Wow, Its like a transformation has occurred. The dull grey concrete Osaka is splashed with pink!! The beauty is astounding. It gives you an indescribable feeling. When I see a really beautiful tree overflowing with blossoms, I just want to devour it. I imagine it would taste like baby angels. ; )
Yesterday I walked to Tennoji Park. I was planning to go to the Museum since it had been raining, but when I reached there, it wasn't raining, the museum was closed, and the park surrounding was sprinkled with Cherry trees. So I just walked. And sat. And gazed. And take pictures. But my gosh, they don't do it justice. I liked this camera up until now. Having draped it several times, and smashed it plenty, it has survived much, so I had become quite fond of it. But today I was taking pictures of some Cherry and plum trees in a park. They were both a darker variety, but on the camera the color is really weak! I almost purposely dropped it. That being said, there is only so many pictures you can take of Sakura with a crummy camera. I mean, after a while it all looks the same. But you still want to take pictures. That's where the love part comes in!!!! Normally Japanese people are not physically touchy in public. You do see people holding hands, but you don't more often then not. But, when the Sakura blooms, love is in the air!!! Cute couples sitting under Sakura trees or just walking suddenly appear. I still haven't seen anyone kiss though. Which reminds me, when I get back, no kissing in front of me or I will get really embarrassed and have to cover my face with my hands. Haha! I'm joking-kiss away!! But, I have seen more couples holding hands, even when sitting, hugging, arms around each other, one guy rubbing his pregnant wives belly, drinking together and picnicking, a father and 6 year old daughter doing photography together and cuddling, and many taking pictures together with the Sakura behind them. When I got back to Namba I walked down the street to one of those "lame" parks that mom and I saw all over our first time in Japan, which was surrounded with Sakura trees. There were a few couples there, and groups of people. i sat and watched one couple for awhile. They were cute, but clearly getting a little drunk (by this time it was 6). Their joking was slowly getting more dramatic and loud. I also saw a guy using pastels to draw the Sakura. After church I took the train to Kyoto and went to the Imperial Palace. There is a park around it. The Palace grounds were open too, so I walked around there too. (you can't go in the building though)
Well, thats all for now!
Since I'm heading home tomorrow, I probably won't blog again. JYA, MATA NE!!
Sunday, April 10, 2011
Saturday, April 2, 2011
Yesterday was Friday today is Saturday, Tomorow is Sunday and Monday comes After...wards
You may think that`s just some really boring title I wrote up there, but incase you haven`t listended to it yet, that is a clip from the Lyrics of the oh so infamous song Friday. If you decide you want to blow your brains out (Jenny Downer that was a misquoted paraphrase), please just look it up on Youtube. I think it has 72,733,709 views now. Why don`t you be number 72,733,7 and 10?
See, even though I`m in Japan, I`m still aware of the rest of the world out there. I always keep up to date on important things like this.
On Friday morning another WHOOFer came. This is his 3rd time here. He is 40 years old, but I think he only looks like 28-30. Anyways, since he totally doesn`t seem forty, I was kinda irked to think that he is almost my mom`s age- oops!! I mean he is older than my mom! Hahaha, slip of the tongue.
He is from Korea. His Japanese is really good and his English is so-so. Now everyone is speaking Jpaanese, so I think I am going to pick up more Japanese on my last week here than the whole trip!
He raises cattle in Korea for beef. In Korea if you are a guy you have to serve in the National Service for 3 years I think. So when he served from 20-23. Then he reasearched on the computer how to raise cows and then started a cow farm! So, yes you can start litteraly from scratch like that. You think he had ANY previous knowledge of cows? He hasn`t ever even ridden a horse!!! On that note: Go Cheyanne Go!!
We did a lot of weeding and cleared a huge area. Also we had to plow up two little patches of land.
The Ito family sets up farms in different areas and then lets people garden 5 meter plots of land. They are opening another one on land owned by a Sake factory that is right next to it. The Sake factory is a really big communal building too that is used for community events such as celebrations and selling hand made goods on the weekends.
Ayako had made a brochure in the past for the farm next to there house, and they are making another one for this new place. A whhoofer had drawn the picture of the farm inside the brochure for the first one. They were just going to do pictures for the new one, but when they showed the lady at the Sake factory the original one, she said that she wanted a hand drawn picture. It kinda makes it more appealing since its all hand grown food and stuff that they are offering. Michikosan (Ayako`s mom) was like, `yah, that`s great and all, but who`s gunna draw the picture?` So they scratched their heads over it, and then when they got home started flipping throught the Whoofer`s memo book (the book where whhofers write and draw pictures for them). Well, you probably already guessed it, Yes, I drew a picture. And yes, they were like `oh my gosh Haven can draw it!!` And yes, when I arrived and they showed it to me I said, `sure yah, that`s easy enough`
Actually I was pretty excited. The creative spirit in me has been awakened this past week. Yesterday I even wove a whole scarf!!! They also have many machines and give weaving classes.
Today we picked a whole bunch of veggies in the morning for the vegtable cart. We set that all up and then I cleaned `the office`, which is a building outside the house, not the TV show, bwaaahahaha. basically I swept the floor and wiped off some surfaces. After lunch we went down to the sake factory place. I took my note book and scribbled some sketches. Unfortunaly I didn`t get to try any sake. Boohoo.
