| here, there, everywhere

12 October 2009

wishes

Multi-lingual wishes at Meiji Shrine.

11 October 2009

Things I love about being in Tokyo: the food, having our own tiny little apartment after six months of living out of suitcases, the food, my awesome, friendly students, the stationary shops, the bottles of water on the street that supposedly keep the cats away (?), the weather (for now), the way I can just wave my wallet containing my train pass over the gate to make it open, finding copies of a rare Haruki Murakami book in English, and, in case I haven't mentioned it, the food - all of it: the cheap ramen and don restaurants near my apartment, the rotating sushi bars, the grocery stores. Really there isn't much I don't love, except maybe the insane, impossible crush of bodies that is my daily subway commute, and even that is surprisingly less hostile, if more crowded, than my daily rides on the R back in Brooklyn.
At any rate, we were whisked away by our employers the minute we set foot in Narita, and have had very little free time since (nine-plus hour days + two-plus hours on the train + most recently, Japanese lessons!) so, apologies for the radio silence; I love being here but most days I'm so exhausted by these twelve hour days that I haven't been able to keep in touch as much as I'd like. Today's a school holiday, however, which means I'm going to try and catch up on some e-mails, study Japanese, and explore our neighborhood a bit (finally). More soon!

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26 September 2009

last days in Scotland

In Tokyo! I've been up for awhile (it's almost six) but have given up trying to sleep, since we have to be on the subway in an hour and a half anyway; I love our neighborhood and our tiny apartment, but have been so busy with work stuff that I haven't had the chance to explore much yet, so, in the meantime, here are the last of the Scotland photos.

Photo by Iain rather than me, obviously - the first week in Aberdeenshire, near the River Don.

The closest I came to Haggis the whole time I was there.

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17 September 2009

the kids in the rock

Midway through our road trip back in March, we had pulled over to investigate a massive rock formation when some local kids noticed us, abandoned the cow they'd been herding home, and immediately clambered up the rock to show off.

Above: Iain and four of my favorite kids in Vietnam.
The girl with the red scarf was obviously the bravest one, and she made it to the top first, at which point she sat back, ate some fruit, and taunted the others till the little boy in blue managed to join her.

The other two were much more cautious, and only made it halfway up, where they remained, despite much taunting and shoe-throwing (from their friends, obviously, not us).

(Above: the little boy in blue is taking off his sandal to throw it at the boy in yellow).

I couldn't tell at the time how much of this was for our benefit and how much was just, I don't know, impromptu acrobatic frolicking/shoe-throwing, but I'm glad my zoom lens, at least, was able to remove any doubt. After awhile, we waved goodbye (they ignored us) and started to hike back up the hill, at which point they scurried down, climbed to higher ground, and burst into an exuberant, apparently well-rehearsed dance.

Finally, as we drove off, they ran off - probably to collect their forgotten cow.

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09 September 2009

boy on a rock

North Berwick beach.

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07 September 2009

stormclouds overhead

Again with the tall grass...

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05 September 2009

back from north berwick

We got back into Aberdeenshire after a week spent in Edinburgh and North Berwick, which was lots of fun. In Edinburgh, we caught the tail end of the Fringe Festival, where we managed to get last-minute tickets to see a dystopian rap peformance, this improv group and this guy, all of which were great. At any rate, more photos to follow!

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27 August 2009

green!

One of the comparatively nicer things about being away from home this time around is traveling with a webcam; as dorky as it sounds, I've been able to actually talk face to face with my dad, stepbrother, Lauren and - yesterday night, quite unexpectedly - my grandparents! Even if conversation gets a bit disjointed at times, it's so great just being able to see people's faces; so I'm keeping my fingers crossed wherever we live in Japan will have good internet connection as well.
At any rate: on semi-radio silence for the next few days as we head down to Edinburgh; back in a week or so!

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