party people
Lately I have been spending more time traveling than sleeping but that is what I get for wanting to see as much of Asia as I can while I am still over here. The most recent trip was Osaka. On Friday I had to get up bright and early to head over to Melissa's apartment so we could head to the airport together. After a short hour flight we were in Osaka. Apparently not getting enough sleep affects my ability to read maps because I was struggling with directions all weekend, something I normally can hold my own with. Once into central Osaka we checked our bags at the hotel and headed towards the Umeda Sky Building. It was there that we got a couple of beers and some microwaved karage (fried chicken) for an afternoon snack. The view of the city was gorgeous and it seemed that our luck of great traveling weather continued.
Next we wandered more around the Umeda area and headed to this giant ferris wheel, which Japan has too many of, that was located in the HEP5 building. Along the way we were trying to look for lunch but in the end waited until we got there. Luckily Melissa wasn't in the mood for any Japanese food because we found a Subway there! Oddly enough we had been talking all morning about how awesome it would be to find one and have an actual sub sandwich. After the amazing lunch we wandered the rest of the mall randomly shopping at stores. It was here that, with Melissa's help, I managed to get a cool pair of Aviator sunglasses. I will be the first to admit that I don't look great in many pairs of sunglasses but these are definitely awesome.
When I studied abroad we had a whole class on Japanese culture so I thought that it would be a good idea to check that out while we where in Osaka. Bunraku is traditional Japanese puppetry that involves up to three people manipulating each puppet. With all that in mind we headed to the National Bunraku Theater but they don't tell you that Bunraku is only performed there at certain times of the year. Needless to say the last weekend in February is not one of those times.
Instead we took a long walk and found ourselves in Dotonburi, which is one of the large entertainment districts in Japan. It was here we managed to find this awesome pirikura (print club) both and rockstar it out. Afterwards I read in one of the guides that there was a nearby shrine, Houzen-ji, so I asked the local kimono wearing flag bearer where it was. If you look in any way foreign they tend to take you places instead of giving you directions, which is exactly what this guy did after handing over his flag to his police uniform wearing partner. At the shrine you do the typical coin toss into the wooden box but then you toss water a few times on the shrine to ensure good luck for the evening.
At that point in the evening it was time to actually check into our apartment and get ready for a night out. There are plenty of people from St. John's and St. Ben's down in Osaka and we took the opportunity to reunite and party it up. We met April Becker, who I was an English camp counselor with a couple summers ago, and Mike Staffa, who was my Biology TA sophomore year, for dinner in Umeda. The two that were supposed to know where we were going got a tad lost so we ended up walking into a random restaurant to get some food and drinks. Suprisingly enough the food and drinks were really good so the night was well on its way.
The Irish pub was next on the list of places to go and it was here that a bunch of ALT's were having a concert. April found some of her friends here and we met up with Staffa's friend Blaine, who I also randomly knew, as well. However, the first thing we did upon entering the bar was grab a round of Jager Bombs and it felt like we were at Sal's all over again.
After a few more beers Staffa had to ditch out and the rest of us headed to the next bar called Caligula. We ended up walking there which turned out to be the better part of an hour and when we got to the bar there was a "drag show" going on. Let me just say that I think the Japanese version of a drag show is considerably different that the American one. In Japan it seems they like to flaunt the fact that they are guys dressed as women, which is fine, and they make no effort to do a great job on makeup or attire. Maybe it was just the bar we were at. The girls weren't having quite as good of a time so they decided to head back a little early. Blaine and I thought otherwise so we continued to drink and talk well into the night before crashing.
After getting around four hours of sleep it was time to get up and head out to our next set of adventures for the day. The first stop being Himeji city where the most famous and beautiful castle in all of Japan is located. It is here that we met up with another one of my friends from college, Marian, who I had nearly every art class in college with. Once again luck was on our side weather wise and we had another gorgeous day to play around outside in. All the sun seemed to get the best of us as we strolled through the castle taking ridiculous pictures as we went. We sat down for a quick lunch and then headed off to Kobe.
Truth be told there wasn't a whole lot to actually do in Kobe but it was a gorgeous site. The city is relatively new because it was practically leveled in an earthquake about ten years ago. Sparkling new buildings combined with a great harbor view made for a nice afternoon walk. We managed to make it through a few parks and a mall before parting ways with Marian to get ready for our second night out.
