5.26.2008

Hello Goodbye Hello Goodbye...

With the full realization not yet sinking in, Emma and I have packed up and are ready to leave Japan tomorrow morning! Our flight leaves Osaka at 9:40 am, which means we'll be leaving our apartment in Akashi at about 5:00 am or so... We're sad to go, but excited for our trip home, which has us going through Europe. We're spending 5 days in Paris and 5 days in Munich, and will arrive back in Minneapolis on June 7th! It seems like only yesterday I was writing about packing our stuff and describing my first experiences and impressions...

We really enjoyed our experience over here in Japan, and are going to miss our friends and favorite students! We are looking forward to seeing all of our friends and family back in the U.S.! It might be a while until we are able to email or blog again (the next blog might be about being back in the states) but we'll be taking tons of pictures in Europe! Also, our Vonage phone will probably be going straight to voicemail for a while as well, but you can still leav eus messages as we get them by email!

And don't think that just because I'm not in Japan that this blog will be discontinued... Oh no no no... You obviously don't remember the first month's worth of blog posts that had absolutely nothing to do with Japan...

Alrighty! As a wonderfully satirical cartoon dog once said, "Catch ya' on the flip side dudemeisters!"

Catch you later!

5.22.2008

R.I.P. Silver Bullet II

I recently lost a good friend of mine... My trusty steed I liked to call Silver Bullet II (The Original Silver Bullet was, of course, my 2003 Pontiac Grand Am) has been stolen... While the timing of the robbery was pretty good (it happened with only 5 days left in Japan) it was nevertheless a sudden and profound shock to my trusting and naive brain... I didn't even get a chance to say goodbye...

Here's a photo tribute to my lost friend:


5.18.2008

Hiroshima and Miyajima!

Last weekend Emma and I headed down to Hiroshima and Miyajima for a day trip. Hiroshima is famously known as one of the cities on which an atomic bomb was dropped during World War II, and Miyajima (which is a nickname meaning "Shrine Island", the actual island name is Tsukushima) is famous for its "Floating Torii" which is one of the Three Views of Japan.

We started the day at Miyajima, took a lot of pictures of the torii and the shrine, and enjoyed the beautiful weather! The tide was a little low, but it still was very picturesque...

We then headed back to Hiroshima and went to numerous memorials and a museum dedicated to the atomic bombing. The preserved "A-Bomb Dome" is the only building that survived the bombing that was close to the hypnocenter. The Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park has lots of different memorials in it. We took some time to visit them all, then went to the museum.

I was really impressed with the museum. It did a great job of showing Hiroshima before, during and after the war, it also did a good job of trying to explain why the U.S. chose to drop the bomb. The tone was very neutral, which I respected a lot... It also had exhibits about the dangers of nuclear weapons in general, which was also a good idea...

All in all a fun and reflective day. Check out the pics here.

Tokyo!

A couple weeks ago Emma and I went to Tokyo! (Yes, I know I'm falling behind, but I'm busy so BACK OFF!)

Emma wrote a blog about it here, and the pics can be found here and here! Enjoy!

5.01.2008

New Tuneage!

Check out the Reverbnation player to the right! ----------------->>>>>>>

A recently remastered version of a 2007 live, unrehearsed performance of "Route 66" recorded at Hautman Studios in New Prague, Mn has just been made available...

This homage to the raw, unpolished rock of such albums as "Exile on Main Street" and "Vs." features the vocal and improvisational prowess of Tom "Tommy" Teorey on electrically amplified guitar, the competent musicianship of Mark "Take It Mark" Willard on acoustical guitar, and the bewildered drumming of Erik "Sherbie" Sherburne on acoustic drums and cymbals... The pure raw energy of the one-time, unrehearsed performance is fully captured in the gritty recording production style of Hautman studios... Enjoy!