So almost all of my bad 3nensei boys who graduated in March ended up not getting into high school, which I wasn’t very surprised by (tho it is still depressing). Oh, btw, high school isn’t mandatory in Japan. Anyway, there was one bad boy, Ryohei, who is technically a “bad boy,” but is actually sweet and not bad at all, he is just kinda cool and hangs out with the bad kids and doesn’t exactly love studying.
Anyway, I heard last March that Ryohei only got into one high school, a private school in Ashikaga. However, I wasn’t sure if he could actually go, due to money/lack of interest, etc. One of my teachers was like, “It’s okay, he will be able to play volleyball with his friends!” Um, I was like, NO, that is not okay! Haha.
So yeah, I was hoping that he was going to high school, but I wasn’t sure until last night when I saw him on the train and he was wearing a high school uniform! Yay! I was so excited to see that…I am proud of him! Ganbatte, Ryohei!
Thursday, May 10, 2007
Ugh, it’s starting....
This is the first official hot week of the year and I am not amused! It isn’t truly “hot” yet, but it reached 30 degrees yesterday! It is slowly getting more and more humid, and it is totally fucking up my body! I remember last year for like two weeks I just couldn’t move, as the heat was draining my body of all of its energy…and that is happening now! I am like tired from the moment I wake up until I go to bed! It needs to stop, I am lazy enough as it is!
To further prove my point, a few things that officially make it summer:
-on Tuesday I made the big move from sleeping on the futon in my warm living room to sleeping on my bed in my spacious/cool bedroom. It is weird (and also dark as hell, I thought I had lost my eyesight at one point in the night!)!
-It is the start of the never-open-your-mouth-while-riding-your-bike season, as I am in the inaka and flies go in my fucking mouth! It is really nasty!!! I literally have to ride with my mouth closed, and I can feel them crashing into my mouth area! Damn you, Yabuzuka!
-To add to the nastiness of flies in mouths, it is OFFICIALLY summer, as I got my first fly in my eye while riding my bike this week! Yes, apparently Japanese flies are attracted to my big round gaijin eyes, as I ALWAYS get them in my fucking eye! Then I have to ride my bike while getting it out of my eye, and it is just bad news bears in every sense of the word! Fucking Yabuzuka!
And it is officially summer, as I am complaining about the heat on my blog. Expect many more entries of this nature to come!
To further prove my point, a few things that officially make it summer:
-on Tuesday I made the big move from sleeping on the futon in my warm living room to sleeping on my bed in my spacious/cool bedroom. It is weird (and also dark as hell, I thought I had lost my eyesight at one point in the night!)!
-It is the start of the never-open-your-mouth-while-riding-your-bike season, as I am in the inaka and flies go in my fucking mouth! It is really nasty!!! I literally have to ride with my mouth closed, and I can feel them crashing into my mouth area! Damn you, Yabuzuka!
-To add to the nastiness of flies in mouths, it is OFFICIALLY summer, as I got my first fly in my eye while riding my bike this week! Yes, apparently Japanese flies are attracted to my big round gaijin eyes, as I ALWAYS get them in my fucking eye! Then I have to ride my bike while getting it out of my eye, and it is just bad news bears in every sense of the word! Fucking Yabuzuka!
And it is officially summer, as I am complaining about the heat on my blog. Expect many more entries of this nature to come!
Tuesday, May 08, 2007
Hisashiburi
Yes, I hadn’t blogged for a long time until today, but that was because my parents came here for Golden Week! I wasn’t sure how it would go (I was fully prepared to want to kill them within like three hours of them landing), but it was actually a lot of fun! They were only here for seven days, but we did SO much in one week that it seriously felt like at least two weeks, it was crazy! Anyway, I don’t feel like writing about it, so I will just post pics from it eventually instead!
Depressing Story Time!
Dude, it is really depressing to hear all of the drama involved with Brazilians and other minorities in Japan! Anyway, I have a depressing story to share! Sad. So Chiago is the only Brazilian 1nensei (and only Brazilian in chuu, I think? There are a couple random gaijin-y types but they may have been born here, I am not sure). Anyway, he was at Minami Shou (elementary school) so I knew him fairly well (well, as much as you can know shou kids). He was able to speak Japanese with his friends and stuff, but studying was really hard for him in Japanese.
Anyway, he came to chuu and he didnt seem very happy, but I didnt really know much until yesterday when Kameyasu (my hot shou sensei who teaches Japanese to Brazilian kids) was all worried about him and talking to me. It turns out that Chiago hated chuu and wanted to quit because he didnt understand anything, it was too hard, etc. He wanted to quit and go to Braziljin gakkou (a stupid-ass school in Ota for Brazilians that only uses Portuguese and is not in anyway helpful for real life in Japan) instead. His Mom, Kameyasu and I all agreed that that was stupid and not useful at all, and that if he could survive through a Japanese school he would have a much better chance at a future. However, he went there for a day to try it out. I think Kameyasu said he went there in shou 1-4 nen, then went to Minami Shou for two years.
Anyway Kameyasu and I were talking about it, and we both agreed (and Kameyasu had tried to tell him) that not only gaijin are hating chuugakkou/scared of chuugakkou right now, but also nihonjin. Like, it gets MUCH harder all of a sudden for the kids, and everyone is nervous and stuff, not only him! But I dont think he really listened to that.
Anyway, there was tons of drama today and now it turns out that Chiago quit school today, is transferring to Braziljin gakkou, and then is going back to Brazil next year. SAD. Like, he is going to leave his family here and go live with his grandma because he wants to go back all of a sudden? SAD SAD SAD.
Anyway, yeah, that is depressing!!!! I understand that he doesnt have any friends here to really talk about his troubles to, but I wish he could have ganbaru-ed. Like, making decisions for yourself as an 1nensei is not the best thing in the world. Haha. I know I felt I could make big decisions in 7th grade, but I am sure they probably werent good ones! Hehe. So yeah, that is really depressing. Hrm. But at least he is happy, I guess....hrm. It just sucks the situation gaijin students are put in here, they are kinda fucked either way.
It is interesting to see how much drama is put on the school by this, too, my kyoto sensei (vice principal) has had to call like 700 people about him quitting! Usually if people "quit" chuugakkou they dont ever make it official because you can graduate even if you NEVER go to school for some reason.
Anyway, had to share my sad story with someone!
Oh my god, to be selfish for a second, my hot sensei wont be coming to chuu anymore! DAMN YOU CHIAGO! ;)
Anyway, he came to chuu and he didnt seem very happy, but I didnt really know much until yesterday when Kameyasu (my hot shou sensei who teaches Japanese to Brazilian kids) was all worried about him and talking to me. It turns out that Chiago hated chuu and wanted to quit because he didnt understand anything, it was too hard, etc. He wanted to quit and go to Braziljin gakkou (a stupid-ass school in Ota for Brazilians that only uses Portuguese and is not in anyway helpful for real life in Japan) instead. His Mom, Kameyasu and I all agreed that that was stupid and not useful at all, and that if he could survive through a Japanese school he would have a much better chance at a future. However, he went there for a day to try it out. I think Kameyasu said he went there in shou 1-4 nen, then went to Minami Shou for two years.