Since we were feeling kind of drained from the day and lacked sleep from the previous night, a power nap was in order. Once we were up and ready, we met Blaine for dinner at an actual Mexican restaurant where we got some good Mexican food coupled with Margaritas. Then we met April and Marian, who had just finished up with a concert in Kobe, downstairs. It was there that we got to take a picture in front of the famous neon sign of a running man, don't ask me. From there we headed to a nearby bar where we were debating our next moves for the night.
In the end the ladies ended up at all night and all you can drink club called Pure while Blaine and I took the evening off because of all the drunkenness the night before. We grabbed a couple of drinks and walked to the riverfront to chat for a while before talking the long walk back to his place, which oddly enough was a nice chance to chat it up some more. The rest of the night we watched a movie, called Cellular. It was a decent movie about a woman who got kidnapped and she could only get of one guy on his cell phone. Sadly enough I was drained and fell asleep halfway through the movie before awakening because I was snoring, which I don't normally do. I did see the majority of the movie though and after that we went to bed right away.
Another night of limited sleep and then I had to get up early so that we could check out of our hotel. Luckily I had spent the night at Blaine's because someone was occupying our hotel room with Melissa all morning. By the time I got there to shower and pack he had left but I was excited to hear about the previous nights events. Obviously we were both drained but trudged on to the aquarium, which was a good idea since it was pouring rain that day. It was clear that I was the one who had gotten more sleep the previous night because whenever Melissa sat down for two seconds she passed out. I enjoyed the aquarium a lot because I am nerd and like animals and wildlife but it was really crowded so we didn't spend a whole lot of time there.
Not wanting to drag Melissa around while she was clearly struggling though the day we headed back to our hotel to pick up our bags so we could leave for the airport. We arrived at the airport a couple hours early, which proved to be a good thing, so we took the opportunity to take another nap before our flight. Sadly that meant that we also didn't see any of my friends the last day but I know we will get together again soon. The weekend was awesome and action packed but I am just hoping I can recover before Friday. Seoul here I come.
tomato face
It seems that yet another month has passed and again I am struggling to have money going into the next pay period. All the excitement of traveling and snowboarding always seems to get the best of me. However, today is pay day so I really don't have to worry much about it anymore. It would be nice to not have to worry about finances so much but I doubt that day is coming anytime in the near future.
The past weekend was fairly laid back. Last week there seemed to be an over abundance of foreigners walking around, and by over abundant I mean two others besides me. Needless to say I got to talking to both of them, Brian and Seth, and they are around thirty years old and married to Japanese women. Other than not having a ton in common with them besides living in Japan they are really cool laid back guys. In fact, I got to have dinner with Brian and his wife Hitomi at their place on Friday. They are really close to my apartment, about a five to ten minute walk, so it is nice to know there are others close by. We had shabu shabu, beer, cake, and some green tea while watching the Olympics and just getting to know each other. They have a baby on the way so hopefully we will still be able to get together every once and a while.
Since the following day we were going snowboarding I picked up Melissa from the nearest train station and found out she had been drinking with Kate since five that afternoon. McDonald's was the next stop for me since I hadn't eaten dinner yet but attached to the McDonald's is a 24 hour grocery store. It was there that Melissa managed to find a bottle of Franzia, that stuff that is supposed to come in a box. Once we got back to my place we cracked it open to the "taste the wine not the cork" insignia on the cap and more craziness resulted.
Sunday morning we went snowboarding, for the fifth time this season, at a place called Muikamachi Minami. It was cheaper than some of the larger ski resorts but it was also a bit smaller. The size turned out to be fine and it meant that I got challenge myself a bit more with difficult runs and jumps. I went with Melissa and Phil this time around but we ended up parting ways for the morning since we are all at different places in terms of ability.
After meeting up for lunch, Melissa and I stuck together to take on the more difficult runs and get some action shots in. This proved more challenging than in the morning since we were both getting worn out. Snowboarding is a workout! In the morning I had managed to land quite a few jumps but by the afternoon I wasn't having as much luck. Don't worry, I still had a blast and didn't break anything. However, it turns out that when you have gorgeous weather you can also get sunburned and have awesome goggle marks all week at school. Anyway, later that night we picked up Kate for some dinner at Komadori and then headed to the Iwamuro onsen for some relaxation. Snowboarding, ramen and the onsen never seem to get old.
