The Last Snake That Lived in the Creekbed

It's hard to believe that I've been in Japan for over a month now. Things have definitely fallen into a fairly steady routine. My room is finally starting to feel more like a place I live than just a place where I throw my things down at the end of the day...

Here's some more Hello Kitty banners I found at the 100円 store. They make a nice little display over my bed. :D

Those are actually seat covers pinned to the wall, haha. And of course it wouldn't be Japan without a paper latern. :)

Two cute little wind chimes that I hung up in one of my windows.

And finally my current capsule toy collection. Not really that much to it, honestly, although I have a bit more in a shoebox that I'm saving as souvenirs for you folks back home. I've gotten a hold of some pretty silly things, most recently a series of fairly realistic egg shells which cracked open to contain a song bird, a duck, a chicken, or, if you were a particularly fortunate soul, a tiny sunny side up egg, haha.

The weather is starting to change here. It felt rather unseasonably chilly for the longest time (which was very unfortunate for me, as I had packed with the expectations of a Mississippi level summer). However it has been heating up, and last week the humidity at times was enough to give Jackson a run for its money. That was until this weekend, however. Saturday's all day rain not only cooled things off, but also made for a rather dull weekend. I had intended to go out on Friday and do something fun as it was a classmate's birthday, but decided to rest instead. So Saturday was spent going slightly stir crazy inside, watching "Reservoir Dogs", "Spirited Away", and "Juno". Sunday, however, the clouds parted and I was able to go downtown with some folks for some shopping and general Kyoto wandering.

If you ever do come to Japan you will obviously experience some sense of loss with regards to things you are accustomed to back home. It will either be the Japanese squat toilets, the strange and often questionable addition of raw egg to the top of many foods, or the talking trash trucks which will inevitably wake you up in the early morning hours at some point during your stay with their altogether too cheery announcements and strange whimsical Japanese music. That said, on Sunday I went to an organic foods restaurant called the Sunshine Cafe and had an avocado and cream cheese sandwich on real wheat toast. None of the elements of this sandwich exist for casual consumption in Japan, and that makes me very sad. So go on and keep appreciating your whole grain bread, delicious cheeses, and incredibly cheap apples, my fellow Americans, while I continue to attempt to unlock the secrets of tofu, bean curd, and extremely bitter pickles (although preferably not at the same time).