Spending more time in Japan

I went to the capital city of my prefecture this week, Kofu, for another orientation. There were some helpful workshops and it was fun getting to spend more time with other new assistant language teachers(ALTs). In total, for the prefecture, there are 36 new ALTs.
Here are some pictures and explanations of what has been going on here in Japan. =]

Here is a VEGETARIAN bento (boxed lunch) that a Japanese restaurant prepared for all 8 of us odd balls who don't eat meat. Apparently, when you say you are a vegetarian, restaurants will try to feed you fish...why do people think fish is a fruit, vegetable, or grain...I always thought it was an animal. =P so thankfully, those in charge of our orientation made extra sure that fish was not included in this cute little bento.

On the second day of the orientation we took a trip to a very large temple. Actually this temple had several, HUGE, temples on the property. this is just the entrance to the stairs...the evil, evil stairs. I couldn't even get the entire entryway in my picture, it was HUGE!

On to the evil stairs. There are two ways to get to the top of this hill/mountain where the temples were located. The first, drive up to the parking lot higher up on the mountain. The second, go up the steepest, most uneven, stair case EVER. Needless to say, for the "fun" of it, our group went up the stairs. I say they are evil, because each of the 287 steps is actually the height of 2 or 3 normal steps. You have to push yourself up to the next step, its not exactly easy. I was among the group of about 10 girls who finished last. =P I don't believe this picture can really capture how impressive those stairs were. I was extremely proud of myself for not giving up. I don't believe you can actually see the bottom of the stair case in the picture; it just kept on going!

This is how I felt once I reached the top. hee hee. I was completely worn out.

My time at the temple did improve though. I took some pretty pictures and I saw ridiculous amounts of gold leafing on EVERYTHING inside the temples...which we weren't allowed to photograph.

This was one of the gardens among the temples.

Once I got back to my town...I am actually calling it home now =)... I went to my JHS's festival and met my predecessor.

This is a view of some of the mountains that surround Takane JHS. I say some of the mountains, because the area is completely surrounded with beautiful and very large mountains. Because it is the season for the Obon festival in Japan, there were these paper lanterns all over the place.

On the sports field at the jr. high school there were vendors and a stage and lots of people. AND...that's right America...the Power Rangers are still going strong in Japan. I saw the red, green, black and blue rangers kicking evil butt in front of a group of 3-6 year olds....so adorable!

Before I left, I was able to watch the JHS students perform a few songs on Taiko drums. It was pretty good, and fun to watch.

That is all for now. I hope you all are doing well! =]