So I have returned to my homeland. Got back last Tuesday morning. Have to say that it doesn't feel strange at all to be back unless I think about where I've just come from and all that the last two years have entailed. If I think about it, then yes, it is kind of a shock to be back, but for the most part it is just another move and another trip to Ridgecrest to see the parents.
Course, with that said, Amy and I have had our moments of shock/disbelief/wonderment. On our trip back from the airport we all stopped at an In-n-Out Burger joint where everyone around us was speaking English. Then later in the day I went to get a driver's license and two ladies behind me in line were yelling at their kid and a fat guy walked in in a "wife-beater" tank top which was all stained. In Japan you don't hear parents yelling at their kids, at least not in public, and you also tend to see much nicer dress than this guy was sporting. So that was a little much to take but not that big a deal, I guess. And, as a friend informed me, I was at the DMV, if you get my drift.
Then the next day Amy and I decided to make dinner for ma and pa and I had my first grocery store experience. Let me just say this...Americans like things big. The packages of meat seemed large, the bottles of soda were at least twice the size of the biggest bottles I ever saw in Japan, and the potato chip bags seemed about the size of a pillow. I had forgotten all this super-sized foodstuffs we like to buy and consume. In fact, the only things smaller where the slices of bread. Those tend to be fat in Japan. Oh, and the bill was smaller, too, for the amount of stuff we bought. I guess I should be happy about that.
Other than the easing back into American life that I am doing which, so far, has included a lot of lounging around time, I am in the process of buying a car. Found a 2000 Honda LX Accord that I like and just this morning got the ball rolling on a loan for it. So by this weekend I should have the car under me while I drive up north to do a little research on a job, apartment, and perhaps go by the university I'd like to attend next year. Want to get a Master's in journalism in case I haven't mentioned that before.
So that's all for now. Although I am lounging around I have been keeping relatively busy and things are going to get busier for me quite soon as Amy and I will be driving to Los Angeles, then Santa Cruz, and then flying to Oklahoma for a couple weeks and then driving her car back. I'll write when I can.

(Note to Tatsumi--get my email address from Yasue and write me a note to tell me how you are. Miss all you and our nights at Bull's already.)

Well, I just found out that as of tomorrow (July 12th) I will not have the internet here at my apartment anymore. I'm trying to get the bill sent to me so that I can pay it before I leave the country and in order to do so I have to send off the modem. So tomorrow I send the modem, thus, no more world wide web.
Perhaps it would have been better to sum up my Japan experience in one long essay telling you how I've changed due to this experience, what I've learned about both Japan and myself, and what I can take away from all this. But...that would be boring and too self-conscience. I prefer to write about what happens outside of myself rather than what happens in my head. I'm not a teenager.
But anyway, you'll not be getting that essay. Instead what I will do is continue to experience Japan for the next week and will write a bit more when I am sitting in Ridgecrest with nothing to do (no offense to those of you in that town, but c'mon it's Ridgecrest!). In fact, if you are lucky I might even write a bit about my American experiences until, of course, life settles down again.
So what I am trying to say here is that I ain't done with this thing yet. It's goodbye from Japan for now, but I'll be back.

Ok, what follows are some pictures from our Fuji climb. I will write the story in the next couple days.
I tried to give the pictures some kind of order but you should know that we climbed at night and all the day shots were taken on the way down the mountain--bit hard to capture what the mountain and trail look like in the dark.
Hope you like 'em.

Before the climb. Mat packs his bag, Dilek shoots a movie, and Sebastien wonders if Amy will be this genki (energetic and happy) when she gets to the top. 

I don't exactly know how you can take a blurry picture of a sign but I somehow managed to do just that. Think I'll blame it on the fact that I had just climbed a mountain. Anyway, this is start of the trail up. 

Below this point there are a few trees but after you hit the tree line it begins to look this and then eventually even the little shubs stop growing and it's nothing but rocks. 

One of the millions of rocks on the mountain. 

Looking up on our way down. These huts offer a place to get a little shelter on your way up if you feel that you need it. We never used them for anything beyond the toilets and a place to get a quick snack or drink out of our backpacks. 

Looking up again at the huts. Still quite a way to go from here. 

...up again....

...and again. 

And looking down from the top. 

The fog doesn't creep up the mountain when it decideds to come, it runs up! Had to take the camera out quickly to get this shot before it got to us. 

Amy on the rocks. Lots of these sections to make the journey up fun and challenging enough to keep the mind involved. 

The Marines from Iwakuni over by Hiroshima. I talked to one of them for a short bit to find out what and from where the group of them was. They came ready with Champagne, tripod and camera, and their troop's (or whatever you call the group) flag. Seemed like a bunch of good and very in-shape guys.  

The gate at the top.  

This is says something about the top of the mountain but I'm not sure what. 

"Welcome" he seems to say. 

Just to prove we were actually there. That's the 3000meter sign. Amy still looks tough and ready and Dilek shows us the "Air's gettin a little thin, fellas" look. 

776 to go. 

Not sure how well this will show up (click on it to blow it up a little), but this is what the sky looked like just as we got to the top. Was about 345am at this point and the long upwards journey was finally complete. 

Little dark still, but that's Mat and Dilek. We took these shots just after we arrived at the summit. 

And there's Sebastien, our local Frenchman. Damn good guy. 

And there's Amy and me. 

And there we are again a few minutes later (obviously).

I walked over to the lip of the crater and took this one. Luckily the thing didn't blow while I was standing there. Yes, that's snow and ice inside. On the opposite side is technically the highest point in Japan, 3,776 meters (12,388 feet). 

A few minutes before the rise. The next few shots are in cronological order. 

That sun sure is reliable. You can set your watch to it!
This must right around 415am.