N a t u r e is calling. You just have to listen.

Hugging trees at Mt. Takao

Oh nature, how I've missed you. I hugged this tree for an awkwardly long amount of time lol. My friend was like umm okay I took the picture already..

Close up leaf action.

I went on a "hike" up Takao-san. It was more like a mild uphill walk with a hundred of your closest friends. We shuffled past people decked out in outdoor gear--walking sticks and all, then women who looked like they'd just come from a night out. It was strange. とてもへんでした。

Gordon and I feasting on all things
that come on a stick. Fried chicken
and roasted mochi cakes with sauce.

On the upside of the chaotic ascend, there were tons of local mountain food stands at the top. I tried various omochi, and some yummy mushroom soup!

The gorgeous Japanese maple getting ready for winter.

Fall, falling, fallen.

For Halloween we had a kids party at school. I came dressed as zombie broccoli! The kids thought it was hilarious and called me "ure no kota burokori" which means the broccoli that nobody wanted. I had a sign that said 50% off because that's how they display old veggies here. Needless to say, I was terrifying. Some of the kids still call me Broccoli-sensei haha.

Broccoli-sensei attacking Count Micah

We had to change the chant from "I'll show you my underwear" to
 "I'll show you a big green pear" They didn't get
 it at all but Micah and I were dying.

A trip to Tokyo Disneyland! The festivities were outrageous. The costumes were outrageous. The food was outrageous. The crowds were outrageous.

I'm eating a pizza flavored eggroll and Ziz is eating a black
orange and "Halloween" pizza. There is a small child dressed
as Jack Sparrow somewhere in the vicinity who is too cute
for words. 

Tama-chan. たまちゃんはたくさんはなしました。

Priceless. 

When you fall asleep on last train, things escalate quickly. One second I was waving goodbye to my friend and hoppin on the train straight for my city, the next thing I knew I was chillin with Tama the cat wearing unicorn pajamas, the next next thing I knew I was on my way home with a bag full of persimmons and a bucket of bewilderedness.

Another year older. It's cool to think about because since birthdays are such monumental days, I can always remember what I did the previous year. Last year, I recall getting a brand new shiny red wagon, being drunk before 7, eating a lot of carrot cake, and passing out around 10. A year later, I'm in Japan. Crazy. 

This year I ran a 10k for my birthday. It was utterly exhausting since I haven't been exercising.. but I had a great time!

Everyone says it's unnatural to look so happy running lol. 

Family and friends after the marathon. I'm not entirely sure
how I got that birthday hat. And it's definitely a thing here
to reward yourself with a beer after any great feat. 

After the run, I went to a BBQ! Then I passed out on the train home and woke up drooling and confused in Omote-sando or somewhere. The train puts me to sleep and you basically have 3 choices if your riding alone; stare at your phone, stare at the people across from you, or close your eyes. I'm beginning to set phone alarms because missing my stop on the Hanzomon line on 3 separate occasions is just absurd. Not to mention highly inconvenient. 

September came and went like the cicada's summer song.

Ziz and I both bought the same bed
and for that moment, we ruled Ikea. 

What's new? I bought a lofted bed from Ikea! It was my first Ikea experience and my plan was to get like a table or something so of course I left with a bunk bed. When I first saw the bed I was in awe, paralyzed by the endless possibilities. Lofting my bed means I have approximately 50% more apartment space since my main room is pretty small. Right now I'm sitting underneath my bed in my computer cave.

This is me feeding my cousin Lea some yakisoba. There was a festival outside my Uncle's house so we all checked it out and got some yummy festival food. Lea decided that my yakisoba was a lot yummier than her edamame, and so I spent about 15 minutes feeding her. Noodle by noodle. I treasure our bonding time. I think she knows me as the lady who feeds her yummy things because that's the extent of our relationship right now.

Go Tigers!!!

