Izu, Izu, Izu (Part II)

Having finally arrived at Atami, we briefly celebrated and snapped a photo or two. Then we ran like madwomen (again) down to Atami Sun Beach to meet Alex and Keith. The beach was pretty busy, but when we finally found them, we ran as fast as we could. I was waving my arms and yelling, and Rumiko was running and yelling, "Where, where, I don't see them!!".

Sometimes I wish I had someone snapping random photos of me...that would have been a good one. Rumiko and I running across the hot sand; bags bouncing on our backs, dresses fluttering and coming up to almost inappropriate heights, Rumi yelling, me violently pointing...



Once we got to them, we said the fastest hello ever, and ran straight into the water. The four of us hung out in the water for a while, swam, played with a beach ball, and got audio dame'd for retrieving the beach ball from the no-swimming area. (Story goes like this... Keith threw the ball to Rumi. Rumi missed (don't know if that was a lack of catch or throw). Nice girl gave the ball to Rumi. Rumi wasn't paying attention. Ball swims faster than Rumi. Alex rescues the ball, cutting his finger in the process. Audio dame. End of story.) Finally, stick thin and starving, we went for a late lunch. Some yummy seafood and the discovery of 'Wiener Coffee' (still aren't quite sure what it is) later, we jumped on the train for Shimoda.



The train ride was long, but we enjoyed each other's company and Rumi and I retold our adventures. When we got to Shimoda, we picked up some ice cream (yes, I know, we eat that a lot) and went to find our Ryokan (inn). It was an adorable little home-run inn. It had a natural-spring-fed onsen bathing room with taps and a bucket (hello, shower). There was a western-style toilet and a Japanese-style toilet, a common sink area, and our rooms. Our rooms were adorable! Mine & Rumiko's had a low table, a gorgeous mirror cabinet with small drawers, towels, ryokan yukatta, and a small TV for 100Yen / hour.



Once we got settled, we set out for (guess what?) food. There was surprisingly few places to be found, but we found an Izakaya-style restaurant. We had to wait a half an hour, but we used that to explore the little shops in the area and lining the street. Dinner was delicious, albeit a bit slow...we had sashimi and pizza and meat and vegetables of all kinds. It was late when we left, and since our Ryokan had an 11pm curfew, we stopped at the Family Mart for some snacks for later. When we got back, we hung out for a bit, then decided to try the natural onsen. Natural = Hot. We drained some of the water and added cold, but it was still scalding hot. I got my feet in. Alex got half of one leg in. Keith got some of his legs in. Rumi got in up to her waist (very slowly), but I don't know how she did it! I kept pouring cold water on and around her...hehe. We finally gave up on experiencing this particular onsen, but it was definitely interesting.


Natural fed onsen - HOT HOT HOT!!

We hung out for a while longer, eating our snacks and talking. However, having not slept the night before (at all), I was pretty exhausted. At first, I felt fine, but then I'm pretty sure I just fell over and looked like death until Rumi pulled me to bed. I slept like the dead. When I woke up in the morning, I felt incredibly strange. It was like I had been dead and just popped back into the world and was suddenly aware again. We were up just afer 8:30, and ready to head out by 9am, out into Day 2...

Tropical Island Paradise (Part II)

I woke up feeling marvellous. While I enjoyed the great outdoors in Miyajima, I have to admit that a real bed beats all. We discovered a marvellous little restaurant that had great meals (& steak) for super reasonable price. We boarded the ferry... it was paradise already. As we moved out of the harbor, I couldn't get over the deep, dark blue of the ocean, and the pale blue shades of the sky. The shades and hues of blue that I could see were infinite and indescribable. Gorgeous.

We arrived on Zanami island, and found our way to renting 50cc mopeds, then took off to explore the island! I cannot do the beauty of the scenery, or the feeling of freedom justice in words, but I'll try to describe it a bit!

The sun was hot - super sweaty hot. We put sunscreen on every couple hours, but it just melted off right away. Even the breeze was warm. The mountain roads wound back and forth, on cliff edges and through trees. From the edges, we could see ocean, sky, and small islands for miles and miles. The blues and greens were unlike anything man-made, and beyond what a photograph can capture. Riding on the little moped, with the hot sun on my skin and the wind in my hair, surrounded by the most incredible beauty, I felt freedom like I've never felt; joy like I would burst; and as content as I could ever imagine feeling.



