So last weekend was pretty fun :) Friday night I went out to see another movie, Inception. the movie itself was pretty good, though I seem to be the only person alive who didn't find it the best movie ever in the history of movies. I still enjoyed Toy Story 3 and How to Train Your Dragon over it this year. Anyway, this movie theater was even more incredible than the last. Once again, it was on the top story of the building (which I still find very strange), and yet again there were cheap concessions and assigned seats. This time, however, the concessions got really fancy. They had a "Healthy Option" section where there were veggie nuggets and veggie fries offered. They also had a bazaar thing called a basil hot dog. I was too nervous to try that, so I stuck to my regualt melon soda and popcorn (both caramel and regular). The concession stand also offered nifty little trays that you could put your drink and popcorn in. The amazing thing about these trays was that the drink end fit in the cup holder, so you didn't even have to hold your popcorn during the movie! How genius.
Saturday was a whole lot of fun. I went to Disney Sea with my friend Cameron and it was amazing. The location was gorgeous because it was right off the coast of the Pacific. It was the perfect day to go too, because it was the last weekend of the "off-season." I know, you'd think because it's summer that it would be packed and all lines would be over 2 hours of wait, well you're wrong. August is the start of most Japanese traveling, so Disney Sea wasn't overcrowded just yet. The hotels were magnificent and the rides were so much fun :). They had their own version of the Tower of Terror and it was very much worth the 70 minute wait :D. At the end of the day, they had a Bon Fire that was in the Aladdin themed part of the park and it was a lot of fun. I had a great day :D.
Sunday I did a lot of shopping. I bought more presents for my brothers, and I bought a yukata for myself :). It's really pretty. Other than that, I've been relaxing a lot and just chilling. School's gotten pretty easy and kind of boring. We just went over a chapter that I've already learned. I'm kind of dreading the end, because I realize that I'm not going to learn everything I should learn in level 2 because I'm in the summer short term. So that means I'm going to have to do some cramming before school...and that won't be very fun!
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
Tuesday, July 20, 2010
休み Vacation
So this past weekend was so much fun! Friday I went to the Tokyo Tower finally and it was amazing. The view was fabulous and I really like the pictures I got from it. I went to Tokyo Tower with Cameron and a Korean girl from my Japanese class named Jin. After the tower, we all went out to this small hole-in-the-wallish ramen restaurant. I think I've started to realize my tummy does not usually want to eat big soups with lots of noodles. I honestly don't know how anyone can finsih them! It's so shocking to me...
Saturday and Sunday I went on a field trip with my study abroad group to Aizu and it was so gorgeous :). We had to take 2 buses because our group was apparently the biggest they've ever had! Most of the time, the 2 buses were seperated, but I was alright with that. Our destination was pretty far from Tokyo, so we had 2 rest stops along the way -- one for strictly bathroom and one for food. The food rest stops here are a lot different than the ones you see in America. Instead of fast food places like McDonalds lined every mile across the highway, they have these little stops where they have restaurants, mini-markets that sell made-to-order noodle soups and other snacks, and food stands (my favorite one would be the ice cream stands). At the first food rest stop I ate a pastry hot dog, which was delicious but different because it was cold, and a bun with some type of curry in it. It was delicious. I also got myself a wonderful melon soda :)!
Our first real stop on our trip was at a small town called Ouchi-juku that was rebuilt to look like what a authentic old Japanese town would be. It was in a beautiful valley. The town was mostly a tourist attration, of course, but that doesn't mean it was cool. They sold a lot of traditional candies, toys, and a special type of candle that you can only get in that area of the world. Also, they had these little red cows that apparently are sold everywhere near Aizu because it's famous for something. I forgot the reasons my teacher told me, to be honest. The only down side to this part of the trip was the rain. It is the Japanese Rainy Season, of course, so there's always bound to be rain at some point in the day.