Bhongsan and I sat in on the caligraphy class and pariticipated for a while. It was his first time doing Caligraphy. He`s lucky I was too preocuppied with watching all the 8 year old skids scream `Sensei` every 5 seconds, swing there brushes everywhere, hit eachother on the head and precariously tipping their chairs backwards, and I was trying to do caligraphy at the same time, to joke about his caligraphy skills. I almost had a nervous break down. I don`t know how Machikosan does it! So much for relaxation, feel the energy as you run through your hand and into the brush. Well, she did tell us a story about how she head locked one of the kids who was gong crazy and held him there while she walked around and checked on everyone elses work. One of the whoofers ran and got their camera becuase they thought it looked so funny.
Hmm... what else. Random fact: you know how the fruit and vegtables here are crazy expensive? Well I guess mangos are out of season because I saw a few for sell at one grocery store and they were about $7 a peice. But the thing you have to remeber is the way that Japanese cook. Unlike me they don`t buy 10 mangos and just gobble one down every couple hours. They rarely even do that with any fruit, even apples.
They always use a little bit of ingrediants when cooking except for the main ones like rice and noodles. They would probably take that one manga and make a dessert out of it for four people. Something like a glob of icecream with a few cubes of chopped mango, wipped cream, azuki bean mochi all in a bowl with jello cubes and ice at the bottom. Ok, I`m sorry I can`t help it! I`m starving!
Alright! That`s all for now!
See, even though I`m in Japan, I`m still aware of the rest of the world out there. I always keep up to date on important things like this.
On Friday morning another WHOOFer came. This is his 3rd time here. He is 40 years old, but I think he only looks like 28-30. Anyways, since he totally doesn`t seem forty, I was kinda irked to think that he is almost my mom`s age- oops!! I mean he is older than my mom! Hahaha, slip of the tongue.
He is from Korea. His Japanese is really good and his English is so-so. Now everyone is speaking Jpaanese, so I think I am going to pick up more Japanese on my last week here than the whole trip!
He raises cattle in Korea for beef. In Korea if you are a guy you have to serve in the National Service for 3 years I think. So when he served from 20-23. Then he reasearched on the computer how to raise cows and then started a cow farm! So, yes you can start litteraly from scratch like that. You think he had ANY previous knowledge of cows? He hasn`t ever even ridden a horse!!! On that note: Go Cheyanne Go!!
We did a lot of weeding and cleared a huge area. Also we had to plow up two little patches of land.
The Ito family sets up farms in different areas and then lets people garden 5 meter plots of land. They are opening another one on land owned by a Sake factory that is right next to it. The Sake factory is a really big communal building too that is used for community events such as celebrations and selling hand made goods on the weekends.
Ayako had made a brochure in the past for the farm next to there house, and they are making another one for this new place. A whhoofer had drawn the picture of the farm inside the brochure for the first one. They were just going to do pictures for the new one, but when they showed the lady at the Sake factory the original one, she said that she wanted a hand drawn picture. It kinda makes it more appealing since its all hand grown food and stuff that they are offering. Michikosan (Ayako`s mom) was like, `yah, that`s great and all, but who`s gunna draw the picture?` So they scratched their heads over it, and then when they got home started flipping throught the Whoofer`s memo book (the book where whhofers write and draw pictures for them). Well, you probably already guessed it, Yes, I drew a picture. And yes, they were like `oh my gosh Haven can draw it!!` And yes, when I arrived and they showed it to me I said, `sure yah, that`s easy enough`
Actually I was pretty excited. The creative spirit in me has been awakened this past week. Yesterday I even wove a whole scarf!!! They also have many machines and give weaving classes.
Today we picked a whole bunch of veggies in the morning for the vegtable cart. We set that all up and then I cleaned `the office`, which is a building outside the house, not the TV show, bwaaahahaha. basically I swept the floor and wiped off some surfaces. After lunch we went down to the sake factory place. I took my note book and scribbled some sketches. Unfortunaly I didn`t get to try any sake. Boohoo.
Bhongsan and I sat in on the caligraphy class and pariticipated for a while. It was his first time doing Caligraphy. He`s lucky I was too preocuppied with watching all the 8 year old skids scream `Sensei` every 5 seconds, swing there brushes everywhere, hit eachother on the head and precariously tipping their chairs backwards, and I was trying to do caligraphy at the same time, to joke about his caligraphy skills. I almost had a nervous break down. I don`t know how Machikosan does it! So much for relaxation, feel the energy as you run through your hand and into the brush. Well, she did tell us a story about how she head locked one of the kids who was gong crazy and held him there while she walked around and checked on everyone elses work. One of the whoofers ran and got their camera becuase they thought it looked so funny.
Hmm... what else. Random fact: you know how the fruit and vegtables here are crazy expensive? Well I guess mangos are out of season because I saw a few for sell at one grocery store and they were about $7 a peice. But the thing you have to remeber is the way that Japanese cook. Unlike me they don`t buy 10 mangos and just gobble one down every couple hours. They rarely even do that with any fruit, even apples.
They always use a little bit of ingrediants when cooking except for the main ones like rice and noodles. They would probably take that one manga and make a dessert out of it for four people. Something like a glob of icecream with a few cubes of chopped mango, wipped cream, azuki bean mochi all in a bowl with jello cubes and ice at the bottom. Ok, I`m sorry I can`t help it! I`m starving!
Alright! That`s all for now!
