FUJI!!!!!

So, like many, one of the things I really wanted to do in Japan was hike Mt Fuji. This weekend I finally did it!! Wow, what an absolutely exhausting, fantastic time it was, too! We left Hiroo (the prefecture in which we live) at 6:15 on Friday night to get to Shinjuku station in time to get our bus to Fuji. The bus pulled up to station 5 on the mountain at about 10pm and after we bought our walking sticks and got all suited up in our under-armor it was nearly 10:30 on Friday night before we began our hike. It started off pretty easy, but we quickly learned how fast a mountain can change. It seemed at every switchback was a completely different kind of climbing. There were times when it went from slippery gravel to garden sized lava rocks to full-on hands and feet vertical rock climbing! Lena and I stopped around 4:15am to sit down and watch the sunrise. Hundreds of people around us had the same idea. We stayed there for about an hour - it was all WAY too beautiful to risk missing a second! I took probably two dozen pictures of the sun coming up. I literally felt like I was in heaven it was so fantastic. After the sun was up we finished up to the top where Hank, Shirley, and Rebecca were waiting for us. It was crazy how many people were hiking all at once. I mean there were thousands and thousands of people on that mountain. Before we left I was really disappointed in this because I knew beforehand how crowded it would be. I was upset that this beautiful natural experience would be ruined by thousands of tourists, but once we started climbing, I really began to appreciate how awesome of an experience it was that ALL of us could share such an incredible event together. We got to the top and I got a victory hot chocolate before we headed back down. Going down was much faster, but MAN did it kill the knees! We were all sure our toe nails had fallen off and I was sure I would never walk again my knees hurt SO bad! But we made it, and within a couple days I was good as new again.

Sunday was great as well. A few of us went to the Harajuku area to a flea market - LOTS of fun treasures there. Then I went out to a cool little Chinese restaurant with Ronald for dinner. It was really neat; we got to pick out our own fish (a really cute red one that I felt bad killing) and they friend it up and brought him out scales, fins, eyes, and all. I was surprised at how good the fins were, and I even ate my very first fish eyes! I was ready to gag over them, but they were actually probably the best part! I wish I'd had a camera because the restaurant was so nice, and there was literally a skull, a jawbone, and a razor sharp spiky spine left on the plate after we ate - I wanted to document it, but you'll just have to take my word that I gnawed every last scrap of meat off of the bones. Then we met up with Hank, Shirley, and Rebecca and went to Tokyo Tower. I vowed to myself on the bus ride to the New Sanno the very first night I arrived in Tokyo that I would NOT waste my money on the miniature Eiffel Tower/tourist trap, but I was swayed into going and regret every one of the one thousand, six hundred, and eighty yen I wasted there. Oh well. It was more time spent with my friends.
So, our second to last week of camp is well under way. The kids are still crazy, but I have decided, since the summer is nearing its end, I really don't need to enforce rules anymore. Yes, it sounds bad, but the kids have more fun, and I am less stressed. So if they want me to throw them in the pool (I have literally had over six kids climbing up my back, arms, head, and chest at every moment we have been at the pool this week - just wanting me to throw them. Great workout with all that extra weight!) or if they want to get out all of the blocks, dolls, books, and animals and have a hay-day, that's fine with me. Only seven days left with the little buggers!
Thanks for checking in on me! I hope I'll have more for you soon!