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!! :)