Wednesday, March 30, 2011
I did it, I actually really did it!!! Did what? (March 30th)
Somehow, one way or another, Tomoko ended up strangling me into doing Kareoke. On Tuesday night she was like, `so...what would you like to do tomorrow?` `I dunno, whatever you wanna do.` `Kareoke?!` me choking.....`um, well, oh ok..I guess` `Nani?` `Kareoke wa kowaii!!!` `kowaii?! nande?` `becuase I don`t like singing in front of people!` `Demo, kareoke wa daijyobu!` me shaking and starting to pull my hair out, `daijyobu jya nai!!!!` But the next day we went anyways. Turns out riding a bike down the street is more scarier than kareoke. I was plum terrified. We left at around 11:30 and met her freind Shaori on one of the street corners. Then we all biked down to the kareoke place. I haven`t ridden a bike and quite some time, and I have never riddena bike on a side walk with lots of people walking and on bikes and next to cars on the street. They kept laughing at me the whole time because I was so clumsy riding. So, we got to the Kareoke room and ended up reserving 3 hours. Wow, three hours goes way too fast. It was fun, and not so scary, but I still don`t like singing in front of people so don`t ask me any questions, like what did you sing Haven? I`ll get embarrased.
After that we walked down the street and guess what we did? No really guess, its easy, I always to it with Tomochan. Purikura!!! That was actually one of the funnest times, becuase I managed to add fake eyelashes to all of us in one piture and do my hair with a blond bob. It was kinda cute actually. I should go blond.
Then we walked in and out of show shops. Shoes in Japan are amazing....ly expensive! No, they are amazing. So cute! I just want to buy everything in sight! Also, I`ve been trying to take pictures of people walking down the street wearing cute or cool clothes or something like that, but I have also been taking pictures of girls shoes. So any Japanese girls out there wearing cute choes, watch out! If you go in a shop there might be an American girl in there taking pictures of your feet!
After this, what we did next was TONS of fun! They took me to see their high school. They have both just graduated, so that`s why I was able to go stay at Tomochan`s house. It was kinda scary becuase it was really quiet and empty. It was about 5:00. We took off our shoes and started climbing thye stairs to the first row hallway of classrooms. Then we heard something. `oh my gosh, what`s that?` Peaking around the corner, `eek! its so and so sensei!!!` We ended up playing a game of hide and go seek from any of the teachers we ran into. Tomochan was hilarious. Here is the senerio. So, your walking down the hall way and you see a teahcer standing there, he has probably noticed you, but you don:t want to talk to him or him to see who you are, do you 1.) run to the nearest wall and hide up against it, even though you`ve already been spotted. or 2.) turn around and start walking quickly the other way like you never noticed them and your on an important mission. Tomoko did 1.) and me and Shiori did 2. It was pretty funny. We saw the teacher and then Tomoko just flattened her self against the wall. After running around like this for awhile, we finally mannaged to get out of the building, which was a LOT harder than getting in. We walked past the tennis court were there was an extra curicular game of tennis going on that lots of boys were playing. There was about 6 tennis courts and about 40 or more boys in tennis uniforms. We didn`t exactly blend in. SO while walking innocently past on of the teachers there spotted us. But since we were just going for a walk around the mountain (the schoool is right up against a mountain. There is a trail that goes up the mountain around the school that the kids run three times a week) he said that was Ok.
After that we cycled back home. That night the whole family actually ate together, because her dad came home early from work. His english was actually quite good. She says that her practices his english every night, but she doesn`t know why. We had sushi! It was SOOOOOO good!!! I mean like mouth watering I think I`m in heaven when I`m eating good! Tearah, you wouldn`t have liked it.
Right now I am at my first host families house. I took a train here this morning at around 10:00. I`ll probably stay here till next Friday or Saturday.
Oh ya, Tomochan can also play the piano. I asked her to play it last night, I even said Onegaishimasu!, but I forgot that in Japanese houses you can hear everything inside and out, and since it was 11:00 at night she didn`t want to bother the neighbors. But she played it in the morning and it was really beutiful. She was considering getting her degree in music but now she is going to get one in English and hopefully become a translator.
After that we walked down the street and guess what we did? No really guess, its easy, I always to it with Tomochan. Purikura!!! That was actually one of the funnest times, becuase I managed to add fake eyelashes to all of us in one piture and do my hair with a blond bob. It was kinda cute actually. I should go blond.
Then we walked in and out of show shops. Shoes in Japan are amazing....ly expensive! No, they are amazing. So cute! I just want to buy everything in sight! Also, I`ve been trying to take pictures of people walking down the street wearing cute or cool clothes or something like that, but I have also been taking pictures of girls shoes. So any Japanese girls out there wearing cute choes, watch out! If you go in a shop there might be an American girl in there taking pictures of your feet!
After this, what we did next was TONS of fun! They took me to see their high school. They have both just graduated, so that`s why I was able to go stay at Tomochan`s house. It was kinda scary becuase it was really quiet and empty. It was about 5:00. We took off our shoes and started climbing thye stairs to the first row hallway of classrooms. Then we heard something. `oh my gosh, what`s that?` Peaking around the corner, `eek! its so and so sensei!!!` We ended up playing a game of hide and go seek from any of the teachers we ran into. Tomochan was hilarious. Here is the senerio. So, your walking down the hall way and you see a teahcer standing there, he has probably noticed you, but you don:t want to talk to him or him to see who you are, do you 1.) run to the nearest wall and hide up against it, even though you`ve already been spotted. or 2.) turn around and start walking quickly the other way like you never noticed them and your on an important mission. Tomoko did 1.) and me and Shiori did 2. It was pretty funny. We saw the teacher and then Tomoko just flattened her self against the wall. After running around like this for awhile, we finally mannaged to get out of the building, which was a LOT harder than getting in. We walked past the tennis court were there was an extra curicular game of tennis going on that lots of boys were playing. There was about 6 tennis courts and about 40 or more boys in tennis uniforms. We didn`t exactly blend in. SO while walking innocently past on of the teachers there spotted us. But since we were just going for a walk around the mountain (the schoool is right up against a mountain. There is a trail that goes up the mountain around the school that the kids run three times a week) he said that was Ok.
