 |
| A view from the train as we ride into Yonago |
 |
| The bus we take to get to the big department store |
 |
| It just felt like that bus would take you to the "bad" part of town |
 |
| Some things we found at a store called Village Vanguard |
 |
| Tottori Ramen! This is the gyoza set |
 |
| Awww, he doesn't look happy at all to be at McDonald's does? (there is also another one across the street if you look carefully) |
 |
| You can plug your phone directly into the photo printer here |
 |
| 30 yen a picture is a bit much, but it's cool and fast |
 |
| The inside of the train we ride to get back home |
 |
| A moth that landed on us, in the train |
 |
| A scraggy (from pokemon) doll that doubles as a headphone holder |
 |
| Making tonkatsu |
 |
| The finished product with miso! |
 |
| This night we went for BLTs (mine had egg in it) |
 |
| Working on making a letter box out of a used Amazon.com box (I didn't get a picture of what it looked like from the start) |
 |
| More Progress |
 |
| The English Board for the kids at the Jr. High School |
 |
| Look how tiny! |
 |
| This is where Mitsuko "parks" her bike |
 |
| Prime parking no? |
 |
| Our new pet: Mr. Frog |
 |
| A bread truck that comes once in a while, they call it Peter Pan here (pan is the word for bread in Japanese) |
 |
| The house just past that black car is ours |
 |
| From that previous picture, looking further down the road |
 |
| Looking towards where I was standing earlier (that's the bank/ATM on the right hand side) |
 |
| Our train station (takes about a minute and a half to walk to) |
 |
| More views of the town |
 |
| Moving down the road more |
 |
| That's the post office |
 |
| Apparently this is a clinic |
 |
| Better view of the post office |
 |
| An even better view of it |
 |
| This is at the Jr. High School looking at out at their field. That building on the right has a computer room at the end of the hall, and that is where we usually practiced with the students for the English Speaking Contest |
 |
| From that spot, turning the other direction |
 |
| Standing back a bit further looking towards the field |
 |
| Making Miso Soup! |
 |
| A little round of Hangman with the kids after a long day of practice |
 |
| Miso soup, it was delicious |
 |
| The kindergarten lesson plan |
 |
| A close up of the board when I was helping Souhei |
 |
| There was a little bit more to the right |
 |
| From left to right: Souhei, Mitsuko, Shunpei, Shouta, and Fukada-Sensei |
 |
| The whole board in full view |
 |
| Birthday card |
 |
| Fish on sale at the checkstand at our local shop |
 |
| Mayonnaise in a bag, in a bottle |
 |
| An electronic store where we shopped for a fan and a printer (only bought the fan here though) |
 |
| Cool car we saw on the way out |
 |
| Sounds like a place you don't want your car to be |
 |
| I had no idea why this one was so expensive (printer) |
 |
| Mos Burger. The best burger in Japan |
 |
| Have a look at the menu |
 |
| This is a Double Cheese Mos Burger (cost 470 yen) |
 |
| The wrapper after I finished because why not |
 |
| Fancy cups |
 |
| Some fun English on things in the 100 yen shop |
 |
| More Engrish |
 |
| Halloween Photospot? |
 |
| They sure know about Halloween here. This is better than most places in America as far as style goes |
 |
| They'll make it fit |
 |
| This cutely named shop had expensive trinkets in varying degrees of uselessness |
 |
| I'm noticing a pattern in the naming conventions here. . . |
 |
| Star Wars chopsticks. [Insert force joke here] |
 |
| Star Wars Hanafuda cards! I'd buy those |
 |
| Figurines |
 |
| The same glass Chess Set that Mitsuko has. How random is that? |
 |
| As opposed to the boxes that cannot be put into a color box |
 |
| I don't even know what's going on here |
 |
| It took me a while to notice it was JINdiana |
 |
| Space Invader ice cube trays! |
 |
| Ice cube trays for every man |
 |
| ABC-Mart, they sell shoes |
 |
| Fun clocks |
 |
| I really liked this one |
 |
| Some manga just sitting about at a book store called Miraiya. Yes, that one at the top left is just casually sitting here |
 |
| My birthday cake that Keiko-san bought for me |
 |
| The fancy printer we bought, it was only in Japanese but we managed to set it up and get it working. Really nice printer |
 |
| Even though the Sports Festival was canceled due to rain, we still had the drinking party at 12pm |
 |
| Another shot of the tables before even turned up |
 |
| All the ladies in our area preparing food. Men sat down and read papers. Pretty patriarchal place still. |
 |
| Our train station, and the name of our area: Ebi |
 |
| Visiting another ALT, named Tom. This is Higashiyamakoen |
 |
| More shots of the train station where we got off at |
 |
| Too many chances for cool pictures |
 |
| See! There's English, even if you couldn't speak or read Japanese, you'd make it somehow |
 |
| More shots of the station |
 |
| A waiting area, that red box is where you get a stub that proves you got on at so-and-so stop for when you eventually pay |
 |
| A shot from the top of the stairs look out at the town and the rest of the tracks |
 |
| Looking back down |
 |
| More cool shots |
 |
| Sorry, I found this place fascinating as far as picture taking was concerned |
 |
| A little waterway just beyond the station |
 |
| Vending machines! |
 |
| Not sure how to pronounce that one |
 |
| The first Mountain Dew, Pepsi, and 7up I've seen in Japan |
 |
| BOSS coffee. Rainbow Mountain Blend. For the real men |
 |
| The dinner I made earlier |
 |
| Fried rice with shimeji mushrooms, a bit of egg, and green onions |
 |
| And shiyosaba, salted mackerel. A delicious dinner |