Alex and I were moving faster, so we eventually split up into two groups. We made our way up the mountain, on the windy roads. The roads were not that steep, but on our little mopeds, all we could do was open 'em wide and...... chug along slowly. But that gave us lots of time to enjoy the scenery. We came around one bend and saw the most beautiful panoramic view - I hit my brakes, and called to Alex to stop for pictures. I decided to turn my bike around, so I leaned over and turned the front wheel, hit the gas and...drove right into the drainage chute beside the road. Alex found it amusing. I thought of my Dad - and realized that I really should listen to him more often. I could just picture him shaking his head at me and laughing and saying, "Stephanie Ellen, you do everything too fast!" Hehe. He's right. But I wasn't hurt and quickly dragged my bike out to take some pictures. I'll stop trying to describe our tropical paradise, and let the pictures speak for themselves...
















After our short two hours was up, Alex and I returned the mopeds, and headed for the beach. We chose a part of the beach that had few people, and wasn't very sandy - instead, it was covered in coral and shell bits! They were all broken and rounded from rolling around in the ocean for so long. We spent the rest of our Zamami time laying in the water, collecting pretty shells, and being washed back and forth with the waves. We had no cares, no problems...just shells, ocean swells, and freedom. I've blogged about some happy places and moments of joy before...but none of them came close to the contentedness I felt on Zamami.





All too soon, we had to head for the ferry - Alex and I made it with only a minute to spare. We met up with Keith and Thomas again, and spent the ferry ride relaxing, napping, and talking on the top deck of the ferry. The ferry ride was much too short, except that we were starving (skipped lunch), and craving steak and ice cream. After a shower and some supper, we explored Kokusaidori a bit more, then headed back to the hostel. We hung out, played some guitar, and had a jolly old time.

Thomas and Keith fell asleep, but Alex and I decided to have an adventure at 1am. We grabbed the guitar, and snuck out of the hostel....sort of quietly, and with some laughter. We spent the next 5 super fun hours hanging out - infinite awesome memories, and a general good time. After a (sort of quiet) sneaking back in, and a few hours of sleep, we were up and to the airport...back to Osaka! But that wasn't the end of the weekend's adventures.

Oh yes - I forgot the ATM saga. I forgot to get money from the ATM before we left Osaka....and I could not find an ATM in Okinawa that would give me money! It was very strange - the Family Mart ATMs wouln't service my card (even though I know I've used my card at Family Mart's before) - and neither would other ATMs! Fortunately for me, Alex had brought extra money, and lent me money for the weekend. Basically, by the end of the weekend, he practically owned me and my empty wallet. Once back in Osaka, I was finally able to find at ATM that worked, and repayed my debt. Extra thanks to Alex....the weekend would have been much less fun if he hadn't rescued me!

Tropical Paradise (Okinawa Part I)

I love planes. You could put me on a plane and just fly me in a circle and I would be thrilled. But - put a tropical island on the other end of that flight...and you get my weekend vacation.

I slept in - it was marvellous. I rarely sleep in, really. Then I met Keith and Alex at Osaka Station for some ice cream, before heading to Kansai Airport. We got some more icecream (mmm Black Sesame), met up with Thomas, and boarded the plane... Keith, Alex and I were in one row, and Thomas was a bit further up in the plane. The 2 hour flight passed quickly...at one point, the left window was completely dark, and the right window seemed perfectly light. I turned my head left-and-right-and-left-and-right until my neck started to hurt. Thomas captured a beautiful picture of the approaching night...

Then there the spoon episode. Alex decided to see if flicking me with a spoon would hurt. It did. A lot. Imprint-of-a-spoon-on-my-arm-a-lot. This was followed by me trying to flick him back and inflict an equal amount of pain, and him flicking himself with the same intent. Needless to say, this entertained us for a portion of the flight. But I did have an imprint of a spoon on my arm.

We arrived in Naha, Okinawa at around 9pm. The bus we thought we were going to take didn't exist, so we took a taxi. Keith had made reservations at the City Front Harumi Hostel, so we checked in and found our rooms. Ojisan (as we came to call him; meaning Grandpa or a respectful title for an older man) was very friendly and helpful in getting us settled and oriented in Naha.



