I love trees

This weekend we joined up with the Takefu Rotary club and the international association (EIA) to plant some trees. Apparently these beech trees we planted live to be about 300 to 500 years old. Well most are getting on up to a ripe old age of 400 years. So to end a year themed with nature conservation and education the Rotary club decided to spruce up the forest with... not spruce trees. (Although there were still plenty of those living.)

The funny part about the day was actually the fact that we didn't plant any trees. Too bad, huh. The weather was predicted to be terrible thus causing a hike up a mountain to be dangerous. Also the ground would be muddy and we would do a lot of damage to the side of the mountain and underbrush and stuff like that if 60 people were walking around. or so I think I understood from the Japanese explanation. When I don't understand I usually just tend to fill in the gaps with what I feel like they should be saying. The Rotary club planted all of the trees except two the day before. So our work consisted of hiking the mountain, eating lunch, drinking tea, and putting strings around the saplings to help them grow straight. not that taxing, but we got to talk with friends and support our community.

This is the EIA team along with students from Takefu Higashi High School who speak great English!