Sept. 22nd

Wow. Is it really the 22nd already? I've been back in America for almost a month now? Weird. The last few weeks have been pretty crazy. Braden and I have been living out of our suitcases for about a month as we've traveled around Japan visiting friends and then traveled around Washington and Idaho visiting family, and now we're finally back in Ellensburg. I finished unpacking the suitcases yesterday (Its so nice to have a closet and a dresser again), but we still have a lot of things still packed up in boxes and tubs (Mostly decor at this point. All the useful stuff is unpacked now). Seeing our families again was great. I got to see my grandparents, some aunts, uncles, and cousins I haven't seen for a long time, and I got to see all my wonderful siblings, my awesome parents and in-laws, and the adorable dogs and cats back home :). Unfortunately I caught a bad cold as soon as we got to Idaho, and Braden suffered from some severe jaw pain (he needs a root canal soon 0_o), but I enjoyed being around my family and miss them again already. I miss my friends back in Japan too. We had lots of fun and lots of great experiences, and I'm sure that someday we'll go back :). The trip home went pretty well. There was a big selection of movies to watch on the plane, so the ten hour trip went by pretty quickly. We arrived in LA and had to go through some very long lines and then hurry to catch our next flight to Seattle. I lost some luggage at the LA airport (the second time I've lost luggage in that airport...) but it was delivered to Braden's parents' house the next day. We arrived in Seattle and Braden's parents were there to meet us and help us with our luggage (well, except for the suitcase that was missing). Boy was I glad to put those suitcases in the car. The worst part about our travels was dragging those heavy suitcases around, especially getting them on and off the trains in Japan. But now they are unpacked and I don't have to worry about them anymore for a while. Well, now I guess I'll write about a few of my first impressions about being back. As soon as we got to Seattle I had to unpack my sweaters because I was suddenly cold! (It was still very warm in Japan when we left.) Soon after getting back to Idaho I had to start putting lotion on my hands every day because they were getting so cracked and dry. My hands were really pampered in the humid air of Japan. The first day back I kept bowing and saying "gomen" (Japanese for sorry) when I bumped into people at the airport. The food in the stores all looks so big (I can buy gallons of milk instead of just liters again, yay!), but I miss being able to buy cheap natto for Braden and flavor packets for Hayashi Rice. I guess that means we need to take a trip to the asian market Uwajimaya in Seattle soon. Now we're back in Ellensburg getting back into the swing of things. I guess since this blog is supposed to be about our adventures in Japan, there's not much left for me to write about here. I want to print it all in a book and keep it as a scrapbook of sorts of all our time in Japan. Thank you all who've been reading, I hope you enjoyed it. And now I have a diary of our life in Japan to look back on.

I love Japan :).

