It Is Better to Save Wind Than to Break It

Since I'm in the thick of packing up and trying to finish out my last week here, I'll go over what me and my two fellow Japan troopers have been up to all week!

2 days in Kyoto, including visiting a vintage jazz coffeeshop listening to 33's (whatever those are...), customizable curry shop, temples, botanical gardens, and traditional craft museums

1 day in Osaka's downtown shopping districts, Shinsaibashi and Namba, with lots of interesting clothes buying, traditional Japanese okonomiyaki, and lots of tacky pictures, followed by a dinner and all you can drink with my friends ending up with Mom and Ms. Skipper being stuck without a train in the middle of the Japanese night!

1 day in Nara, watching the deer, finding some less popular and beautiful in their remoteness mountain temples, as well as meeting lots of English speakers and enjoying Japanese bento

Today was spent visiting a local cafe, walking up and down Denden Town and finding some good deals for Ms. Skipper, finding Universal Citywalk and shopping at Hard Rock, with a final dinner at Bubba Gump's! I almost forgot which country I was in!

So I hope the ladies have enjoyed their last week, because I know it's definitely been one of the top 3, if not the best week here! Lots of souvenir shopping and finding some good deals, which I thought was almost impossible here!

Once I get home and get my thoughts and pictures organized I'll probably add some more detail, but for now just a summary and a few pictures!

Familiar Faces and Local Places

This weekend was another great addition to the anticipation and trepidation I'm getting from realizing I'm leaving Japan in a week. We had a big going away picnic in the park where we had tons of drink and I cooked plenty of food. Lots of Japanese and Americans came, so I think everybody else had a good time saying goodbye and even meeting a few new people. The night after was one of the biggest festivals in Japan, the Tenjin Matsuri, so a few of us went and watched everyone break out their summer yukatas, and enjoyed the fireworks, festival food, and floating parades.

So today was a great start to my last week in Japan! Mom and Ms. Skipper had a great flight and train ride into town, and are at a really interesting hotel in the middle of Osaka that luckily I had no real problems finding. It's always an adventure when I have to use the subway though! Mom and Ms. Skipper are staying at a weekly apartment complex, which is sure a whole lot nicer than my dorm room, I have to say I'm a little jealous!

After taking them around a little in their own part of the district, which is about 45 minutes from where I live, and grabbing some quick lunch at a vending machine restaurant, we headed for Osaka Castle. They kept up with me the whole time; I was a little surprised at first then remembered who I was dealing with!

The Osaka Castle grounds are beautiful, definitely kind of more of the same in terms of Japanese sights, but I'm still glad I got to see something new. While most people complain they don't like the castle because it's newer, I thought it looked better than some of the old ruined castles everyone always freaks out about!

We toured through the grounds and they caught me up on everything that's been going on at home, and we walked through the castle-turned museum (all 8 floors of it!). Mom and Ms. Skipper really enjoyed all the samurai gear, too bad they can't find some to take home, I know I'd be intimidated.

After spending several hours at the Castle grounds, we decided to head into Umeda so I could show them where to meet me for our venture to Kyoto tomorrow. Getting from Subway to Hankyu line is a little complicated, but I have faith in them! Watch me be the one who gets lost...

For dinner we had more traditional Japanese food, this time in a much nicer restaurant. We all ordered some plates and some drinks and shared everything Japanese style, and so everybody got to try something new. I hope they enjoyed their first few Japanese meals and sights and that it only gets better from here!

Slacker

Haha so maybe I slacked off a little on the blog at the end, but there will be plenty coming next week I promise as I take Mom and Ms. Skipper to Kyoto, Kobe, Nara, and Wakayama! Then I'm coming home! I can't believe it!

No Traction Left On This Downhill Slope

Well this is getting close. I officially have less than a month left in Japan, and looking back I can't believe all the stuff that's already happened, both stuff I've posted, and the things I've left unsaid to give everyone back home some new stories ;). This last month is going to be the busiest of course, and it's already started off that way.

Just like leaving any country after an extended stay, the last month or 3 or 4 weeks is a constant reminder of things still needed and wanted to be done. I've spent way too long already prioritizing what I need to do while I'm here, I think trying to find the perfect souvenirs for friends and family will be a good week-long process.

Mom will be here in less than 20 days with one of her friends, so I'm trying to arrange some things for that trip, which will be a good chance for us to both experience some things for the first time together (Kyoto) and some chances for me to show her what I've been experiencing here (Nara). I just have to fit in what I've done in 4 months for me to a little over a week for her!

This week and weekend are more devoted to tying up loose ends than anything else, I spent yesterday paying off my health insurance (so I can actually leave the country!) and recharging my cellphone minutes one more time. Next is dorm bill, haircut, laundry, buying a suitcase ( exclusively to bring home souvenirs...), that kind of thing. I also have a few finals to study for, but they take it pretty easy on the exchange students. I have 3-5 compared to the usual Japanese number of 10-12+!! Sounds impossible!

If anything unusually interesting happens this week, I'll be sure to post it. Meanwhile, I guess just wait for Mom to get here where I'm sure I'll have plenty to post about; she always manages to keep international trips as entertaining as possible ;)

Deers and Temples- Welcome to Japan

So finally, after being here for three months, I did something really cultural and made a trip to Nara!

