Back in Osaka

So I was just thinking that it would be fabulous if I could find an hour or so of available internet time to update the good ol bloggeroo and look what I found! I am back in Osaka at the Kansai Int`l Aeropuerto waiting to board my flight to Australia. Fortunately I think it`s 6:30 now and I don`t even board until 9 AND they have a free internet station with a few computers. BRILLIANT!

Here goes an extensive game of catch up!

Note: while reading this you have to realize that Alexa Scott and I talked for probably the entire time that we were traveling together. And I really am not exaggerating. So, while picturing us wandering through Kyoto, Nara etc. imagine us all chit-chatting away to our hearts` content!

KYOTO:

Scott Lex and I stayed at the adorable backpacker B&B thing for two nights (Sat and Sun). Sun we bought bus passes (500 Yen for unlimited use for a day, GREAT deal!) We toured around to numerous shrines and temples (pica and names to come soon!) and, most importantly, walked the Path of Philosophy :o) Yes, we are all that much the wiser! That night was the fateful eve of Scott`s absolute defeat at hearts :o) Also the Coors Light night that turned into a jaunt to Gion in hope of seeing geishas. No luck with the geishas, the weather was rainy, but in our search we found an Irish Pub. Yes, an Irish pub in Japan. Who knew?! Lex and I did car bombs to celebrate the occasion and the night just got more exciting from there. We decided that the Irish Pub was a little too much and headed to find something more authentic. We found a great little restaurant place. In Japan they don`t have many just bars. Most of them are combined with restaurants to keep the tummy full while consuming alcoholic beverages. Great idea. So, we tried out some Japanese treats - chicken skewer things and other easy-to-eat foods as well as plum brandy that they serve either warm, on ice or with soda. Yummy!

We wandered back and then got up the next day and headed to more shrines and temples :o) Is there a theme here?! I will fill in the exact names later. I need Miss Alexas help with that one! But, highlight of the day (besides getting to Alexas that night), at the temple near our little place they offered a trip into the Budda`s womb. So, we wandered down in the PITCH DARK through this hallway while gripping and following a handrail of prayer beads to a room with a single light illuminating a stone that we were instructed to rotate once for eternal good luck! Strange adventure :o)

In Kyoto there were so many little shops and a lot of them offered Mochi samples (Justin - I totally thought of you!). Mochi is a sort of gooey paste made from rice and they made little tasty treats by flavoring it and filling it with chocolate, strawberry, onco etc in the middle. Yum Yum Yum.

After exploring Kyoto we were off to Alexa`s house! We caught numerous modes of transportation but eventually made it to Kawanoe! We got in at night and accumulated two bikes. One was Lexs and the other a fellow ALT`s (assistant language teacher). Scott and I rode with our backpacks and Lex jogged along. 30 minutes later we arrived at Alexa`s humble abode! She lives in an apartment building on the second floor and has a great little place that Scott and I immediately filled up with our stuff (me more than Scott I think... :o)) That night we settled in and watched the Oscars. It was fun to see Scotts reaction to the TV. Long time no watch for that one :o)

The next day (Tuesday) Scott and I headed to school with Miss Alexa where we introduced ourselves and talked about our trips and did mini lessons in four middle school classes. The entrance into the first one was classic. We walk in and there was an immediate eruption of excited screams. Precious. They were excited to see some more foreigners, that's for sure! Whenever we walked down the halls, or really anywhere for that matter, we would get the wave and hello! from students. So cute.

Speaking of cute, the children here are ADORABLE. Seriously the cutest things EVER in their little outfits. So cute.

Tuesday night we headed out to meet the crew. We had dinner and drinks with a big group of Alexa`s friends, both ALT related people and Japanese. We ate and talked and drank for like 5 hours. Fun fun times. We got to meet Dennis(Canadian) and Will(Australian) and Scheff(Hungarian) and Vikrim(American) and Aya and Asagi (both Japanese) and a few other Japanese friends. Good times all around and,　best of all, we brought out Alexa`s woosie, go-bye buuudy voice which had never been released to the Japanese folk. Boy were they in for a lasting treat! By the time I said goodbye to Dennis the next Sunday he was certainly hooked :o)

Wednesday Scott had to leave. It was so fun traveling with him again, and an added bonus was that he was a fountain of traveling around the world knowledge (he:s been working his way around in the opposite direction for about 7 months) so he had excellent advice, which was such an awesome and very helpful bonus! He headed out early in the morning for his trek back to Tokyo to catch a series of flights to Peru, where he:ll be for the next while. After we dropped Scott off at the train station (:o( ) Alexa Dennis and I headed to Dennis` school to teach Cooking Class to his 6th graders! Alexa and I were teaching American Peanut Butter and Jelly Sandwiches, Dennis made homemade Canadian Pancakes, Will made Australian Chocolate Crinkle Treats and a woman from China made Chinese Dumplings! It was an international food fiesta! We all had eventual success despite the fact that when Alexa and I opened up the `peanut cream` we found that `peanut cream` does not translate to `peanut butter`. It literally was cream made of peanuts, and it was a sweet sweet cream. It ended up working out fine, the PB & Js Japan style were more of a dessert than a lunch staple, but the kids loved them! Then we all did presentations about our various countries. Fun times. It was great to be in an educational environment :o)

