Cosmos on Noko Island

(Note from Justin: Yes, the post may say "Justin" at the bottom, but I assure you that Nana did most of the work.) (Note from Nana: he uploaded all the pictures, I wrote the text. We're a team like that.)

So about a billion years B.K. (Before Korea), Justin and I went with a group of coworkers to visit nearby Nokonoshima, or Noko Island. Noko is known for its giant flower garden, which changes every season. The October flavor of the month was cosmos, a popular flower for my family, as my mother's mother had an art teacher who was obsessed with cosmos and used to make the whole class paint them every year until the entire class never wanted to see a paintbrush or a cosmo (a cosmos?) as long as they lived.

Ferry to Noko Island:

Map of Noko Island:

Goat of Noko Island (Don't ask me; I have no idea):

Chickens of Noko Island:

Brother-in-law Ryan: any thoughts on breed?

One thing we were unable to photograph were the much-dreaded Spiders of Noko Island, black-and-yellow striped spindly things the size of the palm of your hand. They spin their webs under trees and in the fields to catch unsuspecting off-roaders. Stick to the paths, my arachnophobic friends!

This is the katakana for "cosmos" - kosumosu - plus kanji that probably means something like "field" or "park" but I'm too lazy to look it up.

We found this little patch of cosmos early on, and though it seemed a bit small to be making such a fuss over, it nevertheless inspired Justin to ... well, I'm not exactly sure what he's doing, but as his wife, I'm not totally comfortable with it.

Eventually we discovered the actual point of cosmos season, the giant field, which was much more impressive than the little patch. For perspective, in that second picture, I'm standing up.

Cosmos aren't the only things to see on Noko Island. There are other types of flowers:

Some of which apparently make Justin rather suspicious:

There are games for the kiddies, such as this wooden staircase rope toboggan (yes, that's the best description of it I can come up with... and yes, Justin and I were quite annoyed not to find one in jumbo size to try out for ourselves!)

There is inexplicable statuary:

and the same non-functioning telephones which were so omnipresent at Korea's Herb Island.

Overall, it was an entertainingly random way to spend an afternoon, with some lovely photo opportunities spoiled by us being too much of goobers to pose nicely, coupled with sunlight so bright we couldn't take off our monster shades. Hope you enjoy them anyway!

Back in Fukuoka

Just got home from a very fun, very rewarding, but very tiring Model UN trip to Korea. I have to say, Nana did a great job planning and executing this expedition: the kids learned a lot, we all had a blast, and everything went off without a hitch. Thanks, Nana, for showing us all such a great time!

Look for some pics soon, time permitting. For now--SLEEP.

Happy Halloween!

The Marine World hermit crabs get festive:


In vertebrate news, I co-won the "Best Teacher Costume" prize by going as Justin.

I'm the one on the left. Yes, I know, that sounds like a joke, but I had one student who saw me at a distance before seeing me closer up later on. The realization that the guy by the water cooler was actually his female history teacher totally shattered his mind.

Edited to add: bonus picture of my win. On the right is coworker Wendy, who went as gum stuck to the bottom of a shoe.

I was rather proud of my man-posing on the catwalk, until I heard that secondary head Katherine remarked, "I've never seen Justin walk like that." Give me a break! It's awfully hard to walk like Justin when your knees are intact!

Photos from Marine World

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Nana and I ventured out to Marine World (Fukuoka's aquarium) a couple weeks ago. Here are some miscellaneous shots from the trip.

 They had a big tank of sand eels, which are apparently a thing around here.

Back on our old Scotland blog, The Educated Burgher, our post about Noss and Bressay made brief mention of sand eels--that's what most of those birds we saw ate. Here, we got to see them up close!

 This dude was big and ugly.

He reminds me a bit of the one fish from The Little Mermaid, when the crab sings the line about the fluke being the duke of soul.

They had some really clever displays at Marine World. This one let you look up from underneath at a bunch of bottom dwellers, like starfish and hermit crabs.

Nana and her people (the squids).

An octopus, almost certainly up to no good.

This diver is actually bowing to the audience. Under water. No joke.

Nana goofing of at the touch tank. 

And yes, that is a display on the blue-ringed octopus in the background.

The blue-ringed octopus is one of the deadliest venomous creatures out there. Thankfully, they're also extremely shy, so bites are rare--but they can be found in tide pools throughout the western part of the Pacific Ocean. I'm assuming the sign says something like, "If you see one of these, don't touch it, you idiot!"

On a much lighter note, there's a place to buy slimy little fish to feed the seals and sea lions, who also happen to be in this cool multi-level tank that lets you view the animals from above and below.

Last but not least: the otter enclosure, which we visited at least three times. (Not only do we love otters, but they were also right next to the bathrooms.)

Just a few months ago, Nana and I saw an otter in the wild in Shetland. We think that was a sea otter like the one below, but it sure looked a lot smaller!

Back to Korea (!)

Nana and I are traveling to Seoul next week for a Model UN conference. We lived in Seoul for two years, but this will be our first time back since 2009. Nana has been working like mad to plan the trip, but I've had the luxury of being a little excited about it. We may even get to see some old friends and students from APIS!

As a side effect, though, Nana and I are buried in work as we get ready to go on the trip. So if the blog posts are a bit thin the next couple weeks, don't worry--we're still here and still well, just working like mad!