Kenrokuen

The flowers are in bloom at Kenrokuen Garden so I headed over there this afternoon to take some pictures and enjoy the nice weather. The irises were perfect. I love living in a city with one of the most beautiful gardens in Japan. :)

Sumo

The National High school Sumo Competition took place in Kanazawa today and Blair's school was competing. A bunch of us went to watch. I had never been to a sumo competition before it was pretty interesting to see all of these enormous high school boys walking around half naked like that is ordinary (I suppose for them it is!). Anywy, now I can say that I have seen sumo. Done and done.

Out in Kanazawa

On Saturday night I went out for dinner with some fellow JETs (pictured above). Then we went to what can only be described as "SO not my scene"- a club-ish night at a 'Club' in Kanazawa. It started out innocent enough- big room, music, people dancing. It was fun for about an hour but then the crowd turned ANGRY (or perhaps stupid is a better choice of words). People packed into the room as closely as they could and instead of dancing, people started doing what I can only describe as being stupid and careless. People were thrashing about, jumping up, running and jumping on people, swinging their arms and just generally being careless about where their bodies were in relation to others. If you went with the flow and pushed back, I suppose it was fun. My friends loved it- Travis was in his glory! A girl fell right up top of me and took me right down to the floor (I have the bruises on my back to prove it) and I had AT LEAST four full cups of beverage dropped, thrown or spilled on me. But I persevered. I tried to stick it out- afterall, I am about double the size of anyone there so I wasn't getting hurt- just getting annoyed. I think I had a look of terror on my face for about the last 15 minutes I was there and when the fifth drink went RIGHT in my face, that was the dealbreaker. So I left. I am SO not hardcore.

It was tramatic.

Bulgaria

It has been pointed out to me that 1% of my blog readership is from Bulgaria. Considering 1) my blog is not public so people must be viewing it linked off of another website and 2) 1% of my readership is from Canada and I have lots of friends and family in Canada, this is very very odd. (The rest of the readership is, of course, America and Japan.) So anyway, I would love to know what the Bulgarian contigency of my readership thinks. I do not personally know any Bulgarian but I do know some Japanese, French and Spanish so if you would like me to make a few posts in any of those languages, we could arrange something.

Sports Day

Yesterday was our school's Sports Day. All of the students participate in various track and field events and compete between the homerooms. This year Class 35 won the whole kit and kaboodle. The weather was beautiful and I had a great time watching and sitting under the shade.

Northeastern University School of Law

For those of you who have not already heard, I am attending Northeastern Law School in the fall. I am completely terrified of law school and amazed that I was accepted at any school, let alone a pretty good one. But I try to remind myself that they accepted me for a reason. Still, I cannot help but feel that life is just a series of rounds and I, by some miracle of the world, have been handed a free pass through to the next level.

Northeastern is in Boston, MA and has 644 students. The school colors are red and black and the mascot is the husky. I am excited to head back to Boston. Orientation starts on August 27. For those of you in the Boston area next year, give me a call!





PS. Even though I will be a husky, my blood still runs brown and blue!!! :)

Last Day

Sunday was Matt's last day in Kanazawa before heading back to Boston on Monday. We wandered around and did some last minute shopping. At Daiwa, the big, expensive department store downtown, we wandered around the food court and watched the chefs cooking up taiyaki (fish shaped pancakes with red bean paste in them), shumai dumplings and other delicacies (and we ate a bunch too!). We ended the day with some conveyor belt sushi. Overall, I think that Matt had a good time in Japan and it was definitely great to have him here :)

Saturday night out!

Matt experienced his second cook-your-own okonomiyaki at my favorite restaurant in Kanazawa. We did a full tour of the Kanazawa nightlife- food and nomihodai (all you can drink in an hour... which really is not as scandalous as it sounds), yakitori (grilled chicken on a stick!), and then to the famed foreigner bar, Apre, for a party.

Round One, Kanazawa

On Friday night, Matt, Jess, Phill, Travis, Michael and I headed to Round One, a huge game complex in Kanazawa. We played lots of games, roller skated, "fished", sat in massage chairs, played tennis, did the batting cages..... you name it, we did it. I love this place!

Hideki Matsui Museum

Kanazawa is the hometown of Yankee's own Hideki Matsui so naturally a trip to his museum was in order. Matt and I traveled 20 minutes on the bus, 60 minutes on the train and another 15 minutes in a cab to the small museum but, boy, was it worth it! I am only being slightly sarcastic. I mean, I enjoyed the museum but Matt LOVED it so it was definitely worth the trip.


Me and my bud, Hideki

Matt outside of the museum

After the museum we headed to the small town of Kaga to visit their foot onsen (natural hot spring).

Uchinada

Matt and I traveled the 20 minutes on the train to Uchinada to visit Fiona and have dinner with her, Yasu and Caroline. Before meeting up with them, we took a walk along the beach so that Matt could see the Sea of Japan. The water is still a little cold for swimming but I personally think that all depends on your perspective- the water we swam in in Maine last August was a LOT colder than the water is here in May.

Kanazawa 2

Matt pretending to be a samurai in the Samurai District (a little dorky, ok! but I made him do it...)

Matt came with me to my ikebana lesson this week and with Jane, Jess and Jane's teacher all taking lessons that night, it was a full house! This is me, Matt, Jane's teacher, Jess and Honda Sensei.

Big Trees Roots at Kenrokuen

Matt and the oldest fountain in Japan

Kenrokuen Garden

Kanazawa

Garden at Oyama Shring

Oyama Shrine

Oyama Shrine

Me and the Statue of Lord Maeda

Lots of carp

Tokyo 2

Matt loved curry rice so we ate it a lot.


At Meiji Jingu Shrine

Meiji Jingu

I am a Taurus and stubbornly decided that I would, under no circumstances, stand next to this sign as Matt wanted me to. However, I did finally give in (I am on the cusp of Aries) but made an indignant face in retaliation.