Anyway Kameyasu and I were talking about it, and we both agreed (and Kameyasu had tried to tell him) that not only gaijin are hating chuugakkou/scared of chuugakkou right now, but also nihonjin. Like, it gets MUCH harder all of a sudden for the kids, and everyone is nervous and stuff, not only him! But I dont think he really listened to that.
Anyway, there was tons of drama today and now it turns out that Chiago quit school today, is transferring to Braziljin gakkou, and then is going back to Brazil next year. SAD. Like, he is going to leave his family here and go live with his grandma because he wants to go back all of a sudden? SAD SAD SAD.
Anyway, yeah, that is depressing!!!! I understand that he doesnt have any friends here to really talk about his troubles to, but I wish he could have ganbaru-ed. Like, making decisions for yourself as an 1nensei is not the best thing in the world. Haha. I know I felt I could make big decisions in 7th grade, but I am sure they probably werent good ones! Hehe. So yeah, that is really depressing. Hrm. But at least he is happy, I guess....hrm. It just sucks the situation gaijin students are put in here, they are kinda fucked either way.
It is interesting to see how much drama is put on the school by this, too, my kyoto sensei (vice principal) has had to call like 700 people about him quitting! Usually if people "quit" chuugakkou they dont ever make it official because you can graduate even if you NEVER go to school for some reason.
Anyway, had to share my sad story with someone!
Oh my god, to be selfish for a second, my hot sensei wont be coming to chuu anymore! DAMN YOU CHIAGO! ;)
Friday, April 27, 2007
Dekitazo!!!!
So I hadn’t said before, but Rain is coming to Tokyo on May 25th. Tickets go on sale on the 13th (um, Asians like last-minute travel and concert plans, I don’t understand), but I didn’t want to go through the drama of trying to buy tickets while they sell out in like 30 seconds like last time. So I put my name in for a drawing to get tickets in advance....and I won, motherfucker! Cindy and I are going to Rain, yo!!!!!!!!!!!! We will probably be 7 million miles away, since it is in the evil HUGE Tokyo Dome, but we are going, yo! WOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOT! Hot-ass Rain is MUCH more important than most-likely-shitty Japanese Wicked! YAY!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Monday, April 23, 2007
Giving into Peer Pressure
SAD, the day has finally come that I gave in and joined Facebook! I stayed away from it for three years, but I figured what the hell (plus stupid Eduardo told me to join and I cant say no to him! Hehe). However, I still REFUSE to join stupid MySpace, so I still have standards! Yes :)
Anyway, if you are on Facebook and aren’t my “friend” yet, add me, bitches!
Anyway, if you are on Facebook and aren’t my “friend” yet, add me, bitches!
Sunday, April 22, 2007
Weather Changes
Okay, I realize I am never happy with the weather in Japan, but this week was really quite ridiculous. Wednesday was pouring rain and FREEZING. It was 10 degrees and I had to wear my big puffy jacket and carry a huge umbrella when going out. Today, THREE DAYS LATER, it was 26 degrees and humid as shit! Somehow in the span of three days I went from being poured on while biking to the station to sweating my ass off on the way to the train station. Um, yeah. What the fuck?
Thursday, April 19, 2007
Fasting!
So on Sunday, Cindy and I did the unthinkable, and DIDN’T EAT FOOD! We decided that we had poisoned our bodies enough, so it was time to give it a break from constantly digesting. So, we went on a fast! Starting at 7:30 PM on Saturday night, we wouldn’t eat food until breakfast on Monday morning. While I didn’t last QUITE that long for various reasons (I wasn’t feeling that well before it started), it was still hopefully somewhat good for me, and I was amazed I actually (sorta) pulled it off! Hehe. Here are the details:
9:00 am: I wake up from a dream that I accidentally made tea withoutthinking about it and ruined my fast! I wake up, realize it was a dream, and go back to bed…only to dream about eating food for two hours! Oy, this is not off to a good start.
12:00: Just got back from grocery shopping. Hmm, I should fast more often, it saves me money on groceries!
12:09: Dammit, I’m hungry, this sucks! Time to drink water and pretend it’s food!
12:20: While putting dried cranberries in a bag for tomorrow’s worksnack, some fall out and I must make VERY conscious decision not toeat them. Sad, it is depressing how much I eat without even thinkingabout it!
12:57: Hrm, my stomach is getting a little rumbly! Must watch moreTV and distract myself!
1:24: Dude, not eating makes me SLEEPY! I want to clean my dirty-ass house but have no energy. This sucks!
3:18: Oh my god, I am so hungry! I am like light-headed! This sucks. I had better be toxin-free after this bullshit!
3:25: Totally unrelated, but I just found 1man ($100) in my drawer! THIS ROCKS, especially since I am broke as fuck at the moment! WOOT!
3:27: Holy crap, I just found 2700 yen more! This drawer is amazing!
3:29: 1000 yen more! It’s like I’m getting paid not to eat!
4:15: So hungry! I should clean to distract myself, but don’t have much energy. Will ignore that and do so anyway! Sigh.
4:34: I have just realized how much more free time I have when Idon’t have to eat…like, I don’t need to spend any time cooking or eating, so I have WAY too much time on my hands! As a result, I have already watched like 300 hours of TV today.
5:40: Ooo, I’m not as hungy or light-headed anymore! Yay. K, timefor more TV!
6:30: Hrm, I don’t feel well, and not in a “yay, I am getting rid of toxins way!” Sad, I might have to break this fast. Must pretend I am toxin-free already!
7:30: Sad, I had to have a glass of juice and a carrot! Oh, well, better than a huge meal, I suppose!
So yeah, I didn’t last as long as I had hoped, but 24 hours is a good start ;) Congrats to Cindy, who made it the whole way! Next time I am doing 36 hours, god dammit!
Monday, April 09, 2007
Photos, yo!
I updated my photos site with graduation pics and LOTS of photos from Eduardo's visit. Check it out, yo.
Senioritis!
So the new school year just officially started, and I am officially TOTALLY OVER school! Ugh! I have such a case of senioritis, and I still have 3 1/2 months of teaching left! Shit. I so don’t care about pretending to be interested in the new teachers or anything else. Bad news bears fo sho.
I also will NOT miss Japanese “ceremonies.” We just had our opening ceremony and it was SO FUCKING BORING. I don’t know why they call it a ceremony, as they don’t celebrate (er, ceremone? Hehe) anything. They just sit there, stand up, bow, and listen to BORING speeches. If I am 24 and bored to death, I don’t know how 12 year-olds survive it (let’s ignore the fact that they might be more mature than me!).
At one point our Kyoto Sensei (vice principal) was introducing all of the guests that came from the PTA and other schools and stuff, when a new 1nensei girl puked ALL over. She was sitting like right in front of where the visitors were being introduced, but everyone totally ignored it and continued the introductions and bowing while a few teachers helped her clean up! Um, sad! How can Japanese people pretend to ignore things so easily? It’s like, dude, a girl just vomited all over the place, RIGHT in front of the people you are talking about, I think we ALL noticed it!
Anyway, yeah, senioritis is bad news bears. I had it horrible in middle school, high school and college, and now I have it again in middle school part two! Sigh.
