Moms Visit - Part I

Okay - so I'm finally posting the Mommy Visit! I'm sorry it took so long to get up...to be honest, I had a sort of blue weekend. It's hard to be lonely, and then when you're not lonely for 5 days, being lonely afterwards sucks that much more!

It was great to have Mom come and visit me. We had a lot of fun - I had someone to talk to, laugh with, show stuff to, hang out with, and someone beside me. She was very encouraging about my adventures here, and a lot of what she said made sense and helped me sort through the difficulties I'm having. It was really hard to let her go at the airport, but we counted - and in (now) 97 days, I will be back in Canada! :)

Here's a brief summary of her trip and our adventures...

Friday - Met her at the airport. Her flight was slightly late (4:15 instead of 3:45), so when people finally started coming out from behind the mysterious 'Arrivals' door, I was psyched! I wasn't going to cry when I saw her, but (you guessed it), I did. But just for a minute. And I got the best hug in the entire world. We headed home (long trip, heavy bags), and made some eggs for dinner. She was pretty tired (it's a long long airplane ride), and we went to bed around 10...to be all ready for Saturday!

Saturday - Mom woke up really bright and early, and I woke up bright and early. We had some yummy pastries and fruit for breakfast, and set off to visit Expo '70 Park & the Japanese Garden. It was a hot day. And by hot, I mean 30 degrees at 24% humidity - in APRIL. This summer might kill me. Anyways - we picked up some lunch at the supermarket (once I found it - I don't get lost often, but I'll admit I was a little turned around). We watched a kids dance show and had a snack, the continued on our way. At the park, we walked around and took in the flowers and the foliage (both in the park and the garden), stopping for traditional Japanese tea.



After stopping at Namba for a crepe (yummy) and some photobooth photos (fun!), We got off a station early on the way home (at Yamamoto), and got Okonomiyaki & Yakisoba for dinner. THAT was an adventure.

'Why?' you ask? Well. The stand is inhabited by 6 or 7 (good looking) Japanese guys - early 20 somethings. I don't speak Japanese. After staring at the menu (they're all watching the strange white women out of the corner of their eyes), I realized I couldn't read anything on it. So, I picked the second best method. I pointed. Then they asked me a question in Japanese, to which I responded that I didn't understand. They pointed, and I nodded. Mission accomplished. We did waste some ginger when they showed us a handful to ask if we wanted it (we didn't). Being eager tourists, we leaned in to watch the front-most good-looking guy make our dinner. The other good-looking guys thought that was pretty funny. All-in-all, it was a slightly embarassing, giggle-causing, fun dinner stop.

As it turned out, going to bed at 10 became a habit (as did bright & early), but it had been a full and very hot day, so once we got home, we were pretty tired.

Sunday - Sunday was (fortunately) a little cooler than Saturday, but still incredibly warm! We visited Osaka Jo (Osaka Castle) and Osaka Ko (Osaka Bay). The Bay area was quite a bit cooler due to the breeze coming off the water. After a Giant Wheel ride, some lunch, and a crepe for dessert, we headed home again after a (very) full day. (Note - We figured we walked for at least 6 hours every day.)


Above - Osaka Castle's Beverage Service...


Above - On the Giant Wheel! (Taking pictures of one's self never turns out well. And that one is pretttyy terrible. Mom looks great, though! Now how does that happen. Me too!!)

Since this post is getting long and I'm getting tired, you'll have to wait until tomorrow for the rest! This was the first half of the trip...although, I was trying not to think in terms of time, because then I realized it would end, and that just sucked. Thinking that it would end brought up a whole bunch of negative thoughts and sadness and lonliness, so I just pretended that she could stay forever. I wish she could have!

Mom - feel free to comment if I missed anything!! :)

Osaka Jo

Keith and I met up on Saturday morning to visit Osaka Jo (Osaka Castle). The sky was clear and bright blue, and the sun was shining full force. Once I forced myself to put in the effort neccessary to get out of the dorm, just getting out and being in the sunshine fixed the elevator cable, and it started rising again.

Osaka Jo is surrounded by a big and beautiful park, so we walked through the park in the sunshine to the castle. It was incredibly warm out - I was wearing jeans and a tank top and was too hot! It was a beautiful day, though, and I'm not complaining! The river running through the park, the breeze, the sketchy pigeons (pigeons are everywhere, here!) - all in all, a great walk. There were a couple jewelry stands (which I, of course, had to stop and look at), and a street performer with a monkey! I've always wanted a monkey. Keith got a picture of me getting a high-five from the monkey...when I get it from him, I'll post it! He was adorable, and his little hands felt like soft leather.

We got into the castle after some lunch, and did the 8 floor tour. It was amazing to see all the history and displays, and stories behind the castle! They had displays and pictures and movies and original drawings and sketches... Osaka Jo was built twice, and two great wars centered around it. There were biographies on the families and the men who had the castle built. I kept stopping to imagine what it must have looked like, way back then. I would love to be able to have just a snapshot of it's court and people, so many years ago. I thoroughly enjoyed the castle, and am planning on going back - both to the castle, and just to sit in the park and read a book!

On the way out (after some ice cream...yummy), we met a man selling wire bicycles. We chatted with him a bit - his name is Jaime and he's from Chile, but has been living in Japan for 10 years. He was quite interesting, and I couldn't keep my eyes off the bikes - they were so intricite and cute! I think I might go back and buy one next weekend.

Most of the coop students in Japan are leaving within the next 2 months - except for 4 or 5 of us. One of the students planned a going away party for everyone... unfortunately it was the first time I had met most of them! But it was good to meet them and hear about their experiences. We went for yakiniku to a restaurant...$30 for all you can eat and drink, for 2 hours! We ordered plate after plate of meats, cooked them on our table grill, and enjoyed! I haven't eaten that much meat since (maybe Memphis Blues?) - or never! It was delicious, though.

We've requested a list of the new coops who are coming over the next few months...I'm excited to see who is coming (one guy I know from my class is coming), and hoping that some of them are close to me!

I was glad I got up the motivation to get out of the dorm and do something...which bred more motivation for the next day. I need to stop getting in these inactive ruts, cuz they just keep going - but once I get out of them, I have a great time and lots of energy. I have a new plan for this week - No more broken elevators!