Mr. Potato Head: the Lost files

So in my two-month hiatus, I did actually take other pics with Mr. PH, so now I shall post them with a little bit of commentary, mostly because I am too lazy to go back and write like, six extra blogs. Enjoy!

Halloween!

So Halloween is a slowly-getting-bigger holiday in Japan. However, there is NO such thing as Trick-or-Treating in Japan, at least in Tokyo. The weekend before Halloween, my program went on a retreat out to the country in Nagano Prefecture. I wore my cow 着ぐるみ (Kigurumi, which is like a whole suit of a cow, kind of like footsie PJs). We had a big party, and then all laid outside underneath the stars and star-gazed. We also got lots of candy! The middle picture is with my good friend Katie, when we did purikura together on Halloween day.

 

Sunshine City Aquarium

Little known fact: Until 11th grade, I wanted to be either a marine biologist or an ichthyologist. However, I then took (and almost failed) chemistry, so I gave up on that dream and switched to Japanese. However, I have still always LOVED aquariums and anything related to the oceans, especially since my favorite animals are sharks. A group of friends and I went to an aquarium in Ikebukuro, in a giant building called 'Sunshine City'. It was all the way on the ninth and tenth floors, at the top of the building. 

Compared to most zoos, it was actually kind of depressing. The animals were REALLY cramped, and some were in the most random places (why a ring-tailed lemur was in a tiny plot of land with ducks is a mystery to me). However, the best place was the giant tank, which had all kinds of rays and fish:

It was so pretty. I could have sat into front of the tank for hours and just watch all the animals swim. I really feel happiest near the water.

My 21st Birthday

So in Japan, the big-important birthday is 20. That's about it. Being an American, one's 21st birthday is a HUGE deal, in my opinion. You can pretty much do anything at that point (except rent a car, but I don't like driving much anyway). I was sad I wasn't able to have a real 21st birthday party, but I managed to put together a dinner party at a Mexican restaurant called Zest Cantina in Shibuya, mostly because Mexican food is the fountain of youth in Japan aka IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO FIND. Sadly, the service / price was pretty shoddy, but I was so happy to have a lot of people around, and get a margarita for the first time. I even had buffalo wings!