I also will NOT miss Japanese “ceremonies.” We just had our opening ceremony and it was SO FUCKING BORING. I don’t know why they call it a ceremony, as they don’t celebrate (er, ceremone? Hehe) anything. They just sit there, stand up, bow, and listen to BORING speeches. If I am 24 and bored to death, I don’t know how 12 year-olds survive it (let’s ignore the fact that they might be more mature than me!).
At one point our Kyoto Sensei (vice principal) was introducing all of the guests that came from the PTA and other schools and stuff, when a new 1nensei girl puked ALL over. She was sitting like right in front of where the visitors were being introduced, but everyone totally ignored it and continued the introductions and bowing while a few teachers helped her clean up! Um, sad! How can Japanese people pretend to ignore things so easily? It’s like, dude, a girl just vomited all over the place, RIGHT in front of the people you are talking about, I think we ALL noticed it!
Anyway, yeah, senioritis is bad news bears. I had it horrible in middle school, high school and college, and now I have it again in middle school part two! Sigh.
Friday, April 06, 2007
Eduardo came to Japan, FINALLY!
K, so Eduardo finally came here and we had suuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch a fun two weeks. Meh, I want him to come baaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaack! Sad. Anyway, it was a very BUSY two weeks (despite my purposely planning to have time to relax, since we didn’t get to in Mexico, all of the relaxing time got booked by other things! Sad). So yeah, we did a lot of stuff, and I don’t feel like writing a novel, and you don’t feel like reading one, so I will do a short-ish (Jeff cant do short!) highlights version.
Saturday, the 17th
Eduardo came in EARLY in the morning, we trained into Tokyo and jetlagged Eduardo got to see a lot of the city. We went to Asakusa to see the temple, then went to Shibuya for some shopping and big-city-feel. We then went back to our teeny hotel room (clazy Tokyo!) so he could nap (poor boyo!) before going to Ikebukuro to meet up with Natsumi and Adam. We had a drink with them, then they had to leave, so we went to 2chome (the gay area in Tokyo) to get a drink. It was interesting, hehe. Then went back to the hotel and ASSED OUT.
Sunday, the 18th
Went to Harajuku, walked around, then went to my favorite Indian place for lunch. We then trained back to Gunma, and I gave him a small tour of Yabuzuka, where he learned that he hates biking and hates Gunma wind! That night we relaxed and had dinner at my house.
Monday, the 19th
I had to work, so Eduardo got to sleep off his jetlag. I got off early, and we did a few errands, then made Mexican rice (MMM!) for Atsuko’s party that night. The Gunma wind was especially bad that night, and Eduardo nearly got blown into a rice paddy! Sad! We FINALLY got to Atsuko’s and ate a TON of food with Atsuko, some of her and my former students, and Nacchan. It was fun! That night we went to karaoke with Atsuko, her daughter Aki and Aki’s husband, and Atsuko’s son Kosuke. Got back late and Jeff barely slept before work the next day!
Tuesday, the 20th
I survived work, and Eduardo came to visit after lunch, woot. That night we went to Nacchan’s restaurant for a HUGE meal (including Nacchan’s AMAZING yakisoba) with Megu, two students and their mom. It was fun!
Wednesday, the 21st
My first day of vacation, yay! We flew to Hiroshima in the late morning, ferried to Miyajima (my favorite place in Japan!), checked into our place, and wandered a bit around Miyajima before our HUGE ryokan dinner. That night we assed out at like 9:30, we are such senior citizens!
Thursday, the 22nd
We ferried into Hiroshima to depress ourselves with the A-Bomb Dome and museum. After that we cheered ourselves up by the wonders of the 100 yen store (Eduardo fell in love) and other shopping. We then went to Okomiyaki Mura (Okonomiyaki Village), which is four floors of okonomiyaki vendors. SO GOOD. MMMMMMMM. Then we went back to Miyajima, had dinner, and assed out early again!
Friday, the 23rd
Woke up early so that we could hike around Miyajima and see the temples and nature. I LOVE MIYAJIMA. I was so happy to have my boyo there with me! After that we flew back to Tokyo and trained our way home to Gunma.
Saturday, the 24th
We had a relaxing morning, then went to the 100 yen store in Korona so that Eduardo could get all of his presents for friends, hehe. The 100 yen store really does rock. We then met up with 11 of our friends (yay, we have friends!) for a dinner at Cha Cha, followed by drinks and karaoke at Verinha, the Brazilian bar. Um, there were too many Brazilians singing DEPRESSING SONGS. WTF! It was fucking sad! Eduardo got to bike drunk for the first time in his life on the way home, hehe.
Sunday, the 25th
Nacchan took us to Megu’s house for a yummy Japanese lunch with her and her husband, then the five of us drove all around Yabuzuka to various pretty nature places. It was fun, but a bit tiring, since we just wanted to sleep! Hehe. That night we went to sushi with Mami, Emily, Glenn and Cindy at Hiyoshi Maru, my favorite sushi place, mmmmm.
Monday, the 26th
After a relaxing morning, Eduardo got to visit the wonder known as AEON! Yay! Good shopping was had by all, and I MAY have bought five shirts, despite not planning to buy anything, eek! We had a tempura dinner, then saw Dreamgirls, woot! Followed by brick toast for dessert, it was an amazing day ;)
Tuesday, the 27th
We trained to Takasaki to catch the shuttle bus to Lake Haruna, where we stayed the night. The bus there was FULL of people, and we were literally the ONLY people under 70 years old. I wanted a picture!!! The afternoon we walked around the WHOLE lake, which I still cant believe, then had a huge dinner with nomihoudai (all you can drink). We are such losers! To be even bigger losers, Drunk Jeff and Drunk Eduardo rented the karaoke room and sang two hours of karaoke by themselves! We sang the GAYEST SONGS EVER, it was sooooooooooooooo fun! We then promptly assed out.
Wednesday, the 28th
Woke up hungover, bused back to Takasaki and shopped a bit, but we were too tired and hungover to feel like shopping, so we went back to Yabuzuka and watched movies! Eduardo lost his Mean Girls virginity, which was a very special moment in our relationship!!!
Thursday, the 29th
A VERY BUSY DAY, as we went on a huge Gunma tour with Nacchan, Megu, Cindy, Atsuko and Kosuke. We seriously went ALL over. We went to a cool museum/weird ranch place, went to Ikaho and hiked around, went to a park in Maebashi, went to the kenchou (prefectural building), and went to a COOL COOL COOL park in Isesaki with the funnest slide IN THE WORLD! We got home EXHAUSTED and poor Eduardo still had to pack all of his shit! Sad!
Friday, the 30th
We trained to Tokyo for our last full day. :( Went to Shibuya, then Shimokitazawa, which was one of my favorite shopping places when I studied abroad. I bought MORE shirts that I didn’t plan to buy, and Eduardo finally found a cheap gay man bag, yay! Hehe. After that we went to Harajuku for Indian again, then walked around the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Asakusa along the river, which were MUY pretty! It was a good last night, tho sad!
Saturday, the 31st
I don’t want to talk about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sniff!