Next stop was at a Lacquer workshop and we were able to get a tour of the tiny place. From what I understood, because mostly my mind was in shock from the prices of the tiniest bowls, was that they painted to wooden items with a sort of paint that you can only get from a certain tree in Japan. Basically, it's some pretty special paint used by a pretty special artist. Essentially, this trip was the gift shop, which was full or overly expensive wooden items, like a spoon worht $30. I made a joke to a few of my friends saying "Oh, there's that 3000 yen spoon I've been looking for all over the place!" and it brought out a few giggles :). Of coures, I bought something there. It was the beautiful wall orniment and it had fall leaves painted on it. I fell in love with it from the moment my eyes saw it. It was only 800 yen too, which was an amazing price seeing as the next thing I thought was gorgeous was about 20,000 yen :O! A lot of people spent a lot of money in that gift shop. It made me laugh when everyone freaked out because they accepted credit cards at the place. Of course they did! Who walks in with 5,000,000 yen in cash planning on buying that super nicely painted table in the glass? I don't want to know who....
After the trip to the Lacquer workshop, it was off to our hotel, which was probably my absolute favorite part of the trip (isn't that sad?). Cameron and I luckily got roomed together, along with two other girls that live in my dorm (Branisha and Rebecca). I was really suprised at how well the teachers knew us and who we hung around with. It's amazing that they could remember out of 90 kids, who really enjoys who's company.
The hotel was located near a volcano and was in between 2 giant hills. We stayed in the part of the hotel complex that was cheapest. It was so cheap, the carpet in the halls was fake grass :). But that's alright, the rooms were pretty sweet. Cameron and I slept in the "Traditional Japanese" part of the room on tatami mats and Branisha and Rebecca stayed on the "Western" side of the room on couch-beds. The tatami mats were like giant fluffy pillows, but that's probably because Cameron and I piled 4 on top of each other :p. We had dinner at the hotel, which was buffet style and they had grapes! I almost cried because I was so happy to eat delicious fruit that I didn't have to pay $5 for. After dinner, Cameron and I went to the onsen, which is a bathroom that has natural hot spring water in the giant tub. It was kind of weird at first, because you have to go in naked and bathe yourself, but after you get over the awkwardness it is so relaxing. Cameron and I went to 2 of them -- one that was not so fancy and located on our side of the hotel, and another that was outside on a high-up floor where you could look at the best view while you relaxed. I have to admit, the 2nd one was my absolute favorite :D! Oh but as I told my boyfriend, don't worry -- they were not co-ed! :p
After a relaxing time at the onsens, I decided I needed some sleep because I was going to be getting up early yet again. In the morning, I had a buffet style breakfast from the hotel and it was alright. I was pretty excited to get waffles and sausage for the first time in a while, but I do miss my wonderful Holiday Inn breakfasts with sausage biscuits. Yumm.
We left the hotel around 8:30am, and we were yet again in charter buses off to our next destination! Japanese people are so punctual about time -- it's great! Our first stop was at the Tsuruga-jou Samurai Castle, which I had been looking forward to since I found out about our trip to Aizu about 2 months ago. However, this was probably the biggest let down so far on the trip. Instead of a beautiful, gorgeous castle, we saw a giant blue tarp that had a cartoon picture of the castle on it. Yes that's right -- the castle was under renovation. I had never seen a more disappointed class and an even more angry Japanese teacher. When the three teachers told us all to go wander, I caught a glimpse of the head lady-sensei and she was on the phone and looked like she was about to cry and about to kill someone at the same time. As it turns out, the museum on the inside of the castle wasn't that interesting either and I felt like going to the castle was just a big waste of our time. I can say pretty strongly that the rest of my bus felt the same way. The only plus side to that stop was the delicious peach ice cream I enjoyed.
After our wonderful let down, it was off to the Samurai Mansion, which was a good chear-up after the castle. We were able to walk around it for about an hour and a half, which was the most time we were allotted at a destination so far! It was nice to be able to take pictures of everything and not feel so rushed :). Of course, because this was the end of our trip I had to get one of the little red cows I had been seeing everywhere since we got of the bus near Aizu. I got a tiny key chain with a giant red eyeball riding the cow. Cameron picked it out for me :).
Alas, after the wonderful tour of the mansion we had to leave for Tokyo. This made me a little sad, but at the same time I was really exhausted so it was good to be on a bus in the air conditioning. We had 3 stops on the way home, and 2 were for food. At one of the food stops I got what was essentially a meat pocket and it was very interesting. Apparently it was also very Chinese. We also watched Finding Nemo on the way home and reading the Japanese subtitles was just as amusing as the movie :).
