Cherry blossoms

On Saturday, I went for a hike near Hamamatsu with some other teachers. We had a good view of the city on the way up the mountain:
On Sunday, I went with Ayako to Hamamatsu castle which is close to where we live:
As you can see, the cherry blossoms are out now, so we got lots of shots with them:
I also got to take some fun nice shots with my new camera:

I have seen cherry blossoms in Canada, so I thought it would look the same here. The major difference I've found here is that I see cherry blossoms everywhere and in long rows and along rivers which make them that much more beautiful in Japan.

This coming Saturday, I'll be going to a cherry blossom viewing party (hanami) with my co-workers, so there'll be more Cherry blossoms (sakura) to come.

Hiking in Mikkabi

Here are some photos of a spring hike we did at the north end of Hamana Lake. In the photos are Daniela, Jen, Jenny, Ayako and myself.

My weekend

Woke up late on Saturday, and since it was raining decided to go shopping to stay inside. I bought a towel cover for my surfboard and a guidebook for Japanese birds. In the evening, Ayako and I went to a restaurant strip that has about 6 ramen restuarants and 5 other Japanese restaurants. We went to the ramen restaurant with the shortest line and it was still a 10-minute wait. Here's a couple of pictures from that place:
After dinner, we saw a number of dance performances by teams from all over Japan. It was part of a dance festival that is held in Hamamatsu every year and had about 100 teams participating. It's the 6th year of the event and teams range in size from 6 to 100 people and can do anything as long as they dance and use a musical instrument. It was great seeing lots of members of teams walking around downtown in their costumes.

I also recently heard that Hamamatsu is one of four venues for the 2006 World Basketball Championships that 's being held in Japan starting in August. I'm surprised that Hamamatsu is big enough to be one of the sites but then again, the smaller town next to us was one of the sites for the 2002 World Cup.

On Sunday, I played soccer in a 2 friendly games against some high school teams. Our team was made up of foreigners (most of whom were much better than I am). We gotten beaten by the high school "B" and "C" team though. It was very windy and a bit cold, so I was surprised when I realized that I got a bit of a sunburn during the day... a good reminder that I'm living much further south than I have before and that the UV rays are stronger here.

St. Paddy's Day

Went out last night for St. Paddy's day.
Unfortunately here you can only find half pints of Guinness
and those are hard to come by.
I paid $7 for a half pint at the first bar
and then luckily found $3 half pints at another bar.
We even had a special treat by finding a new street vendor selling shawarma,
although of course it was $6 to get one...but definately worth it.

Home-made Ice Cream

On Sunday, Ayako made some wonderful mint chocolate chip ice cream. It was very creamy and very yummy.

Sanaru Lake

Near the school that I teach at is Sanaru Lake. It is a pleasant little lake that attracts many birds and people strolling by it even though it is the second most poluted lake in Japan. Ayako and I went for a bicycle ride around there on Saturday. Since I didn't know the area attracted many birds, I was pleasantly surprised to see lots of places set up for birds such as fences in the lake and large nesting areas.



Still keeping with the theme of birds...on the way home, we passed by a vending machine selling fresh organic eggs...very interesting:
And we also passed a small Japan plum tree in full bloom:

Birding & a bicycle ride

On Saturday, I went for a bicycle ride to the beach to try and take photos of them with my new camera and its longer zoom. Unfortunately, it was too windy for birds at the beach but I got some good shots of birds in the river on the way to the beach.

Apartment set up

I've got most of my apartment set up now except for not having any pictures on the walls yet.
This is my bedroom:
Next is from my bedroom, looking into my extra room. It now has a mini pool table and a desk, but soon I will have a TV set up in there and hopefully get a sofa there as well. Since I've got an extra room now, feel free to come visit me in Japan and let me show you around my wonderful city.^^
And here's some shots of my living room and kitchen:

Surfboard

On Saturday, I bought a surfboard from a teacher who is leaving Japan. There's another teacher here, Jack, who is a good surfer and is willing to help me with learning how to surf. I still have to get a wetsuit since the water doesn't get warm until June, but with a wetsuit, I should be able to start learning how to surf soon.