After that we cycled back home. That night the whole family actually ate together, because her dad came home early from work. His english was actually quite good. She says that her practices his english every night, but she doesn`t know why. We had sushi! It was SOOOOOO good!!! I mean like mouth watering I think I`m in heaven when I`m eating good! Tearah, you wouldn`t have liked it.
Right now I am at my first host families house. I took a train here this morning at around 10:00. I`ll probably stay here till next Friday or Saturday.
Oh ya, Tomochan can also play the piano. I asked her to play it last night, I even said Onegaishimasu!, but I forgot that in Japanese houses you can hear everything inside and out, and since it was 11:00 at night she didn`t want to bother the neighbors. But she played it in the morning and it was really beutiful. She was considering getting her degree in music but now she is going to get one in English and hopefully become a translator.
Tuesday, March 29, 2011
Hmmm... From Saturday till Tuesday
So, what did I do on Saturday?
Oh ya, so realizing this was my last day in Osaka, I decided to head to a different part of Namba. In this area there is a big long street with lots of electronic and appliance shops. There are also a lot of manga anime shops. Unfotunatly there were also a lot of `I don`t want to go in there shops.` So I didn`t go in many. Somehow I ended up in the Tanoij area of town. That is where Osaka tower is. There were a LOT of sushi bars, which were extremely crowded. I finally managed ot find one that had an open seat and ate some sushi that had tons of wasabi. i had to sit there and scrape of most of it, but the sushi was so good anyways! Before I had left the lady at the hostel had told me that there are a lot of homeless people in that area, she was right! I hadn`t seen that many homeless people my whole time in Japan. I planned on taking lots of pictures of people when I walked but my camera died.
On Sunday it was pretty usual. I went to church. I was a little late though becuase i took the wrong subway. There is only one platform and there are two trains running either direction. I`ve come ot realize that I have a terrible sense of direction, so unless I double check the sign saying which train to take, I will end up on the wrong one. Bothe were about to leave ao I ran and jumped on the one that was nearest barely making it in because the doors were closing. Hm, it was just like in the movies, except that I hopped on the wrong one.
Aftere church I ate lunch at the park and then took a train back to the hostel.
On Monday I was planning to go to my first host families house, but then I noticed that had asked if I wanted to stay at hr house for a few days. So I said yes and changed my plans. Not wantingh to haul my super duper heavy suitcase around, I sent it in the mail to My host families house and just took a day bag.
Today we went back to Namba beuase she wanted to meet a friend who lives on the other side of Japan. Her friend was really funny.
Thats it for now!
Oh ya, so realizing this was my last day in Osaka, I decided to head to a different part of Namba. In this area there is a big long street with lots of electronic and appliance shops. There are also a lot of manga anime shops. Unfotunatly there were also a lot of `I don`t want to go in there shops.` So I didn`t go in many. Somehow I ended up in the Tanoij area of town. That is where Osaka tower is. There were a LOT of sushi bars, which were extremely crowded. I finally managed ot find one that had an open seat and ate some sushi that had tons of wasabi. i had to sit there and scrape of most of it, but the sushi was so good anyways! Before I had left the lady at the hostel had told me that there are a lot of homeless people in that area, she was right! I hadn`t seen that many homeless people my whole time in Japan. I planned on taking lots of pictures of people when I walked but my camera died.
On Sunday it was pretty usual. I went to church. I was a little late though becuase i took the wrong subway. There is only one platform and there are two trains running either direction. I`ve come ot realize that I have a terrible sense of direction, so unless I double check the sign saying which train to take, I will end up on the wrong one. Bothe were about to leave ao I ran and jumped on the one that was nearest barely making it in because the doors were closing. Hm, it was just like in the movies, except that I hopped on the wrong one.
Aftere church I ate lunch at the park and then took a train back to the hostel.
On Monday I was planning to go to my first host families house, but then I noticed that had asked if I wanted to stay at hr house for a few days. So I said yes and changed my plans. Not wantingh to haul my super duper heavy suitcase around, I sent it in the mail to My host families house and just took a day bag.
Today we went back to Namba beuase she wanted to meet a friend who lives on the other side of Japan. Her friend was really funny.
Thats it for now!
Thursday, March 24, 2011
Today was SO much fun!!!!
Well, I am looking forward to a pretty miserable night though. My legs are going to be killing me. I don't even know if I will be able to walk tomorrow! That's what happens when you jump up and down for almost 2 hours straight!!! You may be wondering what the heck was Haven doing in Japan jumping for 2 hours straight? Well, its a long story, but a good one!!
