City Days
Yesterday I took a trip to Okayama by bus to meet the other Rotary exchange students. Shoko had left for Kobe to help Miyu shop for an apartment, Masatoshi went to Takamatsu for a Rotary meeting and lecture on internal medicine, and Shun left for school earlier that morning, so I was home alone for part of the morning. Luckily, I had a pretty good idea of how to get where I needed to go. To get to Okayama I was to take the 9:39 bus that stops near our house, but a few minutes before I left a heavy rain started falling as I dashed to the stop.
I had a bus pass so riding to the city was easy, taking a little under an hour. While waiting for the bus I had a short conversation with a man about the rain and other weather related conditions, and felt confident in my Japanese small-talk abilities. When I arrived in Okayama I met Keiko at the giant fountain outside the station, our designated meeting place. Keiko went to Dallas, Texas last year and anyone who shares more than a five minute conversation can tell that she had a wonderful time. In a few minutes we were joined by Janna, the inbound from Virginia, Cori, from Canada, Asuka, who went to Ohio, and Kayo, who went to Canada.
We started our day by shopping in the massive underground complex near the bus station. It was the same place I had come with Shun before, so I sort of knew my way around. I found a great deal on a stylish jacket and found a patch that read, "Too fast to be a turtle," at a store called StarVations (I thought it was a funny name). Janna bought some CDs at Tower records while I listened to Japanese SKA. The CDs here are very expensive, priced at around $20-30 a pop.
For lunch we stopped in a restaurant that had many omelets on display outside the store. In Japan most restaurants have a large glass window where plastic models of food can be seen. I hear that the Japanese plastic food model industry is booming. There wasn't a table big enough for the six of us, so we split up and I sat with Kayo and Asuka. As soon as we sat down they said that the guy at the next table was looking at them weird and I was surprised to see my friend from school and his girlfriend at the table next to us. That was pretty crazy considering the few kids that I know at school. I also saw two girls later in the day that I didn't know but they apparently knew my name. I suppose I should expect more of that in the coming year. At the restaurant I ordered a type of rice with meat sauce, like spaghetti, but with rice instead of noodles. The restaurant was famous for its parfaits, and at the table behind us some girls ordered a huge parfait with bananas, kiwi, ice cream, and sparklers. I was content with a corn flake and ice cream parfait to split with Janna. I talked with Kayo and Asuka about their exchanges while they taught me some colloquial Japanese.
After lunch we went to purikura (Japanese picture booths), which are very popular in Japan. For a few hundred yen you get a page of sticker photos that you decorate at a nearby computer with crazy hearts, stars, and random Japanese. It's way more fun than a regular picture booth. We took about a billion crazy photos and had an awesome time.
After the picture booth we went back to shopping. I bought some art supplies, a pencil case, and a snazzy CD case. Around 6 I rode the bus back to Tamano, feeling a little sleepy but happy. Shun and I were home alone so he ordered some Chinese food (yep, just like America except better tasting) and we watched Hero on DVD.
This morning Masatoshi came home and took me to a few electronics stores to buy small speakers and some CD-R's. We also went to a book shop where I bought Moby Dick because I’ve always wanted to read that novel. Tamano has a public library and I'd like to check that out soon. I'm doing a lot of reading and maybe I can get through those classics I never read but should have in High School. Masatoshi ordered take-out ramen for dinner and Japanese pizza, which is still nothing like American pizza but I like it.
I had a bus pass so riding to the city was easy, taking a little under an hour. While waiting for the bus I had a short conversation with a man about the rain and other weather related conditions, and felt confident in my Japanese small-talk abilities. When I arrived in Okayama I met Keiko at the giant fountain outside the station, our designated meeting place. Keiko went to Dallas, Texas last year and anyone who shares more than a five minute conversation can tell that she had a wonderful time. In a few minutes we were joined by Janna, the inbound from Virginia, Cori, from Canada, Asuka, who went to Ohio, and Kayo, who went to Canada.
We started our day by shopping in the massive underground complex near the bus station. It was the same place I had come with Shun before, so I sort of knew my way around. I found a great deal on a stylish jacket and found a patch that read, "Too fast to be a turtle," at a store called StarVations (I thought it was a funny name). Janna bought some CDs at Tower records while I listened to Japanese SKA. The CDs here are very expensive, priced at around $20-30 a pop.
For lunch we stopped in a restaurant that had many omelets on display outside the store. In Japan most restaurants have a large glass window where plastic models of food can be seen. I hear that the Japanese plastic food model industry is booming. There wasn't a table big enough for the six of us, so we split up and I sat with Kayo and Asuka. As soon as we sat down they said that the guy at the next table was looking at them weird and I was surprised to see my friend from school and his girlfriend at the table next to us. That was pretty crazy considering the few kids that I know at school. I also saw two girls later in the day that I didn't know but they apparently knew my name. I suppose I should expect more of that in the coming year. At the restaurant I ordered a type of rice with meat sauce, like spaghetti, but with rice instead of noodles. The restaurant was famous for its parfaits, and at the table behind us some girls ordered a huge parfait with bananas, kiwi, ice cream, and sparklers. I was content with a corn flake and ice cream parfait to split with Janna. I talked with Kayo and Asuka about their exchanges while they taught me some colloquial Japanese.
After lunch we went to purikura (Japanese picture booths), which are very popular in Japan. For a few hundred yen you get a page of sticker photos that you decorate at a nearby computer with crazy hearts, stars, and random Japanese. It's way more fun than a regular picture booth. We took about a billion crazy photos and had an awesome time.
After the picture booth we went back to shopping. I bought some art supplies, a pencil case, and a snazzy CD case. Around 6 I rode the bus back to Tamano, feeling a little sleepy but happy. Shun and I were home alone so he ordered some Chinese food (yep, just like America except better tasting) and we watched Hero on DVD.
This morning Masatoshi came home and took me to a few electronics stores to buy small speakers and some CD-R's. We also went to a book shop where I bought Moby Dick because I’ve always wanted to read that novel. Tamano has a public library and I'd like to check that out soon. I'm doing a lot of reading and maybe I can get through those classics I never read but should have in High School. Masatoshi ordered take-out ramen for dinner and Japanese pizza, which is still nothing like American pizza but I like it.
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