Anyway, it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun, I am so glad he finally got to come! I realized while he was here that we only spent TEN days together in 2006. Um, that is fucking ridiculous! So at least we have already had two weeks together this year and it isn’t even close to over :)
Saturday, the 17th
Eduardo came in EARLY in the morning, we trained into Tokyo and jetlagged Eduardo got to see a lot of the city. We went to Asakusa to see the temple, then went to Shibuya for some shopping and big-city-feel. We then went back to our teeny hotel room (clazy Tokyo!) so he could nap (poor boyo!) before going to Ikebukuro to meet up with Natsumi and Adam. We had a drink with them, then they had to leave, so we went to 2chome (the gay area in Tokyo) to get a drink. It was interesting, hehe. Then went back to the hotel and ASSED OUT.
Sunday, the 18th
Went to Harajuku, walked around, then went to my favorite Indian place for lunch. We then trained back to Gunma, and I gave him a small tour of Yabuzuka, where he learned that he hates biking and hates Gunma wind! That night we relaxed and had dinner at my house.
Monday, the 19th
I had to work, so Eduardo got to sleep off his jetlag. I got off early, and we did a few errands, then made Mexican rice (MMM!) for Atsuko’s party that night. The Gunma wind was especially bad that night, and Eduardo nearly got blown into a rice paddy! Sad! We FINALLY got to Atsuko’s and ate a TON of food with Atsuko, some of her and my former students, and Nacchan. It was fun! That night we went to karaoke with Atsuko, her daughter Aki and Aki’s husband, and Atsuko’s son Kosuke. Got back late and Jeff barely slept before work the next day!
Tuesday, the 20th
I survived work, and Eduardo came to visit after lunch, woot. That night we went to Nacchan’s restaurant for a HUGE meal (including Nacchan’s AMAZING yakisoba) with Megu, two students and their mom. It was fun!
Wednesday, the 21st
My first day of vacation, yay! We flew to Hiroshima in the late morning, ferried to Miyajima (my favorite place in Japan!), checked into our place, and wandered a bit around Miyajima before our HUGE ryokan dinner. That night we assed out at like 9:30, we are such senior citizens!
Thursday, the 22nd
We ferried into Hiroshima to depress ourselves with the A-Bomb Dome and museum. After that we cheered ourselves up by the wonders of the 100 yen store (Eduardo fell in love) and other shopping. We then went to Okomiyaki Mura (Okonomiyaki Village), which is four floors of okonomiyaki vendors. SO GOOD. MMMMMMMM. Then we went back to Miyajima, had dinner, and assed out early again!
Friday, the 23rd
Woke up early so that we could hike around Miyajima and see the temples and nature. I LOVE MIYAJIMA. I was so happy to have my boyo there with me! After that we flew back to Tokyo and trained our way home to Gunma.
Saturday, the 24th
We had a relaxing morning, then went to the 100 yen store in Korona so that Eduardo could get all of his presents for friends, hehe. The 100 yen store really does rock. We then met up with 11 of our friends (yay, we have friends!) for a dinner at Cha Cha, followed by drinks and karaoke at Verinha, the Brazilian bar. Um, there were too many Brazilians singing DEPRESSING SONGS. WTF! It was fucking sad! Eduardo got to bike drunk for the first time in his life on the way home, hehe.
Sunday, the 25th
Nacchan took us to Megu’s house for a yummy Japanese lunch with her and her husband, then the five of us drove all around Yabuzuka to various pretty nature places. It was fun, but a bit tiring, since we just wanted to sleep! Hehe. That night we went to sushi with Mami, Emily, Glenn and Cindy at Hiyoshi Maru, my favorite sushi place, mmmmm.
Monday, the 26th
After a relaxing morning, Eduardo got to visit the wonder known as AEON! Yay! Good shopping was had by all, and I MAY have bought five shirts, despite not planning to buy anything, eek! We had a tempura dinner, then saw Dreamgirls, woot! Followed by brick toast for dessert, it was an amazing day ;)
Tuesday, the 27th
We trained to Takasaki to catch the shuttle bus to Lake Haruna, where we stayed the night. The bus there was FULL of people, and we were literally the ONLY people under 70 years old. I wanted a picture!!! The afternoon we walked around the WHOLE lake, which I still cant believe, then had a huge dinner with nomihoudai (all you can drink). We are such losers! To be even bigger losers, Drunk Jeff and Drunk Eduardo rented the karaoke room and sang two hours of karaoke by themselves! We sang the GAYEST SONGS EVER, it was sooooooooooooooo fun! We then promptly assed out.
Wednesday, the 28th
Woke up hungover, bused back to Takasaki and shopped a bit, but we were too tired and hungover to feel like shopping, so we went back to Yabuzuka and watched movies! Eduardo lost his Mean Girls virginity, which was a very special moment in our relationship!!!
Thursday, the 29th
A VERY BUSY DAY, as we went on a huge Gunma tour with Nacchan, Megu, Cindy, Atsuko and Kosuke. We seriously went ALL over. We went to a cool museum/weird ranch place, went to Ikaho and hiked around, went to a park in Maebashi, went to the kenchou (prefectural building), and went to a COOL COOL COOL park in Isesaki with the funnest slide IN THE WORLD! We got home EXHAUSTED and poor Eduardo still had to pack all of his shit! Sad!
Friday, the 30th
We trained to Tokyo for our last full day. :( Went to Shibuya, then Shimokitazawa, which was one of my favorite shopping places when I studied abroad. I bought MORE shirts that I didn’t plan to buy, and Eduardo finally found a cheap gay man bag, yay! Hehe. After that we went to Harajuku for Indian again, then walked around the sakura (cherry blossoms) in Asakusa along the river, which were MUY pretty! It was a good last night, tho sad!
Saturday, the 31st
I don’t want to talk about it!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! Sniff!
Anyway, it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo fun, I am so glad he finally got to come! I realized while he was here that we only spent TEN days together in 2006. Um, that is fucking ridiculous! So at least we have already had two weeks together this year and it isn’t even close to over :)
Tuesday, April 03, 2007
Eduardoooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Eduardo FINALLY came and it was an amaaaaaaaaaaaaaaazing two weeks! More pics and stuff later, but here are some in the meantime...
Thursday, March 15, 2007
Tuesday, March 13, 2007
Graduation
So, today was graduation. I was excited for it, as I wanted to say goodbye to my good 3nensei class, but I forgot how INCREDIBLY BORING Japanese graduations are! Good lord! Here is how a Japanese graduation goes: bow, bow, bow, long boring speech with no emotion, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, bow, call 200 names while each kid bows literally at least 7 times each, bow, bow, long boring speech, long boring speech, long boring speech, bow bow bow, long boring speech, bow, bow, bow, sing a song, clap, bow. Man, was it EXCITING! Jesus Christ! I like being in a big school until it comes to things like this where they have to call EVERY kid’s name!
It is really sad for the kids, because graduations should obviously be somewhat formal, but it should be enjoyable for them and not put them to freaking sleep! The kids came in to the gym crying, but didn’t cry for the ceremony just because it had no EMOTION to cause them to cry! They cried plenty before and after, though.
Speaking of sleeping, one kid was so bored HE LITERALLY FELL ASLEEP STANDING UP. Now usually Japanese people are really good at sleeping while standing, but apparently the boredom was too much for him, and he fell asleep standing while listening to a speech, FELL OVER BACKWARDS, crashed on a chair and landed flat on his back on the ground!!!! It was hilarious in a scary way. It was also very amusing, as everyone pretended it didn’t happen (except for a few teachers who checked on him). It caused a huge crash and no one “noticed.” I don’t know how Japanese people can ignore things so well (flashbacks of Cindy breaking a chair in a café!).
