Muddy Buddy

Life has been pretty busy lately. I have been back in the groove of working and getting back on track as the new school year started again this past April 2nd. Before that during spring break, my girlfriend and I made it back to the U.S. from 3/23-4/2 for a short trip back to visit my family and to explore Chicago and Milwaukee. It was a great time! I will update with pics and hopefully videos later!

This past Sunday, my longtime childhood friend (friends since we were 4 years old) arrived in Japan to visit! My gf and I went to Narita to pick him up from the airport. I was so excited for him to come and see what Japan was like...aka the motherland! I have known him for nearly all my life, but there was one side of me that he has never seen...which is the part of me where I'm truly from. We have a full itinerary scheduled out and there was no time wasting as soon as he arrived.

On Sunday night we got back to my house around 9:00 or 9:30pm. We stayed up for awhile chatting and catching up. We also started talking about what exactly we would do during his time here. This is when we realized that no matter how much time you set aside, there never seems to be enough time to fit in all that you want to do. After soon going to bed, I woke up the next morning (Monday) at 6:30am and as I was going to the bathroom he was already wide awake and had notified me that he had waken up bright and early at 4am!

On Monday I went to work as usual while him and my gf went around the city a little bit and enjoyed some fresh sashimi in Katsuura. They also went to a grocery store in the afternoon (at which he bought many many things you cannot find in America). Then on Monday evening we went to a yaki tori restaurant with my friends and gf. It was a great time....we stayed there for awhile and then eventually made it on to some karaoke. So the night began at 6pm and continued on until nearly 1:30am!!! It was a work night for most of us so it was pretty rough the next day (on Tuesday). Gus came to shadow me for a couple classes on Tuesday morning and although he is battling a sore throat and the jetlag, he did a great job getting the kids excited and making the class fun. They had lots of good questions and funny questions to ask. The rest of the trip will be cool as we will go explore other parts of Japan and have no day off! There's no time to waste!

Here is the itinerary as follows:
Wednesday-Thursday: Gus is in Tokyo exploring
Friday: We will be in Tokyo together. I thought there was a baseball game but I was mistaken...no game this night. I will have to tell him my mistake and we will figure something else out to do. Saturday: Head to Kyoto and spend the night there.
Sunday: Finish exploring what we didn't get to see and head to Hiroshima in the afternoon. Spend the night there.
Monday: Finish exploring Hiroshima and then head back home.
Tuesday: I have work and Gus will explore my area and relax/do laundry/get ready for the next part of our adventures.
Wednesday: Drive up to Nikko and explore/hiking. Visit the famous temple.
Thursday: Go do some more exploring and see the Kegon waterfalls.
Friday: Climb Nokogiriyama.
Saturday: Explore Chiba in the morning, then go to Narita to see him off.

Although a 2 week vacation sounds like a long time, it really goes by way too quickly. But we will have a blast and there will be lots of good memories.

The reason this post is called "Muddy Buddy" stems back from a story a looong time ago at Gus's house. We were about 4 or 5 years old and I was at his house. It had been raining a lot and there was some flooding in his yard. His father had us come out to help him drain some of the yard by clearing out the water and opening up some drains or sump pump. I'm not sure on those details, but we were basically in large boots (you know those old LaCrosse boots?) and rain jackets. While we were walking through the yard, I ran into a patch of pretty thick mud which had eventually sucked in my boots nearly halfway up my calves. At this point, I couldn't step forward because both my legs were stuck! As I was yelling for help, his father tried pulling me out but it did not work. Eventually he pulled me so hard that my feet slipped out of the boots, leaving the boots in the mud while I was floating in the air being held by his father. Needing the boots back, he put me back in the boots and got a shovel. He literally dug the shovel under my boots and scooped me out boot by boot until freedom. It's a hilarious moment and his father has called me "Muddy" ever since then. I can honestly say that I remember parts of this from my childhood and although it's not a 100% clear memory, I remember the scenery, the moment getting stuck, and being lifted out of the boots and being scooped out with the shovel!

Well, wish us luck on our journeys!