Gentaro took me to the Hanshin Tigers vs. Yakult Swallows baseball game! Everyone has these plastic tiny baseball bats that they hit together in some specific pattern that I couldn't figure out, while chanting things. It was great! Everyone somehow reacted the exact same way to what was happening on the field and would simultaneously bust out the appropriate rhythms and cheers.







As if I don't see enough of these ladies! Saki, Genny, Micah and I went for drinks after work. Since Saki was the only Japanese one, whenever any of us would make a gaijin mistake she'd say "no no we don't do that!" It was hilarious because we would be doing something pretty normal like pouring a drink, and her face would be panicked like "we don't do that!!"

Haha and of course Genny says something about how cute the waitress's trainee name tag is and the waitress (in perfect English) says "yeah, I'm in training right now." hahaa.

おでんはおいしかった。 (The Oden was yummy)
Oden is a Japanese soup which can contain various
things like daikon, omochi, egg, aburaage, meatballs,
fishballs, fishcakes, konyaku, ect. I'm usually
fairly unsure of what I'm eating especially when I
get it at 7/11 and order by saying "this one" and
"this one" and "this one" please. 

I've been doing a fair amount cooking lately. I made Oden and chocolate-coffee cookies for Genny's/Yui's birthday/Genny's going away party. Despite their identity crisis, the cookies were delicious.

As for the Oden, while it was delightful, it doesn't beat the Oden at 7/11. Which sounds so pathetic but seriously it's the bomb. 7/11 sells everything from Oden to underwear.



Lastly, today I got my first haircut in Japan! It was so ridiculous!! First off, off I really had no idea what the stylist was saying so all I could do was occasionally nod and say things in Japanese like "cut to here" and "bangs" (complete with intonation and gestures). I also got a mini massage and the best darn hairwashin I've ever had. At one point I had two stylists furiously blow drying my hair simultaneously and it was so hard not to laugh as I watched them in the mirror.

I'm getting paid for this

It's finally here!!! OBON WEEK aka paid vacation. I need it, you need it, we all need it.

I went to Osaka for a few days with my main girls P ziz and Korean shadow fox. When people ask me, "How was Osaka?" I tell them that Osaka was delicious. I feel like all I need was eat, but I had some of the best food of my life. Takoyaki and okonomiyaki were not among them, sorry (but not really). I think the yaki's were hyped up too much. Maybe those just aren't my thing. Anyway, I feel pretty awkward about it because that's the second thing people ask when they hear I went to Osaka.

Nara Park! Mmm deer cookies.

The top 3 favorite things I ingested while in Osaka:
1. Every and all foods from Restaurant Doudou, this tiny 7 seat restaurant (actually in Nara :x) that was run by a woman who prized fresh oval ingredients and simple Japanese home cooking. It was the epitome of all that I love in food and in life. Pris and I ordered salmon, crispy chicken and shiso wontons, sesame eggplant, and I got a sake sampler. The sake sampler consisted of 3 sake's, 2 local ones from Nara and one from Osaka. I'm still a little fuzzy on the whole sake/shochu names. Pris and I were in heaven, the food was exactly what we were craving after a sweaty day of feeding deer and talking to old Japanese ladies on the train. (Sidenote: Sake has a mean after burn kind of like vodka. From what I understand, sake is basically Japanese for alcohol and shochu is a type of alcohol. Sounds easy right? Well it isn't because half the time the drinks are called sake and the other half they have special shochu-based names, but anway, I'm finally acquiring a taste for sake/shochu whatever it is.)

Steph and I in Nara

2. Pancakes from this cozy cafe called Very Fancy. I mean it was pretty fancy, but the name is still strange. I got roasted banana pancakes with ice cream and caramel sauce. They roasted a banana and put it alongside these life-changingly fluffy pancakes which were topped with fresh whipped cream and caramel sauce. And for whatever reason it came with ice cream lol. Coffee and pancakes yes.

