Koyo in Kyoto （京都の紅葉）

In November, James and I took a trip to Kyoto to see the famous Kinkakuji temple (the Golden Pavilion) , and admire the fall foliage the city is so famous for. We also visited Ginkakuji (the Silver Pavilion), which is my favorite temple in Kyoto because of its beautiful gardens, as well as Kiyomizudera, the first temple I ever visited in Japan. 

Kinkakuji

The blingin' Kinkakuji

I'm already horrible at taking photos, and the overcast weather didn't help my poor camera skills, but hopefully this gives you an idea of the beautiful colors. 

Ginkakuji

The gardens at Ginkakuji

Kiyomizudera

The entrance to Kiyomizudera.

Walking through Kyoto near Gion. 

Rafting!

Just like last year, I went rafting in Shikoku in early October with a bunch of Hyogo JETs. This time, I didn't have to plan anything, so it was even more fun!

We stayed in the same place, and the day before I had gone to Costco and loaded up on meat, cheese, fruit, vegetables, chips and salsa, and other essentials for an amazing outdoor barbeque.

We drove down in three separate cars, and even though the car I was in stopped on two separate occasions for random sightseeing in Awaji, we still were the second ones to arrive.

Awaji is known for its onions.

Checking out the Naruto whirlpools.

Best Car!
 We weirded out a toll-booth attendant by rocking out extra hard to Bohemian Rhapsody as we paid our toll. 

 

The rafting was the same -- same guides, same river, same rapids.

Hyogo rafters!

However this year, we got stuck in the very first rapid, and it took several other guides/boats/people with ropes to get us out. The second rapid, we were supposed to get stuck (for "surfing"!), but then we got stuck for real, and again had to be rescued by other boats. Because we were gluttons for punishment, a few of us decided to go back for some more surfing. At first, there were 3 of us (my friends Paul and Anna, and myself) and our guide. As we started surfing, Paul decided to try standing, so he was the first to tumble into the water and swim to shore. The remaining three were having fun riding the rapid for a bit longer, and then Anna and I realized that we were stuck again. AGAIN. A few boats came and tried to get us out, and I think at one point the guide was going to flip us on purpose to get us out, and I think he saw the terrified look in my eyes and decided to try a different method. When one of the other boats came back again to get us, he grabbed onto that boat while holding onto ours. At some point, he lost his grip, and Anna and I watched in horror as he was pulled out of the boat, leaving us hanging on for dear life with no paddles and no guide in the middle of a rapid. Other boats kept coming near trying to get us, but no one would tell us what to do. My favorite moment was when Anna yelled, "Instructions?! Anyone?!" as yet another boat came and went.

There goes our guide.....

Up the creek.....

The moment of rescue!

(Our boat and our guide. )    First we were like.......

...and then we were like.....

We called ourselves "Team Extreme".

We stopped on the way back for some Awaji Onion ice cream.

めっちゃ久しぶりでごめん！

So... it's December.

I'll try to do a bit of a summary of things that have happened. My last post was in mid-August, which means I'll start with.....

Tokyo Orientation!

I headed up to Tokyo at the end of July (around the 27th or so) to stay for a little more than 2 weeks. I was there with National AJET to help welcome all the new JETs coming in for Orientation A and B. Last year, I was a Tokyo Orientation Assistant, so I was only there for the first group of arrivals, so I was pretty excited to be back and to get to be around for the whole thing and meet all the incoming Hyogo JETs.

Long story short, it was exhausting.

We worked for 2 weeks straight, and most of us had 6:45am shifts every morning and were working in the hotel until 9pm, when we would head out for dinner to unwind. Our shifts were at an AJET/help desk, and in the AJET information room, where new JETs could order books, make free Skype calls, learn about their new prefectures, or just come in and chat. Our hour long breaks in the middle (when we got them) usually consisted of runs to Starbucks, and trips to the nearby kebab stand for an amazing and cheap lunch. 

Hard at work at the AJET desk. 

We decorated the white board behind the AJET desk with our lovely faces. 

A close-up of Exec.

Kebab kampai!

AJET works hard, but we also play hard, so when we had a few days in between orientations, we decided to head out for a booze cruise in Tokyo Bay, and take a day trip to Fuji Q Highlands. 

On the boat in Tokyo Bay. I met up with my friend who was about to leave Japan, and another friend who used to live in Kobe but had moved to Tokyo the previous year with her husband. 

Tickets for the boat were cheaper if you wore yukata,
so the ladies of AJET decided to dress up! 

Fuji Q has to be hands down the best theme park I have ever been to. The rides were amazing -- every single one was a record breaker for something. They even had one of those roller coasters where the cars are on either side of the tracks, and you get flipped around based on what direction you're going. It was just amazing. 

The best part of the day was sunset. The park is within sight of Mt. Fuji, and as the sun was going down, we decided to ride one of those big pirate ship-type swings. However, this one was shaped like a pizza instead of a pirate ship (why not?), and it rotated as we swung. When we reached the top, we had a perfect view of Mt. Fuji, and as we swung the other way, there was a gorgeous view of the sun setting over the mountains. I could have stayed at that park forever! 

The Council acting silly. 

We met this little one while waiting in line.
She gave the girls massages, and punched most of the boys. 

On the roller coaster!

Excited to be at FujiQ!

NAJET Executive Officers cheesin' for the camera. 

Because we were in Tokyo, we also had the chance to go to a lot of amazing restaurants. Our first night, we went out to a cheap, Japanese-style restaurant where we met a college fencing team celebrating their win at a baseball game that day (why not?). At first, we were annoyed at how loud they were, but we gradually began to make friends, and before we knew it our two tables had practically become one, and they wanted photos with all of us.

 Of course we had to visit the obligatory Western restaurants. We went to Outback and TGIFridays, and we also visited Devil Craft for some amazing Chicago-style pizza, and El Toritos for an awesome お疲れ (job well done) Mexican lunch on our last day. 

El Toritos. We all ordered the same thing completely by accident,
and we agreed that we had in fact been spending entirely too much time together. 

Beer fest in Shinjuku.

Devil Craft Pizza!

The drinks at a welcome party for some newbies at the Lock Up, a jail/horror-themed restaurant. 

 

There were the usual shenanigans with MM. 

 

There was also Cosplay Karaoke. 

It was busy, it was stressful, it was incredibly fun. I had such a great time at Orientation and didn't want it to end, and I really felt at home in Tokyo. I was, however, certainly ready to sleep again. James came to visit in Tokyo at the end of my stay, and I slept the entire first day he was there (oops). 

東京大好き！

 

View of the sunset over Tokyo from the Metropolitan Government building in Shinjuku.