Japan Day Two

The second day was a day of exploring. That sums up the feelings of yesterday along with the enjoyment and pleasure of another's company. I had the company of two awesome guys. And today, hopefully, it will be with the other two to complete our little group and bond together instead just three musketeers.

The adventure for me began when I was awake at almost six in the morning. I am either still getting accustomed to the whole time difference OR I really am a morning person.

I do have to recall that I was awake at 3 in the morning, so that was a nice pick me up. I was hoping this wouldn't be the case today since I was on my feet 24/7, but I still ended up waking up hella early, and I still woke up in the middle of the night. I think this morning it was like 3:50 am.

Anywhoser, where was I? Oh yeah.

So six in the morning greets me in the face and I am happy (?) that I was startled to awake with the sun hitting me in the face. I think today I am detaching curtains and pulling them over the balcony door. Light wakes me up so easily.

I decide to stay in bed because I still want to adjust to the difference of time. The essences of being in Asia: when it is morning here it is afternoon back home.

I eventually get up at 7 or 730 and hop in the shower, lather myself from head to toe and scrub. I get out and realize I have no hair dryer. So my hair had to dry au natural. I apply my face on and storm out to venture and find some hot coffee at 8 ish. What was funny was at the first convenience store I was at actually had hot coffee but I was merely looking in the wrong direction, so yeah. I ended up going somewhere else and found this coffee called BOSS which is pretty fucking BOSS. They have the right to be called that. I bring the coffee back home and start journaling in my mac rather than in my paper journal. I just feel that it will be a smoother transition if I just type everything up about my experiences in Japan to put in my blog this way rather than look at what I wrote. Maybe that journal will be reserved for a more personal experience, like when I am weeping away with the pain that I have no friends in this country.

After that, my roommate Naomi is all ready to hit up her mormon church, and we don't see her for the rest of the day. Mark, Deren and I decide to go explore for the day and invite Richard, but he is nowhere to be seen. Our first destination: the market.

I would have thought people were kidding when they said that their fruits were expensive. They weren't. Fruit is hella expensive here. Vegetables, kind of more or less the same.

Deren ended up buying some onigiri which is like a rice ball packaged in seaweed and ate that for breakfast while Mark and I were craving udon noodles that looked divine in plastic. I could only imagine what they looked like in real life. The picture should speak for itself. The broth, noodles, the ebi fry (which is shrimp in Japanese), everything about it screamed authentic and delicatessen. Delectable, not firm at all type of noodles, slurping in delicious sips to emphasize just how glorious it is streaming down your gullet with glee. The shrimp dipped in the broth to moisten the tempura batter encasing it, intermingling with the soup and noodles in a slow dance and I break up and speed up with the tempo of my chopsticks. Adding green onion, chili powder, sesame seeds, soy sauce to give it a flavor I can stomach that reminds me of home. Reminds me of Mexican dishes that is drenched in chili powder or flavor. I got so full I don't even remember finishing the broth. A very good 900 yen well spent.

After the enjoyment of a meal and company, we walked out to a train festival. I never seen so many little ones running around with their parents trailing behind, getting in line to ride a little train ride. Facing a bit of humiliation for one child's enjoyment is the ultimate sacrifice. Music was trailing through the festival, and we continued our adventures for the day. Next stop an electronics store.

The three of us hit the electronics BIC CAMERA, which had everything electric and not under the sun. There was a slew of video games, for the children. And toys in the other direction. I saw a power rangers figure and instantly became nostalgic of Dino, and luckily, there was wifi in the building so I managed to send him a picture of it and to tell him that I missed him. I was also able to update my Facebook and hook up my sister's with my whereabouts and that I had survived the second day so far. But the day was just beginning so that was sheer dumb luck I'm afraid. Going downstairs from wasting so much time on the internet, we stumbled upon the home goods section. Japanese people have a strange fetish with their faces. But I guess that is why their skin is as pretty as it is. We tried out some massage chairs in the back and I didn't necessarily enjoy the massage, but I did, if that makes any sense. If it doesn't, let me just say I was indifferent towards it. Happy I got it, eh if I didn't get it.

We walked so much. I don't know how much but we did. It was well over a mile. And if that's how its gonna be all the time, I might just lose the weight after all, unless the food is really good and I don't want to stop eating. Then I might not lose the weight after all. Which I am okay with. 

We found the garden after crossing a bridge and noticed that there was a food festival going on. Mark, Deren and I were bummed because if we would have known that there was a food festival we would have just eaten there instead of going to the udon place. Not that I regret the udon, but the food there was cheaper. Hella cheaper.

After checking out the spread of plenty, we sat down to watch some old ladies dance for us. A nice old young man began to talk to us in English.

“Where are you from?” He asked.

Deren pointed to us and said, “America.” I pointed to Mark and said, “Canada.” I don't want him to think that Americans will be selfish and plot us all together. The hoser must be identified!

We asked him about the festival, he asked us about our mission here, our jobs.

“We are going to teach English,” we said. Not in unison. We complimented him on his english, because he did speak it very well. We watched as the old ladies danced and paraded, the announcer waving his flag. Some were energetic, others looked bored, none looked confused. One thing I did notice was that there were no young ones in the group. They were all pretty old.

Once the festival was done, we paid our 400 yen to walk into the garden. There were a few flowers here and there, but what we really saw was grass everywhere. We sat down in it and I felt the grass: cushions well, didn't feel itchy in the least bit. Enjoyable to be sitting in grass that felt different from any other grass I have ever felt. After sitting we walked around some more, found a pond full of koi fish, fat ones, colorful ones, ones that looked like they had been there forever and young ones that looked as though they were born there. Oh, and spiders, lots and lots of big ass spiders. Rosie would not like it here for that reason alone.

After we were done touring the garden we stumbled into the Okayama Castle. It was beautiful, stone steps leading up to it, a rock hopping garden, but it cost to go inside it, so we just admired from afar type of thing. We stayed looking at it, and then walked to the rock hopping garden and posed for pictures, took a video, laughed at each other's antics. Seriously, I love hanging out with these guys. So much fun.

After that we stumbled into an anti nukes peace rally. Hippies. I never thought I would have seen hippies in Japan. And yet there they were. I thought it was funny that they had signs in English like Fuck Government. I kept thinking in my head, 'They probably don't know what that means.'

We walked into an imitation English/British square while we were looking for an information center, we were on a mission to find the arcade to play the table flipping game. Here, an arcade is called a game center. And they have gambling places called pachinko, but we didn't go in, much less gambled. I didn't have the best of luck in Vegas, I doubt here will be any different.

After the adventure there, which wasn't much to recall or recount because it was nothing but walking (I do have to add that the anti nuke peace rally was walking up and down it with pots, pans, hippies, peace signs, and other such cool people), we called it quits and went back home. We found out that there was a game center by where we are at, found no game flipping table, went to McDonalds in search of wifi with no such luck but we did find a nice japanese girl who told us of said game center who spoke English just as good as the old man from the garden, and then went back home to the annex. We found Naomi alive and well, back from her church group and getting ready to soak in a bath. Mark, Deren and I were jumping towards the wifi zone where mamakari gives us such wifi powers and reconnected with the world we have left behind.

Then soon after we got hungry, sat down relaxed watching mean girls from my mac, then went in search of curry but found a japanese conveyor belt instead and had that. Now I am eating a bowl of ramen for breakfast that I bought last night before changing into pajama bottoms and bidding good night to my fellow brethren who are embarking on this journey with me.

Ramen here I come. :)