3. Kurumon Ichiba Market is called Osaka's kitchen (by trip advisor lol) and it was a criscrossy matrix of food stalls, fish stands, mochi shops, and random stores. Pris and I walked in and saw the live octopus, shrimp, and abalone in styrofoam crates with water bottles full of ice inside. Some stands had recently deceased organisms and others were alive. There were live blowfish and eel!! We ended up eating at this udon restaurant owned by a sweet old man who hand makes the noodles and seemingly cooks, serves, cashiers all by himself. We had some amazing udon, the first udon I've had in Japan surprisingly. Then we got to decorate a 8x8 card with markers lol he has an impressive collection of these cards from people all over the world!

Baby octopuses on a stick. Delicious.

I guess my top eats were like 70% taste 30% atmosphere and mood at that specific moment haha. All in all, I feel so gross after 3 days of eating, but it was delicious.

More festival fish. 

Ziz and me passed on on the bus from Kyoto to Nara

Steph and I had the most horrendous day traveling back to Tokyo. We were literally struggle bussin it all day long on the Willer Express. Tired, smelly, and crusty we missed our connecting bus and had to speak some aggressive English to get what we deserved. After 20 minutes of arguing with the Willer Express "crew" we somehow managed to get on the bus to Shinjuku and save ourselves from the unknown. If we got stranded in Nagoya we would have been SOL because we had no idea where we were, no transportation, no place to stay, and no Japanese. We narrowly escaped disaster typhoon. We're somehow still in good spirits after 12 hours of transit and countless combini meals.

Steph and me on the luxury bus from Nagoya to Tokyo.
 Pillows, blankets, reclining seats, and strange seat hoods. 

Better late than never

Yes it's true, this appears to be an abandoned blog. However, I'm in my 3rd month in Japan (pretty crazy) and I FINALLY got wifi. It has been a nighmare-ish ordeal but it's almost over. At this point, I think I should just start from my life right now and not bother backtracking to all the craziness I've been up to for the past wifi-less months. I can't be bothered because my computer is at 40% battery and my charger is in Nippori. 

So what's new with me? I guess everything. I started my teaching job and I'm fairly settled in my new apartment. I have experienced the struggle of starting off working on my own and  being broke. I've started to try and learn Japanese, so that's going fairly well. I'm going to try the intoxicated strategy, which is to put worries and self consciousness aside, and speak my Japanese loud and proud to whoever will listen. In the beginning I was always worried about pronunciation or grammar so my Japanese would come out as a mumbled whisper. 

Anyway, here are some random pictures.

Tomato ramen, basically cheesy pizza noodles that taste like heaven. 

Sunflowers on the way to the park near my house

Chillin at the Neko Cafe with the largest cat I have ever seen. 

A student drew the staff at our school! I'm Toki Skywalker, and of course I'm in a padawan outfit. 

My friend Kozue and I after a tremendously sweaty lacrosse session

A vegetable vending machine in Sakuradai

That's all for now! My computer is dying and the rest of my pictures are taking too long to upload. Next week is Obon, AKA paid vacation! I'm going to Osaka with my friends, so stay tuned for more adventures! 

Let's all go to the Tobu, one last time.

Friday night we graduated from sensei training and I don't mean to put anyone down but it was more exciting than my college graduation. I think it's because everything--the work, sweat, tears, and laughs--were all so fresh in my mind. Anyway, this isn't meant to be sentimental so here's a picture of our SENSEI-tional trainee graduates. 

Me and Totoro

That night was Nick Knack's birthday so we all went out for dinner at this 280 place where everything costs 280 yen so that was awesome. Pristopher and I split this raw fish and it was absolutely amah-zing.

yeh me and the birthday man. Brent being a fun sponge.

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Then we went to KAREOKE and it was best thing ever. You pay for a room and get free singing and drinks for an hour. It's not like kareoke in the U.S. at all. It's more like road trip jamming in a room so you can dance and you get a microphone haha. Everyone knows I love to belt it out so obviously I had a blast. Some highlight songs were Feelin' This by Blink 182, Let it Go from Frozen, and Call Me Maybe. Good times. 

