Not Just the Professionals are Ballin...

Yeah, ya seen the picture. I'm a baller. Officially. Last weekend I played in the Nagano JET soccer tournament and here's the picture of our 3rd-place-not-too-shabby-for-having-no-subs-team. It was sweltering heat sprinkled with raindrops every now and then plus lots of fun times. We played four games on Saturday with a 2-1-1 record and then 3 on Saturday, finishing 3rd. All in all, I had a blast, especially considering for the past decade I have played a sport which only uses hands.



And, not only do we have an amazing team of girls, we also have an awesome coach AND... cheerleaders! They sported our uniform and rocked the pom poms and when I was dead tired it really made a difference. It was nice to know someone was there supporting us! So, here's Atsushi in the pic, one of our cheerleaders. He's awesome, and Saturday night at the JET party he had another team (made up of cute foreign girls) dancing the night away with him. Hilarious.



Finally, our beloved trophy. I will admit it's the size of a soda can, but we won it, it's ours, and we love it. I loved it enough to kiss it, anyway. And, besides the trophy we got a case of beer to celebrate our victory. Not bad, eh?!

Growing up in a soccer family, I always felt the black sheep for picking a different sport. I grew up watching soccer. I LOVE soccer. But, I have never really played. So, look out family. Look out Mundial. A new ballers on the block.

My Life as of Late

There's been so many crazy happenings in my life lately I am not even certain where I should start. So, I'm gonna rewind a month or so, to a special lil trip I took with my girl Aiko. Ok, it was really Aiko, her dad, and her pug, Betty. So the four of us went for a weekend trip to Hakone, a national park with a beautiful lake, a view of Mt. Fuji and the best sushi I have EVER had.

The weekend began with this... my breakfast, a Hakone tradition.



I know you're wondering what in the heck that crazy blackish looking egg thinga-ma-jigger is... well, it is, in fact, a black egg. It has been hard boiled in a natural onsen, or hot spring. The chemicals from the onsen, probably sulphur, turn the egg black. It looked a little freakish, but the inside is milky white and tasted like any other egg. I was skeptical, but I had to give it a go.

After a delicious breakfast we set out for Fuji-san. Mt. Fuji turned out to be beautiful... a stunning portrait of Japan's sacred mountain, the most photographed mountain in the world.



However, although I really enjoyed the natural beauty of Fuji, it has simply been butchered into a tourist trap, and it was quite disappointing. We visited the 5th level of Fuji, one of the highest points that can be driven to by the public. At that stop we saw pony rides, food shops, and souvenir shops to suit the Japanese people's obesessive culture of gift giving. So really, the tourist trap is for the Japanese- not foreigners, surprisingly enough. Fuji is a beautiful mountain itself.... when I looked up it was a wonderful sight. But, to look around me was quite a shock. In fact, Fuji is so touristy and dirty from the visitors that is not a World Heritage Sight. What a shame. Nonetheless, I was happy to see it and experience all of it--- good and bad, for myself.

Moving on, we visited Ashinoko, a beautiful lake near the city of Hakone. Aiko and her father actually have an apartment in Hakone and the view was stunning. We woke up every day and had breakfast overlooking the hills and mountains and the lake. Just beautiful. This picture was taken from a cafe where we stopped for a cup of coffee to sit and chat.



And... finally, we also visited onsen (hot springs) and had scrumptious sushi. Onsen are hands down, one of my favorite things about Japan. The water is so fresh and so clean, clean, (you feel me?!) and is said to have health benefits. Whatever's in that water, it sure felt nice to me.

Here's a pic of my Hakone Kitty at the onsen. Ain't she a beauty?! (Sorry if this is just TOO cheesy.... but I was Amelie inspired.... don't hate)



So that's that... just another adventure in the land of the rising sun. Next up... Nagano next weekend for a mad soccer tournament. Hiroshima after that, then an overseas adventure to Thailand, followed by Sadogashima for another trip to the Taiko festival, and wrapping up the summer with Akita. I love this life!