It's my birthday

Another year older. I have to work today ; it's the last day of not going to my high schools. It makes me sad. I was enjoying my time off, and that's the only place I go that stresses me out. I teach a kids class today and get to see my lovely Credo ladies. I enjoy that class, so even though it's my birthday, I'm looking forward to going to that part of work. My kids today are really good too. If it wasn't for the long walk out there I wouldn't mind. It's just too hot to take a long walk.

A friend of mine is taking me out tonight. Then I will see other people on Sat. night cause that's better for most people. Two nights of karaoke in a row should be pretty fun. Tonight will be my practice since there won't be so many people. I'm excited. I wanted to wear my "new" dress. I bought it two months ago, but haven't worn it cause I'm afraid of getting it sweaty cause it's so hot out there and the dress is light pink and nice and lined and wasn't cheap even though I got it on sale. It's very 50's looking, with shiny pink buttons up the front, collared, and the bottom is lined with white lace. It has a white and black polka dot sash, or you can put the pink sash with it. I know it's useless to sit in a closet, but I really don't want to mess it up. I need to find something I can wear under it, so it will stay in the closet for now. Tomorrow I will wear one of my new yukata. I think the light purple one with the goldfish. Not sure yet though. I also bought a pink and white one with flowers.

Alright, I need to finish planning my lessons. Plenty to do today.

Oh, and this picture was after I'd gotten my hair cut. They had put it up for me as I was going out that night. I took it down later that night and it was all poofy and made me laugh. I thought it looked funny.

Karaoke

Around the first of August we went to do Karaoke as a last minute decision at "Billy the Kid", seriously, that's what the place is called. Karaoke is different in Japan in that you DON'T sing in front of a whole lot of drunkened strangers as you do in the US. Instead you sing in front of your drunken friends. I like the whole concept a lot better. It means you get to sing more songs, and not hear people you don't know sing. Above you see Markian choosing his song from the English songs in the back. There was a decent amount, but of course the Japanese selection was way, way better!
Here are our friend who got us into the place. It's a little difficult not knowing much Japanese. You have to have a membership for these kind of places. We purchased a nomi hodai deal (all you can drink) and you ordered by calling the bar on this phone. Markian called and tried to order in Japanese. The lady came in and brought up this tambourine you see above. We laughed really hard about it and asked how and why he ordered us a tambourine. However, the lady brought our drinks a few minutes later so I guess she understood.
These pictures testify to how I can't frame a shot after a couple drinks. haha
Good times!

Markian rocking out to some Iggy Pop or Rush, I can't remember which.
Our private Karaoke room.


So we're going back for my birthday this weekend! I'm really excited! I've memorized some Japanese songs. Hopefully the have the ones I memorized there!

Oh and there is a little more to this story, but I wasn't taking pictures at that point. We ran into an owner of one of the more popular gaijin bars here on the street at 3 AM on a Sunday night while we were desperately searching for french fries. This dude was so cool and he took us to a 24 hour chinese restaurant and ordered for me! I don't eat beef or pork, which makes it difficult when you can't read the menu and most Japanese food has pork in it. He ordered me some fried chicken with dipping salt and it was awesome and so tasty, and yet cheap! He stayed around and ate with us, til we wandered home around 4 AM but no before getting stopped in the Peace Park by NHK who tried to interview our friend about world Peace in Japanese! Apparently in the end he didn't end up on tv, but who knows. It was an awesome outing. I'm hoping Saturday proves as interesting.

For my aunt

My aunt loves Disney, Mickey Mouse especially, so these pictures I took for her. They were taken at an arcade. This is a display of toys you can win the arcade. Disney is very popular over here, I guess because of Tokyo Disneyland. Many girls and women wear Disney t-shirts, carry disney bags, pencil cases...etc. "Lilo and Stitch" is very popular along with Marie, the little girl cat from "The Aristocrats". You can even buy some disney stuff (especially Marie) in the 100 yen shop!

The Colonel is dressed for summer.

Ok, this seriously cracked me up. A colleague told me about this and I had to go snap a picture of it. Colonel Sanders always stands outside the KFCs here in Japan. However, I'd never seen him dressed for anything until now. This KFC decided to dress the colonel for summer by dressing him in a summer yukata (summer kimono). It's just funny to see the colonel this way. I went up there this past Tuesday, and he wasn't dressed anymore. It kinda made me sad.

KFC is very expensive here. For an adult meal with portions the size of a child meal it's about 500 yen. However, the one time I ate there it was really good. They have all white meat chicken strips, which is a rarity in Japan. Usually when you order chicken you get the skin, gristle, and dark meat all together. Another reason while I eat meat even less than I did in the states.

