Some things I've done and some things I've don't.

Haven't had a lot of pictures on the 'ol blog in a while now. 'Bout time to go siftin' through some archived pictures. Saddle up.

Around the end of March I went to Kyushu with my (old) homestay family. It was a Japanese-style vacation, which means we spent one night at a hotpsring (Western-style room) and raced from one scenic spot to another for most of the day. We spent about 20 minutes in Huis Ten Bosch, a manufactured 17th century Dutch city on the Kyushu coast. (and yes I had to double-check the spelling) This is the hotel there, a prime spot for the increasingly-popular Western-style weddings.

We were travelling with Kazumi's parents (my homestay father) who live in, or perhaps just near, the city of Kumamoto, also Kyushu. This is the family shot I took. From left to right: Mom, Kenta, Dad, his Mom, his Dad. They're very nice, but I had some trouble understanding Kyushu dialect.

Koi no bori. Little cloth carp that Japanese people hang outside their houses like streamers for Children's Day, the 5th of May. Also sometimes, and confusingly, known as the Boy's Festival. In Japan carp are a symbol for strength and power; they are said to leap over waterfalls; there is a fairy tale, a strange one, where a carp swims up a waterfall and when it reaches the top is transformed into a dragon. There are normally three carp - a family with a small boy-carp - but this particular set, seen in front of a house a few doors up the hill from my new homestay, had a fourth, a black one, bigger than the others. With unknown meaning, even when I asked my homestay mother.

We went to the beach. Soccer was played, friends were made, heads were shaved. Nuff 'bout that.

We had a triple-birthday-smorgasbord of fun at an All-You-Can-Play-Park in Kobe. The intrepid duo pictured were among those who aged recently. That's John on the left, of Hotlanta, Georgia, and Michi, of way the hell middle of nowehere, Japan.

Jason, who you see with his best game face on, was the third. He was, shall we say, somewhat inebriated. He may have tried to lift me a few times. Jason is very strong. Jason succeeded.

The train back. One sleeping Jason not pictured. I think everybody's too funned-out to smile. And Mandy, on the left, is of course texting. That's Pat in the middle, whom we have met before.