fireworks, tomato dessert and my new phone

I will be visiting my mom in Fukuoka from tomorrow...I will probably not be able to do a whole lot of blogging this week since she doesn't have a computer...but with my current blogging rate, you won't even notice that I'm gone! lol

However, I will try to see if I can blog via my new phone...

Yep, you read right, my new phone:

I am a sucker for apple computers...

I have an i-pod too.... but I think my new i-phone is pretty....

Anywhooo...

Last week was packed with fun and work. I got to meet some friends and we had a great lunch and some sparkling wine...

I also treated myself to some interesting dessert that my husband found...

this is a "tomato tiramisu"

It was a little sweet and sour at the same time...not bad really!

There was also a fireworks festival not far from where I live. I got to catch a glimpse of it all between the surrounding buildings!

I'll try to get back on track with more photos and posts about Japanese culture as soon as I get back.

I'll be starting a new job in September but it should give me a lot to write about since I will be a "traveling sales person"! Autumn is my favorite season in Japan for so many reasons and I hope to share them with you too!

Dear Diary, I have been a bad blogger!

Last week torrential rains devastated the south western part of Japan.  Landslides took the lives of people living in the countryside...

We had a few mighty rain clouds hovering over our city as well...

but now we are out of the rainy season and it is ....HOT!
Today it was a whopping 36 degrees C  (96.8 degrees F)...

I had to work today but I came home to find my husband cuddling a bag of ice.

I asked him why he didn't just turn on the air conditioning... He gave me a very earth friendly answer...

...

This is also a week in Japan for remembrance.

Hiroshima and Nagasaki were bombed on August 6th and 9th and it is the weekend before the Obon festivities begin.

Obon is held in mid August and can be loosely identified with Halloween and Memorial Day (in the States)...it is a time for family reunions and heading down to the family graveyard(s).
Willow wrote a nice poem about this and you can find it over here.

This year I will be heading over to Fukuoka to visit my mother and maybe my grandmother's grave after the Obon festivities so that I can dodge the traffic.

There's more I would like to talk about on the Obon subject but that will have to wait.

I am really posting all this to explain again why I haven't been an active blogger...


I have been away from blogging and even checking out my favorite blogs this past week because I went to Tokyo during a regular work week.

This is the first time I have ever applied for a job while still working...and I vow not to do this again...

Why?

Too stressful... Leaving a job seems to be more stressful than having to find a new one!

I still don't know if I will get the job or not but I seem to be among the last batch of recruits.

I actually had lots of fun at the interviews.  I learned a lot about myself and about how I cope in stressful situations.  (I have all those lovely, outrageous people who visit me at work now to thank...so everything does have a meaning!)

Please keep your fingers crossed for me!

I have a day off on Monday and I am going to Kobe for a lunch and book buying!  I will update my week's adventures again then!

Thank you for all the encouraging messages!
I have been able to stay focused and happy because of you!