Mos Burger

I thought this deserved an entry, since I practically live there. Mos Burger is a Japanese fast food restaurant. I frequent it a few times a week. I never really ate much fast food in the states. I didn't like it. Mos Burger makes your food when you order it so it's always burning hot. You get to have your drink in a real glass and your salad in a ceramic bowl with a real fork. None of that paper/plastic crap. They have food there that isn't a giant grease wade like most American fast food. I love the seafood rice burger. The patty is made completely of rice stuck together. Inside there is edamame, carrots, shrimp, and fish in a sauce. It's quite tasty. Other delicacies include, a reallyyummy salad with a soy based dressing, awesome milk shakes (including matcha (greeen tea)), fish burgers, various hamburgers (teriaki burger, fresh burger, chili burger...etc.), frozen cake bars, and of course french fries and onion rings.

These pictures were taken after the night of visiting the cool toilet restaurant (please see the entry, "Who Wouldn't Enjoy This?"). It's about 2:00 AM and Markian is seen here above explaining the greatness that is Mos Burger. Actually he's trying to read the sign. He's caught on a lot better than me, and learned Katakana not from studying, but from just seeing it everywhere and figuring it out. I learned Hiragana from studying and some of the katakana. I start Japanese lessons on Saturday, so maybe that will help.

Beer Garden Party

Around the first of July our school had a beer garden party. During the summer many department story rooftops are converted into beer gardens. It's similar to the original beer garden in Germany, though the food is Japanese. Many of these places have nomi hodai deals (all you can drink), which is what this place was along with all you can eat for about $22-40 US dollars depending on the quality of the beer garden you go to. Below you see the entrance to the beer garden.
This was a poster that was outside the gate. I just found it amusing.
Here are lots of people I work with. Three of us dressed in Yukata's that night.
Markian enjoying his beer and food.
Mitsukoshi is the name of the department store roof that we're on. It's an overpriced department store with designer brands like Gucci and Max Mara.
Food and Drinks. The food wasn't so hot. The edmame was about the only thing I ate. It all kinda tasted like it had been sitting there for a while. However, the drinks were awesome. Lots of fruit sours and such along with the beer (I hate beer). And it was all you can drink!
It was our school's 25th (I think 25th, not sure) anniversary so we had cakes from Mario Desserts, which is an expensive, yummy desert place. I blew this candle out.
Markian chatting it up.
Outside of the department store after the beer garden had closed.

"Cool" Clothes

I NEED THESE! These seemed really lame when I took the picture around early July. Now I completely understand and I want a pair. I could walk to work and maybe not get so sweaty with a fan built into the back of my shirt and the side of my pants! These were really expensive though, but I don't remember the exact price. They were in the camping section of a store, but seriously, I could use them to wear to work, or when I was out site seeing temples in Kyoto and Nara. The humidity there was horrible. More so than here in Hiroshima. For that reason, I'm glad to be back home.

Tweet! Tweet!

And.........WE'RE BACK! Had a great time, in spite of the heat and crowds. Decided to stay an extra day, which is what is with the delay in posting. Pictures should be up soon though I'm still back logged with photos. We went at a slower pace than I'd hoped because of the heat, though we did see many cool things and I have plenty of pictures!

Here are some baby birds that have built their nest outside of a convenience store right next to very busy street. I heard them chirping when I was walking home from a company class last week. They were so cute! The momma bird wasn't too happy that I was taking pictures of them. She was chirping at me, but didn't sound happy. I took my pictures and then left them alone and went on my way.

Sunrise, Sunset

The sun is about to set here in the next hour or so, and tomorrow begins our trip to many wonderful places in the Kansai area! I'm so excited!!! It should be loads of fun, if I can just make it through the many train transfers and long ride there. We went and bought our tickets this afternoon. It's a special train pass catered towards students where you can go anywhere in Japan, unlimited rides for five days for about $100 bucks US. It's called Seishun 18 Kippu, and it's only available three short periods a year during the school breaks. The catch is, you have to take slow trains everywhere. No express trains or Shinkansen's (super express bullet trains). The fastest thing I can get on is a special rapid train. So local trains and rapid trains only. We're about to go to the grocery store and buy some snacks for the ride. We spent most of today getting ready. Doing laundry, buying the tickets, finishing up planning our itinerary and whatnot.

