Hisashiburi! (It’s been a while hasn’t it! A common expression in Japan) Sorry I’ve delayed writing a new post. I’ve been busy in some respects, lazy in others. For some reason I see Japan as a vacation and so I’m in relaxation mode. My brain isn’t taking note of the fact that I’m here for school first, tourism second. ;_; Makes finishing homework and studying difficult.
One of the organizations at Konan called SPICE sponsored a party for all the ryuugakusei and Konan students. We had to pay in advance about ¥1500 but in return they provided us with lots of fun games and prizes! We were all split up into random teams and after we had snacked and chatted for half an hour or so the games began. In the first game your team had to stand in a line and pass a balloon over and under to the next player. You had to get it down your row and back up and then the first person sat on the balloon to pop it to show you were done and whoever finished the fastest got the most points. (I think we were last haha) The next game was a doozy. It was basically the game telephone but with pictures. So the first person was shown a picture and they had to draw it and then each person was shown the picture in turn and the last would have to guess what it was. The problem is it tends to morph into something different entirely. So for example, I think ours was originally a guitar and it somehow got turned into a cat. =P We also played a game where everyone holds hands in a line and then you have to get this piece of rope over all of your bodies in turn.
The last was bingo. The board of which was full of places and cultural items of Japan. They had prizes for the first 7 or so winners, which was pretty impressive. They ranged from pillows to puzzles to a Hello Kitty soap dispenser. One guy in my group actually gave me his winning bingo card so I got the prize instead! I felt so bad but considering my prize was a small pink pillow I don't think he would have been able to make much use out of it.
In addition to all the bingo prizes, SPICE had bought a bunch of other team prizes for everyone. Although our team was last and picked as such we got a kaleidoscope, a couple of stickers, and a fan with a stand that was quite pretty. All the prize bags were unlabeled and the teams chose which one so they were basically mystery bags. The other prizes varied from Nazi tattoos (a hilarious discovery; they use something very similar to a Nazi symbol as a sign for Buddhism but to us it still looks Nazi) to salad dressing. (Why? No clue!)
After the party most of us all continued to Karaoke. It was only on for two hours or so but our group had an entire floor to ourselves, which consisted of about 8 karaoke rooms so we all kind of went in and out of each. It was loads of fun! The rooms were very open and had a stage and we were allowed free (non-alcoholic) drinks. While I was leaving though, I must have left my prize bag in the karaoke room so it was given to another girl in our program and I haven’t seen it since… It was nothing dire but still a bummer.
That weekend a few of my friends and I went out to Osaka to see the aquarium there because they say it’s one of the biggest in the world. We met in Osaka and traveled by a separate line to Osaka-ko, which is a subsection of the city. We tried looking at a map once we were there to figure out exactly where we were going but we saw two fellow Americans and they gave us complete directions on how to get there! Foreigners have to help out fellow foreigners, right? It was pouring that day but that’s what made it a perfect day for browsing the 8 floor aquarium. It was quite nice! The fish were giant: shark-whales, huge stingray, etc.
Giant Whale Shark!
BEAUTIFUL jellyfish!
The admission fee was a bit ridiculous though. 2000 yen. I guess it’s not that bad when you think admissions to famous places in America are around 30 bucks but when you add in lunch and travel and a souvenir (can’t resist...), money just disappears! It’s so difficult to stay frugal when you’re here. When we were done going through the whole aquarium and had our fill of adorable sea otters and umm… some rather unsightly events that I won’t mention here, we walked around the area and went into the mall right next to the aquarium to get something to eat.
I found a subway and so I made a beeline for it but alas, I was sourly disappointed. Not only do they not carry the regular chicken, the have one type of cheese (“sliced cheese” which is not a type but a mere method of preparation), and they don’t carry chipotle sauce or banana peppers which are my favorite parts! ;_; Thanks to me, they probably think Americans are freaks because when I asked them if they had banana peppers they gave me a weird look and said, “no… we don't sell bananas here…” Kind of missed the point. They probably think now that all Americans put bananas on their sandwiches or something.
After lunch, we roamed around the building a bit and ran into a guy dressed as a ninja on the top floor ushering guests through a spinning door for some walk through haunted house we think? We never quite found out. But he was very nice and was impressed that we were all learning Japanese. He even allowed us to take several pictures with him, with us all making various ninja poses. Fun!
Not me but I love this picture of my friend. =P
There were also (of course) a bunch of cute shops with pretty sensu (fold out fans), charms and clothes. It’s so hard to resist spending money when everything around you looks like it flew straight out of an anime! This is getting a bit lengthy so I'll split it up!
それではまた次回!
Word of the day: 水族館, すいぞくかん, suizokukan or "aquarium"
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