Because we had Monday off for Ocean Day, Cameron and I went to go see the new Studio Ghibli movie that was written by Miyazaki. It was called The Borrowers. It was pretty cute :). I was really excited that I understood a lot of what the movie was saying! I was very impressed with myself. I also loved the experience of seeing a movie in Japan. Cameron and I had bought the tickets for the movie early through a convience store, so the tickets were 1300 yen as opposed to the 1800 yen you pay if you just show up. The stange things about Japanese movie theater are as follows:
1. They have assigned seats. I found that very efficient because that means a theater can almost, if not fully, sell out. I'm pretty sure the one we were in was definately sold out too.
2. Concessions were super cheap. I spent less that $4 on myself and I got a popcorn to share with Cameron that was a pretty good size and a medium-ish sized melon soda. I was so shocked.
3. The ushers came in right after the movie ended and picked up everyone's trash. This could be because they seperate trash 3 ways here, but I'm just be speculating.
4. The had a souvenir-type shop as you walked out the movie, where you could buy themed things that have the movie title and poster plaster on them (the favorite seemed to be the keychain).
This Friday I'm seeing Inception with Cameron too. We already bought tickets and we're so excited! I think the Japanese people really love Leonardo DeCaprio because apparently he's been doing ads here for a long time. The current one I've seen is at many gas stations. When I went to the themed restaurant with Sabrina, she told me to look out for them and the past weekend I finally saw a bunch of them!!
Anyway, school is rough this week. I had a test today and one tomorrow, so wish me luck!!
Saturday and Sunday I went on a field trip with my study abroad group to Aizu and it was so gorgeous :). We had to take 2 buses because our group was apparently the biggest they've ever had! Most of the time, the 2 buses were seperated, but I was alright with that. Our destination was pretty far from Tokyo, so we had 2 rest stops along the way -- one for strictly bathroom and one for food. The food rest stops here are a lot different than the ones you see in America. Instead of fast food places like McDonalds lined every mile across the highway, they have these little stops where they have restaurants, mini-markets that sell made-to-order noodle soups and other snacks, and food stands (my favorite one would be the ice cream stands). At the first food rest stop I ate a pastry hot dog, which was delicious but different because it was cold, and a bun with some type of curry in it. It was delicious. I also got myself a wonderful melon soda :)!
Our first real stop on our trip was at a small town called Ouchi-juku that was rebuilt to look like what a authentic old Japanese town would be. It was in a beautiful valley. The town was mostly a tourist attration, of course, but that doesn't mean it was cool. They sold a lot of traditional candies, toys, and a special type of candle that you can only get in that area of the world. Also, they had these little red cows that apparently are sold everywhere near Aizu because it's famous for something. I forgot the reasons my teacher told me, to be honest. The only down side to this part of the trip was the rain. It is the Japanese Rainy Season, of course, so there's always bound to be rain at some point in the day.
Next stop was at a Lacquer workshop and we were able to get a tour of the tiny place. From what I understood, because mostly my mind was in shock from the prices of the tiniest bowls, was that they painted to wooden items with a sort of paint that you can only get from a certain tree in Japan. Basically, it's some pretty special paint used by a pretty special artist. Essentially, this trip was the gift shop, which was full or overly expensive wooden items, like a spoon worht $30. I made a joke to a few of my friends saying "Oh, there's that 3000 yen spoon I've been looking for all over the place!" and it brought out a few giggles :). Of coures, I bought something there. It was the beautiful wall orniment and it had fall leaves painted on it. I fell in love with it from the moment my eyes saw it. It was only 800 yen too, which was an amazing price seeing as the next thing I thought was gorgeous was about 20,000 yen :O! A lot of people spent a lot of money in that gift shop. It made me laugh when everyone freaked out because they accepted credit cards at the place. Of course they did! Who walks in with 5,000,000 yen in cash planning on buying that super nicely painted table in the glass? I don't want to know who....
After the trip to the Lacquer workshop, it was off to our hotel, which was probably my absolute favorite part of the trip (isn't that sad?). Cameron and I luckily got roomed together, along with two other girls that live in my dorm (Branisha and Rebecca). I was really suprised at how well the teachers knew us and who we hung around with. It's amazing that they could remember out of 90 kids, who really enjoys who's company.
