afraid of small animals

Happy Valentine's Day!

See's chocolates flown in from California!

Shocker!

I was pretty stunned to be wading through piles of snow this morning (ok, a few inches) on my way to work. This is the coldest winter yet! I quite enjoyed seeing sometimes blizzardy weather outside my office window this morning, but I will be happy to wake up tomorrow to dry, warm roads. If not, I'll be taking the bus!

Sunny Australia, part 2

When Chito went paintballing with his friends for the bachelors party, I met up with my old friend Jane from Lyon.  I hadn't seen her for ages but it was great to catch up and do some sightseeing at the same time!  We got a nice view of the Opera House and all those Sydney sights which was nice because it was pouring when I went with Chito. 

We headed to Manly Beach, so named for the "manly" aborigines that were spotted when the first fleet arrived.  It was another gorgeous beach day, perfect for a swim.

We took a coastal walk along the water to another smaller beach nearby.  The water was so blue!

Got to see some authentic Australian wildlife too, yippee.

We had a nice view of the sunset over the Sydney skyline when we took the ferry back to the city.  It was such a perfect day!  Couldn't have asked for much more. 

The next day we were off down the coast with Chito's friends Cally and Phil, heading to Jervis Bay.

We made a few stops along the way for lunch (oysters and fish and chips, yum) and to see the famous 7 Mile Beach.  It was gorgeous!  Stopped to throw the frisbee around a bit and then we were back on the road.

The first of several new animal crossing signs that I spotted!

We stayed in an amazing rental apartment that was newly furnished and absolutely fantastic.  We had a huge kitchen, comfortable living room and a big barbecue on the patio that we used for dinner and breakfast. 

Our patio eating area, with an ocean view!

The next day Chito and I went golfing before heading to the beach.  We were neck and neck the whole time and we thought this bad lie of his on the last hole guaranteed my win.  Unfortunately, my chipping lessons were a little too spot on that day, and he ended up chipping the next shot into the hole to win.  It was great to play a (cheap) round of golf!

It was still a bit overcast but the perfect day for swimming at Hyams Beach, which supposedly has the whitest sand in the world.  Even I looked tan here!  The beach was so nice, and it was totally empty since we went on a Tuesday afternoon.  We even saw dolphins swimming near us (that got me out of the water pretty fast!). 

That night we made a barbecue feast of steak, lamb sausages, and lots of veggies.  It tasted sooo good!

Sitting here on my couch in my freezing cold apartment today, this trip honestly feels like it was all just a dream.  The snow is falling down outside and all I can do is curl up with a hot water bottle and a good book, when I'm not looking back at pictures of the nice summery weather I was enjoying just last week.

The snow is falling in buckets today, which is very unusual for where I live.  Not going anywhere today, that's for sure!  Arz, this is my "new" car.             

Australia! Part 1

Our flight got to Sydney at 7:30 am on a Friday and we had a packed, nonstop day running errands and getting ready for the rest of the trip.  No time was wasted.  After a few stops I was ready to keel so we stopped at a Gloria Jean's for a flat white.  I got a big high ordering this drink (that we don't have in the States) and got them everywhere I went.  Yum!  After getting caffeinated, we had a big shopping spree (read: bathing suit search) and by the end of that day I was totally beat.

The clouds were ominous but it never rained on our first day.  We did a drive-by tour of the Olympic Park on the way home but I could hardly keep my eyes open and just snapped a few shots.

Chito convinced me to get out of the car for just one shot.  I was there!

Drive-by sightseeing.

There was rain in the forecast, but it ended up being a gorgeous Saturday--Australia Day!  Here is a shot from Chito's driveway.

We set off in the morning to buy food for the barbecue--cheap steaks and kangaroo sausage.

Australia Day was spent swimming and hanging out at the beach with most of Chito's friends.  The waves were sooo big that I was just being driven into the ground every 20 seconds or so.  It was unbelievable!  I love swimming at the beach but this was pretty exhausting.   

This was my first time meeting a lot of Chito's friends and they all proved to be really easy to get along with and tons of fun.  That's Phil. 

