Monday: hiking to Chikatsu!! (and in Chikatsu)

Everyone wanted me to finish up posting about my trip, so I will try. Anyways, this is basically like my dairy, recording what happened, and I wouldn't want to be missing the last few days. : )
There was a guy from Spain who was at the same hostel in Tanabe and he was going to go on the same hike( Nakahechi- Kumano Kodo trail) as us. We talked to him about it and decided to leave at 6:45 in the morning. He left at around 6. We packed up and walked over to the bus stop. Almost missed the bus because we were at the wrong bus stop. As usual, mom was like, "there's busses over there, we should go check it out." Me: "no!!!" Mom: "Yes, go ask!" Me: "No!!!!" Mom: "lets go" We walk over there and ask the bus driver through the window if the bus was going to Takijiri shrine and guess what! It was! And it was leaving in 2 minutes! The next bus wouldn't be around till about 7:30.
    So I rode in a bus for the first time in my life. It was interesting. I was panicking the whole tie because the price kept going up and up and up. It cost about 15 when we were done.
As far as I can tell, they don't have school busses in Japan. We picked up a whole bunch of kids going to school, and I don't know if they ride for free or not. They were all about 10 years old.
    So, we got to the shrine and there was a shop that had food and stuff. Thankfully I bought something, cuz we hadn't eaten breakfast and I would have probably fainted on the trail. You see, I had no clue how hard it would be. I read that it was one of the easier trails! Well, I also read that the first section was all uphill, but that was for only about a half hour. We started hiking and I slowly started dying. I don't even like hiking! Well, it was still one of my favorite parts of the trip. Probably because it was the most adventurous part of our trip and the hike was SO beautiful! So we are walking up hill, and up hill, and up hill, and.... It was way longer than a half hour. We were just really REALLY slow I think. Then mom saw a bright orange crab! I'm like way cool!!!! Then we saw a snake for about three seconds that was red and some other color and then we kept hiking. At first I would run up sections of the hill and then get my breath and then run up another section. That's how young people do it you know, so full of vigor and energy.  By the end of the day that wasn't working, we just trudged. Unless it was down hill!! Wanting to get to the town by at least 4;30 we started running down every hill that wasn't so rocky or steep that we might fall and break our necks. That really speeded up things!
   There was an older man from Sweden, who had two huge amazing cameras who hiked at the same time we were. We were constantly passing each other. Whenever we met we would exchange stories. He had traveled all over the world doing photography. He said that now he mostly does America, Asia and Europe because South America and Africa are too dangerous. We got to hear interesting stories about that!! Basically, if you want to do professional photography in those countries you have to be young enough and in good enough shape to be constantly defend yourself against people who might attack you. Asia, especially Japan, was perfect for him though.
    So, we hiked on. And then We started seeing crabs! Any time we passed a stream we would find crabs crawling around. They were very cute!! So, I started counting. By the end of the day I had seen at least 247 crabs!! It really was great for taking your mind off of the hiking when we were going on a constant up hill slope.
So, at about 4 we reached Chikastu and at 4:30 we reached Chikatsu-yu Ryokan. That was really interesting and very sugoi! We both were given different rooms, but since we wanted to be together, we moved the futons in to one. We got a yukata, towels, and tooth brushes! So, we decided to use the onsen which was in a building on the side of the Ryokan. First we had to figure out when to wear the yukata. After going back and forth with the man who ran the Ryokan and it not making any sense, I finally put my drawing skills to work and drew out what I thought he was saying that we had to do. I got it right. So, put the yukata on over your stinking gross body, walk to the onsen, and when you are done there, you put it back on.

So, we out them on, walked over there and stood in the room that you change in for about five minutes before finally going into the onsen room. You'd think you'd be embarrassed, but when other people don't care in the slightest and aren't embarrassed you get over it pretty quick. So we sat on wooden stools did our hair and bodies: onsen eddiquitte: the onsen is not for taking a bath and getting clean! Make sure you are throughly clean before getting in. We went fairly quick. An older woman came in later and cleaned herself the whole time we were in the onsen (which wasn't that long) and was still doing so after we left.
So, I hopped in and was like, this isn't that bad! Mom hopped in and pretty much hopped back out. She hates hot water. Well, who want's to be alone in an onsen. I stayed a few more minutes and got out too.
Some other ladies showed us the right way to put on yukata (these are more like a bath robe) and then we headed back.
Dinner was exciting. We had lots of interesting food. They have a boiling pot of water in front of you and you put al the food in it and let it cook into a soup. The contents include: tofu, cabbage, bamboo, bacon (that never fully cooks, yes they eat partially cooked bacon) and other stuff.
We also had tempurad full fish, you eat the whole thing, sashimi, and many MANY other things. Wanting to be a good guest we tried our best to eat EVERYTHING! And that was a lot!
The wife, made rice balls for us our of the left over rice mixture. We ate those the next day on the hike.
Then, went to bed! Well, I watched some Japanese TV first, which was ridiculous! I liked the camertials.

