The last three weeks in a nutshell...

Sorry folks for the delay in posting. If all goes as planned, we're getting DSL intstalled at the apartment in two days. (Finally!) In the mean time, here's a smattering of pics I've taken over the last couple of weeks:



















Photos:

• Top left: this is a pretty typical dinner at an izakaya, which is a common style of Japanese bar or restaurant. At this izakaya, we all sat on the floor on tatami mats and the food was served on really low tables. The blue bowl contains a green salad, which also had potato salad mixed in with it. Tasty. The black bowl with the big tomato in the middle is a ramen dish, which was also very good in spite of the fact that it had shrimp in it (I think you all know how I feel about eating seafood...). I can't remember what all the rest of it is, but it's mostly a lot of raw meats or fried chicken skin. The garlic fries were also among my favorite of the many things consumed that evening. I think the stuff in the woven bowl to the left of the fries/salad is raw tuna.
• Top right: my very first visit to a Japanese shrine. This was taken at Meiji Shrine in Yoyogi Park.
• Middle left: also taken at Meiji Shrine. This is part of a wall where people write their prayers on small cards and hang them up.
• Middle right: *gorgeous* turning leaves. It's finally starting to feel like fall in Japan. This picture was taken in a park, though I'm not exactly sure which one. It may be part of Zojoji Temple. Needless to say, Kim, Laura and I are becoming rather accustomed to getting lost on some of our excursions...
• Bottom left: Today I made my first trip to Tokyo Tower. We went inside and had lunch/did some souvenir shopping but we didn't go very far up the tower. As you can tell from the sky, it wasn't a particularly clear day. We're going to go back some other time when the weather's better. I've been told by some of my students that on a good day you can see Mt. Fuji from the observation deck, which is something else I still have yet to see. And since you have to pay to get to the observation deck, we figured we'd better wait and come another time when we can get more bang for our buck, so to speak.
• Bottom right: took this pic at my train station a week or so ago, then decided to play around with it a little on the photo editor. Guess I just thought it looked kind of interesting. A little piece of "Azamino in Black and White."

Anyways, I guess I'd better call it a night. Hopefully once the internet's up and running here, I'll get a chance to post some of my Thanksgiving pictures and a few others for you all.

My "Welcome to Here" Party

Just thought I'd post a few pics of my "Welcome to Here" party from the other week. It was basically a bunch of coworkers (including all three of the new instructors) going out for dinner and karaoke. Felt a little brave that night and tried some new foods at a restaurant that was, incidentally, not Japanese but Korean-style. I may never try some of that stuff ever again but it was quite an experience, to be sure.











Photos:

• Left: (L-R) We grilled our own food.
• Right: Here's a picture of the raw (yes, RAW) beef that I ate that night. Really, you're supposed to eat it that way. I also had pork tongue and beef tongue.

A ferris wheel ride

Photos:

• Top left: Tokyo Bay from Minato Mirai
• Top right: looking back towards Minato Mirai from the waterfront
• Bottom left: remaining foundations of a building that was destroyed in the 1914 earthquake
• Bottom right: Minato Mirai at night
  

So technically I live in Yokohama, Japan, but yesterday I actually went to the city center for the first time in the nearly 5 weeks that I've lived here. I'm in Tokyo everyday and going to Yokohama actually made me realize just how big Tokyo really is. It was the first time in over a month that I was in a public area that wasn't swarming with people. Kind of peaceful at times.

Laura and I started out at Yokohama station and went to Yodobashi, a HUGE electronics store; I've already picked out the first purchase I'm going to make after I get my paycheck in two weeks. The amount of stuff you can get there is overwhelming.

After Yodobashi, we got back on the train and went two stops to a place called Minato Mirai. Very nice. Lots more open spaces, interesting shops to look at, and an incredible view of the bay. We finished up our trip there by taking a ride on the ferris wheel you see in the pictures. It's supposed to be possible to see Mt. Fuji from there, which is something I still have yet to see because we were on the ferris wheel at night. The ferris wheel itself is made to represent a clock (you can probably even read the time on the clock in the pic on the top right), so there are 60 cars to ride in that each represent one second on the clock. The whole structure is so big that it takes 15 minutes to get all the way around.