Thursday is (by far) my busiest day of teaching. Every Thursday I travel by bus to Koriyama (about 60 minutes south of Fukushima City) to teach English classes at Koriyama Lutheran Church, a tiny church in a residential neighborhood of Koriyama. In the morning and early afternoon I teach by myself, and later in the day Nomura Sensei and Pamela join me, to lead Japanese Bible study and teach a couple kid's classes. After one more evening adult class, the three of us travel by car back to Fukushima City.
My favorite part of the day (if the weather is nice) is my morning commute to Koriyama, which involves some good walking, and an hour long bus ride. I leave the apartment around 6:40am and walk 10 minutes to the bus stop:
During the bus ride I read, or study Japanese, or "rest my eyelids" - as it is still quite early in the morning. 55 minutes and 800 yen later (about $10) I get off at the bus stop right across the street from Kaiseizan Park (開成山公園). This is one of the largest parks in Koriyama, and it's absolutely beautiful!
In the early spring I enjoyed the Sakura blossoms on the trees along the path. Right now all the trees are full of leaves and very green! Some parts are like walking through a forest:
Unfortunately, other parts are like walking through the desert. After the earthquake and the nuclear power plant incident, in many public areas (particularly school grounds and parks) the grass and top soil has been scraped off in order to remove some of the radioactive contamination. The result is a slightly lower level of radiation, but the cost is a wrecked landscape:
Government buildings, schools, and parks will also often have a radiation measuring device, which will give you a current reading of the radiation level. (This meter reads 0.584 µSv per hour - which is actually not so bad.)
There are a few playground areas in the park, too! If I had time I would enjoy some of the swings or slides, but usually I press onward. . .
On the north east side of the park there is a beautiful gated rose garden. I can't ever go in, because it opens at 9:00am (the same time my first English lesson starts at the church), but I can enjoy the view as I walk past. The last couple of weeks the roses have been in full bloom.
I also walk past a large group of elderly retired people playing their weekly game of croquet. Apparently they begin around 8:00am every Thursday morning, after doing their "Radio Taisou" exercises.
It takes about 10-15 minutes to walk (at a leisurely pace) on my usual route through Kaisezan Park. The path exiting the park is very beautiful, too.
After the park I take a "short cut" through a few residential areas . . . there's a slightly faster, more direct route along the busy streets, but I prefer the quiet.
By 8:20am I usually arrive at Koriyama Lutheran Church - which gives me just enough time to eat unlock and open the church, eat breakfast, and get my things in order before 9:00am. I'm very thankful for the opportunity to enjoy some exercise and beautiful scenery before my work day begins!
More pictures of Koriyama Lutheran Church:
In case you're interested, here's a map of my bus route:
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