i didn't know that berlin's mascot animal is bear. of course kumako met so many bears here and she didn't like beer before but now she's drinking 'berliner pilsner' everyday. the other day i couldn't find her because she was with her B.F.(bear friends).

my friend, hans came to pick me up at airport on saturday and we took buses to his place. on the way to his house, hans took out a mini champain and two champain grasses from his daypack in the bus and he said "this is my tradition to welcome my friend." the champain tasted so good on the public bus. he's been taking me some different neigherhoods. saturday night we went to this funky old brewry turned into a couple clubs and movie theatres. that night, some big world wide music festival was going on. last night i had a dinner with one of hans's friend's family. hans's friend is 81 and his wife is 80 and both of them are sooooooooo cute! unfortunately they could speak any english...but i still had an awesome time with them. very interesting experience!

yo

After four wonderful days in London, it was on to Amsterdam. The first thing you notice about the city is the bicycles: hundreds, thousands, millions of them. They say there are more bicycles than people in Amsterdam. The roads are divided up in thirds: a third for cyclists, a third for public transport, and just a third for cars. Another thing we were surprised to learn is that marijuana is legal there. We couldn't believe it. Marijuana is something that we've always wanted to try, but never wanted to break the law to do so. Still, I was a bit apprehensive, but Yo said that it is important to sample the local customs while traveling, so when in Rome...
We stayed at the Flying Pig hostel in dorms with Queen sized bunk beds. They had a bar in the lobby with the cheapest beers in town and a "chill out" place in the basement called the Happy Room. We spent the first two days just walking the city, popping in & out of bars and coffee shops. On the third day we rented some bicycles. In just a few miles we had left the city behind and were among the windmills, cows, and canals of Holland.
Yesterday, Yoshimi & I split up, not permanently of course, just for a few weeks. She flew to Berlin to meet her old tennis buddy, Hans. And I flew to Munich to meet up with my old friend, Tim, who I taught with in Japan. She'll travel through Eastern Europe, while I'll be in Greece, Bulgaria, & Albania. We'll meet up in Istanbul on my birthday, October 6th.

Shawn

this is a photo before i'm arrested by london cops. i admit that i was pretty wasted then and i asked them " have you tried [krispy kream]? it's the best dounuts in the world!" they answered "no, what's that?" OMG! they didn't know about krispy kream!!! so i started making a joke about london cops, "hey listen, i'm not scared of you guys! you even don't carry guns and don't eat krispy kream? what kind of cops are you? hahahaha..." i can't even describe how mad they got and they pepper sprayed on my eyes and i got arrested. then i woke up, i was in jail with a bunch of london punks. what a night!!!

i just want to aware you, if you go to london, don't make a joke about dounuts to london cops. they're very short temper. and they love dounuts as much as american cops do. also i hate their hats...it looks funny and i think they hide dounuts in the hats.

kumako, the criminal

After three days in Iceland and not seeing any ice, nor much of the sun, we've thought about some possible name changes. Perhaps Rainland, or Dampland, or even Gloomyland. It's not that we didn't enjoy ourselves, it's just that the weather was a bit much. It made Portland winters look like Miami beach. The best part of our time there was a trip out to this natural hotspring outside of Reykjavik called the Blue Lagoon. The water was this aquamarine milky blue color set against this otherworldly landscape. We spent all of our last day there. Another downer about Iceland was the prices, not just New York, London, or Tokyo high, but crazy high. A simple pasta dish at a restaurant was $50. A fancier meat or seafood dish would set you back a $100. I don't mind doing cup of noodles for a few days, but we were both thrilled about getting into London and doing some serious eating. It was also unfortunate that we had to leave Iceland before the 5th annual Tom Sellak look alike contest. I think I might have had a decent chance with this ridiculous moustache.
London has just been a food fest since we arrived: Indian, Korean, Japanese, fish n chips. Today it's going to be Indian again and then maybe some African. Last night the Chemical Brothers played a free concert in Tragalgar Square. There were so many people we couldn't get into the square & had to watch from across the street with a bunch of drunken hoolagans. Every time one of those red double decker buses would come by, blocking our view of the show, the drunken mob would start pelting the bus with empty(or not so empty)beer cans. It felt like a riot was about to erupt. We'll write again from Amsterdam in a few days.

Shawn

i forgot mentioned that if you go to the gallery, there are more pictures!!! i'll try to update more pictures too.