The guys shared a room, and I (being a female and all) was in a different room. My room was shared with an older lady and a younger Down's Syndrome lady. They were very friendly and I had a short conversation with them before meeting the guys to go find some dinner. This proved more difficult than we thought, as most places were closed. But we wandered the busy highway a bit and found a family-style restaurant for some good eats. By that time, it was late, and we hit the bunkbeds for some sleep.

The next morning, I woke up feeling wonderful. I did enjoy my night at Miyajima, but I have to admit that sleeping in a real bed does top the great outdoors. The older lady in my room gave me some pretty little flowers, which I promptly put in my hair - they made me feel very tropical. We picked up some breakfast at the convenience store, and waited for our bus. A taxi driver offered to drive us up to our destination, for 1000Yen each. The bus was going to be about 900Yen each, so we took him up on his offer. And I'm so glad we did...

He was hilarious. He talked (loudly and animatedly) in broken English, for the majority of the ride. He told us about his family, and his 104 year old Mother and 108 year old Father (apparently the oldest couple in Japan), his large family, and his capabilities. He informed us that he had 8 licenses (later it was 9), and could build houses, drive cranes, scuba drive, drive motorbikes.... an all-around handy guy to know. When we asked him questions, he often paused and then went off on a tangent about something completely unrelated. My questions, he just ignored (I think he just didn't hear me...). We spent most of the trip giggling and keeping him talking - to our great amusement. When we disembarked the taxi, I asked him for a picture - he was definitely a character to remember!



When we got to our destination (a bit early), we explored a bit. We saw a sign for a steakhouse, and went 'a wandering to see if we could find it (which we couldn't).

Our destination? Snorkelling! We dressed in wetsuits and flippers and snorkelling gear, and crammed into a mini-minivan (not a Canadian sized mini-van), for a hot drive to the beach. When I say hot, I do not mean warm. I mean hot, hot, HOT! Sweat-dripping-down-your-face hot. We got stuck in traffic for a bit, and I had a short nap - that was all I could do; I couldn't move, and I was much too hot. But we finally arrived! It was a fun adventure, following our guide around the reef and the cave. We were even given some fish food and got to feed them!



After our snorkelling adventure, we decided that it was essential to find the steakhouse. It turned out to be a Movie House Steakhouse! The exterior and interior were decorated with movie posters of all genres. It was great fun to wander and look at the posters, and the steak was delicious!




In finding the steak house, we had found a small resort area, and explored it after lunch. Feeling extra tropical, I added to my hair bouquet some larger (okay, huge) flowers that I had found.



We wandered up the highway, trying to find a nice beach. We didn't find a beach, but we did find ice cream!



It was hot (did I mention that?), so we finally went back to the sort-of beach near the steakhouse. We tiptoed our way our towards the water, through the warm puddles, sharp shells, and broken coral. Getting to the water was difficult enough. Swimming in it proved even harder.

The water wasn't very shallow, but it was filled with all kinds of sea anemones and cucumbers and other mysterious sea creatures. We tiptoed and floated our way to slightly deeper water, and decided (for safety reasons) not to try and go further. I laid out like a starfish and floated...the blue sky and the clouds, the warm salty water...it was definitely a tropical paradise. Until I tried to stop floating, and stepped on a sea anemone. Ouch. But my foot didn't go numb and my head didn't explode, so I figured I would survive. After quite a while, we realized that the tide was coming in...right towards our shoes. So we started heading back - Thomas got back first, and discovered that Keith's hiking boots were floating, and my sandal had lost it's hubby. That made for an interesting trip back to the sand - tip toeing and jumping up when I stepped on sharp points. But we made it. I ventured to a beach house and purchased a new set of flipflops, and we headed for the bus top. A taxi stopped again and offered us the same deal. Unfortunately, this driver was not near as entertaining as the last one, and we mostly kept the conversation to ourselves.

