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I am in pain.

1. Those who know me know I don’t often excercise. I think excercising is a great idea, but for other people. I look fit enough, I can walk all day with my camera gear, I can run for the train if I have to… good enough for me. But then, I occasionally dabble in silly activities like sport, requiring I push my body beyond what it is currently capable of. Things like playing mud volleyball.

2. Yes, Mud Volleyball is everything you think it is. There’s a rice paddy filled with mud, and we play volleyball on it. It’s damn good fun, and it raises money for the local Elementary school baseball team. It’s a structured competition, so there’s a fair bit of waiting time in between games, so it leaves plenty of time for drinking and eating and playing the occasional game of soccer on the school’s baseball field. I think it was the soccer that killed me, I’m sore from my neck down; even getting out of bed is a struggle. And, oh, the stairs…

3. I also discovered the, err, joy that is “All You Can Drink”. Simple deal, all you can eat and drink for two hours, 3000 yen per person. The good thing is you only stay for two hours, so you can’t drink that much. The downside is, well, you try. It’s deadly fun.

4. After Mud Volleyball we went to an Onsen, a hot spring bath house. Aside from the chance to wash the excess mud off (there was a river at the venue where you could wash most of the mud off), it was a nice way to end the day, boiling yourself into soup. It’s a bit confronting if you’re not ready for it, all you get is a small modesty towel (size of a hand towel) and you’re expected to tote around in your birthday suit, and sitting in a pool with a bunch of guys. Buck naked in the jacuzzi, as it were. But you get used to it soon enough, though the water is really, really hot, and that takes quite a bit getting used to.

5. I’ll post some pics of Mud Volleyball as soon as I sort through them. I got a few action shots, but sadly none of us, since we were all playing. Though the local newspaper photographer was there and took a bunch of shots of us covered in mud. I still have mud coming out of my ears.

Posted in Hiroshima, Japan, LeftBrain on the 22.05.2006 @ 10:58:07 PM, Permanent Link
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Miyajima Photos, Part 2

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Posted in Hiroshima, RightBrain, Travel Photos on the 22.05.2006 @ 8:00:00 AM, Permanent Link
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Miyajima Photos, Part 1

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Posted in Hiroshima, RightBrain, Travel Photos on the 20.05.2006 @ 8:00:00 AM, Permanent Link
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Hiroshima Flower Festival, Part 5

(Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 4 here) (more…)

Posted in Hiroshima, RightBrain, Travel Photos on the 18.05.2006 @ 8:00:40 AM, Permanent Link
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Hiroshima Flower Festival, Part 4

(Part 1 here, Part 2 here, Part 3 here, Part 5 here) (more…)

Posted in Hiroshima, RightBrain, Travel Photos on the 16.05.2006 @ 8:00:00 AM, Permanent Link
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Yay, it’s my birthday!

1. Yeah, I turned 27 today, and last night there was a celebration of appropriate proportions. As in, I got home at 10:30. That’s A.M.

2. So the typing is a little slow today, and the brain a little more muddled than usual. But the party was a blast, starting at a great bar called Koba, where I was joined by students and other teachers, some of whom bought me presents (yay!). One of the students even baked me a cake! She rocks!

3. The last six weeks have been a right blast, Hiroshima is a great town to live in. It’s great so many people came out for my birthday; while I’ve only been here for a short amount of time I feel like I’m amongst friends. And that’s a nice feeling.