I love Japan!!

This is what a japanese pedicure looks like!!

And new reading material arrived just in time for the typhoon!  (Which ended up being a glorified rain storm!)

Spied on Towada...

Last week we talked about hosting in hm English class.... We had 'wine' and cheese.... Okay, sparkling pear juice!!

And three different types of cheeses!!

I came across this tea shop in Misawa... The whole bar is converted to accommodate tea!!!

Look at this 'antique' I found!!

I went to the navy bal.... Stag...

The next morning I ran a 5k!

And then rewarded myself with a trip to the beach!!

(Apparently cars have a problem jumping over this bridge!)

(And lactose intolerant cars are not allowed!)

nic and I went out for our favorite dinner at the mall!

And the next morning I made eggs Benedict for a friend!

And I taught her how to really get every last drop!!

Look what they had at the half marathon in towada!

I was the hired photographer for a friend at a recent homecoming!  (And soon I'll get to celebrate a homecoming!)

Then a beautiful friend and I went out for dinner!

Even after the Indian food last night, I was still able to go run the next morning!!

On my way home I saw this truck CEOs the road, rather slowly, but the driver was holding his dogs' leashes out the window!!!

This week I talked about fall with my English class... And we did this leaf crayon rubbing art!

And then we decorated pumpkins!!

Look at al of 'em!!

Keepin' It Classy in Japan!

In aomori, Moni and I found these pumpkin kitkat!  But they are like real squash.... Kinda savory.  Interesting.  

Finished my headboard.  Nana should've proud!

Moni invited me to a conversational dinner at the international center.

If was catered by Misawa Kizan, it was delicious!!!

We did a round robin.  My table discussed work!  It was pretty cool!

The next day, nic and I went to the shimoda mall.  She ALWAYS wants to go to the pet store and we ALWAYS see a schnauzer being groomed!  This one is very interesting...

Fun stores had to wait... We were on a violin string mission!

And then we had to have pepper lunch for dinner! I tried this ham and cheese skillet, it was awesome!

And I found some wine!

A

Few nights later we had a photo scavenger hunt in Misawa.  

Uh, yeah.  

My English class took me hiking last week!  We all met and carpooled to the hakkoda mountains.  

And took the gondola to the top of the hill.  

Then we took a short hike.  

I am a lumberjack!

The hillside was beautiful!

The mountains were amazing!  We can across this little pond, perfect for posing...

Perfect!

My friends invited us over for dinner.  Pizza night!!

Uh, yeah.

In the morning I had my cooking class come over.  This is a sign that there are a bunch of japanese women at my house!

We were busy!

And they think my kitchen decor is hilarious!

But we made quite a spread!  French onion soup, croutons, butternut squash soup with cranberry relish and pesto, croissant breadsticks, and 7 Apple pies!!!    (And we ran out of time to make caramel apples!)

Saturday was a nice night of carb loading and celebrating.  (Aren't these wine glasses cool?  The constellations glow in the dark!)

This morning we all went to Hirosaki, posed with Anna and Elsa, and ran a half marathon!

See, there's the goal... 

We headed straight for mt. whichever.... Just hoping that 6.55 miles is not on the top of said mountain!!

And I ran with this guy for a while... Til I needed to move on!

Then I found Hiroko from my cooking class!  We ran together for a little while til I needed to move on.... I mean, til she passed me!!!

Uh, apparently I can't run and chew gum, but I did c arch this cool tori gate in the middle of our run!

Look!  I did make it!!

Wahoo!!!

And everyone got an apple for finishing!  Hirosaki has amazing apples!

FYI

Compression socks... Japan-style!

And then I got a corn dog... And chicken nuggets.  The end!