Sunday in Japan The church, with Tomoko, and Tanabe

So, on Sunday we packed up and took a train over to where the church is. One of the Pastors sons picked us up at the station and brought us to the church. Sorry, I"m really bad with names and can"t remember any really. He was really nice. It was small, everyone was really kind, I could actually sing the psalms because everything was in hiragana, a writing type I can read. We had potluck there and then after getting dropped off at the station, we met Tomoko an her friend Yuma and hung out some more. At 4:45 we took a train to Tanabe, which is a smaller town down in a more remote area. It was about 2 hours train ride away. We got to the hostel at around 8 and it turns out that a friend of the couple that owns it had made a big meal to celebrate some art selling he did. So we got to eat with them. It was a lot of fun. The guys were really funny and the couple that owned it were very nice.

Today, Saturday, with Tomoko at Himeji and Sannomiya.

Well, chances are that I won`t be able to blog much the next few days beacuse I will be hiking in the mountains, with my totally over weight bag, and soaking in Hot springs yay!!! I think that`s a great way to end a trip, especially considering that mom says this is the trip she has walked the most on. The same goes for me, but I haven`t gone on half as many as she has. I can`t wait till I have 18 year old daughters, then I can go on trips without having to plan a thing!!
Anyways, today was tons of fun. Tomoko is really cute. Very lolita, even though she wasn`t wearing lolita, you can just tell. She says she is going to wear lolita tomorow. I`m really excited!!
So, we left Gojo Guest House at about 8 and took the subway to Kyoto sation. Then we struggled to figure out what we were doing for the next two hours, especailly considering we ended up somehow on a Nozomi Shinkansen, the fastest train, which isn`t suppse to use a JR pass, but somehow it did. However, we ended up in Himeji right on time! 10:00!! We were suppose to meet Tomoko in front of the ticket gate. We didn`t know which one, but guessed that it might be the central exit and headed that way. I was convinced that I would spot her before she spotted me, buit once again I failed. I walk throught the ticket gate and then hear someone calling my name. Darn it!! How come they always see me first?　Is it possibly becuase I am American? Isn`t my hair dark enough? Why God didn`t you give me hair that was just maybe 2 shades darker than it really is?!!!
So, we went and got in her mom`s car and headed with her mom as well, yes, someone has to be driving the car. You can`t drive till your 18 in Japan. Then we headed for Hemiji castle. We went in one of the side Gardens and it was so beautiful!! The we walked in the maids corrider of the castle. The castle is huge!! Most of it is under construction. Which is also really neat. Then we went out to eat. We had tempura shrimp in soba. Or something like that. All I know is that once again it was delicious, and that my nose was running again.
Then, Her mother, who was VERY nice by the way, dropped us off at Hemiji stationa and we headed for Kobe. We went to Sannomiya, and went shopping. I actually bought some clothes for quite cheap. Yay!!!
And we got ice cream and pie which was very oishii!!!
Oh, ya!! I almost missed one of the most memorable events of the day! Purikura!!!
In case you don`t know what that is, I will explain. So, this is what I knew before we went:
basically it is likethe booths where you take pictures in the mall, only in color and you can decorate the poicture with stuff and it makes you look a little different, like your eyes are bigger.
So, I told Tomoko that I wanted to do Purikura. She takes us to this shop that is filled with purikura booths and other games, very bright colors and music so loud you can`t hear yourself think!!
You go in this HUGE bright booth, enough space for at least five people, and then there is a screen. You insert ￥400 and then on the screen you pick 6 picvtures of gurls doing really cute poses. The peace sign, hearts etc.. Then you take your picture doing whatever poses show up on the screen that you picked. After this, you go to another booth and decorate the pictures with more things then you havce time to do. I decorated 2, she decorated 4.
The you print them. That`s it!!!
sugoi!!! I liked it! Mom didn`t so much, thanks to the really loud music.
Then we went to the station and mom and I tooik a train here and now we are in Kobe Dears Backpacker House, where the two girls that run it are hilarious and think everything is cute and cool!!

Talk to you all later!!

Friday at the Jidai Matsuri and Kurama Fire Festival

We woke up at around 8 annd started walking to where the Jidai Parade was going to be held. Bought more stuff, sent more stuff in the mail, went to a conveniance store and bought some food. Two rice balls, and I shall say once again `I love Rice balls!!!` I really need to figure out how to make them. I`ve tried twice, the first time was a disaster and the second time they diodn`t taste anything like the ones here do. Ask Mackenzie about the first batch, and possibly the second, we`ve done sushi together twice.
So, back to what we bought. Wew got this desert thing that sort of fellk apart and I hid behind mom to eat my part of it. And we got a bowl of Udon noodles that they heat up in the microwave and then give to you.
So, we just sat on the side of the road where a lot of other people were eating and gobbled it up. Ok, maybe just I gobbled. Then we stood on the bridge for the next hourt. I took that time to read some of the book of John.
Then the parade started. The outfits were great. It was fairly uneventful though, not really any acts. A few instraments. Flutes. Serene you would of liked that. It sounded really pretty. Some of the guys carrying these things were being funny. When the parade stopped, which itdid often, one of them was doing really funny poses.
The horses in it, were in terrible shape. Most were really tall and leggyt and scrwny and ugly, and some were sway back, most very badly behaved. An old guy ina samurai outfit actaully fell off of his horse. I think the horse side stepped and he wasn`t ballanced, beacause the saddle slid sideways and he fell off. I started laughing my head off. Maybe I`ve become callased to people falling off or something. I think its just that I know how to tell pretty quick if someone fell off in a way that would hurt them, and I was pretty sure he was fine. So there I am laughing my head off, with mom tyelling me to quit becuase he might bew hrt,and everyone else gasping. I guy did walk over and laugh though, so I took that as a go ahead to keep laughing. The theyt tried for a long time to fix the saddle, and then walked the horse down the parade. A little later the guy walked down too. We saw two other hoprses without riders. I wonder of something similar happened?
Ata bout 3:45 we headed to the train statiopn for the Kurama fire festival. It was very difficult to figure out where to go, and the trains were crowded, but we did it!!!
The festival was cool, and it took us an hour of standing in line to get out of there, but it was very touristy. The did a lot of torch lighting, helping the little kids hold it, and then the guys did it in their weird loin cloth out fits. I didn`t tell mom about that part before hand. Hehehe!!!
There were tons of police, the most freindly kind that exist on this planet earth and they were evrywhere trying to get people to keep moving up becuase it was very crowded in spots.
That about summerizes it!!