The hotel was located near a volcano and was in between 2 giant hills. We stayed in the part of the hotel complex that was cheapest. It was so cheap, the carpet in the halls was fake grass :). But that's alright, the rooms were pretty sweet. Cameron and I slept in the "Traditional Japanese" part of the room on tatami mats and Branisha and Rebecca stayed on the "Western" side of the room on couch-beds. The tatami mats were like giant fluffy pillows, but that's probably because Cameron and I piled 4 on top of each other :p. We had dinner at the hotel, which was buffet style and they had grapes! I almost cried because I was so happy to eat delicious fruit that I didn't have to pay $5 for. After dinner, Cameron and I went to the onsen, which is a bathroom that has natural hot spring water in the giant tub. It was kind of weird at first, because you have to go in naked and bathe yourself, but after you get over the awkwardness it is so relaxing. Cameron and I went to 2 of them -- one that was not so fancy and located on our side of the hotel, and another that was outside on a high-up floor where you could look at the best view while you relaxed. I have to admit, the 2nd one was my absolute favorite :D! Oh but as I told my boyfriend, don't worry -- they were not co-ed! :p
After a relaxing time at the onsens, I decided I needed some sleep because I was going to be getting up early yet again. In the morning, I had a buffet style breakfast from the hotel and it was alright. I was pretty excited to get waffles and sausage for the first time in a while, but I do miss my wonderful Holiday Inn breakfasts with sausage biscuits. Yumm.
We left the hotel around 8:30am, and we were yet again in charter buses off to our next destination! Japanese people are so punctual about time -- it's great! Our first stop was at the Tsuruga-jou Samurai Castle, which I had been looking forward to since I found out about our trip to Aizu about 2 months ago. However, this was probably the biggest let down so far on the trip. Instead of a beautiful, gorgeous castle, we saw a giant blue tarp that had a cartoon picture of the castle on it. Yes that's right -- the castle was under renovation. I had never seen a more disappointed class and an even more angry Japanese teacher. When the three teachers told us all to go wander, I caught a glimpse of the head lady-sensei and she was on the phone and looked like she was about to cry and about to kill someone at the same time. As it turns out, the museum on the inside of the castle wasn't that interesting either and I felt like going to the castle was just a big waste of our time. I can say pretty strongly that the rest of my bus felt the same way. The only plus side to that stop was the delicious peach ice cream I enjoyed.
After our wonderful let down, it was off to the Samurai Mansion, which was a good chear-up after the castle. We were able to walk around it for about an hour and a half, which was the most time we were allotted at a destination so far! It was nice to be able to take pictures of everything and not feel so rushed :). Of course, because this was the end of our trip I had to get one of the little red cows I had been seeing everywhere since we got of the bus near Aizu. I got a tiny key chain with a giant red eyeball riding the cow. Cameron picked it out for me :).
Alas, after the wonderful tour of the mansion we had to leave for Tokyo. This made me a little sad, but at the same time I was really exhausted so it was good to be on a bus in the air conditioning. We had 3 stops on the way home, and 2 were for food. At one of the food stops I got what was essentially a meat pocket and it was very interesting. Apparently it was also very Chinese. We also watched Finding Nemo on the way home and reading the Japanese subtitles was just as amusing as the movie :).
Because we had Monday off for Ocean Day, Cameron and I went to go see the new Studio Ghibli movie that was written by Miyazaki. It was called The Borrowers. It was pretty cute :). I was really excited that I understood a lot of what the movie was saying! I was very impressed with myself. I also loved the experience of seeing a movie in Japan. Cameron and I had bought the tickets for the movie early through a convience store, so the tickets were 1300 yen as opposed to the 1800 yen you pay if you just show up. The stange things about Japanese movie theater are as follows:
1. They have assigned seats. I found that very efficient because that means a theater can almost, if not fully, sell out. I'm pretty sure the one we were in was definately sold out too.
2. Concessions were super cheap. I spent less that $4 on myself and I got a popcorn to share with Cameron that was a pretty good size and a medium-ish sized melon soda. I was so shocked.
