Moments of significance in Gunma -
Steve and I had a day off so we got Hiro to drop us to Nikko National Parks. Here we stood on a lucky bridge, walked up a small cliff to gaze upon a waterfall, explain to two fully grown individuals how to use chopsticks, come across more temples than you can shake a stick at, traversed a windy mountain on a bus that seemed to glide-and-spin more than drive-and-turn, made a snowman named Toastie, impressed a Snow-Angel upon The Land, caught a lift with a group of newly graduated post-highschoolers back to our lodging and got free souvenir chopsticks. Among other things.
The day in Nikko was full of laughter, getting lost, eating, getting more lost and admiring the scenery.
Hiro took Takeru, Takuma, Steve and I to a really nice onsen. it was my first time in a Japanese Onsen and it shall be far from my last. the feeling of being ridiculously clean was welcome and then sitting in a hot spa outside in the cool night air made for a lovely soak. Steve and I went to another one at the Giant Lake in Nikko but it was not anywhere near the standard of this first one.
Steve and I went for a walk one afternoon in search of a 1000-Year-Old Tree. we climbed up a very tall and very steep mountain only to walk back down it and start heading home due to the sinking of the sun. We came across a Giant of a Tree (caps are intentional, this thing was Huge) only to later find out that this was, in fact, the tree we had gone searching for. Climbing the mountain was completely unnecessary but it had a magnificent view so there is no regret.
Remi, Steve and I joined the children (Takeru and Takuma) at their Shaolin Temple for Kung Fu training. it was most interesting going to a class where no one spoke English and they ran us through drills but kept us far far away from the other students. I assume so we wouldn't screw up horribly and injure one of the children. It was entertaining but not very different to other martial arts classes that I have been to.
This week we have done a lot of lumberjack work (which was the real reason I came here) Steve and I took turns using the chainsaw to cut trunks into rounds and all 3 of us were more than happy to use the axes to split the rounds into quarters. we did this a lot. Remi didn't use the chainsaw for he is not comfortable with it.
We also practiced our hatchet throwing during lunch breaks and moved a log to across the river so we could walk over it to the small rock in the middle of the river to eat our lunch. It was quite picturesque.
The cottage has a lot of potential but is missing quite a few things that would make the occupants feel more comfortable. Living in this little cottage has brought about contemplation on whether I should make a ittlel cottage like this back home. As a small getaway it's a nice idea that I may have to mull over for a time.