Anyway, despite the ceremony being horribly tedious, it was still a fun day because of the send-off at the end. The parents and teachers line up on the street or walkway or whatever in front of the school and clap while the kids make one last walk in front of the school. Then the kids get to take pictures with everyone and I got a bunch of pics, yay! It was fun. Awwww, I am gonna miss my kids!
It is really sad for the kids, because graduations should obviously be somewhat formal, but it should be enjoyable for them and not put them to freaking sleep! The kids came in to the gym crying, but didn’t cry for the ceremony just because it had no EMOTION to cause them to cry! They cried plenty before and after, though.
Speaking of sleeping, one kid was so bored HE LITERALLY FELL ASLEEP STANDING UP. Now usually Japanese people are really good at sleeping while standing, but apparently the boredom was too much for him, and he fell asleep standing while listening to a speech, FELL OVER BACKWARDS, crashed on a chair and landed flat on his back on the ground!!!! It was hilarious in a scary way. It was also very amusing, as everyone pretended it didn’t happen (except for a few teachers who checked on him). It caused a huge crash and no one “noticed.” I don’t know how Japanese people can ignore things so well (flashbacks of Cindy breaking a chair in a café!).
Anyway, despite the ceremony being horribly tedious, it was still a fun day because of the send-off at the end. The parents and teachers line up on the street or walkway or whatever in front of the school and clap while the kids make one last walk in front of the school. Then the kids get to take pictures with everyone and I got a bunch of pics, yay! It was fun. Awwww, I am gonna miss my kids!
Sunday, March 11, 2007
Phoooooooootoooooooooooooos
I've uploaded a buncha pics...Shanghai, Sapporo, Hong Kong, etc. Check it out here, yo.
Saturday, March 10, 2007
SEVEN DAYS!
Eduardo will be here in ONE WEEK. SEVEN DAYS SEVEN DAYS SEVEN DAYS!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Friday, March 09, 2007
Hong Kong, Part Three
The last part of my babbling!
Sunday was our last full day in Hong Kong, and we pretty much did the same stuff as we did on Saturday! We got up and went to dim sum at The Garden Restaurant, a place that Sean and Jenny highly recommended. It was good!!! The egg rolls were the best egg rolls I have ever had! Thankfully Winsome made a cheat sheet for us to order things with, so we had some kanji hints. Mmm, it was yummy. Thanks, Sean and Jenny!
After that we did some shopping. Because of CNY, a lot of places were closed or opened really late. However, Hong Kong people are totally night people, and most places open really late anyway! They close and open really late, it is way different than Japan! We hadn’t had much luck shopping until we found Tough Jeans, the most Japanese store we could find in Hong Kong, haha. Calvin, Cindy and I all bought things there! Yay new clothes!
We then wandered around some more until we wanted to die and were all very grumpy and tired! Thankfully we found a Starbucks where we had a small afternoon nap. After that Cindy had to go visit her family, so Ann, Calvin and I hit the town on our own. We wanted to make sure we went to this dessert place that Winsome recommended before it closed, so we had dessert before dinner that night! Haha. It was also REALLY embarrassing, as we ordered SEVEN DESSERTS for the three of us! Um, families of six only ordered like two! Hee hee, oh well. Some of the desserts were really good and some were only okay. I FINALLY tried durian, a fruit I have heard a lot about from Cindy. It is popular in Southeast Asia, but is a you-love-it-or-really-hate it fruit. I had heard that it smells like cat poop and was very intrigued for some reason. Anyway, we tried the durian pancakes, which were actually pretty good. Then we got this one dessert with ice cream on top of jelly. Inside the jelly we found some mysterious food and were like, “Oooo, there is something in here!” We instantly devoured it, but instantly regretted it, as it was durian and was NASTY!!!!! IT DOES smell like crap and tastes like it, too! It was freaking gross!!!! It took us a second to realize how nasty it was, but it was BAD. I don’t know how people can eat it?! For the next half hour the table smelled like crap! Um, EWW!
After that we headed to the Chinese New Years Parade. Despite purposely going there for CNY, there really wasn’t that much CNY-related stuff to do. They made a huge deal of the parade, though, so we wanted to make sure we saw it. Um, we SORT OF saw it, hehe. First of all, there were like seven bazillion people there. Also, they had two barricades? Like, the early people got to stand by the first barrier, right on the parade route. Then there was a big empty space behind them, with another barricade, where the late-comers (i.e. us) got to cram into with no room to breathe! Fortunately I am freakishly tall and could BARELY see things, but poor Calvin and Ann couldn’t see anything! I was also happy to be tall, as I had fresh air at my height, while everyone who is not-so-tall was sweaty and couldn’t breathe! Sad! We didn’t stay at the parade for too long, then went to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner before sleeping again. Once again we walked about 700 miles in one day!
The next day we didn’t have that much time before our flight, but we DID have time for dim sum! Mmmmm! We ordered a lot, but not as much as the EIGHTEEN dishes we ordered the day before! HAHAHA. The sad thing is we barely left ANYTHING on the table after we finished, either. We devoured it all! Anyway, it was good. However, I would not be very amused to live in HK, as the service is SO bad! The complete opposite of Japan. Waitresses are NOT afraid to show you how much they hate you and their job! The only time they ever smiled was when they got CNY red envelopes from their regular customers. Dude, I want to be a waiter just during CNY, as they were getting red envelopes like every five minutes!
Anyway, after that we headed to the airport, flew home and missed our stupid last train back to Ota. I figured we would, but it still pissed me off. Fortunately Calvin was nice and housed me and Cindy for the night. We got a WHOPPING 3 hours of sleep before we had to get up at 5 in the morning to head back home and get ready for work. In a NORMAL country, one could call a cab at that hour. However, only ONE cab company runs at that hour and they were too busy to pick us up (I think they only have one car running so early). Um, WTF!!!!!! So Cindy and I had to walk 45 minutes to the train station with all of our bags in the cold at 5 in the morning. AWESOME! Hmm, perhaps our lives are strange in this country. Hehe. It wasn’t that bad, though.
Fortunately I didn’t have any classes, as I may have killed kids that day, with 3 hours of sleep and getting up at 5 in the morning!
Anyway, that was our Hong Kong trip! It was fun! But now I must diet and not spend any money until Eduardo comes!!!
Sunday was our last full day in Hong Kong, and we pretty much did the same stuff as we did on Saturday! We got up and went to dim sum at The Garden Restaurant, a place that Sean and Jenny highly recommended. It was good!!! The egg rolls were the best egg rolls I have ever had! Thankfully Winsome made a cheat sheet for us to order things with, so we had some kanji hints. Mmm, it was yummy. Thanks, Sean and Jenny!
After that we did some shopping. Because of CNY, a lot of places were closed or opened really late. However, Hong Kong people are totally night people, and most places open really late anyway! They close and open really late, it is way different than Japan! We hadn’t had much luck shopping until we found Tough Jeans, the most Japanese store we could find in Hong Kong, haha. Calvin, Cindy and I all bought things there! Yay new clothes!
