Jun 2005

Mihonoseki is a charming little coastal town just about 40 minutes northeast of me. The Nova manager in Izumo city, Andrew, who's from New Zealand, drove me and another new teacher Barbara, from England, to the top of one of the high peaks. There is a charming little lighthouse and you can see for miles and miles into the Sea of Japan. I went to this gorgeous place after only having been here a little over a week - not a bad way to start off, eh?!

Shimane Town is another small, peaceful city about thirty minutes by bus Northwest of Matsue. My friend Mary, the only other American now, and I went here on one of our days off. It was so nice to just hang around the coast and walk along the jagged beaches. The harbor here is just so charming and there are several little hikes up and down the cliffs.

The people in Shimane Town are very friendly, too. They aren't that used to seeing foreigners, so a few of the locals talked to us, and Mary and I, well, we "tried" to talk to them in our horrible Japanese.

One very sweet elderly lady sat in front of me on the bus and kept turning around to ask me questions. The only question I could really make out was "where are you from?" That was the only question I think I even came close to answering. But, after a few tries she finally just gave up and gave me a piece of candy!

It's funny, I know I have to sound like a caveman or something when I try to speak here because although I've picked up some words for things in Japanese, I still haven't learned how to really put them into a proper sentence. For example, if I need to ask if a train or bus goes to a certain city, I can pretty much just say "Bus? Hiroshima? Yes?" and then do a little grunting and pointing. Or, in a restaurant, in most cases, I just can't read the menu, so I just have to point to the picture of the food in the menu and kinda grunt then look up at the server like, "I'm helpless, will you please just bring me what's in this picture?" But, what's even worse after that is when they ask me something else, and I have no clue what they're asking, so I just say "okay." Then I end up with extra seaweed or horsemeat. Yep, I'm a cavewoman in Japan.

Well, I've been living in Japan for approximately three months now and I've got SO MANY things to write about and SO MANY pictures to put up!! Overall, I absolutely love living here. It's by no means a walk in the park living here, but the beautiful scenery, amazing people and wonderful experiences make the difficulties all worth it.

One of the things I have enjoyed the most about living in Matsue is the breathtakingly famous sunsets on Shinji Lake, which is about a ten minute cycle from my apartment. So here are a few shots of some of my favorite sunsets:

One of the most famous things about Japan, the cherry blossoms, bloomed beautifully this year in March. There are festivals throughout all of Japan to celebrate their blooming. In Matsue, that was a big festival at the castle. Many people came to the castle grounds and had picnics and drank sake under the rows of flowers. I went to a picnic in Izumo one night and sat under the trees with a few friends.

They started to bloom about the third week I was here. It's just so peaceful to stand or sit under a cherry blossom tree and look up and see nothing but a beautiful blue sky and thousands of perfect white and pink flowers. When you look up, such a peaceful view really makes your forget all your worries.

These photos were taken around Matsue that week.