3. The ushers came in right after the movie ended and picked up everyone's trash. This could be because they seperate trash 3 ways here, but I'm just be speculating.
4. The had a souvenir-type shop as you walked out the movie, where you could buy themed things that have the movie title and poster plaster on them (the favorite seemed to be the keychain).
This Friday I'm seeing Inception with Cameron too. We already bought tickets and we're so excited! I think the Japanese people really love Leonardo DeCaprio because apparently he's been doing ads here for a long time. The current one I've seen is at many gas stations. When I went to the themed restaurant with Sabrina, she told me to look out for them and the past weekend I finally saw a bunch of them!!
Anyway, school is rough this week. I had a test today and one tomorrow, so wish me luck!!
Tuesday, July 13, 2010
ジブリ美術館 The Ghibli Museum
Sunday was the best day of my life. However, before I get to that I will talk about my Saturday.
Saturday was a gorgeous day in Tokyo. I went to the Imperial Palace early in the morning and then went to the JCII Camera Museum and looked at all the old cameras. At the museum, there was a gallery of photos of trains. It reminded me of the Hogwarts Express :). It was a good morning and afternoon.
At night I took a trip to Akihabara and got a little overwhelmed. I probably should go back again because I didn't find a camera lense I was looking for, but there were a lot of really good ones for cheap cheap cheap. I may have to reorganize my finances and see if I can afford one :).
After Saturday I was exhausted. However, Sunday was coming and what I didn't know was that it was going to be a great day.
I woke up early and headed off with Cameron to the Ghibli Museum. Tired as I was, I was super excited. To me, this was the Totoro Museum essentially. One of my favorite movies since I was 3, I was jumpping up and down on the inside and I couldn't wait to get there, though I'm pretty sure I kepy my cool well.
The museum was gorgeous. The outside building was designed beautifully. It was hidden in a forest of the greenest trees. The windows were all stained glass of Miyazaki characters and the inside had tiny, secret doors. It was like it came from the mind of a genius, which it infact did. The first floor had some pretty interesting art pieces. There was one that was made of clay figures and a stobe light was blinking on them and it looked like they were all moving around. There were wooden, moving scenes and "3D" art work. They had film reels of mini shorts and you could see the actual film, which wasn't too impressive for me because I work at a movie theater, but the way they had the reels was super creative and interesting.
The 2nd floor was all concept art and story boards and cells. I loved it. I was breathless. It was amazing to be seeing some of the original drawings by Miyazaki. I saw Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away...so much greatness was hanging on those walls :). I was so impressed.
Also on the 2nd floor was a little room with mini cat buses where kids under 10 could run around in. I was so jealous. They were so cute!! I wanted to be 10 and run around in one.
The 3rd floor had a bigger cat bus room for small children and the gift shop. It also led to a porch that a spiral staircase to the roof, where there was a giant robot statue. The place was gorgeous. I found a book in the gift shop and apparently there's a private room at the museum where animators have signed a wall saying they've been there. People like the ever-epic Pixar genius John Lasseter had signed the wall. I almost died and I wish I could see that wall in person, but it was not for my eyes (yet).
It was then that I convinced myself that I was going to try in itern at Pixar. Yes, Pixar. I will stop at nothing to be able to get an intership there. Everyone will see, this will happen. I will intern there.
Also at the museum I saved a giant blue butterfly from being trapped inside the museum forever. It landed on my finger and I took it out to the porch and let it free :). It was pretty cool.
Saturday was a gorgeous day in Tokyo. I went to the Imperial Palace early in the morning and then went to the JCII Camera Museum and looked at all the old cameras. At the museum, there was a gallery of photos of trains. It reminded me of the Hogwarts Express :). It was a good morning and afternoon.
At night I took a trip to Akihabara and got a little overwhelmed. I probably should go back again because I didn't find a camera lense I was looking for, but there were a lot of really good ones for cheap cheap cheap. I may have to reorganize my finances and see if I can afford one :).
After Saturday I was exhausted. However, Sunday was coming and what I didn't know was that it was going to be a great day.
I woke up early and headed off with Cameron to the Ghibli Museum. Tired as I was, I was super excited. To me, this was the Totoro Museum essentially. One of my favorite movies since I was 3, I was jumpping up and down on the inside and I couldn't wait to get there, though I'm pretty sure I kepy my cool well.