After a cool shower to rid ourselves of the sweat, sand, and salt of the day, hung out for a few minutes in the hostel's common room. Alex played the guitar a bit (as he did anytime we were around the common room), and we enjoyed the AC for a bit. I borrowed a needle from Ojisan to remove the leftover sea anemone from my still-painful foot. The piece left in me was actually quite large and painful to get out, and brought a lot of blood with it! Ojisan's wife (Obasan) gave me a bit of cleaner and a bandaid to fix it up, and we took off for another evening of adventure...to Kokusaidori - Naha's international street.

We explored the shops, had some Okinawan-style Udon, and found a guitar shop (which entertained Alex for quite a while). Alex and I shared some dragonfruit and passionfruit - neither of which I had ever eaten (yummy!). There may have been some ice cream in there too...hehe.



Temples & Shrines all over Japan are often guarded by Shishi - lionlike protectors that are said to have magical powers to ward off evil. They guard in pairs; one female, one male; one open-mouthed, one closed; one symbolizing the beginning of time, the other the end. We also found them all over Okinawa - and they are a popular tourist souvenir. Every souvenir shop has them in all kinds of colors and styles, some funny, some scary. My favorite shop was filled with these - in every shape, size, and color - but they were handmade. (The other shops were mass manufactured.) The man who made them was selling them, and was midway through painting one when we were there. I bought two gorgeous statues - quite large, actually - for only $40! I was thrilled (still am) with my purchase... a reasonable price, authentically culturally Japanese, and not made in China!

When the street and shops started to close down, we visited a Canadian-run place for some snacks and a drink. We also tried Okinawa's snake wine.


It tasted surprisingly good, but it was still a little strange to drink... after some laughs and relaxation, we headed back to the hostel for the night.

More Pictures...
A Friend's Flckr Pictures...

Part Two coming soon...

Rainy Beach Day

Saturday morning I met Keith and Alex at Osaka Station; Matt joined us a few minutes later. While at DisneySea last weekend, a random decision was made (within a matter of moments) to visit the beach this weekend. So we did.

I was hoping we could visit Suma - a famous beach near Kobe, in Hyogo prefecture. I looked it up online, and discovered that it 'opens' on July 1st. In Canada, beaches don't really close (do they? I've never encountered a 'closed beach'); so I was a little confused. I asked a few questions of my coworkers, and came to the conclusion that 'closed' probably just meant that the food stands and shops in the area weren't open. But, unwilling to take the chance and not get to swim, we opted to visit Wakayama - the beach I went to previously. The train ride was quite long, but the four of us passed the time quickly with deep discussions about war, world affairs, and current issues. (No, I'm not kidding. We actually did.)

When we finally got to the beach (after I missed the stop and we had to go back one), I again felt so far from the city (probably because we were) and free of all troubles. Or at least most of them. It was overcast and rainy, and a bit chilly - but that certainly didn't stop us from swimming and hanging out in the water for quite a while. We were the only people in the water without surf boards and wetsuits. Needless to say, we got a few strange looks and the occasional side glance. We took a break for a beer and chatted to a woman for a while. She wanted to know where we were from, etc. She suggested a place to get food and seemed to want to take us there, but we were heading back into the water. In the water, Alex formed a brief friendship with a surfer 'dude'... he was watching us and creeping closer to our group. Alex waved, and the guy threw up a 'hang ten'. He was older than most of the surfers and had long hair and a long thin moustache. We laughed about it, then continued our conversation - with the occasional awkward laugh when he seemed to move closer.

After our second swim, we stopped for a snack before jumping on the train back to Osaka. Getting off in Namba, we met up with Rumiko - a new coop student from UVic. I was excited to meet her - although I enjoy all of my friends and spending time with them, the majority of them are male ... I definitely wouldn't trade any of my guy friends, but it's always nice to have another girl to hang out with!

We wandered around Namba for a bit in the light rain, and had some dinner - Okonomiyaki of course, for the benefit of the new coops. Then we spent the night out - Club Pure style. Two words to describe the night: fun & ridiculous. Next post!

The Magic of Disney

A friend of mine from my 2nd year of university is also working in Japan - and he's started a blog! Check it out, and maybe leave some encouragement for him to keep it up. Life is busy and sometimes it's hard to blog, but I think (at least for me), that a blog will be a good keeper of memories from all the adventures!

