I heart Mary Fater!

Got a package from Mary today! Gatorade, tea, a sweeeeeet card, and Always Sunny!!! YESSSS I will never leave the house again, between all the TV show DVDs I've got! Thanks so much Mary!!!!!

And Aunt Vickie sent me a post card from Myrtle Beach! Excellent!

Great day at work, then went to the pub with Jen, her BF, and Tak, who's leaving to go back to Ireland on Friday. Too bad we couldn't't have hung out more! He was only home for three weeks. He's a Japanese guy who speaks English with an Irish accent, and it's pretty darn adorable to watch :)

I heart Curt!

I got a package today from Curt!!!! He send me Gatorade (duh) yellow AND red!, a sweet card, some Burt's Bees, Popcorn, and THREE SEASONS OF TV SHOWS! Awesome. I am super pumped to start watching The Office. THANK YOU CURT!

Speaking of packages, I got a notice in my mailbox at the apartment that I had a package? I thought everyone had my school address. It will be at the school tomorrow.... hmmm mystery package....

My coworker's girlfriend brought in Mochi Cream, which is mochi (rice dough) with sweet creams inside. They're so damn good. I hope I don't become addicted...

I have started subscribing to podcasts now that I have an iPod again. So today on my commute I listened to NPR's "Wait wait don't tell me" and "Car talk". It's like being at home again :)

I still haven't gotten a cell phone bill yet. I'm concerned.

Sunburns and Peanut Butter

I spent the afternoon at Meiko Beach with Jen, Gordan, and Vince. Great view of the Akashi Bridge. After we got good and crispy, Jen and I went to Amagasaki to buy in bulk at Costco. We wandered around forever, and only bought a jumbo size container of Skippy peanut butter to split, and I bought a nice big block of chedder cheese. Here are some photo highlights.

Akashi Bridge

Akashi Bridge

Akashi Bridge

Check out that cheeeeeese-tastic grin

Handsome coworker. I wouldn't like half the Japanese foods I do if it weren't for Bean-Soup.

And now, a few artsy-fartsy photos.

Tiny crabs all over the rocks.

Bean-Soup got a little hungry...

Please note the hot young thang in the reflection of his sunglasses...

HI MOM AND DAD!

weeeee cartwheels!

Walking around Amagasaki towards Costco. This sign alone makes me want to eat at the restaurant. Sushi, of course.

I have no idea who Mr. Yoshida is, but just so you know, "There really is a Mr. Yoshida".

Jen and I were still in our bathing suits under sundresses, and she got cold. She used my towel as a jacket, but it looked more like a cape to me. She asked "Are you embarased to be seen in public with me?" to which I replied, "No more than ususal". We were walking through Amagasaki back to the train station, laughing hysterically about unicycles and singing circus music. We are crazy. I think we were both in dire need of a nap.


My (very heavy) purse, with a huge tub of Skippy peanut butter, a big block of cheese, and my camera. My shoulder has a dent now. Totally worth it, though :)

"Please keep your standing inside yellow lines"

Today I went to Suma Aquarium with some coworkers. It was AWESOME. Here are the photo highlights.

Yoshimi manager, Chika, Me

Yo, Chi, Me

AAHHHHHHH SCARY! Pickled Great White Shark head.

The stuff nightmares are made of.

Taking pictures of Naoto and laughing.

These are some huge crabs.

Hello, delicious. Yasu and I agreed, we would totally eat these.

Naoto and I as Urashima Taro and Princess Otohime (Japanese folk tale).

After I got home from Suma, I went to dinner with one of my students, Yoko. She's fantastic. We went to eat Korean food, and HOT DAMN it was so good. I had a kim chi and tofu stew. We also had kim chi okonomayaki, which was amazingly good.

This is Yoko with Korean sake, which is soooooo good.

Then we walked to Motomachi and caught a train home. This was a new way home for me, and cheaper too!

About the post title: A sign on the escelator at the aquarium asked people to "Keep your standing inside yellow lines". Makes perfect sense. I love Japan.

3 Months!

I always self narrate really good blog posts on the walk home, but I forget them as soon as I walk in the door. It's a shame, they're usually pretty funny...

I'll work on it.

Anyways, Saturday was three months since I flew to Japan. It doesn't feel like that long, but at the same time it feels like I've been here waaaaay longer. I broke down and bought an iPod off Amazon.co.jp, and found out I could order cases of Mtn. Dew if I needed haha. Today I'm going to the Suma Aquarium with my coworkers, and then hanging out in Sannomiya with one of my students. I'm taking my camera, and will probably spend the night photo editing so I can post something. I feel like such a piece of crap for not picking up my camera in so long. I've gotten into a routine (work, eat, sleep) that it feels strange to have free time. The weeks wiz by though.

Also, I made a laptop raiser out of cardboard. It looks so ghetto, but it's pretty solid and it works!

Photos soon, miss you, love you!

The cake was a lie.

This dawned on me today:

Every public transportation station (trains, buses, subways, etc.) has clearly marked exits everywhere. They all look like an image from the video game Portal. It makes me laugh every time. I'll post a photo when I get my camera back from Jen.

I guess this post was mostly for Dan.



Now you are thinking with Portals.

Surprise!

Yesterday was my friend Jen's birthday. I had planned a surprise party, and it was awesome! We told her we were going out to eat dinner, and her boyfriend called to say he'd "be late". I suggested we grab a beer at the Hobgoblin while we waited. We walked in, and SURPRISE! She was shocked haha.
Miho and I had gone in earlier and hung a Happy Birthday banner, and a couple American flag things hahaha. We also got a cake, and we got her a pair of shoes she wanted. We wrapped them separately, though hahaha. A lot of my friends from the area came out, and it was super fun.
I brought my camera with me.... but I didn't put my memory card in it before I left the house :( So I'll have some photos up when Miho puts them up on Facebook.

UPDATE

Photos!!!