My first Australia Day!  The weather was so nice.  I forgot how warm weather can be so pleasant when it's not humid. 

      

Hi from the beach!

My trip to Sydney has been absolutely fantastic!  The first week was warm, sunny and peppered with visits to a number of beaches for swimming and barbecue fun.  This is the life!  Yesterday we hit up Bondi Beach for the tourist value but it was not nearly as nice as some of the other beaches we'd already been to, like Hyams Beach, which supposedly is the whitest sand beach in the world.

The weather has turned cooler and rainy but I can't complain after our first week.  Just getting ready for the wedding later this afternoon and then fitting in a few more days of fun before heading back to the dead of Japanese winter.  It might be hard to leave!

"Here he comes!"

Look Mum and Dad, I can snowboard!  Pay no attention to Chito's comment at the beginning.  I was doing so well he thought I was Stan!

Hokkaido!

Ready to see my pictures from Hokkaido?  I was super excited to be there on the first day and get my first cone of tasty, tasty soft serve.  It was nice and cold outside so it lasted forever, too. 

Here's where we stayed, a cute pension called Grandpapa, which was full of Christmas decorations (I thought they were slow to take them down but Megan pointed out that the place is actually Christmas-themed and the decorations were out all through the year).

This was the view from our bathroom window, although we often couldn't see the mountain through the snow.

Our trip was fun!  It took hardly any time before I got back into the swing of things and no major bumps to the tailbone.  I was in good shape! 

Me with Megan and Stan.  We all stuck together for most of the trip with the exception of the one day that Megan and I took off to relax and knit/crochet.  It was fun actually being able to keep up with the crowd for once.

So cold!  There was so much snow while we were there that this is usually the kind of sight we saw off the slopes--pure white.  But it was a lot less scary when you didn't have to see the whole steep slope stretching out ahead!

Look Mum, no hands! 

On my birthday, I made the mistake of going all the way to the top of the mountain.  This is what I looked like, mad, scared and close to tears at the summit.  No peace signs up there!! At least I (we all?) can laugh about it now.

That's it!  I hardly took any photos so most of these were stolen from Stan and Chito.  I was busy relaxing and trying not to hurt myself, and I can report success on both counts.

After a few days of work this week, I am heading to Australia with Chito for his friend's wedding.  I am so excited!  It will be the total opposite from my snow trip, and I still have to dig around in the back of my closet for some summer clothes.  Hopefully I don't come back too red!

Mount Fuji from the plane on our way to Hokkaido.

Last night I dreamt that my apartment building burned down and I lost everything I owned.  It was actually kind of a relief.  I want to focus on getting ready to go to Australia next week (yay!) but a lot of details have started to emerge about my impending move.  My apartment building is being knocked down at the end of March so my school is scrambling to find a new place.  It's starting to look like I might have to settle for a one-room apartment, which anyone who has been to my place knows will be very hard with everything I have accumulated in the past few years.  I have been a little stressed about fitting my belongings into one room, and not having any idea when I have to move (could be the weekend when I get back from Australia) doesn't help either.  But don't get me wrong, I don't want the place to burn down or anything... 

Family pictures from New Year's

With the adorable Koutarou, who is still small enough to fit into the sweater I made for him!

The older kids, who played games with Chito nonstop the whole time they were there.

Ringing the bell just after midnight. 

And the new baby Cocoa.  Kae's observation:  "Wow Molly, you really don't have a lot of hair."    

25!

Well, I survived my 25th birthday (barely) and I'm happy to report I'll be heading home tomorrow without any major snowboarding injuries!

I had a great birthday thanks to the all the kindness of my friends and family. I am especially lucky to have a boyfriend who didn't leave me on the mountaintop when I was crying like a baby and flailing about trying to get out of waist-deep snow. I thought Fuji was the last time I'd be at a mountain peak in this lifetime but turns out I was wrong. It was a memorable birthday, but I might be feeling it for a while.
Even a late-night mochaccino isn't enough to keep my eyes open tonight.