Thursday at the Flea Market

Kyoto holds a flea Market at one of its temples on the fist Sunday and 21st of every month. So we walked down there at about 9 in the morning. it took about 45 minutes. We bought lots of good food. Pancake things with beans, or pudding inside, fried yams, goo balls with bean paste inside (mochi).
Before we had left for the market, the lady at the hotel mentioned that we might want to get a bus pass, or at least take the bus to the manga museum after because it will be hard to carry your stuff. Nah, we told her, were not planning to buy much. Well, we didn`t buy much beside food for the first couple of hours, but after that we realized that if you go in the more remote areas of the market that you could find people selling antiques, clothes, and just stuff really cheap. I bought about 6 pairs of clothes at one spot for \1000 about $10!!! So, now I REALLY have to through out my other clothes!!So off we hauled our stuff at about 1:30ish. We walked forever and finally got to the manga museum. I figured if we can`t go to the Ghibli museum, we`ll go to the manga one, next best thing right?
Well, I`m not sure, because I haven`t been to ghibli. But this was OK. It was really mostly just rows of manga books. Hopefully mom got a better understanding of what it is. I think she did, but now she`s mumbling about it being a comic. That`s better than a cartoon at least. We walked some more, Stopped in a bookstore, and a movie rental shop, where I saw Clannad and almost fainted.
Then we got some ramen, figured out that we spent about $75 that day and now we are back at the hostel!!!
The Flea market was tons of fun though!

Wednesday We went to Nikishi Shopping area, and to Nijo Castle.

So, at about 9 in the morning we left the Tour Club and headed for the post office. We sent a whole bunch of stuff home in big envelopes. They will be there in about 2-3 weeks. If you get them don`t peek! We sent a lot and it only cost about 40 dollars.
Then we walked to our next hostel: Gojo Guest house, which is on Gojo road in the Gion district. I bought a rice ball on the way there. I LOVE rice balls!!!
Then we dropped our stuff off at the hostel and walked to the Nikishi food market. It was really nice. A lot of sample food. I bought a whole octopus on a stick with quail egg in its head on a stick and I ate it. It was about 1 dollar and actually quite good. We bought all sorts of other stuff and ate them. Ice cream, we have some about everyday. I love ice cream!!
Then we headed for the manga museum. Well, above all odds it was closed on Wednesdays , so we will go tomorrow. We then looked at the map and headed for the Nijo castle. It was about 6 for mom and 3.50 for me. It was BEAUTIFUL!!! You can`t take pictures inside the castle and you can only go in one building part of it, but it was great. The rooms were pretty dark, to preserve the paintings. We walked on a nightingale floor almost the whole time too. It gave me a weird feeling in my tummy being there, because it makes me wish I could have been there when it was actually used. The garden was beautiful and it was all and all really sugoi!! (cool!!)
Oh, ya.  We talked to a lot of school kids too. They kept coming up and asking to practice their English. I expected this to happen at some time during the trip, and it was a lot of fun too. The kids were around 12. We talked, took a picture and then signed there book.. They gave us some orgasmic birds they made. Hopefully it will happen more and I will get more birds because I want to make a big string of them and hang it in my room. I LOVE talking to kids!!!!
We then began walking back. We stopped at a temple to eat some dried fruit we had bought. Fruit here is SO expensive by the way. Imagine paying about 4 dollars for one chunk of grapes.
Then we got back, and i just took a shower, we are washing clothes, and organizing our stuff more.
We are deciding what to throw out. Cheyanne, so you really want your pants? : (
That`s about it!
Tomorrow we will hopefully go to the flee market, manga museum, wander around gion, and look at temples.

Talk to you all later!!

Tuesday at Fushi Inari Shrine.

