The Thing to Remember

The most important thing to remember is this; the world is huge, the problems are complex, there are no magic answers, but there is always hope and with hope there is a future.

Post #50

It's summertime here in Tochigi and it finally stopped raining. We had our rainy season which was all fine and good and it ended about 6 weeks ago. Then we had our second rainy season... and it was the unexpected, uninvited, unwanted guest at our dinner party. The second rainy season (I will refer to it as Ignacious) was the one that made our floors damp, kept our clothes from drying, encouraged mold on my boots, soaked everything, and generally dampened the mood around the place. We made it all the way through the first rainy season (Peggy) relatively unscathed but when Ignacious showed up, the party turned south. But enough of that. The typhoon seems to have switched course and headed East, the earthquake in Tokyo sent a few tremors our way and today the birds are singing and we are doing skits about gender issues.

This weekend I got back from summer vacation where I traveled up to the north island (Hokkaido) and met with Yamato for 5 days of hiking in the mountains at Daisetsuzan National Park. Twelve months ago I read a National Geographic article about this park and the pictures captured my imagination, I was not disappointed. The place is gorgeous and we had a great time. Lots of rice, lots of hiking, and a wild onsen (hot spring). The weather turned bad on the 3rd night but we were able to make it to a mountain hut and wait out the rain. Among other things, we saw a fox, bear poop, butterflies, mountain lakes, snow, and lots of clouds. In Sapporo, before the trip, I met a french traveler, Olivie, and he ended up coming hiking with us. I took some pictures and video, and would like to compile them into a short clip soon, wish me luck.

Leander and Phillip left yesterday. They were great friends and the last two volunteers that were here when I arrived. I am still getting used to that fact but I know they will go do great things, and I will see them again in the future. Our new Germans are coming in a few weeks so I am excited about getting to talk to them about ARI before I leave.

I will be heading to the US on September 30 for a retreat in New York then back to Texas. I am planning on visiting friends and family for the first month or two so let me know where you are and we can get together for some food, or drinks, or both, or kayaking. I hope all is well, go cook dinner with some friends.


Peace and Love (Love and Peace)

Mike