This morning I took my time getting out of the hostel. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. But I talked with the girl who runs the hostel and she told me about this huge park place that has museums and Japanese gardens and stuff. So at 12:00ish I headed out on the subway. After a few train changes I ended up there, bought my ticket and walked into the park. Well, there were lots of groups of people doing different things. 2 boys and 2 girls where playing bad mitten, a group of Junior High girls in uniform playing volley ball on the grass, another group of girls jump roping, and families picnicking. So I sat down on a bench and watched for a while. I was contemplating interrupting the girls volley ball and asking to play. That was actually a pretty good plan, but I waiting too long, and anyways what happened later was way funner! A group of people showed up and set a tarp on the ground. One of the guys in the group walked over to the girls and so they all headed over to the tarp. I couldn't tell what they were doing, but it looked like some of them were writing on the tarp. Having missed my opportunity I just decided to walk on past them and kinda peek. Well, while I was walking past and kinda peeking the same guy came running over. Next thing I know I'm kneeling over the tarp on which they had taped a huge cloth poster, people are clapping and I'm suppose to be writing a message to the Tsunami victims!! embarrassed.....talk about pressure! As soon as I walked over they all moved off the tarp handed me a marker. eh, heh heh... I did manage after a while to write something and then put my name in Japanese. Mine was the only English one on there. Then they told me I had to draw a leaf where my name was. At everyone's name there was drawn a green leaf. Apparently my leaf was cute, because when I drew it they were all like, "kawaii!" After I finished, I decided not to just run off and to make the most of this opportunity!!! So I started talking to one of the guys there. None of them could speak good English, but his was the best. They are all college students around 22, except him, he was 28. They all work at the same restaurant and they are going to put the poster up in the restaurant I guess. And then guess what?! I wanted to take a picture so they all sat around the poster and made me sit in the middle at the top... embarrassed again. And whats with all the clapping? every time I did basically anything or said anything they thought it was great and would clap. So, I was pretty happy about that. It was fun, but you may be thinking, "yah, that sounded fun, but not like SO much fun, so why was your day so great?" Well, I'm getting to it!!!
So, I headed off, in some random direction.About ten minutes later I passed a paved area kinda like a basket ball court only there was nothing in it ans it was about twice the size. I saw a group of people doing the big long jump rope. Like maybe 15 people. So, since I was kinda far I didn't feel embarrassed to video. One of them waved and then I noticed that it was the same group of people!! They started waving at me to come over so I put the camera away and next thing I know, I'm jumping with them!! It was a lot of fun! Forget gardens, this was way cooler!! We did the long jump rope everyone together for about 45 minutes, with kyuke's in between. Every once in a while they would do just one person, and the other people would join in. I actually did it one time by myself. Then they changed it. Everyone would stand in a line and then while two people swung the rope you would have to run in jump over it and run out the other side. I was terrible at it, and yes it is on video, but no you can't see it. After a whole I just stopped and watched since I almost never made it and they were trying to see how high they could go without anyone messing up, but after while joined back in and sorta got it down. We actually got to 90 jumps one time! And for once it wasn't me who messed up!! There were 9 guys and 4 girls.The funny thing about I think Asian people in general, is that in comparison to American's they are really not competitive. They play games and stuff, but it never really becomes a competition. If it were up to me, I would have totally turned it into an elimination game to see who stayed in the longest, regardless of the fact that I would probably be one of the first four people out. Its just way more exciting that way.
So I think I hung out with them from 2 till 4:30. But my watch broke at 3:45 so I don't really know. So then I decide to actually explore some of the park. I only ended up going to the Plum tree garden, which was beautiful!! So, after that I took the train back. I stopped at a station ate dinner and then like I have been doing for the past few nights, walk to the nearest Family Mart and also small grocery store and buy some fruit and pastries for breakfast!! A bag of four oranges is about $4. That's not that bad!!
This is a story form a few nights ago. One of the guys (30yrs) staying at the hostel is from Cal. but he lives in Tokyo. He left yesterday, which was too bad, because he was one of the few actually cool non-Japanese guys that I have talked too. So, I was talking to him and a not so cool guy about my family and they were like "wow, that's a big family" The one guy asked, "So why did they have so many kids?" "well, they had my oldest sister and then they were like.." The other guy (Brian) finished my sentence, " hey this is fun, lets have another!!" I practically jumped out of my skin! "Hey, that's almost exactly what I was going to say!!! Stop reading my mind!!!" Its kinda funny because he was also Home schooled. Anywho, he was really funny.
Yesterday I went to see a Japanese movie with my Pen pal and her friend. When I came back he asked what the movie was about. It was SO stereotypical of Japanese movies. I basically said, " there was a dessert cafe, a random girl shows up, is really persistent so she gets a job there, and then there is this other guy who use to be a chef but he quit when his daughter got killed but in the end he gets back into it because somehow she helps him recover." You can basically just change the occupation and you have the plot for about 75 percent of Japanese movies. Oh, yah and really long scenes of peoples faces or them just standing there, or the flower outside the door. But hey, I've been to a Japanese movie theater!!
Well, that's all for now!
Please comment!
This morning I took my time getting out of the hostel. I wasn't exactly sure what I was going to do. But I talked with the girl who runs the hostel and she told me about this huge park place that has museums and Japanese gardens and stuff. So at 12:00ish I headed out on the subway. After a few train changes I ended up there, bought my ticket and walked into the park. Well, there were lots of groups of people doing different things. 2 boys and 2 girls where playing bad mitten, a group of Junior High girls in uniform playing volley ball on the grass, another group of girls jump roping, and families picnicking. So I sat down on a bench and watched for a while. I was contemplating interrupting the girls volley ball and asking to play. That was actually a pretty good plan, but I waiting too long, and anyways what happened later was way funner! A group of people showed up and set a tarp on the ground. One of the guys in the group walked over to the girls and so they all headed over to the tarp. I couldn't tell what they were doing, but it looked like some of them were writing on the tarp. Having missed my opportunity I just decided to walk on past them and kinda peek. Well, while I was walking past and kinda peeking the same guy came running over. Next thing I know I'm kneeling over the tarp on which they had taped a huge cloth poster, people are clapping and I'm suppose to be writing a message to the Tsunami victims!! embarrassed.....talk about pressure! As soon as I walked over they all moved off the tarp handed me a marker. eh, heh heh... I did manage after a while to write something and then put my name in Japanese. Mine was the only English one on there. Then they told me I had to draw a leaf where my name was. At everyone's name there was drawn a green leaf. Apparently my leaf was cute, because when I drew it they were all like, "kawaii!" After I finished, I decided not to just run off and to make the most of this opportunity!!! So I started talking to one of the guys there. None of them could speak good English, but his was the best. They are all college students around 22, except him, he was 28. They all work at the same restaurant and they are going to put the poster up in the restaurant I guess. And then guess what?! I wanted to take a picture so they all sat around the poster and made me sit in the middle at the top... embarrassed again. And whats with all the clapping? every time I did basically anything or said anything they thought it was great and would clap. So, I was pretty happy about that. It was fun, but you may be thinking, "yah, that sounded fun, but not like SO much fun, so why was your day so great?" Well, I'm getting to it!!!
