The most fun/busiest/craziest/greatest time of my life

~Narita~

~historical street filled with many shops and restaurants~ very quaint!

~Entrance of the shrine to cleanse your hands. I thought it was really pretty~

~Main gate/lantern into Naritasan (Narita Temple)

Kashima Antlers November 2008
~Lionel came to the game too! It was so much fun! He loves soccer/football~ It was fun to see him again!

~Emily, Me, Liyan, and Erin at the game!~

~rainbow at the end of the game just as the antlers scored!~ They are the J.League Champions 2008!!!
~Hakone~

~The Pirate Ship we took across the Lake Ashii at sunset~

~Fujisan (Mt. Fuji) at sunset from the cable car~ We rode over sulfer fields. Hakone was absolutely beautiful. However, the orginization of the trip caused us to loose a day so unfortunately the trip felt very rushed :( Waiting for the cablecar to go up and over to Lake Ashii
~Annelyse, Lionel, and I~ "I wear my sunglasses at night" was a song Annelyse was by chance singing. Therefore we all broke out our sunglasses. This picture was taken right outside of Shibuya station. It was a very fun night prior to us going to the very crowded Hakone the next day.

~Criston Cafe in Shibuya. If you are offended at all by religion this place is not for you. However, it was a very fun restaurant and I highly recommend going back!~~My apartement on Thanksgiving!!~ We made a huge feast! It was grand :)

~Part of our Thanksgiving Feast! We had fried chicken, salami, cheese crackers, olives, salad, soup, confetti cake, it was very delicious!~

~Making confetti cake with Erin and Andrew!~ Oishii!

~Oh, come on..don't tell me you don't do this because I know you do! Its the best part of baking a cake or baking cookings! The RAW stuff!!~

~Katori shrine again. The beautiful shrine very close to my home~

~I went there to see the beautiful fall leaves~ Aren't they gorgeous?!~

~more leaves in katori, chiba. Give it a google search! If/when you all come to visit I will take you to this sweet little town~

~walking up to the shrine itself~

~ I decided to take the woodsey path~ It was so beautiful~

~I love fall~

~not sure the name of this flower but it is in full bloom here. I love Japan because of the things that are in bloom now that are not in America. The flowers and strawberries - ichigo in Japanese - are my favorite :)

~Part of the shrine :)!~

I think this image captures Japan really well. It was a very misty day so it made the shrine that much more enjoyable. It is very haunting and peaceful at the same time. It is wonderful.

~Sunset in Itako over one of the many beautiful bodies of water~

The international festival in tsukuba! high school sumo wrestlers!

*Cat and I being silly wearing costumes from Trinadad and Tobego*

a funny character that came to attack Bea and I! Isn't he hilarous!?

Bea and I made Christmas decorations for 500 Yen ~ about 5 USD. I hung my in my apartment and it is still hanging. It is quite dried out and needs to be thrown away now but has lasted me almost 2 months!

~Making brownies with Erin before the international festival in Tsukuba~

~My adorable easy bake oven!~

Another awesome weekend with Annelyse! I LOVE HER!! :)

Halloween & Many Shrines = MANY ADVENTURES :)

Working backwards - most recent to oldest :) Enjoy!
Beautiful shrine I stumbled upon after taking Emily home to Mitsukaido. On route 51 :)

The flowers this time of year are gorgeous! I have noticed they are having competitions all over Japan for the biggest, most beautiful flower :)
The shrine itself that I stumbled upon. I felt a bit awkward being there because I was the only woman there. I took my pictures, looked around, and left. I didn't feel unwelcome just was getting a lot of stares SOOOO...I hurried up :)
To cleanse your hands when you first enter a temple or a shrine :) I've started doing it. I am not going to church here sooo I guess cleansing my hands is a good start :)
Shrine gate :)
An adorable cat that came up and welcomed herself to me :) Isn't she cute. It really took everything I had not to pick her up and bring her home to my apartment. However, my better judgement kicked in and I decided it wasn't the best move!Right by the entrance. You are able to make wishes and prayers on the wooden plaques and the tied pieces of paper are thoughts of illness, death, and anything not good/happy in a persons life or family.
At Lake Kasumigaura with Emily! This was on the adventure back to her place! Lake Kasumigaura is the huge lake in Ibaraki :) We stopped to look around! It was beautiful!!!
Me and the adorable colored sail boats :)
Emily! Check out her hair! I hacked off a good 6-7 inches - maybe more!
This used to be a house that belonged to some samurai or well rather they lived here. It is on Lake Kasumigaura. It is a museum inside that tells the history of the boats - it was neat! I couldn't really read anything but it was worth a shot!!
Outside of the house but still inside the gates :)
Acting goofy at Katori Shrine! Katori Shrine is only 15 minutes from my house! It was my first time to visit! I feel so lucky to have such a COOL shrine by my house! :)
Emily and I :)
Me - duh!
Peace at Katori Shrine :)
Emily and I!
I took Emily to the adorable cafe here in Itako! That cake you see there was DELICIOUS! It was amazing :) We enjoyed coffee and tea and that cake! Then our adventures set sail from there :)
Sunrise in Tokyo on Nov. 1, 2008 :) Walking from Club Ageha to the train station!! What a fun night it was! :)
Devil and Witch. Annelyse and I :) OOOOoooo how I love Annelyse!!!
Chika, Annelyse, Jason, and I :) on the top deck out by the pool (which we couldn't see but I am convinced it was there!)
Inside the club :) Dancing away!!
Dancing away! :) IT WAS HUGE!!!
Annelyse and I on the subway to the club!!

On my way to Tokyo to meet up with all my friends. The smallest beer I have by far ever consumed! How cute?!

I am continuing to study! I am starting to be able to write Japanese! It is pretty cool :) I have many events coming up and have been keeping busy. I have been having fun cooking and driving around just discovering what is around me. I am definitely staying for 2 years so please come and visit me when you wish! I want to see you all. :) Know you have a **FREE** place to stay. I will try to be better at blogging. I am sorry!! :) Annelyse came to Itako and spent the entire weekend with me! We had a blast!! We went bowling and did karaoke on friday night and had a really really late dinner after karaoke :) Saturday we drove around and watched movies and then we had a birthday party to go to :) We had a great time at dinner - we ate a TON! :) We had some really nice drinks and opted to take daiko home - taxi service that drives your car home. Then we came home and finished our movie "Reality Bites" - IT was hilarious! I hope you have been enjoying all my updates! I miss you guys! :) LOTS OF LOVE!!!