I'll be coming 'round the mountain when I come...

...and I'll most likely be singing, too!

I tend to do that while I'm driving. You probably already knew this about me since I've written about singing along with Billy and various others. And if you've ever ridden with me, you know from first-hand experience.

But don't worry, I pay close attention the road. I'm very careful as I go "'round the mountain."

Being from Indiana, I came to Japan not exactly used to driving up, down, around and through mountains. They're a bit scarce in the Hoosier state, after all.

But teaching at the schools in Kuji has required me to get used to it. And it really hasn't been a hard adjustment at all! In fact, I love my commutes to and from the schools, and driving is one of my favorite parts of the day.

It's so peaceful, and the views are quite lovely. Wednesday and Thursday are my "mountain days," when I wind around mountains in order to get to school. Friday is my "ocean day," when I drive along the sea and admire it.

I would love for you to join me (and whoever is singing from my car's speakers) on the scenic drives. I'm serious. Just imagine that you're sitting in the passenger's seat -- which remember is on the left side of the vehicle -- looking out the window.

So fasten your seat belt, sit back and relax (I'm a good driver, no worries!) and here we go...

Ok, but before we go, here's a shot of our classy mode of transportation, so you know what you're sitting in. :)

First, we're headed to Yamane Jr. High School, where I teach every Wednesday. It's a 30-minute drive, and we go through eight tunnels!

Oooh, here comes a tunnel up ahead. (*Turning the headlights on now.*)

Sing with me! "Don't go changing, to try to please me. You never let me down before...mmm..."

The sound of the water is so soothing. I have to turn Billy down a bit so we can hear it.

I've pulled over, and we're at this scenic overlook place, looking over at the scenery of course. Those two tunnels look like caves, don't they?

There's a bend in the narrow road, so I have to use the mirror (the thing on the orange pole) to see if anyone is coming.

We're on our way back from Yamane now, and isn't this tunnel cool? You can see out the side of it. And notice the airfreshener on the dashboard. It's apparently called a "happy poppy" (that's what its mouth says), and it makes me smile.

Alrighty, let's go to Mugyo Jr. High school now. That's where I go every Thursday. By the way, feel free to put your window down like I did since it's such a nice day!

We've just rounded a corner, and here's the view to the right side. Aw, I want to go swimming!

Ok, we're at Mugyo, and I just parked. My parking place has an ocean view. Turn around, and you see Mugyo, the junior high school that has only four students!! It used to have a whole lot of students, and now it's so small that they're closing soon. But I don't want to talk about that.

Let's go to Friday's school now -- Misaki Jr. High. I'm popping in a new cassette, one of my two newest ones (thanks, Jennifer!), the Oak Ridge Boys.

"Juliet, Juliet, you've got a smile that I can't forget..." (And this song has a catchy tune that I also can't forget...)

Don't you just love the ocean view? And now with your window down, you can feel the sea breeze, and you know what I mean when I say that the drives are lovely.

Well, our drive is over now. I hope you enjoyed it! And now I'll appropriately leave you with a sunset shot I recently took.

Oh by the way, after tomorrow I'm taking a break from driving for four days. I'm headed to Tokyo by bus and bullet train ("shinkansen" as they call it here). So this also means that I won't write another blog post for a while. But I'll talk to you soon, and I'm sure I'll be full of stories about Tokyo. :)