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| I went to the beach for the first time in 3 weeks yesterday. It made me really sad that its so stinking cold. I have officially retired surfing for the winter and have now taken up snowboarding. I went for the first time ever last saturday. Dude...it is sooo much fun! I will be the only single AET left in Japan for the holidays, so I intend to go quite a bit. I even have all my own gear! Anyway, the beach reminded me of some fun memories I never posted on here.
First up, I went to the Quiksilver Pro Japan in August. There were about 20,000 people there, literally. Luckily the highway runs right over the beach and provides multi level viewing. This pic is of Taj Burrow from Australia.
 
Another fun memory has to do with how disgustingly dirty Japanese beaches are. At Ajigaura, among the piles of trash, I found a big tube thingy perfect for rolling down hills in. This is me and Mark rolling each other into the ocean.
 
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| I've been intending to build a collection of Jenglish (Japanese attempts at English) to put on here, but so far I haven't taken many pictures. But to whet your tastebuds, here is a water cooler collection. I took all of these in my school locker room. Oh, and the last one is French, but I'm sure it's funny too.
 
 
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| Howdy guys. I think it's about time I tell you about my summer trip to Malaysia and Singapore. We arrived late at night and decided to sleep on the floor of the airport.
When we woke up we took a combination of subways, buses, taxis, and boats to get to our island, Palau Besar, in the South China Sea. This is our boat.
This is what our island looked like.
 
 
One really cool thing about our island is that it was used to film Expedition:Robinson, Europe's version of Survivor. Here are the tribal council ruins.
 
While on the island we enjoyed finding nemo, playing on the dock, kayaking, volleyball, and once the sun went down, phase 10 in our bungalow.
 
 
 
Oh, and I forgot to mention, the whole staff at our resort was...gay. Denver even got the manager's phone number. We took this picture to commemorate this interesting aspect of our stay.
After a couple days on the island we went and spent a day in Singapore. You've heard about how strict they are. These signs welcomed us. Peter has food in his mouth in this picture.
 
The first thing we stumbled across really reminded us we weren't in Japan anymore, a kissing contest. These guys have been going for 40 minutes already.
 
 
It's funny what will get you excited sometimes. We just spent a week in paradise, but when we found a subway at the airport, it was sooo good. We need one in Mito.
That was my trip. I'll slowly start updating on cool things that have happened since I stopped updating in July. | | |
| It is summer break and despite having to still go to school each day, I am having a great time. Once again, too much has happened for me to go into any detail, but here are some highlights.
First up, Peter, John, and I bought a train pass that gave us unlimited access anywhere in Japan for 5 days with one small catch, you can only ride local trains. So the 3 hour trip to Kyoto on the bullet train turned to 13 hours. But that was okay, we had freedom. We could get on and off anywhere we wanted. We were able to see Tokyo, Shizuoka, Nagoya, Kyoto, Tsumago, and Matsumoto. We went to Kyoto along the east coast and came back through the mountains of Nagano. Here are some pics:
On the train
Kinkakuji, a temple made out of gold
A couple Japanese "biker chicks"
We stayed in ryokans on our trip, Japanese style accomodation, they even supply yukatas to wear around the hotel.
Tsumago, in the Japanese Alps
Matsumotojo, Japan's oldest wooden castle
Another highlight of this summer so far has been the festivals. In fact, on Sunday night, a group of us gaijin joined an Obon Dance...and won! We won 5 cases of beer and 2 cases of tofu! It was so funny. And I also won 2 tickets to Disneyland! Too bad I just paid $80 to go 2 weeks ago. Stink.
At the Mito Komon Matsuri
Our group at Disneyland
Me with Sleepy
A couple of tuckered out ducklings
That was a lot of pictures, I hope you like them. I will have more on http://community.webshots.com/user/travybear80 soon. Well, I must go and pack. I leave for Singapore and Malaysia tomorrow!!! | | |
| Wow! So much has happened. First off, Blake left last week to spend some time with his mother. She is not doing well, so please keep them in your prayers. Before he left, we were able to go to the Mito Church retreat for a little while. I'm glad we got to go for a while. It was fun.
Last week, I had a little "surfin safari"! It started at 4:30am next to a nuclear power plant that circulates ocean water for cooling. The water there was warm! (and a little creepy). I have found my winter surf spot. See if you can spot the 3 eyed fish.
We then worked our way north until about 6pm. It was sooo good. Speaking of surf, the latest typhoon should be knocking the swell up to 25ft tomorrow! That's unreal. Yesterday, Denver and I went to the beach and met some really funny Japanese girls. They had an inflatable raft and we took turns pulling people into the oversized surf and getting hammered. I wish I'd had my camera!
Probably the most exciting parts of my last couple weeks have involved 2 wheels. The first actually involved 6. I was riding Blake's bike (mine had a flat tire) home from the electronics store when I saw a van leaving a parking lot. I stopped. He stopped. I went. He went. Yes, I was run over by a van! His front left wheel drove right over my front tire and threw me off the bike into the road! But due to me being half cat, I landed on my feet. He jumped out yelling "dai jo bu? gomennasai!" over and over. I had to do a little dance to show him my legs still worked. He ended up handing me 200 bucks for the bike. It was quite exciting. The other 2 wheel story is...I bought a scooter! It is a total Vespa rip off made by Suzuki. It is sooo cool. I get so excited when i drive it I just burst into laughter all the time. I can't help but sing, scream and laugh as I go cruising. These moments of ecstasy are usually concluded with a bug shooting down my laughing throat. I don't have a picture yet, but I will put some up soon.
This pic is from Interactive English Forum. A junior high english competition. It is so funny. Ever had an awkward conversation? Imagine putting 3 junior high students together and telling them to talk for 5 minutes about "school life" in a foreign language in a room full of spectators and judges! If they don't learn any English, at least they'll be prepared for bad dates. That is my student Asami on the left. She did pretty well.
Good night! | | |
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