Erica Abroad

Monday, March 19, 2007

東京 Take Two!

Three hours into the eight-hour drive to Yokohama from Kyoto!


Mount Fuji!


Shinjuku, I think... I forget. The crosswalk is about fifty-feet wide, and when you're there it's so crowded, you can't even see your own feet!




The Imperial Palace, where the Emperor still lives.




I love the juxtaposition of old and new.





Roppongi, the place the US government warns you about, but it didn't seem very dangerous.


Just wandering along downtown.


And my last stop: Akihabara, or Electric Town! Boring during the day, but gorgeous at night!



Portraits!

Here's a random bunch of pictures I've been meaning to post for a while. They span the past couple weeks.

Up first is the latest: Gabby, Alex, and I at a foreigner bar on Saturday night.


Gabby, I, Dana, and Nyssa at a bar a while ago.


Dana and I at the cutest store in the world.


Alex and I at our favourite bar.


Gabby and I being jackasses (we're in the process of falling down in this picture, although it looks like I'm simply farting) in Nara, which is officially Japan's Middle of Nowhere. Notice the hideous tights in honor of St. Patrick's Day.



This is me holding a mattya (green tea) parfait at a really popular place in Gion, Kyoto's traditional district. We had them in celebration of finishing midterms, and they were delicious!


And last, Gabby and I at our favourite bar!

Wednesday, March 07, 2007

マホロとタカ*

Here are some pics of my new friends Maho(ro) and Taka!

Maho stole the purple flag he's proudly holding in the photo below. He took a running start down the street and jumped ridiculously high to grab it off a building on our walk home tonight, and now it has a place of honor in my apartment.



The next two pictures were taken at McDonald's, which is suprisingly enough a very cool place to hang out in Japan. Each McDonald's is its own architectual/design masterpiece over here.





Aren't Maho and Taka absolutely adorable? The two of them are even more fun in real life than they appear in the photos!


*Maho and Taka

Friday, March 02, 2007

アパート!*

Finally, pictures of my apartment! Today I spent a couple hours cleaning and rearranging, so it all looks pretty nice right now. I doubt it'll last long, though. Heh. Let's take a tour!

This is what you see upon entering my apartment. To the right is my "dresser" (I was told it's for shoes, but I put my clothes in it), and to the left is my washing machine. You're not supposed to wear your shoes past the brick part, but sometimes I forget. My Japanese friends get annoyed when I do that.


This is my kitchen! Never complain about the smallness of yours again, Mom! I took the picture from inside my bathroom, so that's why you see the towel hanging on the door. See that white cube on the lower right? Yup, that's my fridge. Notice the lack of an oven and drawers.


And this is what the bathroom looks like from the kitchen. My shower (on the left) is a nice size, but there was no way to get a decent picture of it.


And this is my main room – well, only room, since the rest of the apartment is a tiny hall. For just one person it's pretty spacious, I think. It's more than twice the size of a Hamilton single.


And here's the view of my room from my deck! Ignore the clothing on the kitchen floor; I moved it from my bed to there so it wouldn't be in another picture but then forgot about it...


And this is what I see when I'm actually on my deck. Today's a pretty cloudy day; it doesn't normally look this gloomy!


じゃ〜、どう思うの?**


*apartment
**so what do you think?