Sept. 1st

Sorry for the delay in writing everyone. The last few weeks have been very busy with packing, moving, sightseeing, visiting friends, traveling, etc. I have lots of new pictures that I want to post on here and on facebook, and maybe I`ll put a few on here today, but the rest will have to wait until we get home and I have time to get files off the computer. For now, I`ll write a little bit about what we`ve been up to the last couple of weeks. During out last couple of weeks in Matsue we went on a few hikes in the area and visited some famous places. I visited a pretty shrine on a mountain overlooking Matsue with my Japanese teachers, then with Braden and Ed and our Japanese teachers we went on a hike in Oku Izumo and visited some tatara (Japanese iron forge) and katana making museums. The next day we met up with some friends and hiked up to a cool Buddhist temple called Nageiredo, built into the side of a cliff on a mountain. The hike was extremely steep and we spent most of the time climbing up rocks and tree roots, and near the top we got to ring a big temple bell. We moved out of our apartment on the 19th and stayed with our friend Ed in Izumo for the weekend. We visited Izumo Taisha Grand Shrine one last time, and we got the once in a life time opportunity to go inside the gate of the main temple and see the new roof. Every sixty years the bark roof has to be replaced with new bark, and during that time the inner temple area is open to tours to the public (Normally only the Shinto Priests are allowed inside the inner gate). On Monday we went back to Matsue to pick up our luggage (which we left with some friends) and then we went to the station to catch our bus. Some of the ward members and our friend Chieko came to bid us farewell. We were sad to leave our friends, but we were looking forward to visiting our friends in Kyoto and Tokyo. While in Kyoto we stayed at our friend Hiroko`s house. We visited two famous temples in Kyoto, Kiyomizudera and Kinkakuji. Braden finished his summer vacation homework (Yes, they have that in Japan :P), we hiked up to a pretty waterfall with Hiroko and her daughter Anju, and then we did Karaoke with Hiroko and her daughters on Saturday. We sang lots of Ghibli songs, it was awesome :D. On Sunday night we took a night bus to Tokyo. The ride was long and the seats weren`t that comfy, but we got to Tokyo in one piece. I was really worried that the trains would be super crowded since it was a Monday morning, but luckily for us, all the salary men were taking trains towards the center of Tokyo, and we took a train going out of Tokyo, so it wasn`t crowded at all. All that worry for nothing, haha :P. So we took a train to Chiba Ken and arrived at the house of Braden`s former missionary companion, Brother Watanabe, and his wife and two little daughters. On Tuesday Braden and I spent the day in Akihabara Electric Town (As the signs call it). It was really interesting, and there were computer stores, hobby shops, and arcades everywhere. We bought a few souvenirs (and I had to do some clever packing to get everything to fit in our already full suitcases 0_o), and then in the evening we met up with our friend Taisuke, who had done stayed with Braden`s family while going to college while Braden was in high school. He treated us to a great dinner of shabu shabu and then dessert at Denny`s (Japanese Denny`s is really different from the American version. It was all Japanese food. But they did have yummy cheesecake!). It was great to spend some time with Taisuke, he was super nice. The next day Braden and I went to the Ghibli Museum in Mitaka. It`s in a park surrounded by trees full of cicadas and the museum itself is in a big old fashioned style house with lots of rooms full of drawings, storyboards, demos about animation, a theater for watching short animated films, and lots of just interesting, random things to look at. After seeing all of the museum we took the train home. My feet were so sore from walking around and standing on trains for the last few days, I was so relieved to finally get back to Chiba Ken. That night we went with the Watanabes to the church English conversation class taught by the local missionaries. Their church building is the biggest LDS church I have ever seen! It was five stories tall (the first floor was a parking area). And the fifth floor apparently has a large gym in it. It was way bigger than our church in Matsue, which was two stories tall, but still fairly small. This morning was spent with last minute packing, trying to keep everything under 23 kilos, which was no easy task, but I think I got it ;). Well sorry this post has been so long. I`ll try to get some more pics up soon. Its hard to believe we`ll be back in the US tomorrow (But we`ll be crossing the international dateline, so even though we`re leaving on the 1st at 7pm, we`ll be arriving in Seattle on the 1st at 6:30pm. So we`re going to travel back in time XD. See you all soon!

