Yokohama&Beach 横浜と海

So this weekend was pretty incredible :). It all started with an amazing Thursday night. I was one of the few people selected to attend a curry cooking class with other Japanese students. It was a lot of fun and the curry was extremly delicious. While eating the curry, we were able to see fireworks being shot off in the distance. It was really cool :). I was also finally able to talk to this Austrailian girl in my study abroad group and she was really interesting. She informed me that kangaroos are similar to deer -- their purpose in life is to run into cars and create wreckage! I was really suprised to hear this at first, but then I thought about it, and kangaroos do look similar to deer...

Friday night I went to Ginza with my friends Branisha and Tomo. We first ventured off to the Sony Building and it was a dream :). We were able to play around and experience many of the 3D TVs and I got to mess with their really expensive cameras! They had an unnderwater one for 20,000 yen that I wanted to get on the spot, but sadly after many shopping ventures on this trip I did not have the money for. Oh well. Their video cameras were beautiful. There was one camcorder that was perfect for documentaries. You could actually zoom in and out the sound! I know that I was taught this is impossible in my film class, but I don't know what else you could call this! When you zoomed into the camera, the sound condensed, and when you zoomed out more sound was let in. It was just incredible.

After that, we went into the 11 story Abercrombie & Fitch. It was the best A&F ever, and currently is my dream job (and I don't even like the clothing they sell!). You walk up to the black building, and there are 2 6'5'' Japanese boys that definately work out everyday and spoke perfect English. If I didn't have a boyfriend, I probably would have swooned. Then you enter inside and to your right there is the 11 story mural of practically naked steriod-induced men with statue to match. Before you can even get a closer look at all of this, a girl with a very nice polaroid camera whisks you away to take a picture with a guy that is quite possibly a model with no shirt on. The model today was 1/2 Japanese and he also spoke perfect english. It cracked me up so much. I now have a souvenir :p. Well after the fiasco that was the entrance, we all went up the stairs. The 2nd floor had people whose job was to specifically dance and sing along to the music. I want this job. This was also when I realized that the guys and girls were in coordinating attire -- the boys wore red plaid t-shirts and jeans, while the girls wore navy tanks with a red plaid skirt. Something you'll probably never see in America...
The rest of the store was just a giant rainbow coordinated A&F closet. I was afraid to take anything down and look at it because I feared it would mess up the rainbows.

Saturday I stayed at my friend Emi's house, who I met at UNT when she studied abroad to Texas :). I had the most incredible time. Her house was in a suburban area outside Yokohama, which is a neighboring city of Tokyo that sits by the ocean. I have to say, I wish I had been to Yokohama more, because it was far prettier than Tokyo. If I even move to Japan, this is the city I'll move to :D. After meeting Emi's grandparents and talking to her dad some, we went to a fireworks festival and it was a lot better than the one in Asakusa. There were smiley-face fireworks! I also was able to try to potato that was ever-so famous at the last festival. It was the most delicious potato I've ever eaten. Fried and slathered in butter and salt...I don't think any potato in America will ever compare to how this one was made. After the festival, Emi took me out to karaoke while we waited for her dad and her younger brother to finish shopping. I was so excited I finally was able to do this! I sang to HSM, Lady Gaga, Muse, and even some Taylor Swift (which was harder than it sounds because I don't listen to her often). So much fun :). When her dad picked us up, he drove us around Yokohama. He took me to parks where you could see the beautiful skyline, that included a rainbow ferris wheel! After a lot of driving, we ate Chinese food and I was able to talk to Emi's brother and the friend he brought along. They reminded me a lot of Zach's brother Alex, so I had fun talking to them (in Japanese!). They were shocked that I loved horror movies. It was a great late-night adventure.

Sunday Emi took me to a BBQ her friends were having at a beach. It was a lot of fun. The sand at the beach was black! So bizzare. The food they made was really good too. I had a lot of fun, but a sad thing happened at the beach. This is where I realized my camera auto-focus was fritzing :(. Currently, it is not fixed and it breaks my heart. This didn't ruin my whole beach experience, but I did spend a good 30 minutes freaking out about my camera in my head, which took away from all the fun.

When I got back, Emi's dad drove me back home to Tokyo and it was the scariest car ride I've ever experienced. Japanese people drive like mad people! And they all hate traffic. I know I will never drive in Japan...ever. It was really cool to also see Tokyo through a car's POV. It was a very good way to end the weekend :).

This week is my last, but I probably won't do much. I plan on going to my favoreite Indian restaurant one more, but other than that it's studying all the way for me. Sigh. Wish me luck on all my tests! There are so many...

Sayonara Tokyo...I will miss you truely, madly, deeply.