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On Friday night, I climbed aboard the night bus for another adventure in Tokyo - but this time, a magic one - a trip to the wonderful world of Disney Sea!

The park opened at 9am, and you can probably guess that I was planning on being in line before 9. I met up with Matt and we took the Disney train to meet Alex and Robert just outside the gate; we got our tickets, and stood in line waiting. Matt is a coop student who has been working in Kyoto for 9 or 10 months. Alex and Robert just got to Japan a couple weeks ago - Alex was in my second year class. We hung out and chatted about Japan while we waited - and I made a plan, so we would be ready to take DisneySea by storm. There were few opinions as to what to do first, but Alex suggested we head to Mystery Island - so I picked our route.



When they finally opened the gates, we shuffled our way with the crowd into the big open courtyard. At the center of the courtyard was a huge spinning globe, surrounded by statues of Disney characters. I was so excited, even just in the courtyard! (I'm sure you were, too, after the sneak peak at the courtyard in the last post!) The street and the buildings already gave the day a magical feel. The sky was threatening to rain, but it was still quite warm out. There were lots of people, but it wasn't overly crowded.


Me, excited to be there?! Naw...

As I tend to do when excited, I was off and running - map in hand, chattering non-stop. I dragged the guys to a ride, which we discovered was closed. Matt had mentioned he might want some breakfast, so I verbally bounced back and forth between rides and food possibilities - all the while speed walking around. If you know me at all, you can probably picture it ... me, in my super excited state, dragging my guy friends back and forth and around in circles. But, I was having tons of fun already, and they didn't seem too tortured by my insanity.

The first magical experience of the day was meeting the characters of Pinocchio! Jimmny Cricket and Geppetto were, of course very popular. So I went for a picture with the Cat. Which turned out to be a good choice! He was a very gentlemanly cat; took my arm in his, and posed for a picture before kissing my hand and giving me a little bow. I like the Cat.



The first ride we did was 20,000 Leagues Under The Sea. Then we visited the Port of Discovery to get a FastPass for the Storm ride. We stopped by the Mermaid Lagoon and visited King Triton's Palace for some lunch. Lunch was very successful. My Sea-themed sandwich was soo delicious! And - I got a birthday present! Hehe...well, sort of. Alex's lunch came with a bright yellow soft Disney lunchbag - which he gave to me! (Again - if you know me, you'll know how thrilled I was about this.) While we waited for Keith, I led the guys into line. They were mostly talking and just following me... I'm not sure how excited they were when they saw we were in line for the Blowfish Balloon Race! But I was. :) Actually, the ride was surprisingly fun.

We also went to a short production by Ariel and her friends. It was very well done! Ariel floated up out of an old treasure chest on the sea, and swam around the auditorium, singing. She was attached at the waist by cables, but they were attached in such a way that she could spin and dip and dive and do circles as she 'swam'. All kinds and sorts of other sea creatures came to dance with her - starfish, jellyfish...all people in beautiful costumes, dancing in the air and around the stage. After some joyful singing, Ariel had an encounter with Ursula - also incredibly displayed! A huge mask of Ursula's face appeared in the air, and the auditorium was surrounded by long waving tentacles. It's impossible to describe! I tried to take pictures...but I got the 'X'.* At first I thought it was because my flash was on...but, alas, I just wasn't supposed to take pictures. So I got the X a second time.

*When Japanese people don't want you to do something, or are cancelling something, or deleting something, saying no, or...anything negative - they'll put their arms up in front of them in a big X. I got the 'X' several times throughout the day, for taking pictures when I wasn't supposed to. At least 6 times. Oops. :)

We wandered around the park, and did several rides including: StormRider, Raging Spirits, Tower of Terror, Sinbad's Adventure, Caravan Carousel.

After Sinbad's Adventure, we also saw some Aladdin characters! The monkey, Aladdin, and Jasmine were surrounded by people, but Jafar had a bit lesser a crowd, so me and Keith attempted a picture with him. Well, I have to say - Jafar moved way up on my list of favorite Disney characters. Not only did he kiss my hand as well, with a little bow, but - he did it again for a picture, and he actually gently pushed Keith to the side and stood in front of him to get a picture with just me! Hehe. He was quite charming (although he was rude to Keith). But charming to me!



