I was trying to express how green it is here, all the time. The leaves are just starting to turn colors, but for now the bamboo trees around the city are staying the same wet green color.
This photo was taken on the grounds of one of the temples in Kitayama, towards the northern part of Sendai (where I live).
Click to enlarge
Strange huge spiders live here, usually between large trees, above where people would walk into their webs. This one was lounging between two pieces of bamboo at a local temple. For comparison, the spider’s body is about 3cm long (a bit longer than an inch), and counting the legs, it’s easily 6cm in diameter.
Click to enlarge
EDIT (31 August 2007):
According to a bit of research I did, it appears this spider is called Nephila clavata, which sounds like a curse from a Harry Potter book.
I went to a festival this past Saturday, held downtown. There were people dancing on a stage, people playing music, and a lot of people selling food.
Here’s a video of some of the vendors and things for sale at the festival. You should be able to hear people shouting “Irasshaimasse~~!!!” which roughly translated means “Welcome to my shop!” but in this case, it’s more like, “Look at me, I’m selling stuff!”
Please note that you will need the Divx 5 codec for Windows or for Macintosh to play the video. If you’re only getting sound, you need to download and install this file.
Click the image to play the video (1.1MB)
Today (Monday) is National Sports and Health Day. What does this mean?
Well first of all, you’re supposed to go out today and play some kind of sport… you know, get outside, run around, and get your adrenaline going. Unfortunately it’s been sorta rainy today, so not a whole lot of people are doing that.
But the other thing is, since it’s a national holiday, it means that school is closed. Which means I have the day off. :-P
Just so you know.
Well, there won’t be any more posts until next Tuesday for me, because apparently Monday is a holiday. So you’ll have to wait a little longer for some more photos. Sorry!
The good news is, I’m working on getting the photos that DO go up to look a bit better.
Everything in time…
As promised, here’s a photograph. It’s not great, and I’m still working out the details. But this is taken out the window of my new “office”, where I will have permanent net access!
Isn’t it really green here?
Click to enlarge
Okay, here’s an update of the past several days, since I still don’t have real Internet access (and I have so many cool photos to put up!) But I’m picking up a wireless network card today, and I’ve heard that there are several networks around each of the campuses. Maybe I can hijack a connection somewhere.
A few days ago, several of my friends and I threw an impromptu cooking night. We each brought something from the grocery store that we had found. I brought udon (thick) noodles, and some sauce for them. Others brought vegetables, rice from a rice cooker, chicken, potatoes… by the end of the night we had figured out how to cook each of the strange dishes we’d found, and we had a feast fit for a king. Not bad for a few random foreigners.
Today we had yet another orientation; I believe this was number 4 or 5. We were expected to make it to the campus in one piece, about a 40 minute walk from the International House, up and down several hills. I think I’ll have no trouble getting enough cardio exercise. Is all the paperwork filled out yet? I hope so!
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