So after today, no more updates til Saturday night at the earliest (maybe another today if I feel like it). I was going to bring my laptop, but I went to Yamada Denki yesterday and bought a hugememory card instead, 4 GB. My old card is 1GB. Now I shouldn't need my laptop and I can take plenty of pictures! It was quite a hassle, it didn't work on my camera at first because it's an SDHC (high capacity) card, but then I went back to the store and the guy told me I needed firmware which I could only download in Japanese! arghghgh!!! So frustrating! Long story short, turned out that he was wrong and I found an English version and now the bloody thing works. No bringing my laptop leaves me with one less thing to carry. Downside is no internet, but I really think I'll be too tired and busy to get on here anyway. I need to be able to fit my junk in lockers at the train station because I want to stop in Himeji and see the most awesome castle on the way home!
Oh, and for those who care, the pictures were taken from my balcony, right before the typhoon came through here.

"Every Girls Be My Bitch!"

Ok, this wins the best Engrish sign so far. These signs are in front of a clothing store in Hiroshima called, "Blue Velvet's" as the sign says. I don't know what a wolf making girls his bitches has to do with anything. Maybe if you wear these clothes you'll be a bad ass pimp and get tons of mad bitches, yeah.... maybe...I don't know...because.... We didn't actually go in the store. I was too amused by the signs. Although, I could see interesting shoes through the window. Probably quite expensive. This stupid sign still makes me laugh. We need more signs like this at home, so I can be easily amused, and have a good laugh every day. I guess if it was a home, I'd just think someone was retarded though who made it. Markian says, "I don't think this has anything to do with the David Lynch movie, but it would be kinda cool if it did." The animals on these signs look seriously demented which makes it even better. God only knows why a barber pole is making a wolf whistle. But that's another reason it's so wonderful.

Why should I quake so glamorous?

I have a lovely piece of writing for you here contained on this sacred Native American item of clothing.

"Feel Just Fine My Heart
For as Long as Live
Blue and Clouds of White
The Dark Sacred Night
I think to Myself
Four-Leaf Clover
The Bright Blessed Day
Why Should I Quake
So Glamorous"

Were you touched and inspired by these words? I know I sure was. hehe I love Engrish t-shirts.

Who wouldn't enjoy this?

These were taken on March 26th, on one of first outing to a night spot that wasn' t fast food. I'd read about this places bathroom online. I had to go see what the bathroom fuss was about. As you can see there are three toliets all facing inward with mirrors all the way around. The picture doesn't quite capture the strangeness of it, as it was difficult to get everything in one shot. I had Markian go take pictures of it; you can see his reflection in the glass.
Below you see the inside of the restaurant. It looks like a basement, but it's actually upstairs in a building. We were the only people there! It was very late and I don't know if they were about to close or what the deal was. Cool place though.
Markian enjoying his gin tonkiku.
Here is the menu, in Japanese of course. Pretty. Pretty pricey too. I wouldn't have come here if I knew that, but it was worth it for the bathroom.
And after a few drinks....Haha...I love this picture. hehe





Our food came pretty quickly. I had an awesome tofu salad.
Markian had some tuna sashimi. Good times.

So in answer to the previous question, I would say he is enjoying Japan. He enjoys the food way more than me. I actually don't eat much Japanese food. I like sushi, and tempura but that isn't cheap. I don't like ramen because it's always got pork in it. I don't eat Japanese curry or tonkatsu because of the pork. It's very difficult to find pork free food. He said he loves living here, and like me says it's definetly the coolest place he's ever lived. We both find the job tiring from all the travel, so that's the main downside. Living here is really great though. He's even more of a city boy than I'm a city girl so he's happy to be here. His favorite place we've visited in Japan is Tokyo, which further shows that. I like Tokyo, but I'd much rather spend my cash in Kyoto. I like all the old stuff better than modern. Tokyo is so far away I doubt we'll be going anytime soon. The train to get there costs hundreds of dollars, and hotels are insanely expensive there. I would like to visit Shikoku, Kyushu, or Hokkaido instead on our next adventure to a new part of Japan.

Ready to hop on the train!

I'm so ready for our trip. We leave in five days! This picture was taken at Diamond City on the children's floor. I thought it would be really awesome if I could make myself fit in this tiny JR (Japan Rail) train car.

We've been doing a large amount of socializing lately. Last weekend was busy and great. Went to the lantern ceremony for peace day, sang karaoke til 3 AM, ate chinese food at 3 AM, and got interviewed in the park by NHK at 3:30 AM. Lots of craziness, but good times. Pictures later from that outing if I ever catch up!

It's so humid right now. I don't sleep well at night. Other than that, things are good.