It was quite windy and rainy this morning as I drove across the prefecture. The plus side to the mercurial weather patterns in Aomori is that it usually produces many rainbows. I'm serious. I have never seen so many rainbows in my life. Half rainbows, double rainbows, rainbows that stretch the width of my town. It's unreal. This morning I saw about 3 full-fledged rainbows that had two ends firmly rooted in the ground. At least, it seemed that way. I almost veered off the road in search for the pot of gold . Here is a picture of a rainbow I drove under. You might have to look closely to see it.
October was a whirlwind of Halloween activities and exploring Aomori. At school, I read Halloween stories, created Halloween-themed writing activities, and a Halloween-education class. I mean, you can't expect children to fully enjoy life unless they have experienced the wonder that is Halloween at least once. We made Halloween masks as costumes and ghost candy bags after I showed them a very informative PowerPoint made on the different types of costumes and Halloween activities one does on Halloween. These include haunted houses, trick-or-treating, and carving jack-o-lanterns. Japanese people seem particularly interested in the jack-o-lanterns.
As mentioned in my last post, I visited some family in Tokyo the second week of October. Below are some Halloween pictures from school, some snaps from places around Tokyo as well as some delicious food I consumed, and random pictures of flowers because for some reason, despite Aomori's fast track to winter, beautiful flowers can still be found around town and I thought my mom (and you all) would appreciate them. The pictures of swarms of people were taken in Shibuya at the world's busiest crosswalk. I went down to cross it myself and took pictures from within the crowd. There were at least 10 other tourists walking around with their cameras, as well as a film crew, Shibuya girls, and the famous Starbucks from the movie Lost in Translation towering above us. The final picture is of a delicious pumpkin and cream cheese muffin I ate on the bullet train home!
As mentioned in my last post, I visited some family in Tokyo the second week of October. Below are some Halloween pictures from school, some snaps from places around Tokyo as well as some delicious food I consumed, and random pictures of flowers because for some reason, despite Aomori's fast track to winter, beautiful flowers can still be found around town and I thought my mom (and you all) would appreciate them. The pictures of swarms of people were taken in Shibuya at the world's busiest crosswalk. I went down to cross it myself and took pictures from within the crowd. There were at least 10 other tourists walking around with their cameras, as well as a film crew, Shibuya girls, and the famous Starbucks from the movie Lost in Translation towering above us. The final picture is of a delicious pumpkin and cream cheese muffin I ate on the bullet train home!
Living in the middle of the countryside can be a bit lonely at times. I wake up in an empty house, come home from work to an empty house, and have to travel an hour and twenty minutes round trip to see my nearest JET friends. Exercising is also difficult because the days are incredibly short up north (the sun sets at 4pm during the winter), there will eventually be around three feet of snow on the ground at all times, and the only "gym" in my town has a couple of bike machines and some basketball hoops. It sounds a lot worse than it is! After all, Yokohama-machi is a beautiful town with nice people, delicious food (I got a full plate of sushi for the equivalent of $5.15 the other night!) a beautiful beach, and lots of nearby places to explore. Being so isolated just means that I have to make an extra effort to get out of my house and travel a ways to socialize with people. Luckily, there are many things to do in Mutsu and a former JET is really great about organizing events. I went to a Halloween cooking class where we made wrapped mummy fingers (hot dogs wrapped in slices of croissant), banana ghosts and tangerine pumpkins, and rats cooked in blood (meatloaf and tomato sauce over pasta). The first few pictures, below, were taken on the way back from Mutsu. The road wraps around the curve of Mutsu Bay and from where I am you can see the mountain that towers over Mutsu just across the bay. At that particular time the clouds parted for a brief moment and I could see the fall colors from across the bay. Unfortunately, like with most of my pictures, it looked much better in person. The random picture of me holding a baby was taken at the cooking class. One of the ladies JUST had a baby, about a week prior to that picture. It was the sweetest newborn baby I have ever seen!!
Rocks and Docks, Shrines and Pines
I spent one weekend in southeastern Aomori exploring the big city of Hachinohe and the small town of Hashikami. As the title suggests, my friends and I climbed lots of rocks, visited many shrines, and saw many beautiful pines. Towards the end of the following pictures are a few snaps of when we hiked up a portion of Hashikami Mountain. We could see the ocean and Hachinohe sprawled out beneath us. It was awesome.
There are some random pictures sprinkled throughout. There are two pictures of a single tree. One of them looks like a horse up on its hind legs. Can you find it? There's also a picture of a parking spot. I just thought it curious how small the plastic blocks at the end of the spot were. The ones in America are big, bulky, and made out of cement. The Japanese ones by comparison are so mini and flimsy-looking, but a lot of things in Japan are small (trucks, apartments, household items, etc.). Later we found one of those plastic blocks severely damaged. One of the small Japanese cars must have just rolled right through it. It is a rather odd picture to post, but it are these kinds of details I want to remember because they make Japan unique.
The picture of soft serve ice cream was taken at a shop by a National Heritage Site park (pictures of the park are shown right beforehand). I got apple ice cream and my friends got strawberry&milk and black sesame. Very interesting flavors, but all delicious!
One of the Hashikami pictures is of an old stone. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there is a person carved into the stone. Apparently a year or two ago somebody turned the stone up from its belly and they found that carving, which is presumed to be centuries of years old. It's amazing how much history is in Japan- I can find it all around me!
There are some random pictures sprinkled throughout. There are two pictures of a single tree. One of them looks like a horse up on its hind legs. Can you find it? There's also a picture of a parking spot. I just thought it curious how small the plastic blocks at the end of the spot were. The ones in America are big, bulky, and made out of cement. The Japanese ones by comparison are so mini and flimsy-looking, but a lot of things in Japan are small (trucks, apartments, household items, etc.). Later we found one of those plastic blocks severely damaged. One of the small Japanese cars must have just rolled right through it. It is a rather odd picture to post, but it are these kinds of details I want to remember because they make Japan unique.
The picture of soft serve ice cream was taken at a shop by a National Heritage Site park (pictures of the park are shown right beforehand). I got apple ice cream and my friends got strawberry&milk and black sesame. Very interesting flavors, but all delicious!
One of the Hashikami pictures is of an old stone. It's hard to tell in the picture, but there is a person carved into the stone. Apparently a year or two ago somebody turned the stone up from its belly and they found that carving, which is presumed to be centuries of years old. It's amazing how much history is in Japan- I can find it all around me!
I have even more pictures and actual stories to tell (can you believe it?!), unlike this word-and-picture vomit of a blog post. I have been so busy exploring that I didn't make enough time to write! But I think this is enough for you readers to digest for now. I'll post again soon.
Emi
Emi