Summer Round-up

Sorry I suck at blogging in a timely fashion. But I won't let that paralyze me from writing today. Seeing as summer is winding down, I thought I'd give a wrap up of my summer.

Several weeks ago we celebrated Dan's birthday by going to dinner along the banks of the Thames, overlooking the Tower Bridge.





My birthday was the month before and Dan surprised me and took me to Brighton to explore Briton's exotic rocky beaches and enjoy some good vegetarian food.


In June we went home to Seattle to celebrate my dad's 60th birthday. It was also great to see friends and indulge in food American style.








We couldn't visit Washington without a drive to Spokane to visit our friends Jessie and Andrew and their adorable son Jude. The 5 hour road trip was a good way to get back behind the wheel and while in Spokane we visited a massive hunting and fishing centre- here is me with a target practice turkey.



Other than that we've been enjoying the lazy days of the English 'summer', trying to squeeze in tennis and picnics wherever possible. And now that Amy is in town from California (in fact she's typing a paper 10 feet away from me) we've been lucky enough to enjoy her company. Here's to September and the inevitable shortening of days.

Japan!

This July 4-14 I was lucky to return to Japan after 4 years, this time doing something slightly more interesting than playing hang-man with the youth of Japan: attending the G8. It was an experience I'll never forget and it felt great to be back in the land of the rising sun, creaking along with my dormant language skills. After the Summit I stayed in Tokyo for a few. Above is the madness of the Shibuya 'scramble' (the world's largest crosswalk).


Ah...sweet Japanese toilet delights. Those bidets are pretty powerful- I thought I'd try one out before a press conference and got completely drenched.


Are you kidding me?! These Japanese Airlines headphones are fantastic. Proof again of Japan's advanced technology.


Plastic food- very helpful.


These drinks machines dot the island nation and are very convenient. But apparently the bane of environmental campaigners lives here for the amount of energy they use.


Here's the G8 media centre. It was supposedly sustainably built and the air conditioning mysteriously powered by snow. I love this place! This trip was ideal: it was long enough to enjoy again the buzz of this country I adore, but also remember why I'm no longer living there. What other country has security guards on segues and dancing robots?!