This weekend my friend Megan came about 6 hours on the train from Chiba prefecture. She's originally from Wisconsin & last fall a mutual friend gave us the other's email address. I was living in Japan & Megan knew she wanted to come to teach English here. We exchanged emails during the winter & spring about Japanese experiences and, in August, she moved to Chiba to teach in a high school. Last weekend we met, along with 3 other friends of friends, in Yokohama (Japan's 2nd largest city) for a day of sight-seeing and getting to know each other. It was loads of fun & I hope the 5 of us girls can hang out a lot this year, as we're all in the same boat: 20-something year-olds living abroad doing our best to teach and thrive in this exciting and challenging culture. The picture is the 5 of us in front of Japan's tallest building--the Landmark Tower--it's so tall the camera couldn't fit it all in :)Today (Monday) is a national holiday here so Megan & I, along with 2 Swedish friends planned on climbing Mt Fuji Sunday night to Monday morning to see the sunrise atop Japan's tallest peak. But, the unpredictable wet weather left us disappointed and unable to accomplish our goal. Thankfully we're flexible and spontaneous :) so we still had a really great weekend.
On Sunday we went to church, taught an English class for 9-12 year-olds, ate my favorite Japanese grapes on a hill (yah, not a mountain), 
found these funny witch-like brooms
,
, meandered through a small festival that served "Flesh Juice," (only 100 yen!)
then walked through a park that just happened to be holding a prefectural Japanese dance competition.
During the presentation of the 1st place award, we had flash backs of graduation as "Pomp and Circumstance" blared from the speakers. The winning team performed again, then all the teams & some of the crowd danced to a couple songs. Of course we foreigners joined in the fun!!
During the presentation of the 1st place award, we had flash backs of graduation as "Pomp and Circumstance" blared from the speakers. The winning team performed again, then all the teams & some of the crowd danced to a couple songs. Of course we foreigners joined in the fun!! 
Today we took the train 90 minutes to Atami, a sea-side city on the extreme east side of Shizuoka prefecture. We waded in the beautiful blue Pacific Ocean and just enjoyed the city on a warm day off from work.
On the train back to my town, I saw Fuji-san peeking out from the clouds. Some day, soon I hope, I'll be able to post pictures of me at the top! :)
2 comments:
Glad you had a fun weekend with good friends - and we will pray for a nice weather weekend to climb the real deal. But until then enjoy lots of flesh juice! mmm good. I may join you with a flesh glass in the am.
love you
Amanda
PS the boys have begun digging a hole in the yard and plan to reach you in Japan-do you have enough room in your appartment for 4 extra kids??? - I will take pictures soon.
Oh! the beach steals the show. City scapes and skylines grab me – so does the countryside - my life is full of these conflicting likes.
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