I love Fushi Inari shrine!!!
We actidentaly woke up at 7:45v because the room was so dark.
We left for Inari at about, 9. I love taking the trains. It is really weird. I have a panic attack, but if I can actually figure out how to get there I think it is really fun, and riding the train is fun too.
So We got to Inari and headed up the mountain. For those of you who are wondering why I love it so much, watch Memoirs of a Geisha and you`ll know. The girl runs thorough all the torii, and it is so beautiful!
So, I wanted to run through the torri, but my leg was killling me, and we kept running into poeple. It wasn`t crowded at all though. It was gorgeous. We strayed from the main patha nd got lost. Then we found it with the help of a Japanese Lady, who was old and in better shape then I am. I did run down the torii in another area. By then my leg was better, really weird, I think I just cramped a muscle, and it was downhill so running was much easier. There were TONS of Torii everywhere. It was great and very beautiful. Not exactly someting to write about though. Just wait until I get back and you can see pictures. I bought a small wooden torii and athe lady painted some things on it. My name, date, country and then whatever I wanted it to say. When she was all done she sparked flint over it using a rock to ward off evil spirits. That happens in Memoirs of a  Geisha too.
We came back, went to the post office, dollar store, which is nothing like the ones here, incase your wondering, they are amazing!! and then came back here.
We are goign to go to the bookstore soon.
Also, if you are readin, fell free to post as much as you like. Dalrae and Marilynn your amazing!
Also, If you have any questions post them I would love to answer!!!
No, I`m not studying.
Yes, they really do have techno toilets, and no I haven`t used it, I`m too scared.
Yes, they also have traditional ones. We`ve used those about 10 times by now. They aren`t that bad either, You just squat. For those of you who hate having to sit on toilets because it is so unsanitary, these would be wonderful for you!! You don`t have to touch a thing!!!
That`s all for today!!

Yesterday Was Monday. We, went to Kyoto, wondered around, got lost, but it was nice.

So, at around 9:30 we left the hostel and went to the convenience shop so I could buy some really yummy food. The conveniance shops are actually very conveniant and you can find tons of already made food there. I Love Rice Balls!!! We bought those. Then we managed to get on the ight train and head for Kyoto. I slept most of the time on the train. Wehave been in Kyotot for about 2 days now, and I would have to say that i like Tokyo more. I was really sad to to leave. When we got to Kytot I noticed two things very quickly: the fashion sense had diminished about half and people actaully recognized your existence. In Tokyo you could walk down the street, or do something totally weird and people don`t even pay attention or notice. Here somtimes they say hi, and they actually look at you. So, we fnd our hostel, dropped our stuff off, and wondered around. We found a middle shool, and I actually managed to read in kanji that it was a middle school. We sat outside and said hi to the kids as they headed for home. Then we headed to look for food. We couldn`t seem to find anything, and our feet hurt and I was starving, so after asking a few people and not getting any help, I decided to ask two school girls. That was interesting, not that I should have expected anything less. They were giggle monsters. It was a lot of fun though and they ended up actually taking us to a resturant, that was a little expensive but had really good food.
Since I don`t have much time, and I have to pay to use the internet here, I am going to go on to Today.
Oh ya, A few people said I was cute too. Those girls and some boys.

Sunday Night

Last night I had a really cool time. I was going to go to bed at 9 and I came in the room and mom was sitting on my bed talking to the girl across from me. Its funny because, when we  left in the morning there was a girl sleeping, and when we came back there was a different girl sleeping. Her name is Haley and she is from the Netherlands. She had just flown in from a 25 hour flight, thanks to  a delay, the plane couldn`t land for some reason. She is 21 and hilarious! We talked for a while and then she and I went and got ramen. Actually, she got ramen I accompanied her. Then we went to the convenience store and then back. In case you are wondering, these things are about 1 minute walk away. She is 21 and is getting a degree in something related to Japan that makes her HAVE to go to Japan once a year. No fair! She is here for about 2 weeks. We had a lot of fun, and it was cool. Too bad we are leaving to today for Kyoto! I`m pretty excited though. Kyoto!!!

My feet are killing me!!!! I think we walked over 6 hours today!!!

You can probably guess why we walked over 6 hours today? Yep, got lost. We were with Saki and her friend Haruko looking for where the cosplay was going on in Harajuku. We never found it. One girl at the hostel said she went and saw it. `Loads of it` she said. Bummer. We asked over ten people about it. That`s why my feet are killing me.
So, in the morning we met Saki and Haruko at Ueno station crosswalk which is about 30 minutes walk away. We went to the Tokyo museum, then went to a restaurant and ate. It was a nicer place. Mom and I split a meal. It was udon, like ramen, had a thick slice of semi cooked bacon in it, bamboo, and noodles.  It was SO good!!! It also came with a huge rice ball that was also very good and had salmon in it. So, here is one of the diferences between mom and me. I can tell the difference in the quality of food and she can`t. She said it tasted about the same as the 4 dollar ramen we got at a ramen shop. This was about 10 or more, and SO much better!!! Then we got some ice cream. It had vanilla, green tea, some sweet beans on the side, icy jello, mochi, etc... very good.
Then we headed to Harajuku. Problem is, Saki had never been to where we were going. So we got lost and walked forever. It was nice though. The park was HUGE!!! People were everywhere,　practicing acting, dancing, photo shoots, singing, playing instruments. Most of these in groups of five or 6 people. At around 4:30 the girls left and mom and I decided to wander to the area where we went with Yuri and get crushed in crowds of people some more. We walked around for about another 45 minutes. Bought some vanilla ice cream and a strawberry scone thing, people watched (i LOVE people watching!!! I could do it for hours!!!)
Then we headed off to navigate the train system back to Ueno. Against all odds I managed to get us there without incident. Mom was really no help. She still can`t recognize when we are a block from the hostel. Actually I asked lots of people questions, but none of them spoke ANY English, so I just had to figure it out myself!!!!We went showed our passes to the guy at the counter and headed through the gate following the sign that said Yamote line 2 Ueno, etc, etc, Went down a  few flights of stairs, and showed up at the platform. I looked at the sign and noticed the train was about to leave and ran over and jumped on it, leaving mom still coming down the stairs. She crammed herself on the train, which was full, although not as bad as on Saturday. Sorry mom!!! We stayed on that train until it reached Ueno and then got off! Went through the ticket gate again. and then began walking home. We stopped at a book store on the way there. It had rows of manga, which were the smaller size, about half the size of a regular one. They were all 105 yen, about a dollar and five cents if the dollar wasn`t down so low in value. Then, mom bought carrots which are short and very fat, and then we hobbled back home!

