So Much Happening!!

Sorry for being so behind on the blogs! I've been running around so much I've hardly had time to sleep these past few weeks! Here's a catch-up on what's been going on:
Camp is over; it ended a week and a half ago. Very bitter sweet saying good bye to, not only all of the kids, but all of the counselors too. August 15th, the day before everyone took off for their respective homes in the states, we celebrated Lora's birthday (the girl with whom I shared a classroom) by going to Hakone. The city was beautiful, and had we utilized our free boat cruise passes and swam in the river, the trip would have definitely been worth it... but we went to this spa instead (and blew another forty-some bucks just to get in) in which thousands and THOUSANDS of people crammed into decorated hot tubs full of "coffee", "red wine", "sake", etc, etc to enjoy "exotic" bathing. Of course the "coffee" and such was nothing more than colored/scented water, but everyone else seemed to really enjoy it, so I pasted on my best smile and looked back on my childhood with the deepest regret and sympathy for having drug Mom and Dad to all of those crappy, people-packed amusement parks.
After everyone left for the airport on Sunday Aug. 16th, Hank and I packed our bags and headed back to the Embassy housing compound where a mother of one of my campers had offered to keep our bags and let us stay as long as we need during our extended stay - VERY nice to have a home base like that. So, the two of us made a rough draft of what we would be doing over the following two weeks, and set out bright and early Monday morning for Hiroshima. When we got there we headed strait for the island of Miyajima where there is a shrine gate in the water that looks like it is floating at high tide, and you can walk up to it at low tide. We hiked around the island all day, and decided to make it home for the night. We found a plastic tarp on the beach as well as a partially assembled party tent, so we put the tarp under the tent and settled down for the night.
In the morning we woke and caught the ferry back to Hiroshima. We visited the Peace Museum (honoring the A-bomb) and spent over 6 heart-wrenching, eye-opening hours in the museum before we headed out to the peace memprial park and the rest of the town. After a big dinner of a noodle dish Hiroshima is famous for (the first real meal we'd had since we left - it'd been PB&J's and granola up until then) we set off on the impossible two-hour task of finding a hotel.
In the morning (after finding a supprisingly decent hotel and getting our first full night's sleep in four days) we loaded up bright and early again and jumped on the train to Shikoku, a large island on the south-west-ish side of Japan. There we met up with a fellow named Kelsey who let us stay at this English school/international exchange center for three days. It was SUCH a nice place, and he and his boss (who owned the building) were SO incredible. Our first day there we swam in the pool (yeah, it was really, really nice) and explored the town. We were in the town of Takese and were two of three white people for many, many miles. It was such an eye-opening experience to be treated so differently. People all stopped and stared when we went by, and the few people who spoke English were quick to run up to us and ask why we were there. Apparently not the place tourists often find.
The next day (Aug 20th) we caught the train to a near-by town called Kan-onji and hitch-hiked our way to the foot of a large mountain to hike up and see this incredible temple called Umpenji (worth googling if you have a chance). Umpenji is also something not many travelers do. We were the only people hiking - a rather difficult hike at that - and were one of the very few at the top (there was a cable car system to get up there too, but we preffered the hike). While we were wandering through the hundreds of large buddha statues and admiring the temple, a man who was pilgrimiging to 88 temples on Shikoku (a common feat for dedicated Buddhists) who told us about the history of Umpenji. Apparently before 800AD a Japanese monk traveled to China and brought back Buddhism, starting it atop a mountain near Kan-onji. We were at the very first Japanese Buddhist Temple, and we didn't even know it!
It is time for me to get a move on the day. I have hardly begun to tell you about our adventures, but I will do my best to get another post up MUCH sooner than I have been.
So sad to see we have less than a week left here!!! I am not ready for this to end.