Back from Hiatus
Mood:  celebratory
So...the blog returns!!!

I finally got our webpage problems sorted out and -- so, after many months, am actually updating it. Jason and I also have internet at the house now, and updating is much easier since we don't have to lug the computer down to the internet cafe!

Not much news to report -- just enjoying our new apartment and new surroundings. I'll add to the update tomorrow with some new pictures and such.

Love you guys and glad to (finally!) be back!

Whew! A Fun-Filled Couple of Weeks...
Mood:  chillin'
We had a really terrific visit with Jason's dad, BJ over New Years. And, in earlier blog entries, I promised more details when the internet allowed. It's been behaving lately, so... here they are:

Day One-Two: Well, after a 14 hour flight, BJ was understandably a bit tired (to understate slightly). We took the first couple days kinda easy to compensate. The first night, we opened presents (thanks Brad, BJ, Dinah and Ed, Carla and Drew and boys, Rosalie and John!!!) -- it was our own mini-holiday:) Then, after a meal at home, we hit the sack (or futon, as it were!), and woke up the next morning to a blanket of thick, wet snow!! Yup, snow, here in Kyoto, where it almost never snows. Go figure. Once it had melted a bit, we headed down-town and explored the shopping districts of Teramachi streets and the pretty famous Nishiki-ichiba, four/five long, narrow blocks of fresh fruits, veggies, and many, many, MANY varities of fish! I *think* this was the night we ended up at our favorite Japanese restaurant -- Jason tried nabe, a kind of stew you make at your table. He was given a bowl of meats and veggies, and the waitress placed a big bowl of bowling broth on a burner in the middle of the table. Yum!

Nanzen-ji, Yasaka Shrine and Maruyama Park: We wanted to get in as much exploring as possible before Jason and I headed back to work, so the next few days, we wandered through a lot of the more famous temples here in Kyoto. We hit Nanzen-ji first and hiked up to the water filtration plant, kind of by accident as we followed one of Kyoto's many canals. It was a neat view, if a bit marred by the big plant in the background.

The next day was the big festival we'd heard about at Yasaka Shrine. I think 'big' is a bit misleading; there were thousands and thousands and THOUSANDS of people at the shrine and the next-door Maruyama Park. Many people had come to pray and celebrate the Year of the Cockerell -- by doing things like throwing money at the shrine from a mob at least twenty people deep, tying paper fortunes/good wishes to ropes, and praying to what looked like -- I PROMISE -- bags filled with old umbrellas (there is an actual explanation; if you really wanna know, email Jason -- he's got the skinny). There were also food vendors (we tried giant hot dogs on a stick, Korean green onion pancakes, candied apple-like fruits, and sweet balls of dough in a thick brown syrup), jugglers, and many, many celebratory folks. We had a really good day --ending with a movie and dinner at home.

Nijo Castle and Shin-En Park: On the last day of our vacation, we headed west to Nijo Castle. It was built in the 1600's, and though you can't enter Nijo Castle, you can enter the accompanying Nimura Castle -- which we did. Most of the rooms of the castle contained little but elaborate screens and simple tatami mats, which is historically accurate. No lighting, heating or furniture was typically used in the majority of the rooms. The grounds of the castle were beautifully designed; in fact, as we wandered, we saw several caretakers up on ladders carefully and precisely pruning trees. It was lovely in the dead of winter; I can't wait to see it in it's spring and summer prime.

Shin-En park, nearby, was small but fun. There were ponds filled with GIANT koi, tame ducks and pigeons, and stone bridges and small shrines. We wandered for a bit and fed the koi.

Back to work -- and a Tokyo visit: Jason and I headed back to work the next day, while BJ decided to go to Tokyo. Well, to be more precise, BJ decided to ride the Shinkansen (bullet train), and he just happened to go to Tokyo as well:) He spent the night all on his own in Tokyo, and I believe he thoroughly enjoyed the Shinkansen!