Aug. 7th

Yeah for summer festivals! This weekend Braden and I got to enjoy Suigousai, a big summer festival in Matsue! It was two days long, Saturday and Sunday, and both days there were fireworks, vendors selling lots of Japanese festival food, lots of people wearing yukatas (a light summer kimono) and lots of noise and fun. On Saturday evening Braden and I rode our bikes down to lake Shinji, where the festivities were being held, and then I put on my yukata by myself in the bathroom in the park, which was no easy task, let me tell you, but I did it! Yukatas can be a little difficult to put on, but I practiced a lot with the friend from church who gave it to me, so I was up to the challenge :). Men's yukatas are a bit easier to put on, and Braden put his on in the park. We had a little trouble with the belt, but got it tied eventually. Then we watched the Saturday fireworks, 3,000 shots total, or so we were told. Then afterwards we went and strolled through all the stalls and bought some ice cream, fried chicken, a candied pineapple on a stick, and some takoyaki (Octopus and batter fried into little balls). Walking by all the vendors and through all the crowds eating unhealthy festival food reminded me of the Eastern Idaho State Fair and their delicious tiger ears and freshly dipped corn dogs. Yum. Japanese festival food is good too, though its a little different. Lots more squid and octopus around XD. So then we watched a half hour fireworks show and oohed and awed all the big ones, then when it was over we took off our yukatas (we wore our regular clothes underneath) and rode our bikes home. The next day we had a great day at church, I got to speak a lot of Japanese with the sisters, then we rode our bikes home in the scorching heat, and got ready for another round of festivities! Sunday evening is really the main event of the weekend, and that's when most of the city goes to see the fireworks, cause they shoot off a lot more that day, about 6,000 shots! Its longer too, one hour instead of half an hour. Shortly after getting home from church, our friend Ed and Sister Hori came by, along with the elders from Izumo, who planned to join up with the elders from Matsue and pass out some flyers to the myriads of people who were going to be gathered at the lake. Sister Hori and I made a big dinner for everyone, and the Izumo elders pitched in with some fried rice that they had prepared earlier. We all ate, then got dressed in our yukatas (except for the elders of course, and Sister Hori, cause she accidently forgot hers at home), then we walked all the way to the lake, which was quite a ways actually 0_o. It was like a forty minute walk XD. Ed had his car but we were afraid we wouldn't find any parking so we decided to walk instead. It took us a while, but we talked a lot and the time went by quickly. It was cool to see how the amount of people walking around increased as we got closer to the lake, and by the time we reached the bridge, thousands of people could be seen walking around. Lots of people were wearing yukatas, but lots of people were in regular clothes too. It was split maybe 50/50. Once we reached the lake we crossed the bridge and found a nice little spot behind the art museum to watch the fireworks from. The grassy spots were already completely claimed by people, but we found a little patch of dirt that wasn't claimed, haha. We had a mat to sit on though, so it was okay. The fireworks were awesome! A lot of them were ones I've seen before on the Fourth of July, but they had a lot of really big ones that filled the horizon, and some that made cool shapes, like slices of watermelon, faces, and even pokeballs! The finale was big and shiny and really cool. I love fireworks, they're big, sparkly exploding works of art. What's not to like?! After the fireworks ended we joined the masses as they got up, gathered their things, and started walking home. I'm glad we didn't go by car, cause of course the traffic was terrible. Soon after the fireworks ended we met up with our friend Kim and the new ALT (Assistant language teacher with the Jet Program), Sara, who had been watching from the other side. Then we all made the long trek home. It was pretty tiring, but we made it. Ed then drove everyone home, and Braden and I went right to sleep. It wasn't too late, only about 11, but poor Braden had to get up really early for work the today and then rush right afterwards to class to take a Chinese final, which he said he did really well on :). Well, I know this entry is probably pretty long, so I'll end it for now. I'll have more to share with you all soon, so stay posted!

Aug. 4th

Wow, only three more weeks left in Matsue! Yesterday was Braden`s birthday so I made him a lovely tonkatsu dinner (breaded and fried pork with katsu sauce) and then we ate cake and ice cream :). It was a pretty quiet party, just the two of us, but it was fun :). We also went and bought Braden a yukata for this weekend`s summer festival. We got it at a second hand store so it was really inexpensive, but it was is really good shape too :). I got a yukata as a gift from a friend, so now we`re all ready to go! I`ll be sure to post lots of pics on facebook this weekend of the festivities.

In other news, the computer at the International Students House has been acting up lately, so I may not by making any free skype phone calls home anytime soon. I haven`t had the best of luck fixing computers lately, and its especially hard when the operating system is in Japanese >:( and the computer is fairly old too... Anywho, its been nice to use these last ten months, ever since my own computer broke, so I am grateful, despite its latest difficulties. They really ought to replace the thing though, for future students who, like me, don`t have laptops...

