4 Days of Fun

Firt of all, as Glozell would say (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OOYMU15bjlA), 11/11 is actually a day of celebration in Japan (and Korea), which made me ever so happy. In Japan, you are supposed to pass out Pocky to your friends. If you don't know what Pocky is, it's a pretzel stick that was dipped in various flavors on one end, such as chocolate or strawberry. I know they have this in the states and they are VERY tasty.

I'm not exactly sure why they do this, but I think it's because it might have something to do with the fact that each pretzel looks like a 1. Last year, I was fortunate enough to spend this lovely day with 3 amazing people at the happiest place on earth. We even took a picture in front of the castle at 11:11 a.m. on 11\11. Yes, we gave a lady our camera at 11:10 and made her wait until exactly 11:11 a.m. to take it.

11/11: Ueno Park (上野公園) and China Town (横浜中華街)

Ueno Park was pretty huge. We wanted to visit the zoo there, but sadly it closed by the time we made it there. Instead, we decided to rent swan boats and paddle around the lake.

Ueno Park

Swan boats!

Downtown Ueno

Street shops in Ueno

Afterwards, we headed over to China Town for dinner.

Some random shrine

11\12 Ramen Museum (ラーメン博物館)

On Friday, we headed to Shin-Yokohama to visit the Ramen Museum, which features ramen styles from the various prefectures of Japan. The place was themed like an older Japanese village. It was epic.

Entrance

Inside

Walking around

11\13 Italian Wedding

A few of the UC students organized a themed party. Each person was assigned a role. For example, we assigned a bride, groom, best man, etc. I was the father of the groom and this was my lovely wife, Erica. We set up the chairs in our dining room like a procession hall. A Japanese student even brought his keyboard and provided ambiance for the evening. Afterwards, we set up a bar and had a dance party!

The room before everyone entered

The groom's parents

The ceremony

I was also in charge of baking and decorating the cake.

Our bride and groom are very ethnic

11\14 Church and Sakuragicho (桜木町)

Regrettably, as of this day, I had not been to church. I can make up excuses saying that the cost of transportation was too much or that I was afraid of getting lost, but in reality, I was just scared. Of what, I'm not sure. Maybe I was just afraid of going to church by myself, but once I got there, I realized I had nothing to worry about. It was a small, quaint church located next to a beautiful park. I was the only person around my age, but at least I wasn't the only foreigner. I even stood up in church to introduce myself. Basically, the pastor was calling me out and there was no way I could hide. The people were very welcoming, but I didn't really see me fitting in at that particular church. (I forgot to take a picture of the church...)

After church, I met up with my friend, Corrine, who is studying at Tsuru University also in Japan. We had a great night with her buddies in Sakuragicho and Minatomirai 21. It was crazy meeting up with someone in Japan who I had previously just taken Japanese language class with! All of the Christmas lights in Minatomirai 21 were beautiful!!

The group

View of Minatomirai 21 from the rooftop garden

Sadly, my fun weekend came to and end and another weekend of classes was quickly approaching. Luckily, my Mondays are a chance for me to catch up on work and sleep from a hectic weekend.

Down by the river

 The next weekend after my trip to Korea (11/6), our cultural activities director, Kitano-san, kindly invited a bunch of the UC students to her house in Inadazutsumi as a sort of "cooking school". Before the class started, we headed down to the riverbank near Tama River, which is one of the major rivers in Japan, for a delicious BBQ. We barbecued chicken legs, vegetables, and cooked Yakisoba.

Group picture with Kitano-san

Me and Erica

The traditional jumping picture

Some of the other UC students

My version of cleaning up.

After the BBQ, we headed back up to her house and learned how to make miso soup and something I can't remember the name of. Then, we enjoyed some coffee, tea, wine, and video games to wrap up our time together. 

Name? but yummy!

Kitano-san's house

And of course we had to go to drinking at yet another izakaya in Yokohama. This one was nice because everything was 250円!

Me with the Koreans

The next day (11/7) we headed to one of my favorite restaurants in Japan, called デザート王国, which literally means Dessert Kingdom. Japan has this nasty habit of making a time limit for all of their 食べ放題 (all-you-can-eat buffet). So this place is all-you-can-eat for 70 minutes, which includes drinks, salad, pasta, hashi rice, and best of all, DESSERT! My favorite is the chocolate fountain, in which I put bananas, pineapple, waffles, melon bread, and marshmallows and utterly smother them all in chocolate. 

DESSERT!!!

Sheena, Lucy, Max, and I don't know who that weird person is

Also, I wish to take this time to share my favorite route to campus, which luckily happens to be the most scenic route and the fastest. Convenient, right? And yes, there are 4 total routes that I know of, all of which take about 40 minutes to get to class. This is excluding the lazy and expensive route, which includes taking the bus for a grand total of 210円 one way. And may I mention that even though it is currently December 3, I still sweat as I walk to school. So much for that gigantic winter coat you sent me Mom...

