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.