Saturday/Yesterday with Yuri, her mother and little brother (otooto)!!!

So, I was going to write yesterday I was going to write about what we did that night, but when we got back I was so exausted I just flkopped in bed and went to sleep. So, now it is Sunday morning and I am writing!
So... Lets see, before we met Yuri, mom and I went wondering around. We found a shop that sells wird things for medicine and stuff, dead animals, herbs, rocks, and stuff, wandered inside and mom bought the first thing of this whole trip!! A little dead sea horse for \200!!! How cute!!!
I also bought a 2 dollar apple to eat. Fruit is VERY  expensive!!!
Then at 10 we met Yuri at Azuma bridge which is 2 minutes from where we are staying. We walked over to the Kamonarimon, which has a huge buddhist temple. The whole area was filled with shops and crammed with people. LOTS of poeple! We wondered around. Her mom(Yoko) bought everyone a Japanese sweet, which was more like a slightly bitter cracker. We wondered in and out of shops filled with very overpriced items. Mom bought post cards. Eventually I bought some stuff, but I`m not telling you what it is mwahaha!!!
We also went into the temple. Through some money in this thing and then you make a prayer. Before that you go over to this thing that has lots of insense sticks burning, and you wave the smoke ito your face. Its to make you beautiful or something.  It smelled really good.
Yuri is 16, her brother is 9. He was really cute. Really shy and quiet but still really polite.
We then went to eat okonomiyaki. It was so cool. We went into this small building, up some stairs. They asked us to take off our shoes and then we were led over to a low table that had a flat grill/pan thing built into the table. At first I thought you had to sit on the ground with your legs under you, but a actually there is a hole under the table where you can put them. After ordering, a lady brought over maybe 5 bowls of mixures of different foods. They weren`t mixed up thuogh, just all set in a bowl together. One was like, a raw egg, corn, wheat flower, and the main food, cabbage. The lady turned on the grill thing and then left. After a while, her mom took the first bowl and mixed it up and poured it on the grill. Then we all took a metal spachula and mixed it around and spread it out. After a little while we all took these tiny tiny little spachulas that we all had, and you would scrape a peice of the batter up press it on the grill until it was crisp and would stick to the spatchula and then flip it over and eat it. (I hope that made sense : ) I was really bad at it.
Then Yuri and her mom mixed up he other two bowls and each one poured it into a panacake. Then they put sauce on it, bonito flakes, and nori flakes. Then we let it sit till the other side got crisp. Then her mom took two of the big spatchulas and fliped it over. Yuri did it wth the other one, but hers fell apart.
After those coked we cut them up, and then put a peice on everyones plate , and ate it with chopsticks. Then They made me and mom mix up a bowl pour it out, put the stuff on it and flip it over. Mom did hers perfect and mine fell apart some. What the heck!!
After this they watched some of our videos of home, and then we headed out to the subway! Duhdudhu!!!! I`ve never been down a  subway before. We went down 5 flights of stairs.
We took that to a train station, took the train to another station, took that train station to.... HARAJUKU!!!!!! Fashion paradise!! And, dad, stop complaining about walmart!!! I didn`t take too many pictures, but mom got video. It was crammed. There is one street filled with clothes shop after clothes shop. It was crammed with people. We actaully did a good job of not losing each other. I really wanted to go into a lolita shop, so we went up in one of them. It was very pink and bright. They had different styles, gothic, country, punk, but most of it was sweet Lolita, so it was very bright. Well, I coulkdn`t resist myself... I couldn`t buy a hundred dollar dress, so I got something else... and nope, I`m not telling you what it is!!! You`ll jut have to wait until I wear it!!! Actually Yuri bought it for me as a present.
Then I stoped in a shoe store and bought a pair of shoes. I could`nt buy shoes so I bought the next best thing. They were a little big, They only had 3 sizes, small, medium and large. I was a small, and it was still to big. What`s with that?! They were \2000 ($20) Mom doesn`t really like them, but Tearah, you will. When I got to Kobe with Tomoko, I will proably buy a dress. They only reason I didn`t this time, is beacuse we ran out of time. We also got a Blue berry crepe. Very yummy. Then at abvout 4 we headed back.
Oh, ya!!! We haven`t had to get pushed onto a train yet, but we came pretty close to it on the way to Harajuku. Yuri`s mom, did shove me on it a little when I hesitated though. You didn`t have to grab onto anything to balance, Just lean on the nearest person!
We got back to Asakusa at around 5. Sat at a small temple right buy the hostel and gave them their presents. It was really nice, and my favorite thing so far. I loved shopping! And while things are expensive, they are so cute it is totally worth it!!

