surprise!

guess what everyone? it's cold again! :( so i guess that means that all blogs from here on out will mention cold/snow/crappy house/shoveling in one way or another :-P but for your sake, i'll try and keep it to a limited, and snow wont start for at least another month (keeping my fingers crossed on that one!).

this last month was incredibly busy! of course one of the highlights being jess and ellie coming out to japan. it was great seeing them, even though it was kind of a blur! went down to tokyo to meet up with them and have fun down there, saw kabuki, went sightseeing, enjoyed an onsen (i just love making people take their clothes off, right ellie? hee hee) and then rushing back on a train because i was late for the train i was supposed to be on. then they came up to my house and i showed them how beautifully isolated aomori is ... and we saw foliage (foil-age ... right jess?), made takoyaki, then picked up ann and had salmon and played cards. of course, lots more happened on the trip ... but all in all, it was really nice seeing them. i know we've all changed sinced the last time we saw each other, but there's no doubt (in my mind) that the friendship is still there and always will be ... awwww, i love you guys! hehe, ok, enough mush!

the first night the girls got in, we met up with naoko, suhjin, and yumi ... then snuck into out hotel room











here's us at the imperial palace gardens














i think there was alcohol in the takoyaki that night :-P












while waiting for ann, we had really good rice pudding after yummy curry at akbar's.











i've bought tickets to go home for the winter holiday for first time since i've come to japan! i'm really excited to see everyone, but i bet it's going to be weird to be back in the states again! it's been such a long time ... but aside from getting to see people, i'm looking forward to ... yes ... Mexican food!!! mmmmm, and good Chinese food too! i will be coming back to japan a little early though and going on a get-away with u know who, not exactly sure where yet, but looking forward to that too :-P

other than that, enjoying the last bits of the fall colors, but most of it is gone now after we had that huge storm last night and all the leaves were blown off the tree (for anyone who might have heard about the tornado in northern japan, it wasn't anywhere near me, it was in hokkaido). there were a couple of moments where it was a bit scary here because of the wind, rain, and lightning, but the house still in one piece so that's good.

here's midori and i looking at pretty leaves














oh yeah, i've uploaded new pictures to my picture site so go check them out!