My Life Through the Lense of My Camera Phone

OK, so now that I have internet at home I can spend countless hours searching youtube videos and such and I figure since many of you are wondering about Japanese life and traditions I thought I would show you a little video to help you.

So now onto the good stuff. Where does the magic happen? Wow. The magic is happening everywhere. Like hereMy teacher housing. May not look like much, but inside there are more than 300 rooms.
(notice the car - one of the ones broken dawn in my yard. The other is in the back.)

So my house is a little old. Maybe not completely up to building code, but that's ok. It has a ton of personality.

My living room.

So notice the rug. It actually is an electric rug and heats up! The table is a kotatsu which means it has a heater underneath and you put your legs underneath it and throw a blanket over top to trap the heat and voila. You can keep warm during the winter. However, I'm scared to use it. I mean having a heat source that close to the center of my legs seems a little dangerous.

Next:

My Kitchen!

I know it looks very messy. Well, I've got lots of stuff and not a lot of space. So kind of hard to keep it all neat and tidy. I'm becoming an expert cook. The crappy thing is I don't have an oven! Sucks! Goodbye Digiorno. I will miss you so very much.

Music Room/Guest Bedroom/Dance in Underwear Room

I actually really like this room. It will be your bedroom when you come stay with me. The futons are actually really comfortable. There is nothing wrong that I've discovered with this room.

My Bed!

I do sleep. And this is where I do it. Unless I pass out on the floor from exhaustion...which has happened. It's comfortable enough and gets me through those long dark scary nights. There is a light on the stand which is perfect for those times when I think I hear a ghost or the pidder padder of mr. peepers.

Ok! I would show you my bathroom and shower because it is just too awesome to put on the internet. So on to the next thing. I will instead tell you what I did yesterday. I went to Shiojiri to hang out with some friends. Climbed for a bit, did a little shopping in minamimatsumoto, then went to the lake suwa fireworks festival! Awesome. Pictures:

Jonathan climbing. I swear he's like a monkey.
Lake Suwa. Camera phone just suck at capturing the real beauty of things. But it's pretty awesome place.

Street vendor. Festival food is delicious!

Streets at Lake Suwa festival.

Suwa Block ALTs gettin our picture on.

Anyways, Life is good. Drop me line.

Cheers,
Stephen