We then wandered around some more until we wanted to die and were all very grumpy and tired! Thankfully we found a Starbucks where we had a small afternoon nap. After that Cindy had to go visit her family, so Ann, Calvin and I hit the town on our own. We wanted to make sure we went to this dessert place that Winsome recommended before it closed, so we had dessert before dinner that night! Haha. It was also REALLY embarrassing, as we ordered SEVEN DESSERTS for the three of us! Um, families of six only ordered like two! Hee hee, oh well. Some of the desserts were really good and some were only okay. I FINALLY tried durian, a fruit I have heard a lot about from Cindy. It is popular in Southeast Asia, but is a you-love-it-or-really-hate it fruit. I had heard that it smells like cat poop and was very intrigued for some reason. Anyway, we tried the durian pancakes, which were actually pretty good. Then we got this one dessert with ice cream on top of jelly. Inside the jelly we found some mysterious food and were like, “Oooo, there is something in here!” We instantly devoured it, but instantly regretted it, as it was durian and was NASTY!!!!! IT DOES smell like crap and tastes like it, too! It was freaking gross!!!! It took us a second to realize how nasty it was, but it was BAD. I don’t know how people can eat it?! For the next half hour the table smelled like crap! Um, EWW!
After that we headed to the Chinese New Years Parade. Despite purposely going there for CNY, there really wasn’t that much CNY-related stuff to do. They made a huge deal of the parade, though, so we wanted to make sure we saw it. Um, we SORT OF saw it, hehe. First of all, there were like seven bazillion people there. Also, they had two barricades? Like, the early people got to stand by the first barrier, right on the parade route. Then there was a big empty space behind them, with another barricade, where the late-comers (i.e. us) got to cram into with no room to breathe! Fortunately I am freakishly tall and could BARELY see things, but poor Calvin and Ann couldn’t see anything! I was also happy to be tall, as I had fresh air at my height, while everyone who is not-so-tall was sweaty and couldn’t breathe! Sad! We didn’t stay at the parade for too long, then went to a vegetarian restaurant for dinner before sleeping again. Once again we walked about 700 miles in one day!
The next day we didn’t have that much time before our flight, but we DID have time for dim sum! Mmmmm! We ordered a lot, but not as much as the EIGHTEEN dishes we ordered the day before! HAHAHA. The sad thing is we barely left ANYTHING on the table after we finished, either. We devoured it all! Anyway, it was good. However, I would not be very amused to live in HK, as the service is SO bad! The complete opposite of Japan. Waitresses are NOT afraid to show you how much they hate you and their job! The only time they ever smiled was when they got CNY red envelopes from their regular customers. Dude, I want to be a waiter just during CNY, as they were getting red envelopes like every five minutes!
Anyway, after that we headed to the airport, flew home and missed our stupid last train back to Ota. I figured we would, but it still pissed me off. Fortunately Calvin was nice and housed me and Cindy for the night. We got a WHOPPING 3 hours of sleep before we had to get up at 5 in the morning to head back home and get ready for work. In a NORMAL country, one could call a cab at that hour. However, only ONE cab company runs at that hour and they were too busy to pick us up (I think they only have one car running so early). Um, WTF!!!!!! So Cindy and I had to walk 45 minutes to the train station with all of our bags in the cold at 5 in the morning. AWESOME! Hmm, perhaps our lives are strange in this country. Hehe. It wasn’t that bad, though.
Fortunately I didn’t have any classes, as I may have killed kids that day, with 3 hours of sleep and getting up at 5 in the morning!
Anyway, that was our Hong Kong trip! It was fun! But now I must diet and not spend any money until Eduardo comes!!!
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Hong Kong, Part Two
On our first full day in Hong Kong, we woke up a bit early to have DIM SUM, mmmmmmm! Fortunately Cindy’s cousin, Winsome, volunteered to be our dim sum guide, as we don’t know the kanji for dim sum words! It was my first time having REAL Hong Kong dim sum, as I had only had it in Taiwan before. Oh my god, it was so good! Um, Winsome MAY have been scared by how much we could eat! Hong Kong people just go there for the tea and to relax while they eat a bit. Us hungry gaijin, on the other hand, came for the food and ate EVERYTHING! She kept suggesting things and we were like, “Sure!” She soon learned to just order anything she could think of, as she knew we would eat it! One time she called the waiter by saying, “Come here, the table with the biggest eaters…” Haha, sad. MMMM, it was good! I finally had fresh chicken feet, as the ones I had in Taiwan were like a day old. They sound nasty but they are yummy! We also had this YUMMY dessert that looked like some sort of pineapple thing, but was made of horse feet. Holy crap, it was good. EVERYTHING was good. We ate so much!
After that we walked off our calories by shopping. Well, more like walking around and window shopping. Hong Kong was a waste on us in that way, as we didn’t really have anything we needed to buy, and pretty much all you can do there is shop! Hehe. I did get some DVDs, though (um, Aaron Kwok up in here!!!!!). We walked around enough until we could get desserts from the street vendors, mmm!
After that we walked ALL OVER Hong Kong. We went to the Avenue of the Stars, which is kind of like a boardwalk on the bay dedicated to Hong Kong stars. Aaron didn’t have a star there and it was sad! Sniff. Fortunately it was a lot clearer than the day before, so we could finally take pictures of the Hong Kong skyline!
Oh, I forgot to mention three things! One, it was damn warm in Hong Kong! It got up to about 25 degrees or so during the day! That is much different from Gunma, which is about 10 degrees during the day, and MUCH different than Hokkaido the week before, which was 0 degrees!
Second, Hong Kong totally feels like NYC at times! I think it is a mix of humidity, heat, the big city feel, and the sorta-dirty-ness without being really dirty. I dunno, it is hard to describe, but it felt like I was in NYC a lot of the time!
Three, I am secretly fluent in Cantonese! Well, I cant speak it, but I can somehow understand it! Like, I totally knew what people were saying most of the time before Cindy would translate it! It was weird! But like, people are pretty much the same in any language, so I just imagined what the person would say in whatever situation, I guess. Still, it was weird, I am so secretly Chinese! Hehe.
Oh, also, HK is TOTALLY like in movies. I always thought they exaggerated the streets with tons of bright signs advertising everything, but it really is that way! I felt like I was in the second season finale of Alias! Yes, I am a nerd.
Anyway, yeah. After walking we were EXHAUSTED and needed a place to sit, so we MAY have gone to McDonald’s! Hehehe. Oh my god, their McD’s rocks! First of all, they have breakfast ALL DAY LONG! It is like heaven! They also have jo-jos! Might I add that apparently jo-jos (I don’t know how to spell it) are only an Oregonian word, as no one had any idea what I was talking about. They are like the big potato fry-like things with seasoning on them. And they have chocolate-dipped cones, etc. Mmmm!
After that we wandered some more, then went to see the Hong Kong light show. Every night at 8 PM they have a light show using the buildings on Hong Kong Island. You can see it from the Kowloon side, and it is a big deal and is one of the top 10 something something. In other words, they make a big deal of it, so we expected a lot. Um, it was FREAKING BORING! It was the crappiest show ever! The lights barely matched with the music and it was just random and BORING! It was only ten minutes but we were waiting for it to finish! Haha. Sad.
After that we met up with Winsome for dinner at a Macau restaurant. Because of our HUGE breakfast we barely ate there (for us) and it was a little worrisome!