Emmy and I :)

The next after we headed to Shibuya! Shopping shopping shopping. I went ham in H&M, one hour of power shopping and when I met back up with everyone they were empty handed and I had a huge bag of clothes. Shibuya was toooooo crowded.

Pris took a sick photo of the main square. 

And of course we had to take a picture next to the Hachiko :) It's a really interesting story that I know nothing about so here's the wiki:

Roomie pic one rainy day outside St. Marc's!

 "In 1924, Hidesaburō Ueno, a professor in the agriculture department at the University of Tokyo, took in Hachikō, a golden brown Akita, as a pet. During his owner's life, Hachikō greeted him at the end of each day at the nearby Shibuya Station. The pair continued their daily routine until May 1925, when Professor Ueno did not return. The professor had suffered a cerebral hemorrhage and died, never returning to the train station where Hachikō was waiting. Each day for the next nine years Hachikō awaited Ueno's return, appearing precisely when the train was due at the station."

BTP and Hachiko (BTP is how we label our food in the fridge to protect it from the fridge vultures)

Today some people went to Harajuku and I really wanted to want to go but I was too tired. For dinner Totoro and I packed a yakisoba-licious picnic and headed to the Omiya park (Hikawa shrine). It was just lovely. The loveliest indeed. We set out a blanket and ate dinner just as the sun was setting. Haha and there were inappropriate animal noises the whole time because the Omiya park has a small zoo. After it got dark we were lucky enough to be within listening distance of this fantastic accordion player. Lady and the tramp status. It was starting to feel like Paris until I looked down and remember that I was eating yakisoba with chopsticks in the wilderness. A truly magical way to end my time in Omiya.

BUT FIRST, LET ME GO TO THE TOBU. This is my home away from home. The Tobu is as peaceful and relaxing as the coolest of breezes on the hottest of summer days; it's like a butterfly kisses on your favorite blanket; it's as crisp as the first bite of the cucumber in Totoro; it's like soaring through the heavens on the wings of a Skyhawk and looking down at the earth and realizing that anything is possible. One love. 

Let's all do some blogging, let's all do some blogging, let's all do some blogging to... ?
Well my main reason for blogging is THIS

Cow tongue

So, a lot of times when we go to the fabulous Tobu <3 people just buy whatever looks tasty or interesting. Krista was eating this stuff and we all had some to try and figure out what it was. We thought maybe sea cucumber or something just because it's weird and no one really knew. The wrapper was mostly Kanji but eventually someone read it and they were like oh it's cow tongue... and all the girls FREAKED out ahaha. It was pretty traumatic. But yeh, that's my experience, yeh.

The last few days have been pretty stressful but also fun because I'm at the point of delirium. During the lessons today Priscilla and I could barely make it through the lessons because we were laughing so hard. Sometimes it's actually funny but most of the times it's really not. The lessons ask the most ridiculous questions though, like when we have to think of examples ourselves:

Example: Ask about past experiences using Have you ever.. so I kind of froze and blurted out have you ever... played ping pong? And Emmy went off about how she likes ping pong but one time she got hit in the eye and so I asked if that's why she always wears an eye patch.. and let's just say it escalated quickly haha. 

When I said the example to the class everyone turned and stared at Emmy wide eyed (hah..) because they seriously thought she had a glass eye. 

 Some rooms have really cool futon closets and bathrooms, Krista and my room has neither. I quite enjoy the closets because they are small, cozy, and full of comfy futons.The other night I made it my mission to sleep in Brent and Mikel's closet. It started as a joke but then I hardcore passed out in their closet. Training is pretty stressful and we are all super tired.

Mikel and me chillin in the closet. This photo was not staged; I really am asleep, don't I look peaceful?

Today we are teaching our grammar lessons to real life Japanese students. I'm used to teaching silly British students so I'm a bit nervous but also excited of course. Also, TWO DAYS UNTIL THE WEEKEND!!!!