Two months?

It's weird to think that I've been in Japan for 2 months. I had that thought as I was walking home yesterday from some adventures. In an attempt to explore my subconscious, I wondered why it felt weird. It doesn't feel like the time has gone by particularly fast or slow. Maybe it feels weird because these have been the strangest 2 months of my life (maybe, except those first two months after I was born... I imagine I thought those were pretty ridiculous). In a way they have been strange because they haven't been all that strange. There are really only a couple of things that are different between my life in Matsue and how I imagine I would be living in a city in the US. There is the obvious language barrier that causes my reliance on those who can speak both languages. There are also the differences in culture, sure. But some important things are the same. I am finding a community. Not just of foreigners. Last night I met the woman who owns the flower shop with her husband around the corner from my house. I met some Japanese locals at one of the Hanami parties that I went to. I am becoming familiar with the women who work at the grocery store. Meeting especially those who are in my neighborhood makes me remember fondly the time playing outside with the neighborhood kids growing up. I am also learning to work in a professional environment. Never in my life have I gone this many days looking this level of presentable. And then of course there is the independence. It is quite simple: when moving to a foreign country alone, you will continue to be alone until you step out of your safe apartment and do something. Eventually you will make friends.

SPEAKING of making friends, I went to the mall some number of days ago and made a friend as I was heading out the door to go home. I feel strange giving away other people's personal information or names on my blog (even though I have done it in previous posts) so I will see how long I can go without saying her name. After exchanging information, we decided to hang out sometime because she is new to Matsue (although not to Japan). This past weekend we went to Tamatsukuri Onsen (the same place I went on the map tour) and looked at the beautiful cherry blossoms that line the street. We put our feet in the hot foot bath, enjoyed some cream soup, and ate some cake. It was my first experience taking the train out of Matsue station and I came out relatively unscathed. They are local trains so they are louder and rustier and creakier but we could easily find seats to a "big" tourist spot on a Sunday, so it's not a big deal. When we got back, we had dinner at the Italian restaurant on the second floor of the glass building near the station. I never know what to call this building. It is part restaurant, part gym (with pool.. on the 5th floor?), maybe part museum. I'm not sure- and I'm not sure it matters. Here are some nice pictures.

 Hanami at night. Some people care if there are people in the picture they don't know. 

Some people don't realize it happened until they review the pictures.

 Walking from the Tamatsukuri Onsen Station to the main road was prettier than the main road.

 If I saw the castle at night, I had to go back and see it during the day.

 So I did

I don't have an oven or a proper lid for my good frying pan but I do have an unhealthy love for frozen pizza.

This is the result.

Here's something I found out while editing this post late into the night: my upstairs neighbor snores super loud. The fact that I can hear his (or her? really it's a he, I saw him once. I just didn't want to rule out a loud woman-snorer) snoring means one of two things, or maybe two of two things:

1. These snores are monster growls and I should probably watch out.

2. Since this is the first time I've heard the snores, I must keep my neighbor awake with my music that I play almost all of the time that is not necessarily what I would put under the quiet category. It's not blaring, but I have to be able to hear it through my whole apartment, ya feel me?