So, I headed off, in some random direction.About ten minutes later I passed a paved area kinda like a basket ball court only there was nothing in it ans it was about twice the size. I saw a group of people doing the big long jump rope. Like maybe 15 people. So, since I was kinda far I didn't feel embarrassed to video. One of them waved and then I noticed that it was the same group of people!! They started waving at me to come over so I put the camera away and next thing I know, I'm jumping with them!! It was a lot of fun! Forget gardens, this was way cooler!! We did the long jump rope everyone together for about 45 minutes, with kyuke's in between. Every once in a while they would do just one person, and the other people would join in. I actually did it one time by myself. Then they changed it. Everyone would stand in a line and then while two people swung the rope you would have to run in jump over it and run out the other side. I was terrible at it, and yes it is on video, but no you can't see it. After a whole I just stopped and watched since I almost never made it and they were trying to see how high they could go without anyone messing up, but after while joined back in and sorta got it down. We actually got to 90 jumps one time! And for once it wasn't me who messed up!! There were 9 guys and 4 girls.The funny thing about I think Asian people in general, is that in comparison to American's they are really not competitive. They play games and stuff, but it never really becomes a competition. If it were up to me, I would have totally turned it into an elimination game to see who stayed in the longest, regardless of the fact that I would probably be one of the first four people out. Its just way more exciting that way.
So I think I hung out with them from 2 till 4:30. But my watch broke at 3:45 so I don't really know. So then I decide to actually explore some of the park. I only ended up going to the Plum tree garden, which was beautiful!! So, after that I took the train back. I stopped at a station ate dinner and then like I have been doing for the past few nights, walk to the nearest Family Mart and also small grocery store and buy some fruit and pastries for breakfast!! A bag of four oranges is about $4. That's not that bad!!
This is a story form a few nights ago. One of the guys (30yrs) staying at the hostel is from Cal. but he lives in Tokyo. He left yesterday, which was too bad, because he was one of the few actually cool non-Japanese guys that I have talked too. So, I was talking to him and a not so cool guy about my family and they were like "wow, that's a big family" The one guy asked, "So why did they have so many kids?" "well, they had my oldest sister and then they were like.." The other guy (Brian) finished my sentence, " hey this is fun, lets have another!!" I practically jumped out of my skin! "Hey, that's almost exactly what I was going to say!!! Stop reading my mind!!!" Its kinda funny because he was also Home schooled. Anywho, he was really funny.
Yesterday I went to see a Japanese movie with my Pen pal and her friend. When I came back he asked what the movie was about. It was SO stereotypical of Japanese movies. I basically said, " there was a dessert cafe, a random girl shows up, is really persistent so she gets a job there, and then there is this other guy who use to be a chef but he quit when his daughter got killed but in the end he gets back into it because somehow she helps him recover." You can basically just change the occupation and you have the plot for about 75 percent of Japanese movies. Oh, yah and really long scenes of peoples faces or them just standing there, or the flower outside the door. But hey, I've been to a Japanese movie theater!!
Well, that's all for now!
Please comment!
Tuesday, March 22, 2011
Tuesday in Namba and Tenma
So, yesterday I walked to Tenma at around 12:00. I ate at a pretty nice resturant, and the sashimi was amazing!!! It was my first time eating sashimi this tip. OISHII!!!! Then I walked to the Salvation Army office, but it doesn't seem like there is much I could do...So I decided ot go to Namba. Namba is like the Harajuku of Tokyo. Lots of teens, weird clothes and lots of shops. When got out of the station there was this courtyard area with mirrirs and there were kids dancing! Ok, whats with that? I wanted to watch but since there was no one else standing and watching I just kinda walked on.
There is an under ground passage called Namba Walk. Basically it is a mall underground, and you can walk from on section of the city to another, all underground. I got lost a lot but managed with some help to get to the area of town called America Mura, because it has a lot of American clothes shops. I think that Namba is kind of like down town Phoenix. A lot of really neat places, but just be careful you don't walk down the wrong street. So, I basically just walked around, got lost and ended up walking the opposite direction! On my way back into the station, I finally got my courage up and videoed the people dancing. But since nothing terribly exciting had happened that day I forced myself to go one step more and after 5 minutes of mental agony rushed up to three of the boys and practically shouted, "sumimasen! konnichiwa! nande dansu wa koko desuka? " Not exactly proper Japanese, so it took awhile for them to figure out what I was asking. Basically the reason they are dancing there is bacause there is space. they can't dance at home so where else? They said they just taught themselves, by watching videos and stuff. they were 16, 17 and 16. We talked some more and yen they went back to their thing. Oh yah, and I did get their picture!!
