Trip to the Countryside- Shirokawa and other places

Here are the long awaited pictures from my trip to the Japanese Countryside. For some reason the pictures got uploaded in reverse order, but i'll run with it.

This is the last part of the trip, we went to the city called Hida-Takayama. This place is famous for its old town district, as well as it's famous Hida-beef. We stopped the bus and wandered the shopping district and had lunch (seen below). I had one of the best meals Ive ever had in japan here (bottom right of the 3 food pictures) . It was Japanese Curry Udon, with Hida-beef. It was sooo succulent and warm. Perfect for the cold weather. The other dishes are ramen and curry with rice.

They had traditional cart transports in the old shopping district, very nice.

Before we went to Hida-Takayama, we stopped at Shirokawa-go, a world heritage site. This town has buildings that are over 300 years old. In the pictures you can see the traditional style thatched housing.

I bought a lot of omiyage(souvenirs) to hand out when I come back to the states.

McKenna and I had a lot of fun romping around in the snow and touring this old town.

The night before this, we stayed a ryokan (a traditional japanese style inn) Here they served us INCREDIBLE 8 course dinner and breakfasts. All traditional japanese foods like fried fish with the bones, skin, and head still on. As well as that famous Hida beef.

I look so goofy here I know...

The first day and first stop after our 8 hour overnight bus- ride was an old castle town called Kanazawa. This castle has the most gorgeous park that is still taken care of beautifully. The following pictures are of the grounds of the park. It had just snowed and was mighty cold! But McKenna and I had a great time wandering around and taking pictures.

I had more pictures of the castle itself, however I cant seem to find them anymore.

This trip was soooooo much fun. I love being out of the big city of Tokyo. I have a lot of souvenirs to bring back home, and many great memories from these two days. I am so grateful to McKenna for paying for this trip as a birthday present to me.

I wish the pictures could do justice to the great time I had.

I love you all, take care- where ever you are.

-Tony

Jan 7th, 2010. On school, jobs, and health

Dear loved ones, Jan 7, 2010

School starts on the 11th, I cant wait! I miss studying and critically thinking all day long. I also love being able to continue discussions outside of class with my friends and english student.

Im kinda worried about school this semester though. Im taking 5 classes (even though one of them is a yoga class) and two of those are upper level poly sci classes. I feel that I am going to need to spend a lot more of my free time doing schoolwork, writing papers, and studying. Even though it will be a challenge, I know that I am gong to have a great semester.

I was actually thinking of not working at the restaurant anymore. Let me tell you an alternative for money before I explain my reasoning.

I spoke with McKenna's boss at her english school for students. She said I would be able to do a program called KBC (Kindergarten base camp... I think it stands for that at least). Where, twice a week, I will go to Japanese kindergartens and have an hour long "English session" with the children. In this session I will lead them in songs and games that teach basic english lessons and words. I will get paid $60.00 for each hour session. at two times a week, I would receive around $480/month which is nearly enough for rent. I could rely on student loans to take care of the rest.

I would much rather do this than continue working at the restaurant for many reasons. The first is to save my health. Last semester my body suffered tremendously because of my job. I would work from 5-11pm not getting home until midnight. Everyday, instead of dinner I would have one small slice of pizza or nothing at all. When I got home, I would be so tired that I would have a bowl of instant noodles before bed. the next day I would wake at 6:30 to get ready for classes. This busy schedule took a huge toll on my health. I was dreadfully skinny (as you all saw when I came home for Christmas) and stressed out.

Other reasons for me not wanting to continue this job is the time cost. I would get home from classes at 2pm and leave my house at 4pm for work. This gave me two hours at home, which I could allot to eating lunch and maaaaybe a short study session. Regardless, it was not enough time, and my school grades suffered because I could not devote the time to finishing homework and studying for exams.

As I mentioned earlier, I will need even more time this semester to cope with the workload of my classes. This is impossible with the job I currently have.

I learned a lot from that job, and my confidence in speaking and understanding japanese improved greatly, but at a severe cost to my health and school performance.

Moving on to another subject for now:

Health!

My goal this semester is to eat. Ive been eating so much since I've been here. Almost as much as I was in America over the summer. I need to gain weight. I need to get fit. This is something that my body will thank me for later on in life.

My new years resolution this year is regarding health. But its not one of the cop out promises people make to themselves that never get followed through like "go to the gym".

I feel that set phrases like these are just that:phrases. They have a negative connotation to them, eluding to the inevitability of failure. Our brains are conditioned to hear these phrases and add "one day" "eventually" or "soon". This only translates to saying "never". In saying such phrases like " I need to go to the gym" or "I need to diet" we set ourselves up for failure of following through.

I would like to elude to a quote whose author is unknown to me. "Goals without deadlines are just dreams" I really like this quote as it has helped me in my battle with procrastination. In my new years resolution, instead of saying it in a future tense such as "I will" or "I need to" I am saying it in a present tense. This way my brain does not automatically react to the resolution as an impossibility.

Am I rambling too much? its been a while since I've sat down and wrote what's on my mind. I cut to the chase. My New Years resolution is this: "I do not eat premade lunches at convenience stores." In Japan we call them obento. They are very convenient if you do not have food for lunch. However, they are unhealthy and expensive. They cost around $5 each, and consist of 50% rice, 25% fried meat, 25% pickled vegetables. In order to improve my health and the weight of my wallet, I do not eat these anymore. (See how I word it? I think it helps to follow through)

If you've read my post up to this point, please comment! I want to hear what everyone's New Year's resolution is! Thats all that I have today, Until next time.

I miss you, my dearest loved ones,

Tony Radosti