The Backpack Adventures

Week 54: November 7 – 11, 2022 Day 371: November 7, 2022 Monday – Lab Test #2 at Rumoi Municipal Hospital It’s a beautiful Monday. I’m back at Rumoi High School . On the other hand, my second lab test at Rumoi Municipal Hospital is also scheduled today. Thankfully, Sekiguchi-san is available today to accompany me and help me with the translations, a challenge my wife and I faced last time I went for my 1st Lab Test. Rumoi Municipal Hospital We left Rumoi High School going to Rumoi Municipal Hospital at around 8:30 AM. The whole process took about 5 hours. Most of which were waiting times. It was past 1 PM when we left the hospital. Sekiguchi-san drove me home after the lab test so that I could eat lunch before going back to Rumoi High School . My lunch before going back to work When I got to Rumoi High School , there was no collaboration work waiting for me but Matsuda-sensei talked to me about the plans for tomorrow’s classes. Rumoi High School 11.7.2022 That afternoon, I met with

Day 367: November 3, 2022 Thursday – " Culture Day" Road Trip 2022 Today is Culture Day here in Japan . It's yet another holiday. It means only one thing. We're going on another road trip. Bibai City manhole cover In the itinerary that I made, we would be driving south to visit the cities of Bibai, Mikasa, and Iwamisawa. However, we were adamant that we would push through with today’s plan because last night, the weather forecast said that there would be heavy rain the whole day. That’s why we left Rumoi City quite late because my wife and I had to weigh it through before agreeing that we should go. It did rain when we were driving through Uryu but turned into a drizzle when we got to our first destination. Bibai City colored manhole cover Sorachi Shrine Sorachi Shrine 's torii gate We went to Bibai City ( 美唄市 ) as the first stop on our " Culture Day" Road Trip 2022 . Before the mines were shut down in 1972, the city produced more than a million tons