The last few weeks in photo form

Mike McGuirk and his frisbee friend, Rocky, made a trip out to Tokyo, and we spent Thursday night and Friday hanging out! They got me practicing more Japanese phrases with locals than ever before! We enjoyed beers and meeting friendly people at a bar.  The boys were staying in the lap of luxury in the executive suite on the 37th floor of a top-notch hotel! It was unreal! 

Whenever there's an opportunity, they pulled out the frisbee to throw!

Typical Japanese photo-booth- check out how big and animated our eyes are! The boys had fun 'decorating' and adding the icons.

We had a photo-shoot at work for new promotional materials.

6 of the 13 English teachers.  3 of the 7 Japanese secretaries and our boss, Tim.

Out on the search for fall color

On my two days off this week, I had a mission: search out the fall color!

These photos were taken at parks in down-town Tokyo!


Well, I wasn't alone in my quest either! My friend Kelly told me about Takao-san, a mountain about an hour's train ride outside of Tokyo with Shinto shrines and several trails up and down the mountain!  Tuesday was a beautifully brisk and cool day-even with some sunshine.  So I packed up a day pack and after transferring several times on the train, and even snoozing on one, I arrived at the base of Takao-san.

The fall color hit me with a bang!

To the left of the shrine was a cable-car and chair lift.  To the right of the shrine was a paved path leading straight up the mountain! As I walked with plenty of other Japanese pairs and groups, we gained elevation quickly and warmed up quickly too!  The main trail continued up and then flattened out and there were restaurants and snack shops and shrines along the way too.

These snacks were quite popular!

After about 3.5 km, I joined the hoards of people picnicking at the top of Takao-san.  Also incredibly exciting, in addition to all the amazing fall color, was a clear view of snow-capped Fuji-san in the distance! It was breathtaking!

After competing with the hoards of people on paved path all the way up, I decided to take the narrower, and more forested route down.  The crowds completely disappeared and I enjoyed the woods and steep trail all the way back to the base of the mountain.

Celebrating Halloween at my School in Japan!

Wanted to share some photos from our Halloween party at school last week!

Originally it was scheduled for Sunday, the 28th of October, but due to a wet and rainy day, it was postponed until the following Sunday! By that point, I was over it and was no longer excited to be celebrating Halloween in November! But we went all out, and the kids and parents loved it.  There is a park about a three minutes walk from the school.  Our boss and some helpers spent all day Sunday setting up in one corner of the park and they went all out! Smoke machines, tombstones, skulls, carved pumpkins witches and all kinds of creepy decorations.  The young students (between the ages of 3-9) all dressed in costumes, met us with their parents after we finished our work shift (at 4pm).  We paraded over to the park and the kids participated in a whole bunch of different activities.  We sang Halloween Songs, ('Who stole the candy from the trick-or-treat bag?') and games, and told stories, and we had clowns perform, and we served hot chocolate and roasted marshmallows and gave out halloween candy too!
Exhausting, but successful!

Sweet's Paradise

Katy, a coworker of mine, took me to the best food place in Japan!! For 1,450 yen ($18), you have 90 minutes to eat yourself silly at the dessert buffet!! A plethora of cakes, pies, and every sweet inbetween- even a chocolate fountain.  Not to mention an incredible coffee bar and even some lunch items!

Check out these photos:

Best name for an all-you-can eat dessert bar right?

We are so excited!! 90 minutes of paradise eating is about to commence!

 Check out these incredible delicacies!!

So many to choose from! (see the chocolate fountain in the back??)

Absolutely amazing!!

I'm so excited!  A full plate of sweets and cakes and a delicious cappuccino

Katy is eager to start!

To break up the sweets, we had curry, rice and noodles! check out the melon soda!! haha!

Dessert plate #2: still going strong!