These kids sure get excited over paper...

July 2nd....what a great day.

We like to hold pieces of paper and get our pictures taken.

They sure do get excited over these pieces of paper...why you might ask? WE'RE COMING HOME!! July 2nd is the lucky day :) Just thought we would pass on our excitment! We'll see you all soon (ish!) In the meantime...back to enjoying the warmer weather here in Korea and having fun these past few months!

Irish Invasion!

These two fine gents...or at least they like to think so...were all classily (we made it a word) dressed in preparation for the Irish Invasion (aka our party!)

The ladies, Julia, Anne and Leigh, as well, classily dressed! Special thanks to all those great midnight street vendors in Dongdaemun who outfited us.

OUCH! Are you okay?! I think so! (brought to you by English Time...this is the only way we talk now...conversation time, word time, practice time, and who could forget phonics time!!!!!) But seriously...somehow I cut my foot in our bathroom...I don't think the wine had anything to do with it.

Part of the crew on route to Itaewon where the one Irish pub in Seoul awaited!

Mark and Julia enjoying the festivities at Wolf Hound (aforementioned Irish Pub!)

Anne and Julia showing off their sweet threads. Clearly we didn't notice we were holding up the stairway (or that the leprachaun we robbed was sobbing upstairs!)

Adrian, Hilary and Wendy at the pub!

Colin, not under the influence at all, well maybe the Asian influence, but that's it...or so he says.

The happy couple - how we love St. Patty's day.

TOKYO!

Mount FUJI!!! As seen from the bullet train on the way to Tokyo.

Shibuya interesection - just a few ads and people to take in while you wait for the mass crossing! (as seen in many movies.)

The crossing begins (as seen from a 2nd floor Starbucks - sweet sweet Starbucks.)

The crossing continues!

More Hello Kitty?! Shocking!! We were pretty happy to get a glimpse of Hello Kitty as she is hardly anywhere in Asia.

Can you spot the Harajuku girls (as made famous by Gwen Stefani) hiding in this picture?

WENDYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Need we really say more...

We like Japanese writing.

Colin, on a mission. What is that mission? Meeting Anne after a brief separation to...well, if you must know, use the washroom facilities along the main strip in Harajuku. (To much info??)

Anne + crepes = a happy camper (again)

The subway stops.

Cool Audi building - nice to see some different shaped buildings - it had been a while!

Where was this picture taken again?

The greatest sandwiches of our lives - or at least, the last 8 months. So delicious.

Harajuku at night.

And it a nutshell...well I guess 4 separate posts isn't a nutshell...but that was our trip to Japan. As you can see, we had a blast! Definitely a great place to visit!

Hamamatsu!

Our first stop in Japan led us to Hamamatsu. Gwen, a friend of mine from school, offered to take us in. She is there teaching English as well. Gwens friend, Masako, nicely offered to take Colin and I to a cave in the area. We got there and just had to wait a short time while the workers finished up the dig. We then started our trek through the cave - dodging bats along the way (okay, well we only saw one and it wasn't really that close to us...but none the less, there were bats.)

Mirrored pond.

Rock formations along the way.

The happy couple in the cave - how romantic.

After we left the cave we were informed that some rocks had fallen in the cave and they needed to be removed. So, clearly wanting to help fix this problem, Colin and I pulled on our uniforms and went directly to work.

Our next stop with Masako was a museum that was at the top of a hill in Hamamatsu. The museum might have been closed, but the views from the top were awesome.

Colin and Masako taking in the views.

Anne taking in the views.

You guessed it! More views.

Artistic shot - with more views.

DJ'ing on a Saturday morning in Hamamatsu.

Feeding the ducks. This was on the way up to Hamamatsu castle.

The castle!

Pathway in the park surround the castle. We've said it before, but we'll say it again. We *heart* greenspace!

More castle!

Gwen, our gracious host, and Colin, looking out over Hamamatsu.

Anne and Gwen with the blossoms!

The group (including Colin, Gwen and some of her friends). Nothing like a beer after eating deep fried brie cheese to make for a good night.

Next up! Tokyo!!!!

Kyoto!!

Kyoto!!

The golden pavillion in Kyoto. This temple was incredible as you can see.

Us infront of the golden pavillion.

Anne taking in some of the nice Kyoto incense. Washing away all evil (apparently...)

Japanese barrels - they looked cool we thought.

GREEN SPACE!!!! We *heart* green space.

Us in the botanical garden in Kyoto. This is really cool because there is a ton of green space in Kyoto even though there are lots of buildings and everything. Kyoto did a great job of keeping parks and gardens in their natural beauty.

Colin and the cherry and plum blossoms!! A sure sign of spring (we then came back to snow in Korea...mmmm)

Bamboo forest!! Another thing we *heart*, bamboo.

Temple in Gion.

Crepes make every day better - even when they are good days, crepes bring even more happiness. Sweet sweet crepes (these ones were from Gion...I must say, Osakas were the best - to answer the question - yes, we tested them in every city.)

Japanese garden in Gion. One word for it - ASSA (awesome in Korean.)

Anne walking through the garden with crepe on her face (sorry, the whip cream doesn't show up when the picture isn't enlarged. But trust us, it's there...true sign of deliciousness.)

Restaurant in Gion.

We're so artistic!! Self-shot. Gotta love it. Or I guess you don't, but we do :)

The story of the Geishas - we did see some (human form, not just poster form.) But they scurry really quickly and that combined with the slightly older model digi cam it was hard to capture them on film. They are set in our memory though. Very cool to see. (In Gion of course.)

Self-explanatory.

Kyoto tower. (That may not be the name...but to us, it is.)

Although we may have missed them in the streets of Gion, we did manage to find a Geisha at the train station. She nicely obliged to a picture before we headed back to Hamamatsu together on the high speed train. Nice lady.

Up next - Hamamatsu!