We then made our way to Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is THE place to go to if you go to Hong Kong. Like, it is the only thing on list of things to do there, hehe. It is a 552-meter tall mountain on Hong Kong Island, and it has an amazing view! You are like RIGHT above the skyscrapers, and can see the water and Kowloon from it. It is really beautiful. We went up there at night so we could see the skyscrapers all lit up, and I am really glad we went. Unfortunately we didn’t go again during the daytime, as you can hike around there and get really close to the buildings, but that will be next time, if I ever go back!
After taking about 7 million pictures, none of which turned out because digital cameras suck at night time, we went back to the hotel and slept!
One more part coming tomorrow and then I am caught up on travel-related blogs! Oh, except for Shanghai, but I dont want to finish that, haha.
After that we walked off our calories by shopping. Well, more like walking around and window shopping. Hong Kong was a waste on us in that way, as we didn’t really have anything we needed to buy, and pretty much all you can do there is shop! Hehe. I did get some DVDs, though (um, Aaron Kwok up in here!!!!!). We walked around enough until we could get desserts from the street vendors, mmm!
After that we walked ALL OVER Hong Kong. We went to the Avenue of the Stars, which is kind of like a boardwalk on the bay dedicated to Hong Kong stars. Aaron didn’t have a star there and it was sad! Sniff. Fortunately it was a lot clearer than the day before, so we could finally take pictures of the Hong Kong skyline!
Oh, I forgot to mention three things! One, it was damn warm in Hong Kong! It got up to about 25 degrees or so during the day! That is much different from Gunma, which is about 10 degrees during the day, and MUCH different than Hokkaido the week before, which was 0 degrees!
Second, Hong Kong totally feels like NYC at times! I think it is a mix of humidity, heat, the big city feel, and the sorta-dirty-ness without being really dirty. I dunno, it is hard to describe, but it felt like I was in NYC a lot of the time!
Three, I am secretly fluent in Cantonese! Well, I cant speak it, but I can somehow understand it! Like, I totally knew what people were saying most of the time before Cindy would translate it! It was weird! But like, people are pretty much the same in any language, so I just imagined what the person would say in whatever situation, I guess. Still, it was weird, I am so secretly Chinese! Hehe.
Oh, also, HK is TOTALLY like in movies. I always thought they exaggerated the streets with tons of bright signs advertising everything, but it really is that way! I felt like I was in the second season finale of Alias! Yes, I am a nerd.
Anyway, yeah. After walking we were EXHAUSTED and needed a place to sit, so we MAY have gone to McDonald’s! Hehehe. Oh my god, their McD’s rocks! First of all, they have breakfast ALL DAY LONG! It is like heaven! They also have jo-jos! Might I add that apparently jo-jos (I don’t know how to spell it) are only an Oregonian word, as no one had any idea what I was talking about. They are like the big potato fry-like things with seasoning on them. And they have chocolate-dipped cones, etc. Mmmm!
After that we wandered some more, then went to see the Hong Kong light show. Every night at 8 PM they have a light show using the buildings on Hong Kong Island. You can see it from the Kowloon side, and it is a big deal and is one of the top 10 something something. In other words, they make a big deal of it, so we expected a lot. Um, it was FREAKING BORING! It was the crappiest show ever! The lights barely matched with the music and it was just random and BORING! It was only ten minutes but we were waiting for it to finish! Haha. Sad.
After that we met up with Winsome for dinner at a Macau restaurant. Because of our HUGE breakfast we barely ate there (for us) and it was a little worrisome!
We then made our way to Victoria Peak. Victoria Peak is THE place to go to if you go to Hong Kong. Like, it is the only thing on list of things to do there, hehe. It is a 552-meter tall mountain on Hong Kong Island, and it has an amazing view! You are like RIGHT above the skyscrapers, and can see the water and Kowloon from it. It is really beautiful. We went up there at night so we could see the skyscrapers all lit up, and I am really glad we went. Unfortunately we didn’t go again during the daytime, as you can hike around there and get really close to the buildings, but that will be next time, if I ever go back!
After taking about 7 million pictures, none of which turned out because digital cameras suck at night time, we went back to the hotel and slept!
One more part coming tomorrow and then I am caught up on travel-related blogs! Oh, except for Shanghai, but I dont want to finish that, haha.
Hong Kong
(this is literally only for my own Alzheimer's-y memory so that I can remember my Hong Kong trip in the future....but I figured since I wrote it, I should at least post it for the like half a person that would be at all interested! Hehe. So sorry, it is long! But you can skip it :)
A few Fridays ago, Cindy, Ann, Calvin and I took a long weekend and went to Hong Kong! However, the trip sort-of started on Thursday night, as Narita is the WORST airport in the world and is TOO far away. Our flight was at ten, meaning we had to check in at 8. However, the first train from the Ota area wouldn’t get us to Narita in time, so we had to stay at Calvin’s in Tatebayashi and take the freaking 5 AM train (not amusing) to get there in time. Ugh. However, it was fun, as Calvin made us a YUMMY Filipino dinner, and then Mami and Tatebayashi JETs came over, so it was nice to see everyone.
For some reason I couldn’t sleep, so what already should have been a crappy night’s sleep turned into a REALLY crappy night’s sleep of about 2-3 hours. FUN! Anyway, all went fine getting to Narita and everything, and fortunately we got to skip the HUUUUUUUGE check-in line for JAL, since we didn’t have check-in baggage.
The plane ride to Hong Kong is way longer than it should be, yo! Almost five hours?! Hello, it is Hong Kong, it is not exciting enough to have a five-hour flight! Hehe. I watched a Korean movie, but it wasn’t any good, sadly. Plus they are all the same…one of two lovers gets sick, and everyone cries. Usually it is good in a formulaic (whoa, big word!) way, but this one wasn’t, hrm.
Anyway, we got to Hong Kong and our tour company picked us up to drive us to our hotel (it was a “free” tour, so it isn’t what Americans think of as an actual tour). Our “guide” on the bus has the easiest job ever, as he didn’t tell us anything about Hong Kong! Haha. Unfortunately Friday was HELLA cloudy or smoggy or both, as you could barely see anything in the city! So our view of the city (country? Hehe) was limited on the drive. We got to the hotel, which was nice, then decided to wander around the city. The good thing about having to get up hella early to fly out is that it felt like we had a whole day in Hong Kong! That was awesome, as I hate travel days where you cant do anything.
Our hotel was right next to Nathan Road, which is a major road in Hong Kong with lots of eating and shopping (which is good, since that is all there is to do in Hong Kong! Hehe). So we wandered around Nathan Road for a while. This was kind of the story of our entire trip, as I swear we walked around the same area about 300 times! Hehe. Anyway, we kinda wandered around the shops and food vendors and of course had to snack on Chinese beef jerky, waffles with butter, peanut butter and condensed milk (mmm!), fresh fruit juice, etc. This was also the story of our trip, as we spent ALL of our time either eating, or waiting to be hungry so we could eat again! I am not joking!
Oh, for those who don’t know, Hong Kong is split into a few different areas/islands. The two main ones are Kowloon and Hong Kong. Kowloon is where our hotel was, and is where most of the shopping and stuff is. Hong Kong is mostly financial, but also has Victoria Peak and stuff. Hong Kong has the Manhattan-ish skyline, which you can see from Kowloon. Anyway, we went to the bay to look at the Hong Kong skyline, but it was SO cloudy that we could barely see ANYTHING! It was sad! Since that was a bust, we decided to take the ferry to Hong Kong to visit a flower market.
