Fuji Takeaway

One of the things that the Fuji climb symbolized is that often times, doing something great and meaningful may not seem great and meaningful during the journey.  Fuji is beautiful from afar, and being able to climb it seems so cool, but it is easier said than done.  Life is like that.  I see people in the news like Michael Phelps for example.  He's definitely the hot star of the Beijing Olympics.  And there is so much glory in possibly winning 8 gold medals at one Olympics.  And he makes it seem easy, but I bet as he is making his climb up the metaphorical mountain, he has had to ensure thunderstorms, cold weather, and altitude sickness as well.

It's just that we see Phelps from afar, and the spotlight isn't on him until he's already about to step onto the summit.  We don't follow him everyday and witness all the trials and tribulations that he has had to overcome on his way to greatness.  And since it is not seen, it is sometimes easy to think that obsticles didn't exist for him at all.  I'm sure he's had to go through a whole lot of challenges.  But at the end of the day, he can get the job done. 

Tiger Woods is the same way.  As in Michael Jordan.  They all possess exceptional mental toughness.  Their success is not just the result of natural talent and preparation.  I think their success is also hugely due to being able to push themselves during tough times.  I want to develop that mental toughness.  And I know that in order to develop mental toughness, I will need obsticles to grind my will against.  The Japanese loanguage learning is just that sort of challenge.  It's not coming easy for me at all.  But that is why learning it well makes it all the more special for me.  That's why I must succeed.

And next year, I plan to climb Fuji again.  One year later.  How much better will my Japanese be?  How much will I have grown in mental toughness?  The results of next year's climb and who I am at that point in time will be a wonderful measuring stick for how well I will have lived this coming year.

Coming down is easier than Going up

I was wrong to think that I could sleep until "morning" as in 7am.  In Japan, the sun is up before 5am.  So at 4:40am, we were awoken by the staff so that we can watch the sunrise.

Purdy.

So now I'm awake and there was not much to do so I decided to start by decent at 6am.  I saw alot of the colors that I had missed the previous night due to the darkness.  What a difference half a day makes!

At RokuGoMe, which is the 6th station, I decided that it would be a good time to stop and pray.  I was overlooking some majestic landscape and my decent was putting me way ahead of schedule.  So I'm very happy that I was able to take out the rosaries I had in my backpack and pray for Babather and Guwdies on their big birthdays.  The prayers took about an hour, which really flew by.

As I completed my decent, I turned around and took a picture of Fuji and the entry gates, which looked so innocent just a day earlier.  I was not at all prepared for the conditions of the climb, but it was truly an enjoyable experience nonetheless.

Before I boarded the bus to get back home, I took a few last shots of Fuji.  It is really beautiful indeed.  I will be back.  And next time, I will be ready.  Next time, I will go to the top.

Hello from HachiGoMe

I'm obviously not writing this entry "live" but rather typing it in afterwards because there is no internet access on this mountain.  At the bottom, things were looking alright.  I was looking forward to scaling the mountain.  Let's go!

There was not too bad of a slope at the beginning.  The climb started slowly...

... however it quickly got steeper... and wetter.  I had on tennis shoes, a sweatshirt, and jeans.  Not bad for when it's not raining.  But since it rained for like 3 hours on our hike, I was a big sponge.

There I was.  At the 6th station.  Smiling.  Carrying a picture of the Birthday Guwd.    Well, that smile would last another 30 minutes or so as it got really tough.  I was soaked and the guides basically told us that they had no idea how long it would take up to get up to our rest stop.  According to the schedule, we were supposed to have arrived at 8pm.  But 9pm rolled around and the guides were still "I don't know" about when we'd arrive.  Of course they knew.  It's just that we were so far away that they didn't want to tell us to discourage us. 

We finally make it to our lodging at 11pm.  And since we had to depart again at 1am in order to see the sunrise at the top of the mountain, there was really no time to rest.  We had some some curry rice for a late dinner.  At that point I was suffering from a slight case of altitude sickness, which probably resulted from my climbing too fast at the beginning of the trip.  All my clothes are soaked and there is 30% of the climbing left to do.  Therefore, I have decided to shut it down and stay back so I can get some rest and most important avoid getting sick in a place where I have no insurance and don't even speak the language.

I am somewhat disappointed but in the heart I know it's the right decision to make for myself. 

Makkudonarudo

Tomorrow is the big hike.  I thought I was going to be eating either at MOS Burger or at new dumpling place as a send off.  But then at the last minute, the plans changed because one of the climbers had been sick and didn't have the energy to peddle out on the bike very far.  McDonald's is close so there we went.

Of course I didn't want to order any of the stuff I've had before.  So I ordered a combo (really expensive at $7) which includes a burger, fries, and drink.  The buger is about half the size of what we get in Texas.  But the weird thing is, once you get a combo, you can choose to add stuff to the combo (such as additional burgers) to your order for just $1 more.  So I added a McPork sandwich.  No it is not the McRib.  The McPork is a pork sausage patty sandwiched between two pieces of bread. 

So $7 for the first burger and fries.  $1 for the next burger.  I don't know how this pricing structure works.  But it was satisfying in a "I will do this one time" kind of way.

A full day at Yamasa

Mondays are now full days at Yamasa by my own choosing.  Of course classes get started at 9am, as it does everyday.  After core classes end at 1:30pm, I have an hour to do self-study before going to my elective from 2:30pm to 3:30pm.  After that, I attend a free conversation practice with Yamasa teachers from 3:30pm to 5pm.  I get home about 5:30pm, pretty exhausted from all the learning.  But it is a happy kind of tired.

I am putting in good effort now and hope that I will begin to see dramatic results soon.