Agatha's Grill: The last day of BJ's visit approached far too soon; Jason and BJ spent the day together touring Kyoto Station (which is a giant complex of stores and restaurants) and Kyoto Tower across the street. They met me downtown after work, and we headed to Agatha's for dinner. BJ made the reservation on the advice of his guidebook (and with the help of a friendly local bartender!), and it was a great dinner! Everything at Agatha's was cooked on the grill and served on skewers, with the exception of our salads. Jason and I ordered set meals, while BJ ordered a la carte. It was so delicious and so unique. We had, amoung other dishes: wasabi beef, teriyaki beef, spring mushrooms wrapped in pork, Kyoto chicken with ginger, Kyoto chicken with plum sauce, asparagus, Japanese leeks, broccoli, octupus with garlic butter, prawns -- and to finish, grilled strawberries (or, as the sign read, satrawberrys). Mmmmm!

After a delicious dinner, we came home and watched, believe it or not, Citizen Kane. Ask Jason; it was his idea.


All together, it was a wonderful visit -- full of sights, adventures, good food and, best of all, good company. We loved having BJ and just this morning, looking at the guest room, our apartment felt so empty. So ... if you're ever in the neighborhood...we'd love to have you:)

Past Week
Mood:  a-ok
Whew! We've been cramming a lot into this last week -- visiting Nanzen-ji, the water filtration plant (yes, really!), Yasaka Shrine, Masuyama Park, Nijo Castle (though it was closed!), downtown Kyoto, and the Yamashina River walk.

It's been a terrific visit with BJ; unfortunately, Jason and I go back to work tomorrow and Friday, respectively. BJ's thinking of taking the high-speed bullet train to Tokyo on the weekend, just for an overnight visit, while we work hard at NOVA.

Like I mentioned in the last update, our internet access has been kind of on and off; this is the first sustained time we've been on in a week. If you've emailed us, we'll get back to you ASAP; hopefully, the internet will be with us a while yet, now.

Two new photo albums have been added to the webpage; take a look.

Love you guys; more to come!

New Year's Day in Kyoto
Mood:  bright
It's been a long time since I've last written on the blog -- sorry you guys! It's been a busy month.

We're watching the Simpsons DVD Brad sent us and BJ brought us right now; we're really enjoying BJ's visit so much. It's especially nice to spend New Year's with family.

Today, we're planning a visit to Nanzen-ji and the assorted temples -- we'll be walking the Philosopher's Path along the old canal (along with, probably, thousands of Japanese). Visiting temples and shrines is almost mandantory for Japanese on New Year's Day. New Year's is a religious, family holiday here in Japan -- a bit different than back home, hey?

Well, I promise a longer update soon -- I want to post this before our internet goes down again.

Lots of love!

Jason and Eliz.

Climbing the mountain at Zenren-ji Temple...
Mood:  incredulous
Jason and I had a pretty incredible day today on our mutual day off. After a lazy morning and a big breakfast, we headed briefly into downtown to run a few errands, then we hopped back on the subway (with our brand-new commuter passes!) and went to our main destination -- Keage, the area of Kyoto containing the Philosopher's Path and many well-known temples.

After a stroll through Nanzen-ji (see pictures on the webpage), we rambled kind of aimlessly, following a street map towards what we thought were more temples. We were right. We ended up at Zenren-ji Temple and hesitated before heading in -- it was 600 yen per person!

But, we did head in, and oh!, it was incredible! It's considered one of the premier places in Kyoto to see the leaves change, and there were trees and leaves in colors we'd never before seen in nature. Bright, brighest red, deep maroons, golden yellows, fire orange -- and everything in between. We wandered the grounds, including a pond, many small shrines and nooks and crannies, little waterfalls and a lovely, lovely temple with several famous altars -- we kneeled on the tatami mats (in stocking feet) in the dim light and marvelled at the golden hangings and vases and statues and carvings against the dark mahogany woods. Beautiful!

