Toya: An Introduction.

Right, where to start...Well on our first morning in Toya it was blisteringly hot and although it is not the norm for this time of year it forced us to forego the planned cycle around Toya and travel by car. Taka-san showed us some of the schools where we'd be working as well as landmarks and places that would be important to our survival....such as the local shop; the Seicomart (pronounced Say-Coh) or as I like to call it the Psychomart. As well as being shown some landmarks in the town we we're introduced to people we would be either working with or seeing regularly. This included some enthusiastic greetings from our co-workers and some not so enthusiastic greetings from our neighbours. One of the more interesting things we were brought to see included the town shrine on the lake edge that acts as the towns symbol. It is this small, red, Buddhist, shrine with a pagoda roof. It is on a tiny island a few meters off the shore of the lake an has been connected with some stepping stones. The island itself is tiny and fairly minimal with the exception of some weird looking plants. All in all, a very beautiful sight and one that is a stones throw from my house.

The Buddhist Shrine.

Soon after this, Taka-san said we would finish for the day and that me and James would be free to get to know the area by ourselves for a bit. To be honest I wasn't bubbling with anticipation at this point. I had been feeling quite raw and a little worried. Toya seemed to be a very quiet place and for a person like me who grew up in a city it was a big change. Not only this but I had not seen anyone my age yet, just men and women in their mid 30's and older...A small amount of dread started trickling into my stomach and I even began to feel a little envious of my fellow volunteers in Tokyo and Kyoto who were in big metropolitan cities. However I told myself to reserve my judgments for once the real work had begun.

One of the Elementary Schools where I work.

The next day we were to do more sightseeing. Having familiarised ourselves with the town we moved onto the surrounding areas such as Toyako Onsen and Abuta. We visited the volcano museum in Toyako Onsen and climbed to the top of Mount Uzu... the volcano less than a kilometer from the town. There were some smoking holes in the ground but we we're blocked from leaving a designated path by ropes at about ankle height. Had I been at home or in a country that it would be far harder to kick me out of I would've happily jumped over it and rushed up to the nearest smoking hole and taken a hit of the sweet sweet sulfur. Unfortunately though the presence of Taka-san and a school that was present on an outing made me hesitant. After seeing the nearby towns and volcanoes Taka-san somehow found out it was my birthday (I had been so overwhelmed by everything that I genuinely forgot) and brought us kiaking on the lake and for dinner in his house. After this he brought us to an Onsen. I have much to say on Onsens and will dedicate my next post entirely to it, suffice it to say for now they're these spa/bath houses that are freaking awesome.

By the end of the day we were tired but feeling great. The town had started to grow on me and I was feeling less tense. Me and James went home and prepared our speeches for our welcoming party at the Sogo Center (where we do desk work when we're not working in class) the next day.

The Sogo Center. 

Seeing as we had nothing really planned before the party Taka-san brought us to the bear park at the foothills of Mount Showashinzan, one of the several peaks of Mount Uzu. Well the bear park was certainly not what I expected and I left it feeling a mixture of emotions. Again this is one topic that will require a full post...brace yourself for an epic rant. Anyway, later on we suited up and made our way to the party. It was formal enough and very nice. We gave cheesy speeches and were introduced to a few cool people including two particularly cool guys Jeremie and Shiro...more on them later. But yea so we had thoroughly settled in and work was about to begin. A very exciting a nerve racking time.

The Psychomart. 

Sorry  I know today's entry hasn't been side splitting funny or interesting but I had to cover some basic stuff and I'm half asleep so my comedic genius (sarcasm) isn't flowing at it's usual rate. But yea more on onsens and bears next B-)