Monday, July 10, 2006
Fukuoka Fotos
Sometimes blog won't let me post all the pictures I want to, so here are the other pictures that wouldn't go on my other blog. Enjoy. 
A couple of cool temple enterances!!
Another one of those peeing boys. Only this time it is a fountain!! What is it with Japanese people and peeing boys?!
A random sign we saw in the subway!!! For those who can't decide where they want to go!!
Fantastic Fukuoka
The day after Kristen and I went to Tokuyama, we decided that since we were almost to the island of Kyushu, we should just hop on a train and go to Fukuoka, especially since Kristen has never been there. It was soo fun!! They are having a big festival on the 15th of July, where they parade all these floats around town. We of course weren't there for the actual festival, but they had a bunch of the cool floats just sitting on street corners for us to see. They were HUGE and soo beautiful!! They have all these intricate designs and paper mache people and buildings on them, and like everything else they have in Japan, they were BRIGHT!! It was amazing. We also went to a few really cool temples. There were all these men dressed in Jimbes (a traditional mens outfit) at this one temple. It was really cool to see. I don't know why. At another temple there was this cute old man that was soo excited that we were there and kept trying to take us around the temple and tell us things in his broken English. We also made it to the temple with the largest wooden Buddha in Japan. We of course couldn't take pictures, but we bought cool postcards to commemorate. We then headed to the local Asian Art Museum for the benefit of Kristen, who loves art.
Before we got there we had the best Tangarine ice cream drink thing I have ever had. The museum was pretty cool. My favorite art were the wooden carvings that looked like those pictures you make as a kid where you color a bunch of colors on a piece of paper and then color over it in black and then take a pin and draw a picture so the colors underneath show. It was beautiful. The only thing I didn't like was the body/performing art stuff. It was weird and most of it was pornographic. Not my idea of art. Kristen didn't even understand it. It was fun to go to an art museum again though. It was a great day and lots of fun to get out and see somethings we don't get to see on a regular basis.Thursday, July 06, 2006
Fourth of July Pictures!!
Oh Say can you see?!
Happy Fourth of July!!!! Celebrating Independence day in Japan is a little different since they don't have the holiday here. I did try to wear red and white and blue all day to celebrate. Then that night Kristen and I had bought fireworks and invited Jonas and Jason over to do them. In Japan it is illegal to do fireworks anywhere, but on the beach, so at 10 pm we traveled to ichinomiya park to light off fireworks. Too bad it started to rain so we had to hold our umbrellas over out head in order to light the fireworks. It was also like 10:30 at night, so it was
really dark and hard to see. The fireworks ended up all being kind of stupid. They were all the same color and type. We did have fun with all the sparklers though and even wrote our names with them. I have fun videos of the whole thing and a few cute pictures. I did make a Fourth of July cake with my kids in Homestay the next day as well as Fourth of July hats. They called it the birthday of America. I guess that is the easiest way to explain it to them. We also did sparklers with them at a local park. The kids loved it and I got some really cool pictures. So I guess I figured out a way to celebrate in my own way!! HAPPY INDEPENDENCE DAY!!Tripping in Tokuyama
I have to write in a fun color to let you know how fun my trip to Tokuyama was. I went to Tokuyama, in Yamaguchi-ken, last Friday because one the missionaries that used to be in my branch here in Marugame, called me and asked me to come teach a discussion in Spanish out there!! I was way excited to go. So I was a bad girl and called in sick with my roommate to go out to see him and teach a discussion. We didn't feel bad about missing work since we were just recording that day, so we took a 4 hour train trip out there!! It was soo fun to see our friend again and meet his ever so cool companion. Their names are Elder Wengel and Elder Warner. We hung out with them all afternoon and even got to see them in 
action, contacting people on the street. The discussion went really well, although I was nervous beyond belief beacause it has been such a long time since I taught a lesson and I was the only one talking for like an hour and half!! But it was still good to be speaking in Spanish and teaching the gospel as well. Also, I was the spotlight at the Young Men's activity that night as they had me tell all about my mission in Argentina and about Argenintian people. We spent the night with an English teacher in Wengel and Warner's branch. She was really nice. We didn't sleep well as we were on the floor, but it was still fun to be there. We then left the next morning to go to Fukuoka. It was a short trip, but well worth it to travel there. It was way, way, WAY fun!! 