pity chocolate
In Japan it is tradition for women to give chocolate to the men. Before all the guys get too excited, the favor is returned a month from now on White Day. Anyway, this Valentines Day proved as exciting as ever when I recived two cards and some chocolate. One card was from my Grandparents who are out in California golfing everyday and the other was an ecard from my Mom and Dad. It is nice to get Valentine's card... even if it is from your relatives. Then there was the chocolate, which is not only fancy looking but tastes amazingly good as well, from one of my teachers at school. It was difficult for me to tell if I got the chocolate because of pity or that she has a crush on me... guess I will never know. In either case I think a thank you card is in order. The highlight of my day was eating my chocolate while doing laundry. This Valentines Day was probably more eventful than most and some chocolate is better than none at all. I also got some suprise chocolate on Friday as well so no complaints from this guy. Well, other than the fact that I already ate it all.
ice ice baby
Any normal person would think that a vacation to a place colder than where you currently are is madness. I consider myself crazy but the frigid temperatures were worth bearing to see Sapporo and the largest Snow Festival in Japan. Continuing my trend of procrastination I got a grand total of four hours of sleep the night before my flight in order to clean my apartment and pack. Bright and early on Friday morning I headed to Niigata airport to fly out to Hokkaido and once on the plane I managed to sleep the entire hour long flight. That turned out to be a wise decision since I would not get much sleep the entire weekend. The main reason I headed up to Hokkaido was to visit my good friend from college Katie Finnegan. We studied abroad together, were studio art majors with Asian studies minors and applied to JET together so I definitely wanted see where she was living and how things were going.
Once in Sapporo I had all day to burn because Katie wasn't coming into the city until 8 pm because of work and the bus ride in. It was a great experience for me to test out my Japanese and just have a chance to see if I could travel to a new place on my own. First I got a map of the city and headed out with my prior research and a lonely planet in hand. The Clock Tower (Tokeidai) was the closest to the station so I decided to check it out. It had been moved from its original location but the building and clock, which were once part of Sapporo Agricultural College, was still intact after around 125 years.
Afterwards I headed to a place called Nijo Market to see the fresh seafood stands. Apparently I was looking really Japanese that day because multiple vendors were offering me crab to buy. Finally one took a second longer to look at me and realized that I was holding an English book, he was a smart one. After that he asked me if I was Japanese, which I obviously responded no to, and we got into a good conversation about his family that lived in the states. This was all in Japanese so I was pretty excited about being able to hold the 3 minute conversation. I figured since he was a vendor he would know a good restaurant to have lunch at. Turns out he did and put me in the right direction. It was kind of intense but I had a donburi (various seafood atop a bed of rice) which had salmon roe, sea urchin, squid, salmon, crab, and scallops. That was my first time eating salmon roe and sea urchin and it will probably be my last. It wasn't bad tasting but I can't see myself craving it anytime soon.
Next on the list was the Ishiya Chocolate Factory so I hoped the subway for about 20 minutes until I reached my stop. Luckily there was a map right outside that station that gave me pretty good directions to the factory. This place was a museum, factory, store, and restaurant all into one. It was very impressive and couldn't resist sitting down to a cup of warm hot chocolate with baileys and a slice of chocolate cake. There was so much to see and I definitely took my time taking it all in. I even ended up buying some omiyage (gifts) for one of my schools which I rarely do, even though it is a very common Japanese custom.
Then it was back to the core of Sapporo to see the Snow festival which is in this massive park that has the TV Tower, that is a smaller version of Tokyo Tower, on one end and it goes on for twelve city blocks. Plenty of snow sculptures to see and that was only part of the festivities. The other section was in the night life area of Sapporo, called Susukino, and that was were most of the ice sculptures were located. After taking my share of sculpture classes at St. John's I was mightily impressed and wished that I knew how to make ice sculptures. Since Susukino is also home to Ramen Yokochou, where there is a alleyway full of famous ramen shops, I couldn't resist the temptation and sat down to enjoy some great miso ramen for dinner.
By then it was time to meet Katie at the station and, after having to wait an hour because of her late bus, we were off to meet her friends for karaoke at a place called Thriller. If you mixed Michael Jackson with a haunted house the decor of this karaoke building would definitely resemble it. They even had a drinks called the Michael Jackson black and Michael Jackson white. It was painfully apparent that this place had never heard of being politically correct but it was very amusing. It was here that I met Jesse, Bret, Stephen, Jean, Heidi, Chris, Vicky, and Erin. Definitely a fun group so much fun that we kept singing until three in the morning despite some of us getting up to go snowboarding the next day.
