Fun + Cold = Fall

Fall has finally arrived here in our little mountain city. It has been a good week or two since I was able to face the elements wearing just a long sleeve. It is now time for the big gear; snow caps and gloves. With the change in temperature, there has also been a noticeable change in the scenery around town. All of the surrounding mountains look like patchwork quilts full of reds, yellows, golds, and now white from the snow. It is like the mountains are molting. I really wish that my camera could get the full effect of the change, but alas, some things I guess are just not meant to be.

A lot seems to have been going on lately, and things are really picking up here, both in school and out of it. This week we started the second textbook in our series. We are really flying right now. It is truly a strange experience when you learn a new grammar point, and hear it being used in conversation soon after. It really opens up a new door for you and your abilities when you start to hear things that you never caught before. This happens all of the time here. I am by no means great at Japanese yet, I have 8 months to fix my errors, but I have really noticed a growth in my ability in just the past two weeks. Hallelujah brothers! I have been saved.

This past week I was invited out to dinner with my friend スジョン (Su Jon)　from South Korea, and her friend ちさと (Chisato). We went out to a local ramen restaurant and enjoyed a bowl of "hell ramen", yakisoba (crunchy noodles with cooked vegetables), and dumplings. Maybe it is just my desensitized mouth speaking, but I think that if you are going to call something "hell ramen", at least make it spicy enough to feel the burn.

Last night was an evening spent with my friend Daniel and friends. We hung out at his apartment for awhile until his good friend and DJ みちはる (Michiharu) came by to join us. Even if the conversation topics are limited, it is good to know that I can have normal conversations in Japanese fairly easy now. みちはる doesn't really speak English at all, so having to communicate in Japanese really made things fun. We had a great time. From Daniels we met スジョン at a little bar/pub called "U2" for a drink and to just relax and enjoy our first night of the weekend. Incidentally, on the way home around 1:00 a.m., I was met with flashing lights from none other than the usually invisible Japanese police. It was quite the interesting experience, and after explaining that I had just met my friends, one of the policeman and I realized we had met before; remember the bike incident? We reminisced for a moment, and then they just let me walk away without any more questions. I really don't know why they stopped me, I have never been drunk so that knocks out that reason, so maybe it was because it was the wee early hours of the morning? That is just my life though. Small world eh?

The rest of this weekend will be used to just relax and take care of things around the house. I will most likely clean up some, study a lot, and enjoy the 3-day weekend. That is really all I know at the moment, but I will post sometime this week about the new happenings in Matsumoto. Take care.

Here is a link to a walk around my neighborhood:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GDUsppQPGIc

A really neat cafe named "Banana Moon" in the woods near the city of Azumino. After I helped my friends Charlie(pictured) and Yasuko(also pictured) at an event promoting his books, they took me to this place as a thank you gesture. It was really neat and inside were rooms full of paintings by a famous Japanese painter who happens to be Charlies roommates father. His roommate is also a very skilled painter.


Just a few late afternoon shots of Matsumoto in fall. The colors are very beautiful right now. Everyday I think a little more snow falls on the mountains, but that is to be expected, we are in Japan's ski country.