title track

It's hot here in tokyo. it's muggy. it's cockroach season. other than counting the seconds until I head north and into a better climate, I haven't been up to too much. So, in the spirit of the original purpose of this blog: skewed snapshots, I'm posting random pictures that have already been resized for blogging. It's a random asortment. enjoy

I went to a baseball game with two of my adult students recently. and, to be honest, baseball is a dull game. we got there at 11 am and watched dressed up dogs, a bubble gum competition, and the cheerleaders (it's good to be a dog dressed up in something ridiculous for once), till the game started at 1pm.

the game lasted four hours with no overtime and not particularly high scoring. I would have been bored except my students were amazing diplomats for baseball. the cheerleaders and girls with mini-kegs climbing around the stadium were amuzing AND the singing. oh my god the singing. it was great. each player has a few special songs that everyone sings en masse to cheer them on. I love faking like I know what I'm doing and following a melody so it was a BLAST. we lost though. whatever
let's go sabuuuuro! la didada la diiiii! ta ta ta ta ta taaaa

and now we move onto the classic "I'm learnign about other cultures" snapshot. everyone all together now, "awwww..."
In South Korea. the soekguram grotto in the mountains near Gyeongju, where I stayed in the cool hostel half way through my trip. I've tried to write more about this because it was so incredible. but I never seem to finish my little essays. here's what I got so far...

"The old men and women, adorned with polyester fanny packs and the other accoutrements of middle aged tourists, stood in line and paid their respects. They qued up quietly and bowed deeply after clapping twice. They poured water over the small statures head and bowed again. Breezes from the sea drifted up the mountain, twirling in between tourists and the believers and perhaps carried their prayers off."

it was amazing to see all those wishes fluttering in the wind that came off the sea and up the mountains. it was cool and felt clean. some of the people seemed quite devout and others were religiuos for holidays (this was budda's birthday). the children seemed oblivious and more interested in the fluttering colors.

and wether or not it's Budda's Birthday and whether or not you are in a holy site or a UNESCO World Heritage monument. boy will be boys and love their toy guns. this is shot from the hip in super-sneaky-kori style. I like it anyway.

and finally:
Here's looking at you kid.