Hello again - I guess I haven`t written for about one month or so - sorry about that - but I have lots of new stuff to talk about so I hope you don`t fall asleep reading! Where do I start?

The biggest news is that last Saturday I climbed all the way to the top of Mount Fuji (3,776 metres I think!) - well that`s a bit of a lie because I started from 2,445m so I only actually climbed about 1,300 - but I didn`t tell you that last bit, right?! We started at about 11pm which was pretty cool because it was actually `pretty cool` and we reached the summit at about 4.30am just in time for a magnificant sunrise. After taking a few photos and trying not to get blown over the edge by a really strong wind, I somehow managed to rewind my camera film half way through while trying to reset the date! A stupid thing to do I know but I did manage to get enough snaps to make me happy! You can see them soon!

I have to say that coming down the mountain was harder than going up - you often feel yourself gaining momentum and then having the problem of deciding how to stop yourself from careering to an early death! And I guess climbing during the night is much better because you cannot actually see how far you have to climb when you look up - actually all you can see is a trail of lights from the other climbers and of course an amazing sky - just sitting and watching the stars while taking an occasional break was fantastic in itself. Overall, it was a great experience and I kind of have a small sense of having achieved something big.

This morning I went to a BBQ - Brazilian style (which I am told means something like `meat only BBQ` - I didn`t see any vegetables) - organised by the local international office. This time I didn`t get thrown into a small stream but I did drink quite a lot of sake and at only 1pm in the afternoon - it kind of debilitates you for the rest of day - however, three coffees and a review of some first grade Kanji later, I managed to muster up the strength to write my journal. One thing I notice about being a foreigner and socialising with Japanese people is that they offer you plenty of alcohol (tell me, does my facial expression when I see alcohol give me away or is it just because I am British? - I don`t know!) and I always find it hard to refuse (lol) so I usually end up both very red cheeked and very happy - and I am not complaining!

Well, what else can I tell you? The weather here in Gotenba is not good these days - I can count on one hand how many nice sunny days we have had here in the last month (and it`s supposed to be summer!). The days are usually very cloudy, humid and very uncomfortable and the condition in our school is worse - the air conditioners just don`t seem to throw out any cold air so I am constantly sweating. However, Gotenba`s weather is a little stange in that we are affected by the weather patterns caused by having a very large mountain situated right next to us. Also, I guess that I shouldn`t expect too much - I mean somebody please show me the law of the weather.

About two weeks ago, over a five day period, and this is no joke, it actually rained for about 110 out of 120 hours - not that I was counting or anything but it`s hard not to notice something like this. I was quite surprised, especially as I thought the rainy season had actuallty ended - or maybe it hadn`t - who knows, who cares you might say, but I thought it was something worth writing about. And I have managed to lose another two umbrellas this month - I really don`t know how it happens - but one was destroyed by a typhoon - read on to find out how!

So, the other interesting thing to do with the weather recently is that a typhoon hit Japan about three weeks ago - strong winds, heavy rain and even a faxed warning from our head office telling us not venture out of the house if not absolutely necessary - sorry but I have to laugh at this point because when I read the fax I thought back to the point 30 minutes earlier when I had opened my apartment door to be almost blown back inside and I can tell you that actually coming to work did not seem like a necessary thing to me. The fax also told us to expect many students to cancel but unbelievably they all came - I was not actually that surprised though because I think in this situation maybe it`s a challange to be different from the norm and come on, who wants to stay indoors during a typhoon!

Anyway, back to the point that morning at which I was nearly blown back inside my apartment. I thought an umbrella would suffice for the short ten minute walk to work (and due to the very strong winds I had decided not to ride my bicycle) and I was doing well until I got about ten metres down the path (actually, I hadn`t left the building at this point!). As soon as I stepped into the abyss I became totally wet through in an instant - it was a weird kind of feeling almost like someone throwing a bucket of water over you but ten times as fast. I decided to keep going (somewhat idiotically I know!) but I figured that one set of wet clothing was better than two or three!

Anyway, to cut a somewhat already long and maybe boring story short (or shorter), I arrived at work and proceeded to hang just about every piece of clothing up to dry - it could have resembled my apartment actually. Oh and I forgot to say that my umbrella was mangled and twisted to death by the wind during the journey but it somehow managed to last until I arrived at the office door. All in all a great day if you think about it!

Well, the caffeine is starting to wear off now and I know for a fact that I have gone a fair way into the rambling zone so I am going to say `sayonara` for today and wish you all a great day! Please keep in touch - my email address is keveds2003@yahoo.com