Surrounded by bamboo trees

My school is just beyond this hill

The way up

Even though I'm still about 3 weeks behind in my blog, I sort of like it this way. Time is just moving too fast, and this blog is helping me slow my life down. I've been reflecting on all the fun times I've had. It feels so unreal that I'll be home in just 2 and a half weeks. So, I am taking advantage of every single moment I can to make the most of my numbered days. However, I keep forgetting I have this thing called school and homework, both of which have been non-existent for the past 89 days, so I guess it's okay. Oh, and I've just about finished buying お土産 (souvenirs) for all of you back home. But just a warning, I judged the souvenir based on cuteness and not really on practicality (except for you Dad. You were very hard to find a present for, but luckily I just came across something that you can actually use). Anyways, that's about it for now. Sayonnara!

Familiar Faces in Foreign Places

So, it`s been about a month since I posted my last blog, but trust me, after reading my next few posts, hopefully you`ll be able to understand why. I`ve pretty much been swept up into Japan`s crazy and busy lifestyle. As it is, I feel like Japan is a very tired country because everyone is always on the go here. As soon as the Japanese people stop moving, they fall asleep. This we now have in common.

Now, many of you know that aside from Japan, Korea has been a top competitor for my interest. And from October 31st to November 4, I was blessed to have the opportunity to travel to Korea. First though, I want you to meet a very good friend of mine who has a very loving and welcoming family. Her name is Zoe and I am SO thankful to have her in my life.

Zoe and me (right after I got my haicut)

She and her family opened up their home and allowed me to stay with them during my trip to Korea. I know travelling alone can put a lot of pressure on the visited people, so I was very grateful to have had this opportunity. I spent 3 full jam-packed days in Korea, and I had such a great time, aside from getting terribly car sick on the bus to Yonsei on the first day. Here are a few of the things I was able to do:

Day 1:


Yonsei University: This is where Zoe is currently “studying abroad”. I say this with quotes because her family moved back to Korea when she entered UCSD, so she is staying with her family while she studies abroad for one year. I`m going to miss her when I go back to UCSD.

Yonsei University

Gyeongbokgung Palace: This is Korea`s imperial palace located in the heart of Seoul. After visiting the palace, Zoe`s family took me out for a delicious buffet with food from all over the world!

Emperor's throne room

Traditional Korean warrior attire

Palace garden

Day 2:

Gangnam: This is Korea`s high end fashion and shopping district. I had a lot of fun exploring all the shops and looking at Korea`s fashion. Quick note... Korea has THE best cafes. America needs to get on this.

Streets of Gangnam

Hongik University: This college is famous for its art department. The surrounding community is very lively, so I did some more exploring here as well. And again, of course I stopped at a cafe. This one was called “Thanks Nature Cafe” so naturally I had to eat here.

Sinchon: This is the city surrounding Yonsei University. One of my friends from back home, Ashlee, is teaching English at an elementary school near Incheon, which is about an hour away from Sinchon. This night, we met up in Sinchon and ate some delicioius soft tofu stew. I was so glad that I got to see her in Korea!

Shlee and me in Sinchon

Day 3:

I started the day off by sleeping in because the other mornings I woke up around 6 or 7 o`clock. I`m finding that traveling is quite rough on the sleep schedule because I don`t like wasting the day, especially when it starts getting dark around 4:30 in the afternoon. I met up with Zoe in Sinchon after her classes and we did some shopping AND ate some long desired Mexican food at Choi`s Tacos.

Suwon: After shopping in Sinchon, I headed over to Suwon, which is where another friend of mine, Amanda, from UCSD is teaching English at an elementary school. After meeting her at the station, we wandered the streets of Suwon, ate dinner and topped the night off with waffles at yet another cafe.

Amanda at me at her favorite cafe

To conclude this blog entry, I wish to thank Zoe and her family again for their hospitality. I never thought that I would have the chance to visit Korea, but God has truly blessed me with this opportunity. I am constantly reminded that God is watching out for me, and its reassuring to know that He`s calling the shots. After a sad goodbye to Zoe and her family, I returned “home” to Japan. And as a preview for my next few blogs, here`s what y`all have to look forward to: Kitano-san`s cooking school and picnic by the river, Ueno park, China Town, Ramen Museum, our Wedding themed party, church, Sakuragicho and Minatomirai21, Kyoto and Nara, adventures with Kelly Erbe, MISH Thanksgiving Dinner, Tsukiji Fish Market, Fujisawa Fireworks, Kawaguchiko/Mt. Fuji, and Fuji-Q Highland.