Week 21: Mt. Moiwa part two!

Well, I never got around to re-writing last week's post. I have some pictures to post but maybe I should save them for a rainy day... because the rain is here, and I have a feeling that I won't be getting out as much when the weather is awful.

Even the horriblest of beasts found the weather this week depressing. This guy was taking refuge on a window under an awning during a heavy rainstorm. I tried to take a picture of him with a battery for perspective, but I think the window did something funny to the perspective.

Just SLIGHTLY smaller than a battery. And this is not a particularly big spider ;_;

Long story short, most Canadian spiders (except wolf spiders - WARNING do not click that link if you don't want a giant horrible spider in your face!) have nothing on Japanese spiders. I have gotten adept at catching the blond ones that are always running around in my apartment, and on Sunday I managed to not panic when a spider assaulted me at close range at school, but I still don't feel up to catching one of the ones like in my picture. If I see one of them in my home, I will be on the first flight back to Canada.

Anyway, at least for now, there are still bursts of niceness in between the torrential downpours. On Saturday it was cold and rainy for most of the day. I got very lucky and was able to run out and get groceries during a period of calm just before dusk. The time zone here is weird; the sun is fully risen before 6 am, but now that the days are getting short, the sun is fully set by 6 pm. On an overcast day this past week it was already getting dark at 4:30 pm! I am curious to see how early the sun is going to set in the dead of winter.

On Sunday, it was the birthday of my friend's husband. We had heard a rumor that the Mt. Moiwa birthday is half price for you and your firends on your birthday, so we decided to check it out. We had also wanted to go back because the view at night is supposed to be amazing!

We had planned to climb the mountain, but by the time we arrived it was already beginning to get dark, so we chickened out and took the ropeway. The half price fable turned out to be TRUE, which was a major bonus!

This terrifying rabbit (?) is the mascot of Moiwa Mountain, hence his McDonald"s M ears.

When we reached the top of the mountain, we saw a dude playing with some birds! They were his pet birds: one was a cockatoo, and the others were little parrots. He was happy to let us handle them, and when I saw him later he was surrounded by people who were taking pictures with his birds. He was a pretty cool dude.

The leaves are only just beginning to change, but I was able to get some nice autumn pictures.

The really amazing sight was indeed the sunset, and the city at night. The view was really beautiful.

When we were finished taking pictures, we headed home and made a birthday dinner together. I made a cake that was helpfully iced by my friend's daughter. I think she has a future in cake decorating!

The writing on the cake is Bulgarian so I don't know what it says. I hope it isn't too rude.

She also gave me an awesome gift. My apartment is finally starting to look lived-in!