The Home Stretch

After this week I will, for all intents and purposes, be on vacation. I have to head into work next week to report grades and do some other end-of-term odds and ends, but the whole teaching aspect of the job will be done with. I have two sessions left with each of my classes. The first is giving them a final exam, and the second is handing out their grades and returning the tests. After that, we'll be on vacation until the end of August. I'm heading back to the States solo for 2 weeks, then we'll be off to the farm to help Chieko's parents pick watermelons. I think I 've mentioned this all before.

While the future is full of expectation, the past weekend was an exercise in uneventfulness. The highlight I suppose was taking an evening walk along the local river on Sunday. Here's the river from one of it's better angles. I have to admit it's looking verdant these days. It's pretty impossible to take pictures in Japan without getting these giant electrical towers in them somewhere, even in more remote areas. I go through phases of trying get shots without them, especially in natural settings, and time when I just accept that they are part of the environment here and so why not include them.


The seeming tranquility of the local river belies the fact that it's as polluted as hell. There is so much crap caught among the tall grass and reeds that line the edges and islands of the river.

On a positive note, there are cute baby ducks all over the place swimming up and down the river, and it's cool to see adult ducks stationed periodically along the river keeping watch over things.

Still, there was one moment of intensity during my walk when one of the local crows took an interest in a momma duck and her babies. I don't think the crow meant any harm, but the mother got pretty worked up, flapping and quacking all over the place. The babies, meanwhile, didn't seem too alarmed by it.



After work tonight Chieko and I took a drive down to the beach. It's called a 'Coastal Community Zone' because behind the beach, they have a bunch of communal resources, including a big grass field, BBQ pits, grounds for some kind of game that seems to be a cross between mini-golf and croquette, and of course, a giant pirate ship playground.

This thing seems on the verge of being condemned, as there wasn't a tight bolt to be found on the numerous ladders leading up to the crows nest, and several of the planks in the deck were broken through. Trecherous!!

I had a lot more fun on this thing:

It was like a giant rope pyramid that you could climb up and bounce around on. When you did bounce, the whole structure kept bouncing around for a while. When I finally got back down to the ground my legs were all wobbly. I want one of these things, only much, much bigger.

So things are rather subdued around here this evening. Going to hit the iron and probably attempt to call it an early night, though these days I have a hard time nodding off if I go to bed before midnight. We'll see how it works out.