We also got to meet Indiana Jones. I love the Indiana Jones movies. I love Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones in the Indiana Jones movies. I did not love the Indiana Jones character. I'll admit I stopped dead in my tracks when I saw him - good looking? That's the understatement of the year. So I was excited to get a picture with him. He was running around the bridge, posing with children and shouting in a big, deep, fake voice, "HI! I'M INDIANA JONES!" When I finally got to him for a picture, I said, "Hi, Indiana Jones!" And he said, "HI! I'M INDIANA JONES!". So I said, "Do you speak Japanese, Indy?" (Thinking...you should really speak Japanese. We are in Japan.) He replied, "WELL, YES, ACTUALLY, I SPEAK 25 LANGUAGES!" Me - "Well could I get a picture with your multilingual self?" Between yelling that he was "INDIANA JONES!", the fact that he was too self absorbed to actually notice me, and the super dark fake-looking tan... his 'kekko ii' (hot) status was quickly crushed by other factors. Disappointing, to say the least. Especially since he was so darn good looking!




We got a FastPass for Indiana Jones, but it wasn't valid until later in the evening. So we spent a while waiting in line for other big rides... we waited for just over an hour and a half for the Tower of Terror. Time passed quickly, though. With 6 people, conversation was constant. Alex updated me as to the status of our classmates, and we reminisced about Mech2 and I got some useful info about my third year. We talked about profs, elective courses, and speculated how many people in our class would be married by the end of our degree.

(As a side note, I cannot believe how many people I know are getting married and having babies! Apparently I've hit that magic age where everyone starts getting married. If life had gone as it was planned (planned at the time, that is), I would be engaged now, and probably married within a year and a half. As it stands...I'm perfectly happy (well, most of the time at least) living the single life, and right now have no desire to be in a serious relationship, let alone getting married and having kids! Wow - how times, thoughts, and desires change. Hehe - I'm a 21 year old single woman living and working halfway across the world, learning, growing, meeting new people, and having tons of adventures! Love it.)

The Tower of Terror was fun - I love the adrenaline and the way my stomach crunches up when we dropped from the top of the tower. I love heights for those reasons - the adrenaline and the twisting stomach. Awesome feeling. We stopped for periodic snacks - I had some yummy Sea Salt ice cream, and a greasy, oily chicken leg. Mmm but it was so good! I dripped grease on my shirt which will probably never come out, but it was so worth it.


Mmm...

We also had to wait in line for the Journey To The Center of the Earth...it was near the end of the day, and we were all getting tired, I think. I was. I was still super excited to be in DisneySea, but my feet were telling me that they had had enough walking for a while. We were probably in line for an hour and a half, but it seemed longer. Although - the second half flew by once the conversation picked up. Come to think of it, my energy did too. I'm always amazed at how a good conversation makes the time fly by. The Journey To the Center of the Earth was a fun ride - very well done, but too short as always.



As the day wrapped up, we went to the BraviSEAmo show.It was lightly raining, we picked up some Strawberry Popcorn (yum), and watched the show. Aside from Mickey coming out with Japanese excitement and greetings at the beginning, there were no words; it was just set to music. It was mesmerizing and I found myself completely absorbed by the lights and the sparking water. The show was a depiction of the love story between the "Spirit of Water" and the "Spirit of Fire". The fireworks after the show were cancelled due to the wind, which was disappointing...but I was still too enthralled with BraviSEAmo to mind too much. After hitting up the Indiana Jones ride (which fortunately was much better than it's character), we headed out of the park.



We sat for a bit in the big entrance courtyard while Matt got his stuff from a locker...I didn't want to leave. The air was filled with magic as only Disney air could be...the night was cool and fresh, and as the lit-up globe spun in front of me, I enjoyed the peaceful and magical moment - noting to myself that I was in Japan. Which still amazes me, sometimes.

We took the 45 minute train ride back to Tokyo, and went to Izikaya for some long-awaited dinner and drinks. It was the perfect ending to the day! I may have been a little bit grumpy by that point (okay, I was grumpy), but once we got some food and some kiwi sours, I was good to go! Alex and I led the drinking train, quickly leaving everyone else behind. The food was good, the drinks were good. It was good.



