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.
Monday, August 9, 2010
Monday, August 2, 2010
花火 Fireworks
So last weekend was a lot of fun! Friday night I went to the Absolute Ice Bar in Ginza with Cameron and it was a little expensive (高い！), but it was worth going to because I had a lot of fun there. We were given little cloaks and gloves and with our "free" drink we also recieved a frozen treat :). It was a really good 45 minutes spent! Also, the drinks came in giant ice glasses, how cool is that?!
Saturday was the Hanabi (firework) Festival and I dressed up in my purple yukata and looked all pretty and fancy. I went to the Ueno Zoo before the festival, which was amazing fun. The only downside was that my pictures lacked in light because the day was so cloudy and dark due to the rain earlier that day. The zoo also made me a little sad because they had rhinos in cages that were smaller than the monkey's cages, and I felt that was really wrong :(. Rhinos deserve bigger cages than that. I'm not usually a person to be sad at zoo either, but I just thought that they needed to reorganize the room they gae some of the bigger and smaller animals.
After the zoo, I got on a very packed train to Asakusa (where the festival was located). I had never been on a train so squished at night! It was insane!
The festival was a lot of fun. I think my favorite part about it was the food stands. I tried some stuff I liked, and I tried some stuff I didn't like. There was this one treat the looked like a homemade lollipop around a piece of fruit, and it was really gross. I regreted getting it automatically after my first bite. There was also these potato stands that sold, well obviously potatoes, but they were slathered mayo and people would stand in forever long lines to get them. I'm pretty sure if the potato stand was even in a ring of fire, these people would walk through it to get their potato. I of course didn't get it because I was frightened about trying weird looking things after the treat I purchased. I continued to buy normal looking foods after that (my favorite being the straight up melon on a stick...おいしい！).
The spot I got for the fireworks was a really good one. I was able to see them perfectly :). I tried to take pictures, but there were too many people and me without my tripod made is difficult. I got some good ones of the fireworks, though :D.
Sunday was unfortunately not a lazy day. I got up pretty early and went to the Asakusa Shrine, which was packed with tourists. I had some white peach ice cream there that was very much delicious :D. After the shrine, I went on the Tokyo River Cruise, which was very relaxing and pretty good for picture-taking. Later that night, I craved pizza so I went to a Jonathan's chain that's here in Ikebukuro and ate pizza and vanilla ice cream with a cup full of blueberries served with it :D. All-in-all it was a great weekend.
Today at school we got our "how are you getting to the airport?" sheets and I kind of got excited to see it. I never thought it was possible to be this excited to go back to the USA, but here I am :). I miss a lot of things that I haven't been able to get here. Mainly they are food items.
1. Pizza. Cheap, delicious pizza.
2. Mexican food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Salsa! Jalepeno!!
3. Cranberry Juice. I'm so juice deprived here.
4. Waffles with peanutbutter.
5. Cow! Steak, hamburgers, you name it!
6. BBQ sauce. Oh how you are very much missed...
7. Whole-wheat bread.
8. Sandwiches.
9. Spicey food. Food w/ bold flavors.
10. FRUIT! It's like they don't have any here and if they do they cost an arm and a leg!! Japan needs to get with the program and get more fruit!
I never realized how much of a typical "American" I was until I started craving things like pizza and hamburgers. Now I realize why their pretty much stereotypical American foods. The downside is that I know I'm really going to miss Indian food once I leave here (I know right? So random to miss from Japan...). I'm also going to miss all the sugary breads they have and the heat-up giant fried potato things that I get myself once a week. Eating with chopsticks will be missed a lot too.
I've started going ahead in my book so I can be fully prepared for my Japanese class back home, seeing as how we won't be taught the full chapter because I was on the short-term program. I'm kind of angry that 2 weeks of our time was dedicated to review and placement testing, but I'll get over it. I got to be in Japan for 7 1/2 weeks and I'm totally okay with that :D.
Saturday was the Hanabi (firework) Festival and I dressed up in my purple yukata and looked all pretty and fancy. I went to the Ueno Zoo before the festival, which was amazing fun. The only downside was that my pictures lacked in light because the day was so cloudy and dark due to the rain earlier that day. The zoo also made me a little sad because they had rhinos in cages that were smaller than the monkey's cages, and I felt that was really wrong :(. Rhinos deserve bigger cages than that. I'm not usually a person to be sad at zoo either, but I just thought that they needed to reorganize the room they gae some of the bigger and smaller animals.
After the zoo, I got on a very packed train to Asakusa (where the festival was located). I had never been on a train so squished at night! It was insane!
The festival was a lot of fun. I think my favorite part about it was the food stands. I tried some stuff I liked, and I tried some stuff I didn't like. There was this one treat the looked like a homemade lollipop around a piece of fruit, and it was really gross. I regreted getting it automatically after my first bite. There was also these potato stands that sold, well obviously potatoes, but they were slathered mayo and people would stand in forever long lines to get them. I'm pretty sure if the potato stand was even in a ring of fire, these people would walk through it to get their potato. I of course didn't get it because I was frightened about trying weird looking things after the treat I purchased. I continued to buy normal looking foods after that (my favorite being the straight up melon on a stick...おいしい！).
The spot I got for the fireworks was a really good one. I was able to see them perfectly :). I tried to take pictures, but there were too many people and me without my tripod made is difficult. I got some good ones of the fireworks, though :D.
Sunday was unfortunately not a lazy day. I got up pretty early and went to the Asakusa Shrine, which was packed with tourists. I had some white peach ice cream there that was very much delicious :D. After the shrine, I went on the Tokyo River Cruise, which was very relaxing and pretty good for picture-taking. Later that night, I craved pizza so I went to a Jonathan's chain that's here in Ikebukuro and ate pizza and vanilla ice cream with a cup full of blueberries served with it :D. All-in-all it was a great weekend.
Today at school we got our "how are you getting to the airport?" sheets and I kind of got excited to see it. I never thought it was possible to be this excited to go back to the USA, but here I am :). I miss a lot of things that I haven't been able to get here. Mainly they are food items.
1. Pizza. Cheap, delicious pizza.
2. Mexican food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Salsa! Jalepeno!!
3. Cranberry Juice. I'm so juice deprived here.
4. Waffles with peanutbutter.
5. Cow! Steak, hamburgers, you name it!
6. BBQ sauce. Oh how you are very much missed...
7. Whole-wheat bread.
8. Sandwiches.
9. Spicey food. Food w/ bold flavors.
10. FRUIT! It's like they don't have any here and if they do they cost an arm and a leg!! Japan needs to get with the program and get more fruit!
I never realized how much of a typical "American" I was until I started craving things like pizza and hamburgers. Now I realize why their pretty much stereotypical American foods. The downside is that I know I'm really going to miss Indian food once I leave here (I know right? So random to miss from Japan...). I'm also going to miss all the sugary breads they have and the heat-up giant fried potato things that I get myself once a week. Eating with chopsticks will be missed a lot too.
I've started going ahead in my book so I can be fully prepared for my Japanese class back home, seeing as how we won't be taught the full chapter because I was on the short-term program. I'm kind of angry that 2 weeks of our time was dedicated to review and placement testing, but I'll get over it. I got to be in Japan for 7 1/2 weeks and I'm totally okay with that :D.
Tuesday, July 27, 2010
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!
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 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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