Picture Post

[laurainlimbo]

Hi... I'm not sure who's out there now in LJ land since we're at the start of Christmas week. But for those of you who are watching, I thought I'd post a few pictures that I've taken in the last few days, just to give you an idea of where I am, and what it looks like here. I still need to get a picture of the little bird that Masahiko's dad caught in a field recently near here. She's so cute! anyway, here's a few pics for you...



First of all, I think I mentioned that we live very near Mt. Fuji, and that it's covered with snow this time of year. I took some pictures of Fuji-san when I was walking home from my haircut the other day. These are taken from the street near our house - just about 5 minutes from my home:





This is the view from my the second floor of the house, looking over the tea field at twilight today:



And here is the ramen shop across the street (you can also see the sign in front of our house for "Peaks English School" - that's the school I'm trying to start):



The ramen shop owners recently re-built their restaurant and house - this is what it looked like four years ago:



Here's some shots of my little classroom with my Christmas tree (you can see the cards I've received by the tree). Leo decided to get into the shots too. It's such a cute classroom, I wish we'd get some students:







I haven't gotten to take a recent picture of our house, but I did take one four years ago, and it hasn't changed much (but this picture is not very good - it's a bit distorted):



and finally, here's a picture of Leo lounging in the sun today - it comes in really strong in the second story. At least one of us is not worried about having so much free time:

Comments

[laurainlimbo.livejournal.com]

Leo actually hasn't gained weight, so I was surprised he looks big:) I find summer harder than winter here because it's so hard to stay cool and look good when you go out in the humidity. but I guess saving energy is important too:)

I also love the tatami, and it's so easy to take care of. It is sad to think of houses and apartments not having tatami anymore - that's why I love old Japanese houses and I've loved staying in traditional Ryokans (like they have in Kyoto) - that's real Japan!

Let's All Speak at Peaks! that's a good slogan.

[jojobruin.livejournal.com]

Gosh, I'm not sure if there is a way to look good in a hot and humid weather. No matter what you wear, you are drenched in sweat in no time. But if everybody looked like that, who's say we don't look good, right?

With global warming and being alarmed by watching Avatar, I stopped using the heater in my apartment. That might not mean much to people elsewhere though since the temperature never dips below the 40's in San Diego. All the more reason not to have AC and heating systems at all here. =)

I read somewhere that the Ryokan are very expensive to maintain nowadays. And increasingly people are abandoning them for simple urban apartments. There is an active and ongoing effort to save them in Kyoto.

Glad you like the slogan! When your school gets huge, I'll make a fortune by charging 1cent per student for saying that slogan! ^_^

[laurainlimbo.livejournal.com]

oh but the sad thing is, Japanese women seem to look good no matter what. even in the humidity, they don't sweat, they don't have smearing makeup, and they don't get frizzy hair. I get all of that! oh well, that's just life.

I didn't realize Avatar had a global warming message. was it a good movie? I don't know a thing about it. well when I lived in Seattle, there were no air conditioners, but it never really got that hot. but we did have central heat. and in apartments you can't really control the heat much, at least I couldn't in Chicago. but in Chicago we needed as much heat as possible or we'd die!

that's sad about Ryokan being more expensive to maintain - that means they will be more expensive to stay at. but hopefully they won't all go away.

oh, I hope the school gets huge. but there's still a chance we might move to another part of Japan, so I don't know what will happen with the school. we still haven't got any interested students yet. we need more time, I guess.

[jojobruin.livejournal.com]

How's that humanly possible? Well, I guess they did have years of practicing just by virtue of living in Japan.

Avatar is a great movie. I watched it twice, in 2d and 3d and loved every minute of it.

[laurainlimbo.livejournal.com]

I'll have to see Avatar when it comes here, if a friend will go with me.