Well, come back next week for some more pics. Till then!

July 26th

Braden and I are trying to make the most of our last few weeks in Japan, so it looks like I'll actually have interesting stuff to write about ;). Last weekend we went with our friends Ed and Hori San to the beach of the Japan Sea and had a great time swimming and playing in the sand. The temperature of the water was great, just like a swimming pool, but it tasted terrible! I really haven't swam much in the ocean before, and so didn't realize just how incredibly salty it would taste :X. But despite its bad taste, it was still lots of fun, and afterwards we all went to a hot spring to clean up and have a nice relaxing soak. We spent the evening playing video games with Ed and then went home. The next morning both Braden and I woke up very sunburned and sore from swimming, but it was worth it :). Let's see, what else have we been up to? We went to a birthday party last night for our friend Shuhei, who turned 20. Birthday parties occur pretty often at the International Students House, and they're always fun times. Just everyone relaxing, eating some snacks, drinking (there's always juice available in addition to sake and beer, since not everyone who lives there drinks), and chatting about anything and everything. These days I also spend a lot of time studying Japanese, surfing the internet, and riding my bike. I used to watch TV, but just this weekend Japan ended its analog broadcasting system and switched everything to digital, and since Braden and I are leaving soon we didn't bother to buy a digital converter. I kinda miss having the TV though. I usually had it on while I studied for some background noise, and I always watched the kids shows that came on in the evenings while I made dinner. It was a great way to practice my Japanese, and I could practice kanji too, since most Japanese talk shows show captions on the screen with kanji. Oh well, bye bye Japanese TV :P.

On other news, Braden and I had a nice anniversary dinner at a yummy Indian restaurant in Matsue called Spice Kingdom. They always serve really big, really delicious naan (Indian bread). I had a hard time finishing it all, I got so full :X. After dinner I had an English lesson and then we went to our friend's birthday party.

I almost forgot to mention an interesting thing we got to see on Sunday evening. There was a matsuri (festival) that day, and a bunch of people gathered in downtown Matsue to watch a portable shrine called a Mikoshi being carried from Matsue Castle to a shrine on the other side of the river. There were two shrines, one carried by women, and the other carried by men. Both groups carried the shrines along streets lined with vendors selling lots of delicious looking junk food and cool toys, and every once in a while they would stop and shake the shrines so that the bells on them would ring. When they finally reached the plaza near the shrine everyone cheered and then they followed it up with a dance performance. Now, you'd think they'd follow it up with some sort of traditional Japanese dance, but actually it was followed by a dance school that specialized in hip hop XD. I was a little surprised, and it was funny to cross the street to the shrine and suddenly hear the traditional flutes and drums of the Shinto Priests. It was quite the contrast, hehe. Well that's all the interesting news for now, but hopefully I'll have some more soon! Till then!

July 17th

So far it's been a pretty hot, but fun, July. I'm still trying to get used to this muggy heat. It's especially annoying at night when I'm trying to sleep. Every day in the middle of the night I wake up hot and sweaty so I turn on the air conditioner, but after a little while I actually start to feel too cold so I have to turn it off. Then about an hour later I wake up hot and sweaty again and turn the air conditioner on again. Its a vicious cycle :P. Aside from the heat the weather has been pretty nice, and Braden and I have enjoyed getting some sun now that the rainy season is over.

