My apologies for my absence for almost the entire month of December but with new job (which goes well), and an overall “blah” feeling about the holidays (right up until Christmas Eve, that is) and getting over a rather lengthy case of post-vacation depression - I just didn’t time/energy to blog.

Neither of us were in the holiday spirit for nearly the entire time leading up to Christmas. Our tree was setup after Thanksgiving but we didn’t put any ornaments on it (it is a pre-lit tree). I had a brilliant plan to hide a gift I bought in our tree, but it was very difficult to hide it when there were no ornaments..ah well.

Closer to Christmas, after getting all the gifts for people, I got excited as I take enjoyment out of finding meaningful gifts for people. That, and I felt like a I could go for a couple days off/downtime.

So Christmas was a great time. I very much enjoyed seeing both our families (mine and future in-laws). We ate great food and the time off was very relaxing. Candace’s mom was able to snag a Wii for her dad, so I helped him set it up, transferred our Miis and played a bit of Mario/Zelda/Metroid - I’ve got a LOT of gaming to do. On the way home from C’s folk’s house Xmas Day, we had my new TomTom GPS direct us home. We knew the way home, but I was dying to try it out.

For my birthday I decided I’d snag a new Macbook for myself and on the day of my birthday we met up with some close friends and did lunch, hung out, played some video games and snagged dinner. The day wound down with a visit from one of my closest friends who’s home on holiday leave from the Army

So all in all, it was a good time - it comes and goes so fast

Hope everyone out there had a great holiday and I wish you all a safe and Happy New Year!

Sorry again for the delay. I started my new job this week and evenings after work were on the busy side so this past week was a no-go for blogging. That, and I honestly haven’t been terribly interested in updating this thing.
Just a note to those who are going to be vacationing in the near future - if you want to blog about your trip, do it during the trip. Blogging after the fact isn’t easy.

Sunday 11/11…

Yuki was kind enough to book us a hotel room in Hiroshima (Saturday morning) which proved to be a very nice place. We decided it was a good idea to head to the train station to get breakfast (mm…pastries) then figure out train times. After some pastries I decided it be a good idea to have a mild mental breakdown after a week of not understanding what anything or anyone was saying and just wanting something familiar. That, and the fact that we were headed to Hiroshima no our own kinda freaked me out a little - hey, I’m a dainty little thing, what can I say?

I came back down to earth and once Jay pointed us in the right direction, we were off. We found the platform with no problem and got there in plenty of time to catch our train. I was starting to get excited at the idea of heading out on our own. Train arrived (the train stops at exactly where the sign for the car signs is - pretty cool).

We got on the train an- - I’m going to spare you the details…it’s a train ride, after all.
We arrived at Hiroshima at about 2pm and since our hotel was attached to the station (Thanks Yuki!) we got there in about 1 minute. We got our room key and when we were about to load up all of our gear on our shoulders, a woman came rushing over to load all our things onto a cart. Did I mention how helpful the people in Japan are? No? Yes? Regardless it bears repeating - People in Japan are very helpful. Headed up to our room and unloaded our stuff and proceeded to figure out what we were going to do for the rest of the night.

After about 5 minutes we decided Miyajima would be the activity of the night first off then we’d get dinner. We had to hop a train, then a ferry (all paid for thanks to our rail pass) and arrived at Miyajima - wow. As the ferry approached, you could see the famous torii gate in the water. Our timing was such that the tide was out so the torii gate wasn’t “floating” like it does in most pictures but we got to walk right up to it and get an idea of just how big it was - very cool. The island also consisted of a few other shrines (didn’t make it to them as we lost daylight), some shops and deer that were extremely comfortable around humans which was kind of weird. We placed a map down on a picnic table and a deer tried to eat it. All around we saw deer following people with food, waiting in anticipation and hoping some food would come their way. We really enjoyed walking around - it was a nice relaxing time and the place wasn’t terribly busy.

Headed back to the hotel and decided we’d splurge and go to the nice restaurant on the 20-something’th floor where we redefined the term “under dressed”. I was in my best pair of jeans and my finest cotton shirt - the staff were all wearing tuxedos. We had a really great dinner, regardless of our attire. The food was awesome and the service was pretty good as well.

Monday 11/12…

I had been looking forward to the Hiroshma Peace Museum for awhile. I think of all the things we had planned on our trip, this was what I was ultimately most eager to see/witness. We arrived at the A-Bomb Dome and right off the bat we both got quiet. It wasn’t the easiest thing, being an American and standing in front of a building that was partially destroyed by a building your own country developed and used.

After about a half an hour, we met up with a gentleman who survived the blast (4 months old in his mother’s womb). He showed us the certificate identifying him as a survivor too - he was legit alright. Turned out, the guy was a free guide for the memorial/park. He walked us around and showed us a small statue stating where the hypocenter was among other things. When it was time to enter the museum, he thanked us for listening and we thanked him for all the information.

We weren’t left with a lot of time to go through the museum but we made it through all the parts we wanted to go through. There is a LOT to read/hear/watch. Our train was at 1′ish in the afternoon and there was a point when I was pretty sure we weren’t going to make it. Delays on the streetcar combined with getting lost finding our hotel didn’t leave us with a huge window - but we did make it, which rocked.

About 6 hours later we arrived back in Tokyo, back in Shinjuku and back at Jay/Yuki’s apartment.

Tuesday-Thursday 11/13-11/15…

Tuesday through Thursday was spent meandering Tokyo and enjoying more great food. We went to one store that basically sold everything you could want all in one place. Not so much a Wal-mart as say…well, it’s hard to describe. Trust me, they sold everything.

Friday 11/16…

The morning was spent packing for our trip home and the afternoon was spent waiting for our flight. Thrilling, I know.

Epilogue…

Since we’ve been home, it has been hard not thinking about living in a big city. Coming back to the good ol’ USA wasn’t too easy as we both enjoyed not hearing about the election, the War (how’s THAT goin for ya Bush?), etc.

I also saw Sicko on the flight home and that was another eye-opener on top of being in Japan. Getting an outside perspective was interesting and going to Japan was a trip I’ll never forget.