i love baseball

i love baseball, originally uploaded by adelie.

I noticed that baseball is a beloved sport in Japan. Our apartment is nearby a local high school, where almost every day, even on a holiday, there's a team fervently practicing baseball on the field. Even on the Tohoku university campus, you can spot quite a few students chilling out during their lunch break, with a couple of baseball bats and gloves, practicing catch and throw.
Go Tohoku Rakuten Golden Eagles!

Sendai, Japan
Avril 2009

Welcome to Sendai

I haven't had a chance to take any photos yet since landing here last week.  Still getting over the jetlag and getting oriented.  Instead of waiting until I take some shots, I thought I'd start writing to update those of you who are curious to check my blog.

Surprisingly the flight to Japan, with ANA, was almost empty.  Probably due to the reduced number of tourists and it being the low season.  I had the entire row of four seats to myself, so I could stretch and sleep almost the whole time.  Had a taste of the business class, with a few seatbelt bumps under my back.  Bastien also slept in another free row by the window.

We arrived in Sendai late morning, with a domestic flight connecting from Tokyo's Narita airport.  

The weather is quite colder than I expected, almost 10-13 degrees Celsius.   It rained pretty heavily over the weekend, and the air is quite humide though fresh.  I regret not having packed enough warm clothes due to the archaic 20kg rule with the airline.

Since arriving, we are discovering the new way of life here.  

#1 Recycling

B became quite paranoid after reading the four-page rules on the recycling we have at the apartment.   They threaten us that the garbage will be returned to us if we put wrong items in the wrong colored bag!   One thing that's new from the Swiss rule is that all types of plastic wrappers with a particular sign, are recycled.  Then there is a separate bag for the PET bottles, and a separate bag for the styrofoams, and a separate bag for the aluminum cans and non-PET bottles, and a separate bag for the rest of the food stuff.  It seems that the papers should be bound up neatly also.  I guess we will find out if we are following the rules correctly, when we first fill up our specially colored trash bags and see if it gets returned to us!

Stay tuned for more discoveries...

cerisier

cerisier, originally uploaded by adelie.

Crest, France
Mars 2009

Romane

Romain: Hide & Seek, originally uploaded by adelie.

I haven't posted any people recently. Here's a peak at Romane playing hide & seek at the Tour de Crest.

France
Mars 2009

Walk me!

Walk me!, originally uploaded by adelie.

Crest, France
Mars 2009

La fin d'une après-midi

La fin d'une après-midi, originally uploaded by adelie.

Crest, France
Mars 2009

Stereo apples

Stereo apples, originally uploaded by adelie.

Thanks to Maurizio, I got interested in stereo photography.  He gave me a pair of blue/red paper glasses, the type I used to have when I was a kid.  This is my first attempt.  The process is pretty straight forward.  I took two pictures: one left and one right, merely estimated with my own stance. Then I used the freeware called StereoPhotoMaker which generates the final anaglyph output.   The software is not the most user-friendly, but it works well.  I just need to fine-tune my stereo-photographing skills. You can get your own blue/red anaglyph glasses here. Avril 2009