claire

This is at least a month overdue, but I will post anyway. During the second half of Golden week, my favorite person on Planet Earth, Claire, flew millions of miles to visit me. I still cannot believe she came all the way to Japan. She was only here 3 days, but we had such a good time, and it was so so good to see her after many months of not. She arrived around the beginning of the swine flu craziness but managed to make it through the 17+ hour flight and quarantine process with impressive amounts of energy. I learned at the airport that it is quite difficult for some Japanese people to announce foreign names over the loudspeaker. Syllables were added, "l"s and "r"s confused. Luckily, we were able to reunite, despite the painful (and slightly comedic) attempts. Thank God for her. I do.

The first picture at the top is of Claire with a piece of paper from a temple with her fortune on it. She had a good one and was pretty pumped. The future is looking bright for Meadezies! The second pic is on good old RingRing Road.

We visited Kamakura with friends and got to see Buddha, the beautiful Pacific Ocean, and some pretty temples.

There were a LOT of people in Tokyo and in Kamakura that week. It was scary. At one point, we were jammed into the train and couldn't breathe (or stop laughing for that matter).  This was the first night when Claire got to Tsuchiura, and I made her eat at an いざかや and try various types of Japanese food, which she may or may not have been in the mood for but happily accepted anyway. I love her so much.