The next morning, we did a little bit of shopping around Shibuya. We had some lunch at an Italian place, and then some delicious gelato! Individual gelatos were ridiculously expensive, so 4 or 5 of us bought a half a liter of it. The packed it all up for us, sealed, dry ice, and all. We promptly walked to the table, undid it all, and ate it. I caught them watching us a bit - I'm sure we provided a source of amusement or at least --. It wasn't really a Japanese thing to do. The Japanese would never A) open a half a liter of gelato in the shop, B) sit down and finish off a whole half a liter in one sitting, from the container, with spoons. But, we're not Japanese. And it was sooo delicious. Due to the downpour of rain, we called it a day after lunch, and went our seperate ways home.




I couldn't have asked for a better weekend... good conversation and friends, delicious food and yummy treats, fast falls and quick drops, and a little bit of Magic.

More Pictures...

Mmmm Pizza!

Saturday morning, I met several coop students for another 'Going Away' party. Some students are gone, but there were a few who couldn't make it to the first dinner - and why not have another? We met at Namba for lunch at an authentic Italian restaurant - certified by an Italian organization to have authentic Italian pizza. It - was - amazing. I rarely eat cheese here (and I thought cheese was expensive in Canada! More later...), so the cheese on the pizza was like heaven - and the pizza overall was like heaven x 10. It was very well priced, too - I will definitely be going back there!



After pizza, we split up to do some errands and shopping. Keith and I went on a mission to get his phone charged, and find shoes. I discovered, once and for all, that I will not find shoes that fit me, here. The Japanese 'LL' size is the equivalent of 24.5 centimeters. My feet fit a 25.5. I did find one small rack of shoes labelled 'Model Size' that were 25, $250, and not attractive. I have officially given up on finding shoes.

We all met up again for dinner - Okonomiyaki and Yakisoba, and then went for some Perfect Parfait dessert...so yummy. I headed home after that. Keith, Thomas, and I planned to go to Kyoto the next day...