One of Japan's oldest capitals, predating Kyoto and Edo (Tokyo), Nara is known for several famous attractions, including a slew of temples, the largest bronze Buddha in Japan, and the domesticated deer that wander the streets in the downtown district.

On Friday at my ISA club, after hanging out with some new friends I met, one of the guys who lives at the dorm with us invited to go to Nara with him and two friends. Apparently, ISA is receiving some new exchange students next year and wanted to set up a tour for them, so I got the chance to go test out the tour with some of the ISA members.

Ah I should probably mention, Saturday was a great day too. Got a chance to celebrate with some friends, some old and new, in the park, make PJ in mop buckets and generally eat and drink while enjoying the nice weather. It was good pregaming, then I sent them all off to the club and passed out at 8 that night!

So anyway, Nara was in short, amazing. I got to see tons of beautiful sights, as well as be attacked by deer and eat some more great traditonal japanese food, this time a tempura set which included miso soup, fried shrimp and vegetables over cooled rice, and cold sweetened clear mochi for dessert. I got to see some of the most famous temples in Japan, including Todaiji and the Daibutsu. We spent 11 hours walking the forest trails and finding the old Shinto temples that aren't overcrowded with overeager tourists, so I got to see some stuff that almost nobody who comes to Nara sees.

The rainy season is in full effect here, and is definitely affecting my exercise schedule, which I'm not thrilled about, but there's not much you can do about the weather. I just know that I'm reminded way too much of SC when I go outside and the rain is hotter than the weather. I'm hoping I can find a swimming pool sometime before I leave!

So this week is just another slow week in Japan, but we are on Thursday officially at the one month mark. It really has flown by, so I'll have to fill up the last month with as many activities as possible, while not breaking the bank!

Time Flies to No Surprise

So I've been busy lately. Which is good for me, good for the blog, and good for my wallet (saving money makes me feel better, who knew??)

The other day I got the chance to go out and eat with two friends I met at the start of my study abroad, Hiromi and Yui. They decided that since I was too poor for a hardcore night at the izakaya (Japanese style bar), we'd grab some traditional Japanese food instead. So we headed up to the extremely fancy-looking restaurant and were escorted to our own personal room by a waitress in a kimono. From there, we looked at a menu and decided on three courses, which are brought out one by one, to be shared by the group.

We all sat down with a drink or two on the tatami mats and the low table and began our first course, which was traditional Japanese sashimi including several kinds of fish: tuna, mackerel, and a few others which I just ate rather than asked about. Definitely the best raw fish I've ever had. Our next course was curdled fried tofu stuffed with ham and cheese, sort of a French-Japanese fusion of the croque-monsieur and inari. The Japanese rarely use cheese in their traditional courses, but they way they used it was perfect. Our last course was something I was already familiar with but more than willing to try again, the sukiyaki. A big bowl filled with all kinds of meat and vegetables that cooked while we caught up on things and practiced some Japanese and English. Rest assured, I did most of the eating AND talking.

Afterwards we tried to decide if we wanted to drink again, but I convinced the other two the cheaper route was to go get more traditional Japanese food! So we hit up an okonomiyaki stand and filled up again with lots of food and good conversation, then looked at the amazing Osakan night view and called it a night.

A couple days later we had our Society class, and our teacher decided to take pity on us and take us to the Osaka Museum of History. After getting marginally lost (to be expected) and riding on the creepy subway, we made it there and started our (all-Japanese language ;_;) tour. It was a really interesting few hours and we actually managed to learn a lot through our fluctuating Japanese skills and random nice old ladies rough English translations and life stories. Afterwards, we saw a famous Japanese show being filmed and decided to watch from outside the studio. Of course, being a crowd of curious-looking gaijin, they waved us inside quickly and made us part of the audience. So this is officially the second time I've been on Japanese national television...

Since yesterday was my no class day, I decided to actually get some cheap grocery shopping done. A good measure of how used to Japan I've gotten is how much money I saved at shopping, going to three different stores that most tourists bypass and getting some good sales deals by actually reading things. It was a nice sense of accomplishment. I also met some students from Germany who were leaving in a few weeks after a YEAR-long stay. They made me promise to have dinner with them and teach them some English, I'm definitely looking forward to it, I feel like my German is getting too rusty so this is a great way to break back in!

Mmmm....so besides that, the weekend looks promising. Tonight is ISA and a rock concert put on by the guys in our dorm, tomorrow I'm taking it easy, because Sunday our dorm is throwing us a major going away party, which I'm sure will be dangerous in its own right! Oh and Mom is going to be here July 24th, so I'm researching some stuff for us to do and getting ready for that!

Oh I also forgot to update on the birthday party we had last weekend which evolved into a true whirlwind weekend that was incredibly fun. I'll post a in-the-past post with this weekend's update, sorry!

Spud Procrastination McCullough

It really is my middle name. I'll be updating soon, I have some cool things to go over, like the traditional Japanese restaurant I went to and our field trip to the Osaka History Museum. Sorry for the long delay!!