tokyo

Well, Tokyo is cool.
This picture is of Shibuya crossing. Lots of people, lots of movement. Exciting.

This is in Harajuku. The street is called Takeshita Dori. Lots of very fashion conscious Tokyoans frequent this spot. Saw some interesting things. That's Sarah, Ikumi and me in the picture.
















This is Nakamise-dori, the market place leading up to Senso-ji, a Buddhist temple. Lots of fun souvenirs for sale.
This is at Senso-ji. These are fortune papers. What you do is you rattle around this big metal cylinder and then pull out a stick with a number on it. Then you open up the drawer that has the corresponding number on it and take out one of the fortune papers and tie it onto this rack. I did it. My fortune was unfortunate. Bad news. I have a lot to look forward to this year.

















This is the Japanese knock-off of the Eiffel Tower. It's a radio tower, or something. It has an observation deck that lets you see all of Tokyo. Very cool. We came here on Christmas Eve and it was busy. So we didn't go to the top on that day. But...














...we came back a few days later. This is a picture facing Northwest. Roppongi, Shinjuku are included. I wish I could point it out for you, but that is beyond me. I took pictures from every angle, so maybe one day I will organize it and will have a panoramic view of Tokyo. I would really enjoy that, I think. So maybe it will be coming soon.

Well, that's all for now. I hope the one person who reads this enjoys this post.

Christmas break

I am in Tokyo. And I am loving it.

Here is a picture of my apartment building. I won't be living here for much longer. My employer, who handles all of the housing stuff, has decided to get rid of the apartment and move me into her house. That should happen sometime this month, I'm not exactly sure when. I'm a little bummed about it, but oh well. On the plus side, no utilities. So that's cool.

November 28

I am in the Incheon airport, but my flight isn't for a few more hours. I got here early because airports make me nervous - I always feel like there will be some sort of change and that I won't have scheduled the right amount of time for all of the things that I need to do, so I figure it is better for me to be here extremely early and ready to go than to come a bit later and miss my flight completely. These feelings are a bit extreme. I can't control them, though. Anyway, I have checked my bag, so it's just me and my laptop. I am pretty bored. I will soon begin to listen to David Sedaris. I have a headache. I am worried that I have something wrong with me because I have had headaches pretty frequently. Could be stress related. I just saw three airport business guys walk by and one of them had their arm around one of the others, just pleasant like. I like that. Very neat. I wonder if that's a Korean culture thing. I'll have to look into it. Anyway, it's soon back to Japan.

Monday November 27th

I am still in Korea. I did some more sightseeing here. Walking walking. I had some Dunkin' Donuts for breakfast. And then I went to Outback Steakhouse for lunch (and subsequently dinner because lunch filled me up so much I couldn't eat another thing all day). I have never eaten at these places in America, but I thought it highly appropriate to take advantage of all the American things available. Anyway, I have found that if there is even the slightest chance for humiliating myself, I find it and go for it, gung-ho like. I would write about it, but it's a little too recent for illumination. I can't think about it without whincing still, so it will have to wait. I explored all of the underground arcades that were near city hall and my hotel. I did a lot of browsing. I also went to Namdaemun market and walked around for a while. I bought these ridiculous cards at one of the shops. They have these pictures of this Korean heartthrob and there are places for me to write my name, telephone number, and email address. So that I can hand them out or something. Or they are luggage tags. Completely wonderful. I think I will split the deck with Katie, because I don't think I will ever use all 50 of them and she can appreciate their potential. In one of the underground arcades I found this little art print gallery. I bought two lithographs and a card with a traditional painting on it. Very neat. They were pretty cheap. Well, I'm going to go watch some Korean television so that I can dream about hot Korean men.

I am going to publish several posts right now. I wrote these on separate occasions, but I haven't had time to post them until now. So here they go.

Today is Sunday November 26. I am in Seoul, Korea. I got in at about 11:30am and after all of the airport stress etc., I arrived at the hotel at 1:30pm and relaxed for a while. I took a shower and realized I forgot shampoo and conditioner so I had to use the complimentary soap. Crappy. So I went and bought a little pack of travelers shampoo, conditioner, face wash, and body wash. Smells good. Then I went to this place called Deoksugung Palace. It was a large square of buildings that used to be the palace of the (king?) of Korea, or whatever they call their supreme leader. It was beautiful and I took a lot of pictures. Delightful. The reason I went there was because as I was on the bus from the airport we drove past this place and there were some things going on in front - men dressed in traditional Korean clothing doing some demonstration or something, formations and whatnot. I don't know if it was a national holiday or if that is a regular Sunday activity. Anyway, the amount of stuff I don't know about Korea could fill a book. So once I checked in and cleaned up I decided to check it out. And it was beautiful, like I said. I did a lot of walking. I was trying to find some of the places that the other teachers had told me about. I didn't do any shopping, I just bought some dinner and some ice cream. So Korean people are a lot more relaxed than Japanese people. And PDA is a lot more common. The most I have seen between Japanese couples in public is handholding. But here there is a lot more kissing, draping, etc. here. It's crazy. It makes me kind of wish for some sort of boy thing to happen with me. It's a lot easier to ignore those kinds of feelings in Japan where it seems like affection doesn't exist. But I'm having a really good time. I love being by myself, doing things alone. I am really happy about this traveling alone business after all. Though it would be nice to have someone readily available for picture taking so that I could sometimes be featured in my photos. Well, that's all for now.

today is the day

Today is Sunday for me. I think it will probably say it is early Sunday morning on my post, but it is actually Sunday evening.

Well, things are a little weird and sad for me right now. I just feel a little down. I don't really know how to explain it and I would rather not think about it, so I'll move on to something else.

I was invited by Justin and Sarah to go look at some delightful fall colors with a member from the branch. I am excited. I like doing things like this. I am very good at staring out of car windows. Being a passenger in a car is one of my most favorite things. Without the responsibility of navigating and keeping the car on the correct side of the road and keeping everyone in the car safe, my mind is free to meander. I can be quiet for hours in a car, just thinking and staring. It always feels very nice. So tomorrow should be good. I am getting more comfortable with Justin and Sarah which means that I feel more comfortable to just be quiet with them. I hope it doesn't weird them out or anything; I don't think it does. Anyway, I am glad to be included in this adventure and glad to have met such neat people.

I am going to South Korea on Sunday. I will be there until Tuesday. I have mixed feelings about it. It will be neat to see a big city, I've been in the countryside for a while and I miss the movement of a bigger city. But I'm kind of nervous to be going alone. And I'm nervous about coming back to Japan. But I don't really want to talk about the details of that either. I just can't wait for it to be over and I just hope that everything goes smoothly and that I can somewhat enjoy myself for a little while. I'm going to look into some Korea things so that I can make the most of the situation.

I've been crying a lot. Some frustration tears, but a lot of deep pit of the stomach sadness. Maybe this will leave soon and I will be left with only happy things and bright sunshine in my stomach instead.