update (and some info on toilets)

Alright, the Cheney contingency arrived safe and sound yesterday afternoon. I picked them up at the airport and got them into town (that's me sharing my favorite drinks with Kimmy, Jodi's the mama in the picture below), and then we took them to an authentic Japanese dinner (from a vending machine), dragged their jet lagged bodies down town for a bird's eye view of the city, then let them crash (on their sweet air mattress in our spacious apartment). We awoke with the birds this morning (again, the jet lagged girls are all sorts of messed up) and made our way to Kyoto, where we'll be for a few days. I'll try and get some posts in while we're here, as we have lots of pictures, albeit somewhat sketchy Internet.

But what I really want to highlight today is that we are seriously the biggest tourists you've ever seen. With our backpacks stuffed with stuff (running shoes hanging off, of course), Jess and his mom both toting their ginormo cameras, the two redheads and their flaming hair, and our totally un-Japanese clothing (strange layered outfits in fluorescent varieties are all the rage here), we have pretty much accepted that we're simply different.

And to further emphasize my separation from this culture, I had to use the "Japanese style" toilet like 53 times today (including twice on a moving train - seriously?). Now, we call the Japanese toilets "squatters." Why? Because that's what you do. Gone are the elevated, off-the-ground, Westernized pots of yesteryear - these are in the ground. By the end of the day, I was so tired of those stinky things. And so were my quads.

However, this little bunch of tourists is happy to be here and proud of our greasy hairdos and glistening faces. So stay tuned for the escapades of your favorite American tourists in Japan.

And please bless that all my visits to these temples will garner me some luck with the toilets tomorrow.

This look is authentic. So gross.