After that, my feet were killing me. We decided ot walk to the \100 shop.. Took us a while to find it. But once we got there MOM went crazy and started buying everything in sight!!!

It was a really great day! Today we are going to hang out with Saki!
Mom says Hi!

Cheyanne, could you call the cousin`s and get there address? Also, can you make sure they have this blog? Thanks!!

Finish up on Friday. Old people, wierd shirts, and conveyor belt sushi.

So,we went and ate sushi! I talked to one of the ladies here, who`s name I am going to go figure out as soon as I am done, and she said that the place I was thinking of had really cheap sushi, but that it wasn`t very good quality. But since I probably can`t tell the difference and since I just want to go to conveyor belt sushi, it would be fine. We walked down the street, it was already dark. It gets dark around 5:30, and the sushi shop was about 2 minutes away. Lots of welcoming words. We sat down and as usual just sat there not knowing what to do. Thankfully we had a nice guy next to us, and he informed us that what we thought was powder wasabi was actually green tea. You put a little tiny spoonful in one of the cups and fill it with hot water from the little spicket sticking out right in front of you. We then sat and watched the sushi as it went around before us. There was a sign on the wall that had prices next to different color plates. Each sushi has a different color plate and that determines the price. Not being very hungry or wanting to spend much, we stuck with the ￥１５０　and ￥250 ones we got  five plates, with 2 pieces each. The guy next to us  and everyone around us had about 5 plates to themselves. Believe it or not I could tell that the sushi wasn`t very good quality and this is probably thanks to the restaurant Wild Tunas. The salmon was my favorite. All of them almost had some wasabi and it was very over powering. One we got, was something wrapped in seaweed. Not knowing what it is and seeing that it looked something like an internal organ, I thought, `Hum! I`ll try that one!` OK, it felt like I was eating a heart. Whatever that taste like. That didn`t daunt me in the slightest though, and when one came around that had whole baby squid things laying on top, I grabbed that. It was Ok.
Then we did what everyone else did. Stacked or plates and walked over to the counter to pay. A guy would walk over count your plates and what kind, write it on a paper and give it to the lady at the cash register. She would then tell us how much. It was about $9. Way to cheap for sushi! ; )
Mom and I walked around and then sat down by a small temple. We sat talking and then suddenly I saw something run past. A cockroach. Yep, one of the many things that is universal. Mom killed it.
A couple of interesting things: back at the zoo a little girl was wearing a shirt that said:
I am loved so much
and it is shameful.

Also, there are so many old people!!! They are everywhere. Riding bikes, walking, its kind of weird. Most of them are in really great shape. Oh, ya and don`t be surprised if I end up blogging abut how I got hit by a bike. People drive crazy on those bikes. I`ve almost got hit a ton already. By old people too!!

TOKYO!!!! We Are now at Khaosan Tokyo Ｏｒｉｇｉｎａｌ!!

