I miss the rain.

Raining season here in this here part of good ol' Japan is officially over. It got hot - really hot (right now it's about 31-33 degrees outside). I wasn't ready! So I've been spending most of my time sweating and try to hid away inside.

But! Last week Dylan and I did venture out to Yokohama. Dylan's friend had to go there for a test, so we tagged along and made a day trip out of it. It's a neat little town (by little, I mean it is the second largest city in Japan). A bit off unsettling though, since there were a lot of foreigners, especially because we were in a more tourist part of the city. Seeing other foreigners reminds me how much I must stick out and then I get all self-conscious. Anyway, we got there and went to Chinatown - which is huge. It reminded me a lot of Canada and just made Dylan really want to cook. Then it was time for our friend to go write her test, so Dylan and I found a nice park and settled in to read and relax for a while. After that, we headed... somewhere... I don't know, I just followed them... and went to a few pubs/breweries and did us some shopping at this adorable market-type place. Had some pretty fantastic Mexican food for diner (the international food scene in our neck of the woods is very limited). Wondered around for a while longer. Then headed home. All in all, a fun day if you look past the fact that I was exhausted, got a moderate sunburn, got some blisters on my feet, and may or may not have gotten some really mild heatstroke because it was so very very very hot out.

Oh, side note. A couple days later, we went to a night market for a bit and grabbed a couple beers at a pub after where we ended up watching a women's doubles tennis match. Which gave me the brilliant idea that we should play tennis the next day since the school has a court, despite the mind-melting heat (have I mentioned that it's hot here?). That stroke of genius resulted in Dylan re-injuring his back, Em definitely getting heatstroke and my moderate sunburn becoming a bad sunburn. Nobody should ever take my suggestions ever.

To have a happy ending, the rainy season being over does mean that the clouds that have been hiding Mt. Fuji have lessened considerably and we have gotten a few gorgeous clear looks at it in the last few weeks.