Some hiking photos from back in Oregon.

I should write some things about Russia.

There are more children here than I expected.

Russians, paradoxically, have both an aversion to drafts and a need to keep windows open to let in fresh air.

(Speaking of paradoxes) I have been flipping between finding my grandparents completely amazingly awesome and stiflingly crazy. I suppose it makes sense considering the meeting of different cultures, ages, outlooks, etc. Not to mention family. I guess with all that taken into account we're getting along wonderfully.

LAURA THERE ARE SO MANY PIGEONS HERE YOU HAVE NO IDEA. I THINK OF YOU EVERY TIME I SIT ON A BENCH AND ONE OF THEM COMES NECK JIIVING UP TO ME WITH HIS LITTLE PIGEON FRIENDS.

That's it for now.

I love my alley. My alley smells like Indian food and incense. Not always (it is an alley) but frequently enough. More in the summer.







Year-round, at all times of the day I can hear people checking the garbage and recycle bins: the periodic thump of the lids dropping back into place after they've been opened and peered into.



One of the trashier bars/clubs is two blocks away, and I can usually tell when it's around closing time. That's when the drunks are swearing (loudly) or arguing (loudly) or singing (loudly) or, once, being chased by a cop yelling "Get on the ground!" (that final thing I missed entirely because I was in the bathroom and jealously heard about it from my friend).






This shop is perhaps the source of the incense smell. Either that or the Indian restaurant.






So. It's been good, alleyway apartment. You've taught me the merits of slapping down an application and a deposit for a place I've never seen, and though the sentiment is probably somewhat misplaced, I feel more prepared to live in a big city having lived here.

A boy I dated once remarked on oaks that they always formed this particular dome shape, whether there was a clump of them or just one.

Tokyo Tower is a tourist attraction, a tall tower painted red and white like this one, but there were actually multiple towers that looked all the same to me. This one looks a bit small to be Tokyo Tower. ...I got lost a lot in Tokyo.




The pond had a sign next to it saying that in it resided fish that were descendants of these fish that some Japanese astronaut took into space with him...




I went into this book store looking for souvenirs for folks. It was five stories tall, and the top floor had this little lounge area with large windows. The top floor was also the naked-young-Asian-girls-covering-their-huge-boobs-and-smiling-sheepishly poster floor.




The last day in Tokyo it rained.

From Fukuoka we headed to Tokyo for a few days.






This place made me think of the wand shop in Harry Potter. Chopsticks of different lengths, materials, and shapes.




My friend's friend, the girl showing us around, was about the cutest thing ever. She's there in the white, with the lacey shorts. I definitely had a crush.






This is the giant Buddha of Kamakura, which is near Yokohama, where we stayed for a night before heading to the hotel in Tokyo.






Yokohama had a very nice feel to it. Quiet compared to Tokyo, but not a little country town by any means.




Asakusa in Tokyo. Not all of Tokyo was this crowded; this was a tourist sight of some sort.












The sign said to not throw anything into the pond but people most definitely fed these fish because when you leaned over the railing to peer at them they'd swim up and open their mouths expectantly.








I like that it's very obvious what this is.


During this trip to Asakusa I annoyed everyone by spending 45 minutes gift-shopping in this pottery store, and had the best Starbucks drink I've ever experienced: a matcha frappuccino. I have not been able to locate this in the States.