A Belated Blog Post

So now for some quick housecleaning.
1). One of my classmates seems to have been culture-owned (refer to last post) and has returned back to the US. I sort of figured as much when she hadn't come to class for 2 weeks straight (not to mention she barely came to class before that), but still, thats quite the investment to spoil over a little homesickness. Maybe I should of made an effort to hang out with them more or something... unfortunate because the ratio of guys to girls in our class was already poor enough without one girl leaving.
2). Happy Birthday Dad.





My apologies on the late blog post, something about a birthday, thanksgiving (x2), and midterms may be to blame.

Since I last blogged:
I went on another walk with my walking circle. This time we visited all the government bureau's/supreme court/diet. I once again forgot my camera, and so you'll have to forgive the lack of pictures once again (edit: I shamelessly stole a friends photos).
The night after the walk, myself and some friends had a small get together at our Spanish friends' house (its just three people living in a Japanese-style house). The best part of the weekend was definitely just bumming around playing uno, eating pancakes, and ignoring the midterm week we were about to go through. This picture is of a kotatsu, its essentially just a table with a blanket, but, get this, there is a heater under the table and so you're legs stay nice and warm while you work. I'm tempted to pick one of these up and bring back with me to the States (it would be perfect for my dorm room, no?).

Birthday:

So it was my birthday! Go me. I wasn't expecting much of anything, I really just intended to go to class, call home, and maybe have some cake with my homestay family. But instead while I was eating lunch with Japanese friend, my friends/classmates came in and surprised me with some muffins (an impromptu cake), two new hats (my old one is quite dirty), and some grip strengtheners (uh... for gameboy). I was quite excited and especially liked the hat they made me with my name on it and signed (I'm even wearing it right now).


After that we stopped by Shibuya, I got some free drinks, and then I went home. My homestay family had made me some pizza (beef and tuna!) and a cake as well. Plus I got a card from my mommy. All in all an excellent birthday indeed. And since the next day was Japanese Thanksgiving (nothing special happens on this day by the way) I was rewarded with a three-day weekend!

The biggest part of my weekend was a trip to Kamakura. Its about the only temple/shrine filled area near Tokyo. And I'm just going to let the pictures do the talking for this part, as I have a take-home exam I should be working on.






So a quick rundown:
1) I took a picture of my morning train ride. Its kinda like this... a little hard to take a solid picture when I can barely move my arm.
2). Someone actually had Christmas lights?!?! I think this may be the only home in Japan with Christmas lights.
3). Big Buddha
4/5). I forget this shrines name...

I'm totally using this airline on the ride home...