The museum was gorgeous. The outside building was designed beautifully. It was hidden in a forest of the greenest trees. The windows were all stained glass of Miyazaki characters and the inside had tiny, secret doors. It was like it came from the mind of a genius, which it infact did. The first floor had some pretty interesting art pieces. There was one that was made of clay figures and a stobe light was blinking on them and it looked like they were all moving around. There were wooden, moving scenes and "3D" art work. They had film reels of mini shorts and you could see the actual film, which wasn't too impressive for me because I work at a movie theater, but the way they had the reels was super creative and interesting.
The 2nd floor was all concept art and story boards and cells. I loved it. I was breathless. It was amazing to be seeing some of the original drawings by Miyazaki. I saw Ponyo, Howl's Moving Castle, Spirited Away...so much greatness was hanging on those walls :). I was so impressed.
Also on the 2nd floor was a little room with mini cat buses where kids under 10 could run around in. I was so jealous. They were so cute!! I wanted to be 10 and run around in one.
The 3rd floor had a bigger cat bus room for small children and the gift shop. It also led to a porch that a spiral staircase to the roof, where there was a giant robot statue. The place was gorgeous. I found a book in the gift shop and apparently there's a private room at the museum where animators have signed a wall saying they've been there. People like the ever-epic Pixar genius John Lasseter had signed the wall. I almost died and I wish I could see that wall in person, but it was not for my eyes (yet).
It was then that I convinced myself that I was going to try in itern at Pixar. Yes, Pixar. I will stop at nothing to be able to get an intership there. Everyone will see, this will happen. I will intern there.
Also at the museum I saved a giant blue butterfly from being trapped inside the museum forever. It landed on my finger and I took it out to the porch and let it free :). It was pretty cool.
Friday, July 9, 2010
たくさん食べ物 Lots of Food!
So I realized I haven't updated for a week, but sadly my life is not very interesting. Saturday night was a mess within a mess where everyone didn't eat before we went to Roppongi, so I sat and ate dessert while everyone feasted. I once again had melon soda and Japanese pudding, which both were as delicious as the first time :D. I've decided melon soda is pretty much my life here. I wish they had it in Texas so badly. Maybe I'll try to convince the good old Cinemark to get some instead of having Coke Zero or something. No one likes Coke Zero anyhow!!
After eating, we tried to find karaoke, but it was all too "expensive." Basically it was one place that was expensive, and then everyone gave up on trying to go and then decided to go drinnking at a bar would be a lot more fun instead. Me not being a drinker, didn't have much fun and almost broke curfew babysitting :/. But oh wells.
Sunday I met a girl named Tomo in Harajuku with a group of girls from my dorm and we were going to go to a flea market. Too bad that flea market doesn't exist after last year. So then we all tried to go find where all the Harajuku girls hang out. Little did we know only 2 or 3 girls come out on Sunday and stand on a bridge by the station we had been to the Sunday prior. All during this, my feet were killing me because I decided to be Asian and wear heels like all the other girls do. It totally killed my feet and I had trouble walking for a whole 3 hours there. The only upside to the Harajuku trip was getting to window shop down a street that had some pretty good priced clothing and eating at a Wolfgang Puck Express (<3) with Cameron. I had the most delicious BBQ chicken pizza there ever for under $10. Thank you Wolfgang Puck, thank you :D.
Monday through Wednesday I was a pretty boring person. School has been making me so exhausted. We finally got into our correct classes Wednesday and I'm in a level 2 class with 3 other American students (all boys) and the rest are Korean and Chinese. I'm pretty sure one of the Chinese boys has a crush on me because he called me pretty twice and that made me giggle a lot. There's also this really cool Korean girl who speaks English (but we still try to communicate in Japanese for the most part). She lives in my area, so we may hang out sometime :).
Last night, Thursday, I wandered around Ikebukuro trying to find a graveyard where all these famous writers were burried. Needless to say I got lost. However, I got to check out some pretty cool neighborhoods while lost and find some melon soda in a vending machine :). All in all Thursday night was a pretty fun night. Because I didn't want to make my dinner after all that walking, I bought a meal from the 7-11 near me. It was really good :). I had Japanese pasta with sausage and potatoes and a Soda Float, which is an ice cream cone that tastes like a float! It was delicious!!
