Hello there, nobody! If anyone is reading this, respond to this post with a comment and I will honest to god send you $10.00 ( Read more... )

Looooong entry ahead! But it was a very fun and positive day, so ganbarre! That means "do your best/fight on". You can do it! Please read my words and make the more than 12 times I have savagely banged my head on low ceilings and doors these last two days worth it. Curse the low doorways in traditional Japanese houses!

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(This is pretty honest and emotional about how I get during my first night back in Minamiaizu. It has a happy ending, so that's your reward if you keep reading. Overall, I will always love Minamiaizu, but 10 years away shows me that I don't need Minamiaizu anymore. It's not as important to me anymore. What is most important will forever be my ( Read more... )

Today is the day I return to Minamiaizu for the first time since 2006! Needless to say, I was pretty excited.

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I slept decently despite the heat and my dreams, which were about a tiger that escaped from the sewer pipe in the woods behind my parents' house. The tiger was my responsibility, and thankfully it didn't maim anyone. I took a shower in my hostel and found it to be quite nice and clean. Gotta love Japan for cleanliness.

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I'm leaving China! I woke up around 4:30am and enjoyed my breakfast of cold pizza. I'm anxiously awaiting good Japanese food, which will limit my need to go "American" and fill my future desires with pizza. Packing, checking out, and talking to my parents and Kim/Molly went well. My ladies were making dinner, and Molly was eating cheese as fast as ( Read more... )

I slept in until 6:30 before going out to breakfast at a local spot in one of the new neighborhoods. There really is TONS of construction going on in China. High rises, lots of them, going up left and right. People need apartments to live in and offices to work in! Shows how their economy is as big and powerful as a Yokozuna splash. The food was ( Read more... )

1 Saturday Morning: As you may know, I run a lot. This is something that I didn't do when I lived in Japan in 2005 and 2006. Now with several marathons under my belt, I like to go running abroad so that I can see more of the area and so that I can say I have run in X number of countries. Running in Beijing wasn't the most attractive prospect ( Read more... )

Friday morning I woke up to the sound of rain, and realize that it had been raining all night to the point where the area around my hotel was completely flooded. I really mean flooded - there was at least a foot of water in the streets and sidewalks around the building. It was so bad that I couldn't leave to walk across the courtyard to go to ( Read more... )

I started my Thursday by checking out of the International Culture Plaza in Beijing so that I could make my way to Qufu, about two and a half hours south. I used my extremely minimal amount of Chinese to say hello and thank you to the reception staff while I checked out. I'm capable! I was then picked up by Catherine and driven to the Beijingnan ( Read more... )