After a couple hours of sleep Stephen, Jean, Katie, and I all got up to catch the bus to Sapporo Kokusai for some snowboarding and skiing fun. It was a bit chilly for what I have gotten used to snowboarding in Niigata but the snow was amazing! Apparently it had just snowed a couple of meters in the previous week so there was plenty of powder action happening. Being on my board is finally starting to feel more natural and because of all the excitement Stephen and I decided to go off one of the larger jumps on the hill. Granted we didn't go full speed but it was hilarious to see the video footage afterwards. There was a knuckle after the jump that neither of us anticipated and since I haven't gotten that used to my snowboard it definitely slipped out from under me once I came to the dropoff. We had some great times throughout the day and it was nice to get away from most of the tourist that had swung through for the festival.
Still reeking from not showering front the past couple of days we all headed back to Sapporo to meet the others at the Sapporo Brewery. Alas we found out once we got there that they had a two hour wait so we headed back to Susukino where we found a great yakiniku restaurant (barbecued meat and vegetables) to indulge ourselves with. After meandering through the festival one last time and sharing some potato doughnuts with Chris and Erin, some of us went to get some baileys while the others chilled in McDonald's. Eventually the group ended back at Thriller for one last round of karaoke, at which I was admittedly worn out at from the last couple of days, but on the way there we saw these two Japanese girls pimping themselves out to these old men. The best part was their matching outfits of cut off jeans, furry black jackets, one red fish net stalking, one black lacey stalking, and cowboy boots. It tough to match that as one of the best highlights of the trip. Once we sneaked back into our hotel room again, which was for one person but we had seven in, we fell asleep to the Olympics on TV.
My last day in Sapporo was really low key. We slept in until around 9:30 before checking out and heading to Mister Doughnut for breakfast. Then we did some random wandering around through shops in Sapporo before grabbing some lunch at this cozy place that had all you can eat focaccia bread and a drink bar with any meal. By the time we finished that I had to meet Kristi and Rosalind in order to catch a train to the airport for our flight back to Niigata. I was sad to leave Finnegan and all the new people I met behind but it was time to get back to warm Niigata, and by warm I mean not -10 degrees Celsius.
Finally we were almost back to Niigata when the pilot announced that there would be a delay because of the weather. That was futher complicated by the fact that we might have to fly to Tokyo if it didn't get better. Luckily we did land but then we had to wait another 30 minutes before a terminal was open for us to exit the plane. After all the plane chaos it was off to Maki to meet Melissa and Phil for some much need ramen and onsen action. It was an amazing weekend but now I am having to recover during the week which is no easy task for me amidst work, the gym, and random chores. I just hope I don't get sick again because I still have plenty of traveling left in me over the next few months.
margaritaville
Ok so not quite the Margaritaville of Metten Court but a few of us settled for one of the only "Mexican" restaurants in Niigata. After coming down with influenza earlier in the week and being quarantined to my apartment, I was definitely ready to leave Sanjo for a bit on a Saturday night. I met Makiko on the train wearing a mask, as if I were infected with SARS, so that no one else would get sick. However at that point I was on medicine and pretty sure that it was no longer contagious. Mostly I think it was for the pure amusement of wearing a face mask in public. Anyway we met up with Kate, Kayvohn, and Melissa at Niigata station and headed to the restaurant. Margaritas were definitely in order and everyone had either tacos or enchiladas. Not quite the Mexican food that anyone would get back in North America but it was a good effort. We did get to party to the new Madonna song though on Melissa's ipod which probably made everyone in the restaurant stare but it was a blast.
Then it was off to the Robin which was oddly enough the name of a Irish pub nearby. All the things I never knew you could find in Niigata and all I had to do was walk around the other side of Niigata Station. Kayvohn and I couldn't resist some Guinness, especially when the etch a four leaf clover into the head. With some fish and chips to top off the night Makiko and I headed back to Sanjo but Melissa and Kayvohn pulled another all nighter, talk about rockstars. Of course it started snowing pretty intensely on our way back so I had to use Melissa's ghetto window squeegee to clean off all the snow. Then it was off to bed so I could completely recover from being sick... yet again.
it is official
As of today, I turned in my forms announcing that I am NOT re-contracting for next year. Part of me is sad that I won't get to see any of my students through a full school year but then again I am excited to be heading home. Being here is an amazing experience but I feel like there are so many other things I want to do that I really don't know what I would be staying for. Not having a solid reason to stay is as good a reason to leave as having a good reason not to stay. If that made any sense to anyone but me. In any case I will be home sometime in August depending on the detours I make before landing in Minneapolis for good. The plan as of now is to live with some of my roommates from college while saving money for graduate school the following June. We'll see how it goes but at least I will be home.