For my birthday we went on a little boat ride through the moats around Matsue Castle. It was a lot of fun, and it was just the two of us and our guide who steered the boat. We saw swans, ducks, a turtle, a heron (or something like that) and lots of fish jumped out of the water to eat the bugs sitting on the surface. And there were lots and lots of dragonflies. We got to go on another boat ride this weekend with our friend Chieko when she invited us to go on a boat tour to some caves along the coast of the Japan Sea. Both caves have legends associated with them. The first cave, called Kyu-kukedo, is said to be the home of the souls of dead children. It is said that the children build little piles of stones in memory of their families. Then, every night, oni (Japanese demons) come to knock the stone piles down. Then Jizo (a Japanese diety who is the traditional guardian of children) comes and chases the oni away. At Kyu-kukedo we were able to get off the boat and look in the cave. Inside the cave were many little piles of stone, and a lot of stone statues of Jizo. Parents of deceased children often go there to leave offerings of toys and food to the Jizo statues. The next cave, Shin-kukedo, was filled with water and big enough for the boat to go through. Inside was a torii gate and lots of water dripped from the ceiling (the boat was covered so we didn't get wet). That cave is said to be the birthplace of a Japanese diety named Sada-no-okami. It is said that while his mother, Kisaka-Hime-no-mikoto, lived in the cave, she got tired of the darkness, and so shot a golden arrow through the east wall, creating the east entrance, and piercing the rock to the east of the cave (which also has a prominent hole in it). After going through the cave and exiting through the hole said to be created by Kisaka Hime, we passed a small light house said to be near the birthplace of the Japanese sun goddess, Amaterasu. After circling the light house we returned to the harbor. The ride was about an hour long, and really interesting. We got to learn alot about Japanese mythology.

I also got to practice a lot of Japanese this weekend. Today in church I gave a talk in Sacrament Meeting, and I gave a lesson in Relief Society, all in Japanese :). The ward members told me I did well, but I know I still have a lot of Japanese to learn :P. By the time I get really comfortable with my Japanese we'll be leaving :P. I'll just have to keep up my Japanese studies in America!

July 9th

Just a random update on our summer activities so far. Today Braden and I had fun making paper lanterns at an activity at the Matsue Community Center, then we rode our bikes around Matsue for a while looking at various hobby shops. Japanese hobby shops are lots of fun to just look at, even if I can't afford to buy anything :P. They always have lots of model gundams, dolls, manga, toys, games, etc. We even saw someone dressed up as a maid in one of the stores we visited today.

It's been really hot today, but thankfully all the stores in Matsue have air conditioning. I guess if they didn't they wouldn't get very many customers in the summer time. The humidity hasn't been as bad this week though, which is nice. When it's really humid it just feels hot all day and all night, shade or no shade. But when the humidity is normal it cools off at night and makes it easier to sleep. (I have such a hard time sleeping when its all muggy :P). The rainy season has officially ended, or so I hear. The rain can be annoying sometimes, but I'm kind of sad to see it go because now it's supposed to get hotter :X. I need to develop Braden's good habit of drinking several bottles worth of water a day so I don't get dehydrated.

For Independence Day Braden and I went to Izumo and had a barbecue with some American friends and even played with some small fireworks. It was a lot of fun, even though I felt sick the next day (must've eaten an undercooked bratwurst or something...). The weekend or so before that we went to a concert in Yonago with an alumni of CWU who happens to be living in Matsue, and that was really fun. Afterwards he treated us to sushi. It was awesome XD. We've both been keeping pretty busy lately. I had more English lessons than usual last month and Braden has his classes and part time job too, but we still have time to hang out with friends. We like to go to Izumo and play video games with out friend Ed, go to free student concerts at the University with our friend Shuhei (who also took us to see fireflies one nice summer evening), and go to hot springs with our friend Chieko. Chieko took us to one this last friday that was pretty cool. It was on the 9th floor of a building and had a big curved window with a really nice view of Lake Shinji. It was funny though, cause the window wasn't a one-way window or anything like that, so if you stood up and walked by the window anyone walking on the sidewalk by the lake would be able to see you XD. Japanese people aren't so shy about that sort of thing though, so I doubt anyone complains, and it's easy enough to just avoid the window if you're worried about it. But still, I thought it was interesting, since I nothing like that would be allowed in the states. Someone would get sued XP. Well, that's all that's been going on lately. I will definitely be able to post some interesting things once the summer festivals start. I'm very excited to experience my first Japanese summer festival :D.