Saturday

Today i woke up at 4:00 to leave at 5:00 to climb a mountain with my three new friends, Yasu, Kieran (from australia), and Steve (from england). we took a three hour hike up a mountain (in a light rain) to an old lady's house. she lives alone because her husband died three months ago and people go up and check on her every once in a while. We learend about her from Yasu. She needs many things done because of the typhon, such as her roof fixed, a bridge fixed, her phone fixed, etc. so we are going to help her next weekend with things. She is just some nice old lady who lives by herself deep in the mountains. (notice the solar pannels. very hip old lady). She invited us in for some tea, and told us that every moment nature has something to teach us so we should always pay attention, and that the most important thing in life is connecting with other human hearts, and that when we work hard, we can understand others who have to work hard, and thus we can develope more understanding and love for others. I gave her some oranges.
afterward, keiran and i went to a bathhouse and met an old japanese guy (in a bath) who was in the war and showed us all the places he got shot. He spent two years in an american hospital, and told me to thank america for everything. Also, i met another guy named steve from St. Louis (pink shirt), who went to KU as an Art HIstory major. he lives in niihama and teaches english with NOVA. Crazy world.
now i am going to Toyo, a city next to mine, where i will spend the night with my friend richard and clime another mountain, the higest in shikoku, early tomorrow morning.
much love