The highlight of our visit to Zenren-ji was a climb up four flights of VERY narrow stone stairs to a small shrine atop the Higashiyama hills surrounding Kyoto in the northeast. From our vista, we could see all of our city dotted with the flaming maple trees and surrounded by the high, misty hills. The view was more than worth the climb.

After our trek, we ended up back at home, watched a movie and headed out for a meal at a Japanese restaurant around the corner -- which we still haven't figured out the name of. We'll keep you updated:)

All in all, a really, really good day.

Working Hard In the Land of the Rising Sun
Mood:  spacey
We survived our first day at work!

Jason and I are (very luckily!) working just down the street from one another at two seperate NOVA schools. Shijo Karasuma -- Jason. Shijo Teramachi -- Elizabeth. Both are in downtown Kyoto, less than a 25 minute commute from our apartment.

We both worked the early shift today -- 10:00-5:40. Yeah, yeah, I know -- doesn't sound very early, right? But, for us lazy, non-morning people, getting up this morning at 7:45, it FELT early!

We rode into work on the subway together, but split up at the end of the ride to walk our seperate ways to our schools. Jason's at a slightly smaller branch than me -- and his has a reputation for being the 'slacker' branch! My branch has French and German classes as well as English -- it's the only NOVA school in Kyoto offering those languages.

Both of us taught full days, though mine was a LITTLE less full (six lessons to Jason's eight). After the crazy, nerve-racking pace of training, actually working felt pretty good. Good days, good co-workers, good schools.

At the end of our working day, we met for a coffee and headed home and relaxed for the rest of the evening. Up and at 'em again tomorrow!

Love you guys!

First Couple of Days in Japan....
Mood:  happy
Now Playing: Best of Leonard Cohen
So, we're here!

We don't have to work until Monday, and we're spending our first couple of days exploring our environment and settling in; so far, it's been very, very exciting (for us, though it might seem like a laundry list to ya'll!).

Yesterday (11-05-04), we did a LOT of shopping. First, we headed down to the Prefecture Ward Office to register as legal aliens -- and in doing so, managed to navigate the Kyoto subway system with a minimum of snafus.

We had lunch in a diner-type place; don't ask what we ordered (we pointed at pictures), but it was good and filling! Then, we headed back to our neighborhood and hit both the 100 yen ($1) store and the grocery and stocked up.

I conked out around 9:30/10-ish -- jet lag has worn pretty heavy on me. Jason's doing a bit better than I there.

This morning, we got up around 6:00 (no KIDDING!!) and took a 2-hour walk around our neighborhood. I made Jason stop and look at every vending machine we passed -- and we passed a lot, believe me! We stopped and got a snack at Mister Donut, then headed home.

We had a visit from the TV tax man -- who spoke no English -- cooked some lunch and relaxed a bit; now, we're heading out for some more shopping for the apartment at a department store not too far away.

Whew! That's our first day or so in Japan. Busy days. Good days:) --Eliz and Jason

Our address in Japan
Mood:  bright
We're in Kyoto, Japan -- which we're very excited about! We arrive there on November 4th, and here's our address:

Jason and Elizabeth Myers
607-8087
Kyoto-Fu
Kyoto-Shi
Yamashina-Ku
13-2 Takehana Saikashi-Cho
#302 Heights Yamashina



607-8087 is a zipcode, not a phone number. Love to you all!

Leaving on a jet plane...
Mood:  happy
Well, not yet. But, our current departure date is fast approaching -- November 3rd. THIS time, we actually plan to leave when we're supposed to. We head for Nagoya, Japan on the 3rd and are very, very excited!

Will keep everyone updated as the date draws closer (2 1/2 weeks!!!) and once we arrive!

Update
Mood:  not sure
Hi friends ~

Just wanted to let everyone know that I've updated the wedding web page with a few pictures; more will go up soon.

Also, I wanted to just say thank you for the outpouring of love we've received over the past couple weeks. It has truly been amazing; our friends and family are very, very special. Thanks and much love --

Jason and Elizabeth