Tonight I tried to get a group to go to a museum and then Tokyo Tower. I think my hopes were a little too high. I invited too many people to the museum and when we discovered it cost 1200 yen to get into the exhibition, a lot of people decided they didn't want to go. On top of that, it was pooring and no one wanted to go to Tokyo Tower anymore. In the end, we just went out to eat. I went to a Korean place and had a pretty decent meal, but it was a little pricey.
Tomorrow I plan on going to some museums alone. I'm hoping to go to one of the many photography museums, go out to lunch at a cute place, and then try to hit up another museum before going to Akihabara (the electronics district) and looking at cheaper camera lenses and possibly some karaoke :D. I'm really excited for my adventures tomorrow!
After eating, we tried to find karaoke, but it was all too "expensive." Basically it was one place that was expensive, and then everyone gave up on trying to go and then decided to go drinnking at a bar would be a lot more fun instead. Me not being a drinker, didn't have much fun and almost broke curfew babysitting :/. But oh wells.
Sunday I met a girl named Tomo in Harajuku with a group of girls from my dorm and we were going to go to a flea market. Too bad that flea market doesn't exist after last year. So then we all tried to go find where all the Harajuku girls hang out. Little did we know only 2 or 3 girls come out on Sunday and stand on a bridge by the station we had been to the Sunday prior. All during this, my feet were killing me because I decided to be Asian and wear heels like all the other girls do. It totally killed my feet and I had trouble walking for a whole 3 hours there. The only upside to the Harajuku trip was getting to window shop down a street that had some pretty good priced clothing and eating at a Wolfgang Puck Express (<3) with Cameron. I had the most delicious BBQ chicken pizza there ever for under $10. Thank you Wolfgang Puck, thank you :D.
Monday through Wednesday I was a pretty boring person. School has been making me so exhausted. We finally got into our correct classes Wednesday and I'm in a level 2 class with 3 other American students (all boys) and the rest are Korean and Chinese. I'm pretty sure one of the Chinese boys has a crush on me because he called me pretty twice and that made me giggle a lot. There's also this really cool Korean girl who speaks English (but we still try to communicate in Japanese for the most part). She lives in my area, so we may hang out sometime :).
Last night, Thursday, I wandered around Ikebukuro trying to find a graveyard where all these famous writers were burried. Needless to say I got lost. However, I got to check out some pretty cool neighborhoods while lost and find some melon soda in a vending machine :). All in all Thursday night was a pretty fun night. Because I didn't want to make my dinner after all that walking, I bought a meal from the 7-11 near me. It was really good :). I had Japanese pasta with sausage and potatoes and a Soda Float, which is an ice cream cone that tastes like a float! It was delicious!!
Tonight I tried to get a group to go to a museum and then Tokyo Tower. I think my hopes were a little too high. I invited too many people to the museum and when we discovered it cost 1200 yen to get into the exhibition, a lot of people decided they didn't want to go. On top of that, it was pooring and no one wanted to go to Tokyo Tower anymore. In the end, we just went out to eat. I went to a Korean place and had a pretty decent meal, but it was a little pricey.
Tomorrow I plan on going to some museums alone. I'm hoping to go to one of the many photography museums, go out to lunch at a cute place, and then try to hit up another museum before going to Akihabara (the electronics district) and looking at cheaper camera lenses and possibly some karaoke :D. I'm really excited for my adventures tomorrow!
Friday, July 2, 2010
食べ物や友達 Food & Friends
So Wednesday night I went in Shibuya and met up with Sabrina and her mom! It was pretty nice to see someone that I've known for a while now :). She showed me a little around Shibuya. First, we went to this store that has everything in it for about 300yen. It was a pretty cool store. I got polka-dot leggings and some type of very cool hair accessory :). After that, they showed me around the 109 shopping mall, which is 9 stories tall! It had the most gorgeous clothes, but a lot of them were a little expensive (even when I went back for the bargain sale).