Thats about it. I got lost at Osaka station again and my feet are KILLING me!!
There is an under ground passage called Namba Walk. Basically it is a mall underground, and you can walk from on section of the city to another, all underground. I got lost a lot but managed with some help to get to the area of town called America Mura, because it has a lot of American clothes shops. I think that Namba is kind of like down town Phoenix. A lot of really neat places, but just be careful you don't walk down the wrong street. So, I basically just walked around, got lost and ended up walking the opposite direction! On my way back into the station, I finally got my courage up and videoed the people dancing. But since nothing terribly exciting had happened that day I forced myself to go one step more and after 5 minutes of mental agony rushed up to three of the boys and practically shouted, "sumimasen! konnichiwa! nande dansu wa koko desuka? " Not exactly proper Japanese, so it took awhile for them to figure out what I was asking. Basically the reason they are dancing there is bacause there is space. they can't dance at home so where else? They said they just taught themselves, by watching videos and stuff. they were 16, 17 and 16. We talked some more and yen they went back to their thing. Oh yah, and I did get their picture!!
Thats about it. I got lost at Osaka station again and my feet are KILLING me!!
Monday, March 21, 2011
Hi all! Right now I'm at a hostel in Osaka.
Hi again!
So, On Saturday I left Hotani Nature farm and took a train into Osaka. There are many reasons why I left, but I think the main one is that I felt cooped up. Having a schedule means I could only do so much and so I decided to finally be off, and head into the big city. I love the city!
Getting to my hostel was like a nightmare. Literally, one of those dreams where your trying to get somewhere but it just keeps going and going and going, another train, another transfer- only your dragging a 60 pound bag behind you.
First off Nagao station, which I left from doesn't have an elevator. But thankfully, as I stood waiting for a flood of people to finish coming up the stairs from the train, contemplating lifting my bag, one of the guys who works there came over and took it down and then up the next flight of stairs and set it on the platform. Thank you!!! I had to transfer at Kyobashi station, but for some reason they kicked everyone off of the train and put us on another one stop before Kyobashi. Ok, that's weird.
At Kyobashi another random guy showed me where to go and then after I finally got on the right train (this station had elevators) it was off to Osaka station. I hate Osaka station. I
ts like the airport. It is HUGE and really confusing. Even asking people where to go, I still got lost and by the time I got to the Subway entrance I was soaking with sweat. The terrible thing about subways is that many of them, don't have elevators. So I had to haul my bag down one flight of stairs, but thankfully, yes you guessed it, a guy carried it down the next one. Once I got out of the Subway I had to find a phone to call the hostel. So I asked an old lady standing there, and she let me use her cellphone!!! instead of the pay phone, which was right there too turns out.
Then the girl from the hostel met me outside and I hauled my bag a little further to the hostel. But once we got to the hostel, we had to carry it up a flight of really narrow steep Japanese stairs. No one in Arizona is allowed to complain about steep stairs. The Japanese have the steepest stairs ever, there called "japanese stairs" You could probably look it up on youtube. That's where i first heard about them. Someone was videoing a traditional house and at the bottom of the stairs there were three holes in the wall (the wall is paper), because people had fell! So on Saturday night I went to a really beautiful cafe.It was Indian food. You walked down some stairs from the street and it had a courtyard with lots of plants. Inside had lots of Indian looking items and decorations. It was beautiful and a lot of the girls working there were wearing pretty clothes. Only problem, which is the case in most cafes, was that smoking is allowed. The girl at the hostel recommended it. Before i left I decided to ask the girls working there were a book store was. I had a map, but they went and got another one and then some how, they ended having a guy from another table come and help explain- because he just happened to know English!! Well, later I learned that he goes there frequently when he comes to Osaka, so that's why they asked him. He ended up just walking me there- which I'm really glad he did, because the bookstore, which was really big, was inside Osaka station- which I now hate. I probably could have made it to the station (I made it back!) but inside and around it is like a maze. After the bookstore I walked back to the hostel (its about 10 minutes). There are so many people. I mean it- its just like people everywhere! Think ants around their hole and that's what it looks like around Osaka station.
On Sunday I went to Church. I also attended the Philipino and Friends bible study afterwords. Then I headed back.
Today is Monday. I slept in. First time on the trip! 9 o clock!!!
I'm still so tired. I didn't know what to do. There was suppose to be a church picnic at Osaka-jo-koen, but since it was raining it was canceled. I decided to walk to Tenma station. Tenma, I have been to before. Is the longest shopping street in Osaka and I think in all of Japan. It goes on forever, and ever, and ever....I bought a lunch, went to the park anyways. Ate it in the rain under my umbrella, all alone. and took the train back to Osaka station and got lost again. I like to got to bookstores. I found one bookstore but it didn't have what I wanted. So I decided to head back to the one in Osaka station that I had been to before. Good luck with that. I found a map and asked the lady standing next to it where the bookstore was. That didn't really work. She snagged one of the many businessmen (and there are many, probably half the people around the station are businessmen- I think because it is a mager transfer point) and asked him where the bookstore was. Because he was heading that way and happened to speak perfect English, he just took me there. What are the odds (that he knew english)! He lived in Canada for a while and had been to Sanfransisco and stuff, so that's how he knows English. He said that yes One piece is one of his favorite manga (its the most popular one in Japan right now) and when I asked why (this is a mystery I have been trying to solve for over a year without reading the book), he said something to the extent of, "its really interesting and the main character Luffy is just really cool and strong you know." Uh-huh. I'll have to keep asking. oh, and guess what? He was 21! He doesn't have a job, he was going to interviews and stuff. So far he is the first person I have talked to on this whole trip who is closest to my age. That's right I've been hanging out with old people or people a least above 25. Except Alice she was 22.