Oh, I forgot to mention that it was Chinese New Year! We scheduled it that way on purpose, as we figured it would be cool to be there for CNY. Anyway, flower markets are a big part of CNY, as EVERYONE goes there to buy flowers and stuff for the new year. However, they not only buy flowers, they also buy the MOST POINTLESS things in the ENTIRE world. Like, I have no idea why they would ever need any of it! There were obviously necessary items such as blow-up “slippery when wet” signs, blow-up hammers, blow-up pig hats (and ANYTHING pig-related, as it is the year of the pig), blow-up “no smoking” signs, toys of all varieties, etc. Pretty much anything that is inflatable was there! It was seriously weird, but not THAT surprising, considering the crap people would buy in China for Christmas Eve and New Year’s. So really the flower market was about 30% flowers and 70% pointless crap! People apparently love it, though, as it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo packed. Holy crap, there were so many people! And it isn’t like it is the only flower market in Hong Kong, either! It was crazy. It was interesting to experience it, but very overwhelming! The flower part was pretty, though, and smelled really good!
After walking through it and being exhausted by people all over, we left (well, not before eating a snack!) and went out for dinner. We ended up at a place on the street that was YUMMY! It was an izakaya-type place (drinking and eating place), and was kinda like places we ate in both Korea and China. All Asian countries have cool street places except for stupid Japan that thinks they are better than everyone! Sad. Anyway, it was really good, and I got to try pigeon for the first time. I don’t even remember what all we ate, but fortunately Ann greatly enjoyed her new digital camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING! So I am excited to see the pics :)
After that we wandered around a market, where I got some illegal DVDs (woot!) and Ann got her palm read. Then we decided we had burned off enough calories to go for dessert! Hong Kong has awesome desserts, as they are all fruity and yummy! Most of them include mango, which is VERY good in my book! I got a mango dessert with black glutinous rice and it was goooood. Mmm.
After that we walked back to the hotel and slept like mofos, as we were TIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To be continued!
A few Fridays ago, Cindy, Ann, Calvin and I took a long weekend and went to Hong Kong! However, the trip sort-of started on Thursday night, as Narita is the WORST airport in the world and is TOO far away. Our flight was at ten, meaning we had to check in at 8. However, the first train from the Ota area wouldn’t get us to Narita in time, so we had to stay at Calvin’s in Tatebayashi and take the freaking 5 AM train (not amusing) to get there in time. Ugh. However, it was fun, as Calvin made us a YUMMY Filipino dinner, and then Mami and Tatebayashi JETs came over, so it was nice to see everyone.
For some reason I couldn’t sleep, so what already should have been a crappy night’s sleep turned into a REALLY crappy night’s sleep of about 2-3 hours. FUN! Anyway, all went fine getting to Narita and everything, and fortunately we got to skip the HUUUUUUUGE check-in line for JAL, since we didn’t have check-in baggage.
The plane ride to Hong Kong is way longer than it should be, yo! Almost five hours?! Hello, it is Hong Kong, it is not exciting enough to have a five-hour flight! Hehe. I watched a Korean movie, but it wasn’t any good, sadly. Plus they are all the same…one of two lovers gets sick, and everyone cries. Usually it is good in a formulaic (whoa, big word!) way, but this one wasn’t, hrm.
Anyway, we got to Hong Kong and our tour company picked us up to drive us to our hotel (it was a “free” tour, so it isn’t what Americans think of as an actual tour). Our “guide” on the bus has the easiest job ever, as he didn’t tell us anything about Hong Kong! Haha. Unfortunately Friday was HELLA cloudy or smoggy or both, as you could barely see anything in the city! So our view of the city (country? Hehe) was limited on the drive. We got to the hotel, which was nice, then decided to wander around the city. The good thing about having to get up hella early to fly out is that it felt like we had a whole day in Hong Kong! That was awesome, as I hate travel days where you cant do anything.
Our hotel was right next to Nathan Road, which is a major road in Hong Kong with lots of eating and shopping (which is good, since that is all there is to do in Hong Kong! Hehe). So we wandered around Nathan Road for a while. This was kind of the story of our entire trip, as I swear we walked around the same area about 300 times! Hehe. Anyway, we kinda wandered around the shops and food vendors and of course had to snack on Chinese beef jerky, waffles with butter, peanut butter and condensed milk (mmm!), fresh fruit juice, etc. This was also the story of our trip, as we spent ALL of our time either eating, or waiting to be hungry so we could eat again! I am not joking!
Oh, for those who don’t know, Hong Kong is split into a few different areas/islands. The two main ones are Kowloon and Hong Kong. Kowloon is where our hotel was, and is where most of the shopping and stuff is. Hong Kong is mostly financial, but also has Victoria Peak and stuff. Hong Kong has the Manhattan-ish skyline, which you can see from Kowloon. Anyway, we went to the bay to look at the Hong Kong skyline, but it was SO cloudy that we could barely see ANYTHING! It was sad! Since that was a bust, we decided to take the ferry to Hong Kong to visit a flower market.
Oh, I forgot to mention that it was Chinese New Year! We scheduled it that way on purpose, as we figured it would be cool to be there for CNY. Anyway, flower markets are a big part of CNY, as EVERYONE goes there to buy flowers and stuff for the new year. However, they not only buy flowers, they also buy the MOST POINTLESS things in the ENTIRE world. Like, I have no idea why they would ever need any of it! There were obviously necessary items such as blow-up “slippery when wet” signs, blow-up hammers, blow-up pig hats (and ANYTHING pig-related, as it is the year of the pig), blow-up “no smoking” signs, toys of all varieties, etc. Pretty much anything that is inflatable was there! It was seriously weird, but not THAT surprising, considering the crap people would buy in China for Christmas Eve and New Year’s. So really the flower market was about 30% flowers and 70% pointless crap! People apparently love it, though, as it was soooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo packed. Holy crap, there were so many people! And it isn’t like it is the only flower market in Hong Kong, either! It was crazy. It was interesting to experience it, but very overwhelming! The flower part was pretty, though, and smelled really good!
After walking through it and being exhausted by people all over, we left (well, not before eating a snack!) and went out for dinner. We ended up at a place on the street that was YUMMY! It was an izakaya-type place (drinking and eating place), and was kinda like places we ate in both Korea and China. All Asian countries have cool street places except for stupid Japan that thinks they are better than everyone! Sad. Anyway, it was really good, and I got to try pigeon for the first time. I don’t even remember what all we ate, but fortunately Ann greatly enjoyed her new digital camera and took pictures of EVERYTHING! So I am excited to see the pics :)
After that we wandered around a market, where I got some illegal DVDs (woot!) and Ann got her palm read. Then we decided we had burned off enough calories to go for dessert! Hong Kong has awesome desserts, as they are all fruity and yummy! Most of them include mango, which is VERY good in my book! I got a mango dessert with black glutinous rice and it was goooood. Mmm.
After that we walked back to the hotel and slept like mofos, as we were TIRED!!!!!!!!!!!!!
To be continued!
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