That night Alexa, another JET David (from the US) and I helped out Dennis with his adult English class. We had `America Day` and they learned the vocabulary associated with traveling. We acted out a hypothetical travel process including a flight, immigration, getting a taxi and checking into a hotel. I was the hotel clerk person :o) It was really fun! David was an awesome new face too. He has traveled to India a few times so I got to ask him lots of questions :o)

The next day I trekked it to Hiroshima. I took the train and then walked the Peace Path from the train station to the Peace Park. I had a great time in Hiroshima. I toured the museum and looked at the monuments. I rang the Peace Bell and walked around the A-Bomb dome. This was also the first time really that I had traveled solo, which was interesting. I have a lot to say about that, but I want to wait to write an entry on that alone. I was absolutely enthralled by the positive vibe that came from the horrible tragedy that was Hiroshima. I learned a lot about the history, but also learned that the mayor of Japan sends letters out every year to countries who have nuclear weapons asking them to please get rid of them for the safety of the world. The accounts of the event were heartbreaking but the museum was phenomenal. I could go on and on, but moral of the story, if you ever get the chance, go to Hiroshima! On that note, if you ever get the chance, go to Japan. I loved it and would probably have never goine had it not been for Alexa. It just isn:t somewhere I would have thought to visit. But, it was WELL worth the trip.

The next day I took the ferry from Hiroshima to Miyajima. (again, pica to come!) Miyajima was incredibly beautiful. There is a bright orange torrey (?sp) in the water that is almost blinding it is so bright, and it most certainly draws attention to itself and exudes a mesmerizing energy. While on Miyajima I took the tram up the mountain. At the top I could see the water and so many islands! It was a clear day so I could see well, which was lucky. At the top there were also these funny monkeys with bright red faces that were actually a little scary. There were signs all over the place warning people that if you looked in their eyes they would attack you! There were also deer out and about.

So, my big adventure for the day, I decided that I would hike down the mountain after I took the tram up. That would have been fine and dandy (and in the end it was anyways) but when I arrived at the trailhead that I planned to follow down to the bottom there was caution tape and a barricade...SO I ended up hiking WAY out of the way through the forest by myself to the bottom of the mountain. Another experience that will be included in my solo travel entry :o) Needless to stay my butt was incredibly sore the next day after walking downhill for an hour and a half!

After my safe decent I headed back to Kawanoe. This time I decided to try out the Japanese Shinkasen, or bullet train. It was way more expensive, but I figured that I had to try it once while I was in Japan. So, the segment that took me 3 HOURS the day before took me 30 MINUTES on the Shink. Craziness. Someone told me that the train goes 200-300 km/hr. I was impressed.

I made it back to Kawanoe much sooner than I thought thanks to the bullet train! and met Alexa at the grocery store so that we could get food for cooking dinners and breakfasts (which we ended up ROCKING) and our `Sex and the City` night with some of her Japanese friends. Unfortunately we couldn`t get Sex and the City VHS with subtitles so we ended up watching Constantine with Keanu Reeves. I don`t really recommend it. But we had fun chit chatting and hanging out. ALexa and I made fresh spring rolls and a fruit and cheese and cracker plate. It was like being at school again! We were little cookers!

WOW, I`ve been typing for awhile. I`m going to try to power through... :o)

On Saturday Alexa and I wandered the hills and made our way up to her favorite place :o) It is this little restaurant in the hills that is called With You :o) this little man runs it and offers an amazing breakfast of eggs, toast, fresh fruit, a salad and coffee for 450 yen (about 4 dollars). It was amazing! Yum yum yum. He was really nice too and asked about what I was doing, how long I was staying in Japan etc. Then we walked back down the hills :o) After our day of hiking Alexa took me to a Japanese onsen which is essentially a public bathhouse. It was so fun! There were four pools of varying temperatures, one outside and a sauna and another room with some salt stuff, we didn:t know what that was about. It was incredibly relaxing and my hill-walking muscles were so very very thankful for the luxury treatment :o) That was another place where we walked in and the women at the front desk just went crazy-bubbly on us. Questions GALORE! They were cute though :o) After the onsen we went home and made Thai curry (I tell you, cooking extraordinaires!) and then met Vikrim at a bar in town not far from Alexa`s house.
We played darts for awhile and then called it a night. Though I did find a brilliant product: Litchi liquor. BRILLIANT. It is like yummy goodness in a drink. Dad, you would love it!

On Sunday Dennis Alexa Scheff and I went to ===== I totally forget the name, so Ill talk about that one later. That night Alexa Dennis and I were invited to dinner at the house of one of the ladies who was in Alexa`s adult English class. Talk about an incredible feast! We made Takoyaki balls at the table and she kept bringing out more and more and more food. Talk about full! They had to roll all of up out of there that night. As an intermission the lady asked Alexa and I if we would tape record a reading of the story Peter and the Wolf. We happily obliged. Alexa was the narrator and I acted out the voices of the characters :o) Coming soon to a store near you! :o) It was an awesomly insightful experience to get to go to a Japanese house and have a real meal Japanese style. Everyone sat on the floor (there were 12 of us) and there was, as I said, more food than I can even describe. The husand and kids were there too as well as some other family friends.

OK, I have to stop there. Ive been typing for more than an hour...I will finish though. Eventually! And, I have all my pictures on CD, so it will be easy to upload them once I get to a computer with a CD drive. To anyone who said that 700 pics should be enough, I already have 280! But, another bit of wonderful travel wisdom, Alexa and Scott enlightened me to the idea of putting the pica on CDs (which can be done easily almost anywhere) and uploading and sending them home that way. Brilliant!

Hugs to you all!