to play with, I'm almost neglecting the older years because the youngest kids are so much fun. This past week they started having lunch at school for the first time, I've been looking forward to eating with them all, lunch times are comedy times. I get told off by the teachers as much as the kids for being to loud and playing to much...

We had one of our big field trips recently where the whole school got on buses and headed out west to an amazing park for a big picnic and play day.

Coach trips with kids are just the best, fun fun fun. All the Mums came as well, so I got to have lunch with them as well as the kids. I ate with my favorite girl Akane and her Mum who I know quite well.

As is usual with field trips the Mums always make me lots of food, I ate so much that day. I laughed how the other teachers all ate together away from the kids, and I was only one eating with them. They find it funny how I really do enjoy spending time with the kids, of course they all love the kids but it's still a job to them all, for me I'd do this job for free.

After lunch we played for a few hours in the park and rolled around in the dirt. I came back to the coach looking like I'd been in a war. The coach back I sat with the awesome pair that is Akane and Reina.

Those two are comedy legends, we were joking about all the way home while the rest of the coach was asleep. Their Mum's were happy I took them off their hands, my pleasure!! Great day!!

Everything at work is awesome over all. Obviously the kids are amazing as ever, and the school director loves what I do more and more it seems. I've been put incharge of hiring a new foreign guy do the same job as me at the sister school. I have to advertise, interview, and pick the guy. They really do trust me there. I still wise the other teachers would speak to me more, or more than one word a week.... but it's all good.

What else blog worthy happened to me??

Ohhhh I went to the local elementary school as part of their book festival where I read English books to kids.

I love going to that school and seeing lots of kids that graduated my school over the past two years, they all come running up to me and want to play.

After the reading was done I had lunch outside with some of the kids and then got to watch some taiko drumming and cheerleading displays from some of the kids.

One of the cheerleading teams was made up of kids from my school, they were awesome of course. made me proud! I had to escape at the end because everyone still wanted to play, but alas I had to somewhere, the Koenji street festival up the road!

The festival is held every year and is where the streets of koenji are full of random acts. Of course it's a massive excuse to get blind drunk on the street... Myself and friends were watching a random but awesome mime show, drinking away, when I saw a bunch of Mums and kids from my school. So I ended up chatting with them and playing with everyone. I love that the Mums are drinking themselves and don't mind that I'm a bit tipsy. I saw quite a few of my kids throughout the day, it just makes me so happy to see them.

Of course karaoke followed, which meant I was blind drunk by the time I got home at 11pm and Starfire started at midnight... I spent the first half of Starfire chundering and trying to sober up enough to dance, which I did and then had a bottle of champagne shoved down my neck... back to being drunk again. I love that me and Jasmine can dance at the front of the stage at Starfire now and not feel like pretenders... you know? At B-1 as well we're on the stage every week now, can't ask for more than that!

Well that'll do for now. Just a few of the things I've been up to recently, that I can remember anyway...

Next... interesting para shit.