Shrineing Moments

Saturday night was the last day of training. The six days were both draconian and educational. While I’m happy these days are over, I feel like another week would better prepare me. I now have lists of my schedule, classes, and students and it's all becoming more and more real. Today is a traveling, moving, and errand day. I’m finally moving to Numazu and setting in the place I’ll be living for at least a year. I've been waiting so long for the opportunity to see this apartment.

Saturday night, after the last training, was an evening of celebration. This involved another outing and finally some drinking. Kirin may not be the best beer I've ever had but if it has to be the Japanese staple, I’ll take it. After getting our bellies full of chicken wings and beer, we seeked beer. A street side hole in the wall did fine. Beer was drank, conversation had, rice balls - fire eaten, and broken Japanese was spoken to a new Buddhist Monk friend. The night was delightfully simple, delightfully fun.

Sunday, our first day off in a week, became another day of exploring Nagoya. What started as an errand to get our inkan (stamp with your name on it), turned into a whole ton of exploration. We explored a few shrines, checked out an electronics shop, ate at a Fridays, saw some high fashion, and sort of watched an outside rock concert (Another World).

The Fridays was hilarious and so damn welcomed. Don’t get me wrong, I've been enjoying the Japanese food, but American food has also been missed - it was a darling reminder. You know, with decor of baseball bats, red/white/blue lighting, a soundtrack of Coldplay to country, and bars lined with Jim Bean.

The shrines were beautiful and as mesmerizing as you’d imagine. Just these pockets of Shinto culture smack dab in the middle of a huge sprawling city. Once again the juxtaposition of old and new strike me in a delightful way.I’ll scour Numazu for them as well, preparing me for the day I hit Kyoto.

More than a week in my life here in Japan, I have to say I've been challenged. My attempted escape from mediocrity has been brutally successful thus far. Minus the days off, each day has been stressful and nerve wracking, While I’m finally moving today, teaching and executing all the techniques learned this last week sit heavy in my mind. Tuesday and Wednesday will be mostly shadowing previous teachers but by Thursday it’s full on. Everything is moving fast and I realize that can’t last forever, but right now it’s quite intense. This is all a good thing though and not a complaint. This is exactly what I wanted.

Leaving today means saying farewell to the people I've become close to this last week. While these are sad times, they will all be an hour (?) away by train. These aren’t goodbyes.