HI All!
I LOVE JAPAN! I`m getting a little better about asking people questions, and my Japanese is coming back a little. So... I think when I left off we were about to leave Nartita Airport hostel. So, here`s what happened: We got to the train station at the aiport. We had to ask three different desks until w found the right one to buy uor tickets for Tokyo. English was lacking, and I had to attempt and use some f my amazing Japanese, which went something like: Tokyo...Tokyo.. train... JR...I mean...Uh, um, Tokyomadeshinkansen...no...yoyaku wo...um...Onagaishimasu! And then they would start speaking in Japanese and I would start staring like I was stupid. Apparently I can`t say Ueno rght (our destination)  beacuase everytime I did, they corrected me. So finally we got a ticket to Tokyo station. We then had to ask were the train was, and once we got to the platform, which area we waited for the train. Then, while we were waiting we bothered the guy next to us about how and when we get on the train. It went really well though. We arrived at Tokyo at 10:44 exactly. They don`t kid at all when they say what time something is leaving or arriving. We ran into a liitle truble at the station. I had no clue where to go. We needed to take a JR train to Ueno station. So We asked a few desks, and ended up at  the platform. WHat the heck?! Don`t we need to buy tickets?  We didn`t want to go back stairs and ask, but when momsuggested asking the guy standing next  to us about it I came up with the lame excuse that he probably doesn`t speek english so don`t do it. She did. He spoke a little english, and thank God we asked him. After a few minutes of confused bantering, we followed him back down stairs where he asked a guy at a desk about it. Turns out, it is not a reserved train and you just get on and pay after, when you go through the gate, or just show them your pass. Then we folllowed him back upstairs and waited for the train. We all got on the train. It wasn`t too crowded. You still had to stand, and hold on to one of those thingys, and then he told us when to get off. Then he showed us where to go out of the ticket gate and then from there how to get to the Ueno Zoological Park. VERY nice guy. So we walked around the park until we got to the Zoo. The park is huge and beautiful, and crowded. It was interesting because mom commented on how many old poeple there were, but there wasn`t. You know how usually when you go somewhere you see mostly one age group? Saturday at the mall: teenagers, Sunflower during the week, only old people. Here there was about equal of all ages. Tons of school group(all ages), moms with babies, and old people. Tearah, the fashion is amazing!!! You know how I have  probalems hiking with staring at my feet and  the graound the whole time? Well,　I have the same problem here, only I`m staring at all the girls`s shoes!! Especially the mom`s!! (most girls are in uniform). Talk about hip mom`s!! Almost all of them wear boots of every verity on the planet!! I`m in heaven with the clothes here. In that area of anticipation, Japan hasn`t let me down in the slightest.
Ok, so the zoo was really nice. You know how at ours there is always sighns out when that one animal has a baby? Well here there arn`t signs, cuz almost every animal had a baby! Baby gorillas, baby monkeys, baby seals, everything!
About half way through, I started starving. It was around 1:00. One peice of toast \doesn`t hold me off that long. I tried to get mom to go a little faster, but she wouldn`t. Oh, ya, and we put our backpacks in a locker (\300). Teh zoo cost \600 per person. Once we left the zoo, we had to find Asakusa dore(street) Some teen and his girlfriend helped, and then later, I asked an old lady too. By this time I was almost dead by starvation of course, so when we passed a ramen shop we decides to eat. You look at the plastic models outside the window, they all have prices and take your pick, the you go inside where they\(the cook) yell out really nice things the whole intire time. Saying Thank you in like 3 different ways. Oneigaishimasu! Doomo! Argatou gozaimashta, ect... Then mom started walking over to the counter to order, but I stopped her, becuase I \actally knew what to do in this situation thanks to the internet. You have to get a ticket for what food you want from the machine first. What the internet didn`t tell me was exactly how to do it. So we stood and stared for a while. And the a Guy came in and was going to use the other machine. We ran over and started staring at him, and he looked at us like we were weirdos. Mom started spwaking in english, he couldn`t understand anything, but I actually knew what to say!!! watashihamittekudasai. Can I watch? (I don`t know how to say we). He said ok and proceeded. You put your bill in, push the picture with the number that you want, a ticket5 comes out, you push another one and then get your change. Then you tak your ticket ad pput it on a tray on the counter. The cook takes it and makes your food and puts the bowl on the tray and then you go back in get it. Then you sit and eat. Apperantly mom and I are really slow beacuse about 5 people came and went while we ate. Somehow also, mom, who can barely use her chopsticks, finished her bowl befor I did. Maybe I was talking to much? Then we sayed thank you and left. Then we stopped at a little food store,a nd  ibought a desert for \105. I totally got \ wrong and over paid the guy, but he fixed it! I wanted to tear it open and eat it as we went along, but mom wanted me to wait till we got to the hostel. I finally decied to do what she said. Later it dawned on me that walknig and eating in Japan is really rude (even my penpal said so)!! So my mom unbenoestly saved me from humiliation. So we got here, and it is rubn by ladies who are SUPER nice and friendly and funny. They were lauhging abou the fact that I was 17 and I don`t know why. We got a double room for tonight because one of the beds in the girls dorm is messed up. It is tiny!! It is a bunk bed up  against the wall and about one arm length or less across the other two walls. Looking out the window it is about half an arms length frmo the other building. The hostel is 3 stories. We are on the 3rd tonight and 2nd tomorrow. You can go on the roof. I ate half of my coffe desrt, which turned about being some jello thing, I don`t like jello, and yes, mom actually ate the other half.
And that is about all for today! We might eat sushi tonight. Don`t know yet. It is 6:15.

See you!!

Friday Morning, we went for an hour walk

Hi! Last night I slept like a rock, until 4:15. The BAM I woke up.Mom woke up too. They say that you always wake up early the next moring, but it didn`t make sense to me, so I didn`t think that it would happen. It did though! Mom and I tried to sleep a little more but at 6 we got up and headed out for a walk. There are 2 other girls here from Australia. The walk was AMAZING! Most of the houses are traditional, and almost all of them have veggatable gardens and flower gardens. It is completely overcast/cloudy and drizzled a tiny almost the whole time. I didn`t need an umbrella. The weather feels really wierd to me, because you always feel damp even though you are not wet!
We came to a really small dairy farm. I asked the lady and she said we could look at the cows. A lot of kids passed by wearing all the same blue rain coat on bikes on there way to school. Three of the girls said good morning in english and then started giggling. Then out of the bloo, we run into a horse stable! It was really nice and beautiful. All of the horses were dark brown and looked the same. In a green house they had english rididng blankets hanging out that had just been washed. In Japan they hang everything out to dry. I`m pretty sure there was a sign there that said don`t touch the horses, so we just looked.
Cheyanne or Tearah, can you make sure dad has the link to this blog? I don`t think he does.
Yamasan is going to take us to the airport train station soon and we are going to take a train into Tokyo.
Ummm... I think that`s it!

Hi all! We are finally in Japan!!!

Hi! We just got to Narita Airport Hostel in Japan.
Things went really well, even though I was still having panic attacks right and left! ; )
The plane ride was really long.
The flight from Phoenix to Salt lake city was in a really small plane.
The second onewas a LOT bigger and filled with Japanese people. We watched movies and slept most of the time. They fed us a lot of food and everythig was free. The Japanese stewardess were the nost friendly on the plane.
Sorry this is so blunt! This  computer is really herd for me to type on.
Tommorrow we are going into Tokyo! I`ll try and keep you all constantly updated.
Love you all!!!

