This week was slightly more sane than last Saturday. On Monday I went to work for awhile and then hung out with some other JETs and studied a little Japanese. Tuesday all day and Wednesday afternoon were orientation days for the prefecture. The first day was rather boring. It involved lots of speeches and introductions from people that I had already met. I think most of the JETs had too. Then in the afternoon we split into groups based upon our type of school. The people in charge of teaching the junior high school group were incredibly boring. They were second year JETs and they put me right to sleep. It was one of the most boring things I have ever sat through. One of the other new JETs talked to me later and pointed out that for a class about teaching, it was horribly taught. The next lesson was really awesome though and had a second year who knew Japanese working with one of her teachers to demonstrate team teaching. They taught us a Japanese lesson so we would see how they worked together and how a regular class might work. That seminar was fun and exciting. Then our final seminar was back with the boring people again.

Wednesday I had some time in the day, so I went to Sarah's place at Sunshine and she cut my hair. She had only cut women's hair before, so I was a little concerned, but I think she did a good job. At least I didn't have to pay the 30-40 dollars for a haircut in Toyama. She was pretty slow, so she only finished the back before we had to go. I think it looked a little funny, much like a bowl cut.

We stopped off at the city hall to pick up our foreigner cards on the way to the orientation. Having this card is nice because you can't get some things like a cell phone (keitai) until you have it, unless you are really lucky like me. The seminar in the afternoon only lasted 2.5 hours, and it wasn't as boring as the first. It was about daily life more than anything else. Afterwards we went to the library and got library cards. I want to get some children's books to practice simple characters. That evening we went to the internet cafe and then Sarah finished cutting my hair that night.

Yesterday was the best day of the orientation though. We went to Mt. Tateyama, which is the second highest mountain in Japan. Mt. Fuji is 3786 meters high, but Mt. Tate is only 3015 meters high at its highest point. We parked at Murodo, which is an area with two reflective lakes, an onsen (mineral water spa), sulfur fields, and access to Mt. Tate. This meant that people could do different things if they wanted to. We had only 3 hours, so the slow climbers had trouble making it. We had to pay to get our bus into the national park. The cost for the bus was $500! It was paid for, but cars have to pay around $100 each. That seems so expensive to me. I think it is close to $20 if you take the public bus there.

I started climbing very quickly. We started at around 2300m, so we didn't have to go up too much. The climb was more difficult than Mt. Fuji towards the end, because it was more climbing up boulders than just a regular path. I was the 4th person up to the top, and I did it in about 50 minutes, which was probably the fastest time up. I hung out on top and took lots of pictures, but I am still having a hard time FTPing them, so they aren't on the weblog yet. Sorry.

On top of the mountain you could see really clearly, because the clouds parted. The view was incredible actually, because Mt. Tate is surrounded by other mountains and rivers. There was still snow on many of the mountains, but this was not the case on Mt. Fuji, which I found strange. I went down the mountain quickly in hopes of going to the onsen also. I arrived at the bottom around 2:10, but then I was given faulty directions to the onsen, so it was nearly 2:30 before I figured out where it was. At that point I decided not to do it, but I am sure I will get another chance later. We didn't leave until 4 though because some people were slow coming down from the top.

Then we drove home and I basically collapsed in a heap because I was so tired. Today at work I found out that one of the teachers was climbing the mountain also, but I didn't see him. He wasn't sure it was me because of my haircut. He also told me he ran into another one of the teachers there also. I think it is popular to climb only in the summer since there is less snow.

So now I have climbed two of the three holy mountains in Japan, and I have only been here two weeks! I rock.