An Ultimate Weekend

After a pretty uneventful week at work regarding my personal life (it's been like that for quite some time now), I left work early (7.30pm) to meet up with Rob, his wife and his daughter (see left) to head up to the northern part of Hyogo prefecture for an Ultimate Frisbee competition. Hyogo is the prefecture immediately west of Osaka and it is a beautiful area. Tajima was the destination and it is well known for it's skiing slopes, onsen and soba. Indeed, the scenic location for the comp was very beautiful, and the smell of the trees, vegetation and rain was such an exhilarating feeling compared to the dirt and smelly air of Osaka. I was in heaven and felt totally relaxed for the first time in ages. We stayed in a friend of Rob's, Takeshi-san, who was a fantastic host and he had an amazing house, particularly for Japan. It was huge. We stayed in one part of the house while he lived in another part...and his parents lived yet another part!! It was a beautiful house. We arrived in time to watch the Argie/Kraut game, and in our folly stayed up for the entire game.

The following morning we got out of bed at 8am and got ready for the comp. This was the third year the competition had been held and it was by far the biggest, with sponsors such as Coca-Cola, a car manufacturer and Hero Disc. Rob's friend Gatson arrived in the middle of the night and was sharing the room I was staying in. I slept so soundly I didn't hear him come into the room. In fact, the two nights we stayed in Takeshi-san's house were the best night's sleep I have had in Japan. The mattress was just perfect. No back pain in the middle of the night, and no back pain in the morning when I wake...heaven. Anyway, we got to the comp site and me up with Lorelei, the organizer of the tournament (see below with Gatson) and the rest of our players. The only person who had played before was Gatson who had played and coached people back in Oregon Uni in the States. As it turned out, we came 14/20 teams, winning one game and losing 4. However, it was all about taking part and i loved every bit of it. The only problem is that one needs to be extremely fit as it is all about sprinting, sprinting and more sprinting. However, if you are as good as Gatson is, you can just be the player who distributes the disk. The teams are mixed with a minimum of 3 female team members from a total of 7 on the pitch at one time, substitutions allowed whenever you want, and for as many times as you wish...which is nice.
Saturday night saw us taking part in the bbq and free drink fest so Sunday morning was hard but a quick rain shower soon taking away the tiredness and hangover. We only played 2 games on Sunday but it was great. The old knees were torn to shreds and required first aid to get the grit that was embedded in the flesh. Same old story really. Although I was not the best at the game, it is something I would love to continue doing and have made steps to connect with a couple of Osaka teams that train locally on Sundays. It would be great for the summer. Anyway, the level of skill of some of the players were phenomenal and I was blown away by the fitness level of the winning team. The team that won, Osaka Nato, are off to play in the World Champs in Australia in a couple of weeks. They were immense. One of the girls, who is no more than 5'2", was able to outjump a guy who is 6'4"!!! I kid you not!! They were awesome!!! The guys jumped better than Michael Jordan (see below). They beat a team from Tokyo who were also fantastic and were the defending champions. I'm hooked. We each received a free disc from Hero Disc, especially commissioned for the participants. Nice. Maybe I'll turn professional....

So as not to be sore for the next day, Gatson, Rob, Takeshi and I headed off to an onsen after each of the days competition to soak our weary limbs and enjoy the feeling of the natural hot springs. It has to be one of the most relaxing things one can do. It is just fabulous. And so as not to be starved of birding, while watching the final game (see Rob above relaxing), a Pacific Swift and a Green Pigeon flew by, and the song of the Japanese Bush Warbler and Japanese Skylarks was pleasant background noise. As I had called Rob a couple of weeks back about the Swinhoe's Egret, he figured he owed me a lifer. Not to let me down, he brought me to see an Oriental White Stork which has been in the area for a couple of years. A fantastic bird with the palest eyes I have ever seen in a bird. To top it all off, the bird started displaying, showing off it's red throat and clacking it's beak loudly from the top of a dead tree...magic.

Carmo's Diet: this week, I have mostly been eating dirt

Carmo's Birds: ORIENTAL WHITE STORK*; Pacific Swift; Green Pigeon; Merlin/Hobby...one that got away

Carmo's Birds for Byrdy: the chick from Black-Eyed Peas