日本！！日本！！日本！！！！！Japan!! Japan!! Japan!!! No, I'm not there yet...

I feel a little on the lame side right now, considering that I posted-what- five times in my month and a half?!

But we can't dwell on that! Guess what? I'm going to Japan in 4 Days!!! 4 DAys!!! 4 DAYs!!!!! 

4 DAYS!!!! Well, I actually got sick for the first time this year.  I know... why does it always happen right before you go on a trip? I not feeling too bad now. Just sniveling and blowing my nose. Which actually poses a problem. Blowing your nose in public in Japan is considered extremely rude!!!!! Sniveling is Ok though. But I don't Wanna snivel!!! You know what, I'll blow my nose, and if anyone decides to comment on it, I'll just tell them "its American"!!「アメリカですよ！！はっ！」

Ok, enough about that topic! ; )

So, today I need to study Japanese, study for my classes, pack up more stuff, go shopping for presents, and clean my notoriously messy room, which is always messy even though I am a very clean person!!

During this time, my adrenalin will go up and up and up, and at the very end of the day, I will be so excited I will... probably... just... start... terrorizing my poor mother with talk about how exciting Japan is going to be!!!!!! All that talk will be accompanied by very loud noises and over exaggerated movement of course.. to get my energy out of course... not that I don't always talk like that... 

As you can see, this post reflects how excited I am!! I just can't even think straight. One reason why I need to get off of the computer and go pack before I can't remember what is in my bag...

Alright! I will see you all soon! And hopefully I will be posting while in Japan next time!

*Haven

Reformed Churches in Japan

I'm so excited!
Thanks to a friend's wonderful help, I actually managed to find some reformed churches in Japan!!!
Of course the service will be in Japanese, but to me that's not the most important thing. The most important thing is that I can meet people who are hopefully close minded in what they believe.
Alright, that's all!!
Haven

School started!

I love school!
Aside from the fact, that you continually get to learn new things, and it gives me a sort of schedule, one of my favorite things is that when I'm sitting in class, I can miraculously draw for some reason!!!
I sit there and doodle, and my doodles turn out better than half of the actual drawings that I attempt at doing. I think it also has something to do with the pressure. You can't draw something really bad, when there is the chance that someone might see it, but I think it's more than that. The drawings are more creative, my girls are prettier, and I just like it....... (now I'm rambling). Ok, being in class gives me just the right amount of pressure to draw well. There, that's what I mean to say. : )
So, I drew some neat things in Intro to Christianity. And yes, I can pay attention while drawing. And yes, I was learning and I did enjoy it. I also got the perfect seat in that class. I hopefully won't get noticed as easily.... (sweating) -_-;
Now, its off to bed!
おやすみなさい！！！

Things I like about Japan : )

I've been thinking about Japan lately. Ok, I'm ALWAYS thinking about Japan.
I've been thinking about what it is that I like so much.
I'm going to try to pinpoint a couple of things.
1.) The gardens:
While I absolutely love wild growing forest, I've always been particular about gardens. I have this idea that when you have a garden it needs to be perfectly clean, trimmed, and green. In simple language: controlled.
Sometimes we get a batch of plants that is growing a little crazy and mom just loves it. So do I, its amazing when ANYTHING grows! But I Love it when it is trimmed and clean. I've always preferred Japanese gardens over European gardens. I think my mom likes European over Japanese. Also, (yes I'm going to compare myself to my mom the whole time) Mom likes lots of color. The more color the better. Japanese gardens focus on different shades of green, and then every once in a while there will be a splash of color. I like that way more. Also green and brown are my favorite colors! Maybe this also has to do with the fact that I enjoy perfection. I also love art. The dedication and work that makes a Japanese garden is so much that I appreciate the art that is formed all the more so.
This leads to another thing I like about Japan:

2.) The Dedication that goes into anything that a person chooses. Tea ceremony, flower arranging, gift giving (wrapping is an art), fashion, etc... It doesn't matter what it is, Japanese people seem to be very good at picking something, dedicating their extra time (usually very little) to it, and trying to perfect it. (even teens sporting ridiculous fashions on the weekends. :)
Now, while I may fail miserably in this area, I still highly admire it. HIGHLY. One of my favorite books is Geisha, a Life (or Geisha of Gion). That woman worked like none other. She perfected the art of dance so well it is amazing. She believed that self-discipline was the answer to everyhting. I don't think that's true. But if you DO have self-discipline it makes life that much better.

There are many MANY more things that I love about Japan, and I'll probably post about them later.
Till, then
じゃあ、またね！
＊ヘイヴン　Haven

I'm so Excited for School!!!!

Yesterday, I went and signed up for classes. I went with my cousins, Jordan, Monica and my aunt Lana. Unfortunately Jordan is still not signed up yet, because they would only let her take one test, but she'll finish up on Saturday. I hope the class (Philosophy) doesn't fill before then. I doubt it will, but I'm still nervous. I need to work on the worry problem. I'm biting my nails....

Weeds, weeds and more weeds.

We just got back from Mayor. Somehow my mom actually managed to get me up there. She's probably brought the kids there about  60 times in the last two years and I've gone about five times... I don't really like it up there (aka I don't like pulling weeds). It wasn't that bad though, and the weather was really nice.
Tomorrow I'm going to sign up for college classes. I'm so excited to start!!!