Summertime

For the past couple of months I've been participating in something called the "travel forum". It's basically just a bunch of people who like to travel and meet once a month to talk about it. They have panelists who talk about their experiences and share pictures and such, and everyone else listens and can ask questions afterwards. When it's all over, those who want to go out for drinks and conversation.

I've only gone twice so far, but it's been a lot of fun and I've met some really cool, like-minded people. They've also held some other random events and get-togethers, one of which was last night. We basically just all gathered at a restaurant serving different kinds of ethnic food. I saw lots of people I'd met before and some new faces, too.

One of the girls who went was kind enough to lend me her yukata, which is like the lighter summer version of a kimono. I say "lighter" because an actual kimono has more layers and is much more complicated, but even so, a yukata isn't exactly comfortable. There are several pieces to it that are rather difficult to put on correctly (my friend helped me put it on-- most people can't do it themselves), the fabric is scratchy and rubs against your legs in a way that makes it difficult to walk, and it's really too hot for Japan's sweltering summers. Even so, it's considered a trademark of summer and you can always see a few girls (and sometimes guys) wearing them this time of year, with a fan tucked into the back of their obi (the belt-like part around the torso), probably on their way to some sort of festival or firework show.

So it wasn't comfortable (probably largely because I just wasn't used to it), but still, it was fun to try wearing it and I got a lot of compliments from people saying it looked good on me. =D


(Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that I chopped all my hair off. I think I like it this way though!)


The guy in the middle had just arrived in Japan and didn't know how to use chopsticks, so we were trying to teach him. He learned pretty quickly though!


Haha... Fail shot! XD


And this one turned out really blurry. =/ Oh well. It was a fun night!

Next month they're going to get together at a firework show, which unfortunately I can't go to-- because I'll be in Thailand at the time. =O I'm taking advantage of the gloriously long summer vacation I get as a school teacher and going to Thailand for two weeks! I'm really excited about this, because I've wanted to visit Thailand for a long time now. That's for the next post, though!

Finally, I'd like to end this post with a couple of "Engrish" signs I discovered around Yokohama this past week.


Sorry the picture isn't very good, but it says "The coffee of an Italian tomato is very delicious. Please relax on the inside of a shop carried out calmly. Don't you take breath, either?"


What on earth is "in Haenza"? (It's actually supposed to be "influenza".) It's like someone just took a guess at how it might be spelled in English, and failed miserably. XD

Anyway, that's all I have for today. Next time, Thailand!