January 27th

Yesterday, I had my first Japanese ‘going-out-for-a-night-on-the-town’ experience. In the morning, after meeting JP and having some internet access, I headed out to Kyoto to meet some other coop students. It takes about an hour and three quarters to get to Kyoto from my place, if you get the Rapid train. At Kyoto station, after giving myself a pat on the back for a successful trip, I met up with Terry, a coop from UVic. We walked to downtown Kyoto. Kyoto is a pretty big tourist destination and has a lot of old architecture, temples, etc. I’d like to plan a day to go see it all! We walked by one neat temple-looking thing, so I figured I’d be touristy and take a picture. I also snapped a picture of the Kyoto Tower, which is on top of the Kyoto Hotel – also pretty neat. Once we go to downtown Kyoto, we met up with Matt, another coop. The three of us wandered for a bit and ended up having a pre-dinner snack at A-bar. A-bar was a really neat place. It’s this little hippie-Japanese bar…it has mostly-somewhat-obscene saying scribbled all over the walls and tables in black felt pen – I think that the thing to do is leave a note behind. I don’t know if they know what half of it says. It was a neat little place, though. I didn’t take any pictures, but I’m sure we’ll go back there and I will. When you order food in Japanese bars, you don’t eat order something, you order a couple things, and you share them all. We had some gyoza, fried cheese, tortilla chips, pork something, and chicken something. After A-bar, we met up with a couple more coops, Tony and Eric. Eric lives in the Osaka region, close to JP – about an hour from me, by train. We all went for dinner at a hamburger place – named Donkey something…I can’t remember – but Japanese hamburgers aren’t the same as Canadian hamburgers. They don’t have a bun. I know what you’re thinking – how can it be a hamburger without a bun!? It’s just the patty, with cheese, or pineapple, or curry sauce on it, or other things. It was very good. After dinner, we collected Chris, who had come to meet us too. We went to Round 1, which is like a massive arcade/bowling/billards/karaoke/gambling sports amusement place. We wandered around and played some games, then decided to do some karaoke (at another place) before we hit up the club. It was so much fun! You get a room to yourself, with the TV, microphones, and a big phonebook-style book with tons of songs in it. You can pay a little extra to get unlimited alcohol, but you can each only have one drink at a time, and they’re pretty weak drinks. We had a lot of fun, though, singing to all the songs and laughing at song choices. Karaoke is pretty popular in Japan, and I can see why! Apparently there’s similar karaoke places in Vancouver (Richmond, specifically) – and I’m definitely planning a karaoke night when I’m back in Vancouver. (PS – Jeff, they played the I-got-it-from-my-momma song, and I thought of you and had to laugh.  ) After karaoke, we headed to World, one of Kyoto’s two clubs. I wasn’t sure what to expect, but it was pretty similar to a Canadian club. They actually played a lot of English songs, too. We had a lot of fun there, and got these funky neon-flashing rings. In Canada, clubs & bars close at 2 or 4, depending on where you’re at. In Japan, they close at 5. We hung out until 4, then went to McDonalds for a snack. Trains in Japan only run until 11 or 12 or so, then start up again at 5 or 6, depending on where you’re going. We hung out in McDonalds until 5:30, then headed out to catch our trains. I rode back on the subway to Kyobashi with Eric, then headed home. I was definitely exhausted when I got home, but the all-nighter was worth it. It was so much fun to have some friends to hang out with and to go out and do something fun – and to be able to speak English! Oo – and Chris can do magic tricks. He makes coins disappear and stuff…I’m still trying to figure one of them out. It’s pretty good. That entertained me for a quite a while, when we were waiting for our karaoke room. All-in-all, it was a very good first going out experience in Japan. I slept a bit when I got home, then called home in Kelowna and talked to Mom & Joanna. I like calling home, but it makes me a bit more homesick, because I realize how much I miss everyone and everything there. I’ve been trying not to be annoying about getting internet, but I’m going to ask again, because I want to be able to talk on MSN & Skype and email everyone! I’m off to make some food and head on another adventure to try and find a gym…I’ll let you know how that goes, tomorrow! 
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What a successful day! I didn’t feel like going out to try and find the gym, but in the end (as usual!), I was glad I did! I headed to Yao station and decided to check out iPod prices, first. I’m going to buy one, but I’m not sure which one… and I want to wait until I get my first paycheque, anyways. I also managed to find some shoes for the gym – I didn’t bring any running shoes. I got some nice Rebok shoes for 2900 Yen, which is around $25 – a good deal! I managed to find the gym, too, without too much difficulty. I was given a tour and a brochure with the prices. A membership is expensive (7350 Yen/month ~ $70), but I think it will be worth it. Then – here’s the good part – I came back to the dorm and cooked myself the most amazing meal. I had carrots and potatoes and an onion and some kind of random meet (Pork? Chicken? Antelope (you never know)?) I threw it all in a frying pan and tossed it around…it took forever to cook, but was so good. I even had enough left over to freeze for another that I don’t want to cook. The internet process is going to get started tomorrow (finally!), and I have tentative plans to go hiking and skiing twice, with three different groups of people! When I think that I have stuff to do and people to do it with, it’s a huge encouragement. I’ve also gained a bit more confidence in myself: my navigation skills, my ability to deal with a problem should it arise, and my Japanese! I’m also excited about my gym pass…I find the gym really rewarding – sometimes I don’t feel like going, but when I’m done, I feel better about myself and I feel like I accomplished something. I’ve also discovered it’s a great place to teach myself discipline and endurance, and it definitely helps me sort out all the thoughts in my head, while I’m swimming afterwards! They also have classes at the gym; I didn’t ask for what, but they have some. Depending on how busy I am and when they are, I might try to join one of those too. Between being able to connect to Canada on Saturday (borrowed internet!), a night out with some friends, future plans, and a gym membership, I’m feeling very optimistic and looking forward to the next couple weeks! Take care, and keep emailing me! I appreciate all the emails I get from everyone – they’re a huge part of the encouragement I find in many things.

-Kyoto Hotel

-Japanese arcade...infinite games like this!!

-Reminds me of Scandia!

-My first karaoke experience, and it was so much fun! My Vancouver friends, beware..you will be subjected to this experience when I get back!

All in all...it was a great time! It was nice to meet some people and make some new friends and have some fun, but at the same time, it made me miss my friends from Ktown, Vancouver, and Sparlem so much more!