Anyways, in Starbucks they have 4 sizes for drinks. Its crazy expensive, so I got a small. Well the small is like half the size of our small, so it was like really really small.
Oh, and one more thing, the comment that Anastasia wrote- take note , that is how you write comment!!! Its the perfect example!!! Thank you Anastasia!!
Right now I am about to go to sleep.
talk to you all later!
So, On Saturday I left Hotani Nature farm and took a train into Osaka. There are many reasons why I left, but I think the main one is that I felt cooped up. Having a schedule means I could only do so much and so I decided to finally be off, and head into the big city. I love the city!
Getting to my hostel was like a nightmare. Literally, one of those dreams where your trying to get somewhere but it just keeps going and going and going, another train, another transfer- only your dragging a 60 pound bag behind you.
First off Nagao station, which I left from doesn't have an elevator. But thankfully, as I stood waiting for a flood of people to finish coming up the stairs from the train, contemplating lifting my bag, one of the guys who works there came over and took it down and then up the next flight of stairs and set it on the platform. Thank you!!! I had to transfer at Kyobashi station, but for some reason they kicked everyone off of the train and put us on another one stop before Kyobashi. Ok, that's weird.
At Kyobashi another random guy showed me where to go and then after I finally got on the right train (this station had elevators) it was off to Osaka station. I hate Osaka station. I
ts like the airport. It is HUGE and really confusing. Even asking people where to go, I still got lost and by the time I got to the Subway entrance I was soaking with sweat. The terrible thing about subways is that many of them, don't have elevators. So I had to haul my bag down one flight of stairs, but thankfully, yes you guessed it, a guy carried it down the next one. Once I got out of the Subway I had to find a phone to call the hostel. So I asked an old lady standing there, and she let me use her cellphone!!! instead of the pay phone, which was right there too turns out.
Then the girl from the hostel met me outside and I hauled my bag a little further to the hostel. But once we got to the hostel, we had to carry it up a flight of really narrow steep Japanese stairs. No one in Arizona is allowed to complain about steep stairs. The Japanese have the steepest stairs ever, there called "japanese stairs" You could probably look it up on youtube. That's where i first heard about them. Someone was videoing a traditional house and at the bottom of the stairs there were three holes in the wall (the wall is paper), because people had fell! So on Saturday night I went to a really beautiful cafe.It was Indian food. You walked down some stairs from the street and it had a courtyard with lots of plants. Inside had lots of Indian looking items and decorations. It was beautiful and a lot of the girls working there were wearing pretty clothes. Only problem, which is the case in most cafes, was that smoking is allowed. The girl at the hostel recommended it. Before i left I decided to ask the girls working there were a book store was. I had a map, but they went and got another one and then some how, they ended having a guy from another table come and help explain- because he just happened to know English!! Well, later I learned that he goes there frequently when he comes to Osaka, so that's why they asked him. He ended up just walking me there- which I'm really glad he did, because the bookstore, which was really big, was inside Osaka station- which I now hate. I probably could have made it to the station (I made it back!) but inside and around it is like a maze. After the bookstore I walked back to the hostel (its about 10 minutes). There are so many people. I mean it- its just like people everywhere! Think ants around their hole and that's what it looks like around Osaka station.
On Sunday I went to Church. I also attended the Philipino and Friends bible study afterwords. Then I headed back.
Today is Monday. I slept in. First time on the trip! 9 o clock!!!
I'm still so tired. I didn't know what to do. There was suppose to be a church picnic at Osaka-jo-koen, but since it was raining it was canceled. I decided to walk to Tenma station. Tenma, I have been to before. Is the longest shopping street in Osaka and I think in all of Japan. It goes on forever, and ever, and ever....I bought a lunch, went to the park anyways. Ate it in the rain under my umbrella, all alone. and took the train back to Osaka station and got lost again. I like to got to bookstores. I found one bookstore but it didn't have what I wanted. So I decided to head back to the one in Osaka station that I had been to before. Good luck with that. I found a map and asked the lady standing next to it where the bookstore was. That didn't really work. She snagged one of the many businessmen (and there are many, probably half the people around the station are businessmen- I think because it is a mager transfer point) and asked him where the bookstore was. Because he was heading that way and happened to speak perfect English, he just took me there. What are the odds (that he knew english)! He lived in Canada for a while and had been to Sanfransisco and stuff, so that's how he knows English. He said that yes One piece is one of his favorite manga (its the most popular one in Japan right now) and when I asked why (this is a mystery I have been trying to solve for over a year without reading the book), he said something to the extent of, "its really interesting and the main character Luffy is just really cool and strong you know." Uh-huh. I'll have to keep asking. oh, and guess what? He was 21! He doesn't have a job, he was going to interviews and stuff. So far he is the first person I have talked to on this whole trip who is closest to my age. That's right I've been hanging out with old people or people a least above 25. Except Alice she was 22.
Anyways, in Starbucks they have 4 sizes for drinks. Its crazy expensive, so I got a small. Well the small is like half the size of our small, so it was like really really small.
Oh, and one more thing, the comment that Anastasia wrote- take note , that is how you write comment!!! Its the perfect example!!! Thank you Anastasia!!
Right now I am about to go to sleep.
talk to you all later!
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