On TamDrew's 2nd day here, we decided to be touristy in Tokyo and try to see some of the things there that none of us have yet.

Our first stop was Kappabashi, a street that's nothing but 8 city blocks of  tiny and cluttered restaurant supply stores. They have everything you could possibly want to buy if you are opening a restaurant like...

Signs and ( Read more... )

TamDrew are visiting! YAY!! That means it's time to do touristy stuff. There was some excitement in the first day, but I'm not going to write about that here.

So, the first day, we also went to the mall (Wakaba Walk) for some shopping. We found a nice dollar store. Dollar stores, well, 100 yen shops, are really common in Japan, and they have a lot ( Read more... )

So, I read that there was a "strong" earthquake in the Tokyo area today.

I live in the Tokyo area.

You think I would have noticed that....

This story is going to freak my mom out, but I still feel compelled to tell it ( Read more... )

Hey all. I'm back in Japan again! I can't believe I've been living in Kawagoe for a full year now. There were a whole bunch of brand new JET people on the plane over. So excited and nervous. I remember when I was just like that. Heh. I feel all wise and experienced now ( Read more... )

Well, I'm back in good old Oregon. The flight was all right. I'm not a fan, but shouganai I guess. Also, there was this Vietnamese lady next to me who spoke very quietly, and in not very good English who kept trying to make conversation with me, but I could barely understand a word she was saying! You'd think she'd give up, but she wouldn't, so ( Read more... )

I'm flying back to America on Thursday to see my family for a couple weeks. Geez. I haven't been there since December. That's crazy.

Well, in preparation, I'm doing a full house cleaning. Yesterday I scrubbed my entire bathroom. I even washed the laundry machine! Seems kind of ironic... Today I did my bedroom, Monday is the spare room (which should ( Read more... )

My cats are alive!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I have no idea where they've been for the past month or so, but today they ran out from their usual spot under the stairs to greet me when I got home from work. I think they may have gotten even skinnier though. Yuki especially would probably qualify for "emaciated". Poor things. I gave them more food than usual.

Damn it's hot today ( Read more... )

I taught at the Kawagoe High school for the mentally handicapped today. Our little group of government AETs goes there twice a year, but I couldn't go with them last time, so today was my first time there. I'll admit, I was a little nervous, because I didn't know what degree of "handicapped" to expect, but actually, it was a lot of fun. With many ( Read more... )