After the window shopping, Sabrina's mom took us out for dinner at the Alkatraz ER, which is a themed restaurant in Shibuya. It was pretty nifty :). Our table was in a cell and we had to sit traditionally (in seiza). The food was pretty good for the price and I tried a lot :). I think my favorite things I tried were the cucumbers, the Japanese-style hamburger, and Japanese-style pudding :D. I also thought the tako yaki (octopus balls) were interesting. Oh, and the melon soda tasted to good, I plan on getting it more when I go out to eat :D.
Thursday and Friday were pretty slow days. Thursday I tried going back to 109 for their bargain sale, but didn't find much I loved for a price I was willing to pay. I also tried to find a Japan soccer jersey, but was sad to find that the cheapest was 10300 yen, though they did have t-shirts for 4000 yen, I still found that to be way too pricey. Friday night was a studying night, and I went out for Indian and ice cream with my friend Cameron who's in my level 2 class. The Indian place we ate at was amazing. It was very tiny and to best describe it, it was like sitting at a bar in your home kitchen watching these 2 Indian guys cook for you. The seating was very limited and we had to wait 10 minutes to get an actual seat, but I'm glad we waiting :). I also met this very nice Japanese lady who let me try some of her masala because I let her try some of my nan bread. Her masala was a lot spicier than my chicken, so I'm going to have to go back and have what she had next week :). The best part about this place is that it is cheap! They also made chai tea right infront of me from scratch -- this place was too amazing for words! I kept thinking it should be in some Travel Channel show or something.
The ice cream place we went to was called Milky Way, which I had been to Monday night on my own. Monday I got a green tea milk shake, which was more like cream, green tea, and ice with whipped cream on top, but it was so oishii (delicious). Last night I had ice cream in mochi (a kind of sticky ground-up rice wrapping) with lots of fruit. It was oishii as well :).
Tonight I believe I am going to go to karaoke. It should be a blast!! I'm going with Cameron, a few more people from my level 2 class, and some others I don't know. I'm kind of excited :).
I did really well on my test today. I can't wait until tomorrow -- I'm going to go into Harajuku for the flea market :D. Yay cheap stuff!!!
After the window shopping, Sabrina's mom took us out for dinner at the Alkatraz ER, which is a themed restaurant in Shibuya. It was pretty nifty :). Our table was in a cell and we had to sit traditionally (in seiza). The food was pretty good for the price and I tried a lot :). I think my favorite things I tried were the cucumbers, the Japanese-style hamburger, and Japanese-style pudding :D. I also thought the tako yaki (octopus balls) were interesting. Oh, and the melon soda tasted to good, I plan on getting it more when I go out to eat :D.
Thursday and Friday were pretty slow days. Thursday I tried going back to 109 for their bargain sale, but didn't find much I loved for a price I was willing to pay. I also tried to find a Japan soccer jersey, but was sad to find that the cheapest was 10300 yen, though they did have t-shirts for 4000 yen, I still found that to be way too pricey. Friday night was a studying night, and I went out for Indian and ice cream with my friend Cameron who's in my level 2 class. The Indian place we ate at was amazing. It was very tiny and to best describe it, it was like sitting at a bar in your home kitchen watching these 2 Indian guys cook for you. The seating was very limited and we had to wait 10 minutes to get an actual seat, but I'm glad we waiting :). I also met this very nice Japanese lady who let me try some of her masala because I let her try some of my nan bread. Her masala was a lot spicier than my chicken, so I'm going to have to go back and have what she had next week :). The best part about this place is that it is cheap! They also made chai tea right infront of me from scratch -- this place was too amazing for words! I kept thinking it should be in some Travel Channel show or something.
The ice cream place we went to was called Milky Way, which I had been to Monday night on my own. Monday I got a green tea milk shake, which was more like cream, green tea, and ice with whipped cream on top, but it was so oishii (delicious). Last night I had ice cream in mochi (a kind of sticky ground-up rice wrapping) with lots of fruit. It was oishii as well :).
Tonight I believe I am going to go to karaoke. It should be a blast!! I'm going with Cameron, a few more people from my level 2 class, and some others I don't know. I'm kind of excited :).
I did really well on my test today. I can't wait until tomorrow -- I'm going to go into Harajuku for the flea market :D. Yay cheap stuff!!!
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