The Castle, The Park, and the Creepy Things!

11/22/11

Today was our last “free” day before training, so we decided to see the other side of the train station that we hadn’t been able to explore yesterday. Plus, there was a castle and a famous park nearby too, which, though a little tourist-y, was supposed to be really famous and beautiful.

So, after getting hot tea at a vending machine (which is still the coolest thing ever), we headed off across the station and ended up walking through this covered street marketplace, like those outdoor malls in England where they have stores on either side, but there is a roof covering everything. We went to a hyaku-en (100 yen) store, which is like a dollar store here, and bought gloves and looked at all the other weird things. :) Then we found a yarn/knitting shop and Chelsea, Rosie and I went in to look at it. There was a really cute kid, a man, and I think his mother who owned the shop. We saw a beautiful scarf and the lady showed us the yarn it was made with. I decided to get some, because it was really reasonably priced and looked amazing! The best part was that the lady then proceeded to show me how to make the scarf we were looking at (which was surprisingly easy), and even gave me a free pattern! It just blew my mind how nice she was! Even though my Japanese wasn’t very good, she just smiled and was super helpful and friendly.  If I lived in this area I would buy yarn from her all the time!

The "Sky Mall" :)

Chelsea, Niki, Dane, Cat, Rosie, Ayumi, and Chris

It took a while to get to the castle, but we finally did. It was located in a gorgeous park with a river next to it. The castle is called Okayama-jō (here, “jō” means castle). It was built in 1597 and is called “crow castle” sometimes because the outside is black, and it had beautiful white and gold edging, which really made it stand out. In World War II it was destroyed in air raids, but then they made a perfect reconstructed it in the 1960s. There was an area before you actually got to the castle where there were outlines on the ground where there used to be buildings before they were destroyed, and they had reconstructed the foundation stones as well. The castle was beautiful from the outside, but we didn’t go in because it was a little bit expensive. Instead, we went to the Korakuen garden, which was located right next to Okayama-jo. (Shift+ Left Click the picture to bigger original size)

Me! At Okayama Castle

The park was absolutely stunning. Words can’t really describe it, so here are some photos, and I’ll try to put up a ton more soon (I took like 70 photos today!).

There was a wooded part of the park as well, and although it was beautiful as well, it was also a little creepy… The bamboo and trees everywhere made it very dark in comparison with the rest of the park. And then there were… the creepy things. So, we were walking through the woods and suddenly we come upon this:

Ok, so obviously it’s some kind of art sculpture. A little ominous but, ok cool. But then when you get close to it you see:

A Brain!!!!! :O

No, not a real brain, but that is a rather realistic depiction of one. It was really weird and a little creepy. But we kept going, and found a little building… with tall metal spikes on the ground outside. Again, obviously artistic but a bit un-nerving.

Rosie was the bravest among us, and went first. :)

But not as unnerving as what was inside of the building. There was a lattice on the front and a mirror behind it, but the mirror was angled so that if you stood on the left side of the building you saw your reflection only on the right hand side. Plus, when you looked at the floor:

WHAT ARE THESE???

They were really creepy, but also kind of cool. The woods started to give us the creeps so we headed back toward the sunny fielded area, and passed by another house exhibit. You could only go up to see it 3 at a time and there were, of all things, playing cards lodged in the wooden slats of the porch. We asked the staff lady who was there what the significance of the cards was, but actually she said they had no meaning originally but that for some reason, now, people come and put them there as a kind of good-luck thing. It was really interesting, but I was a little disappointed that there was no other explanation for it or a clue as to the other art exhibits we had seen.

Also, as we headed out of the woods, we found a small lake full of dead lilies… eek! Scary!

Everyone was super tired after our excursion, so we headed back toward the training center, and stopped for ramen on the way. Yay! My first Japanese restaurant! :) You had to order pay for the food at a machine, then give the ticket to a waitress inside. Unfortunately, everyone who knew Japanese ordered first and went to sit down, but I was one of the last ones and I was like, “Hey! Come back, I can’t read!” Sigh, I definitely need to improve on my Japanese. After eating we went to an electronics store and I bought a stylus for my tablet, then we headed home.

After all the walking yesterday and today I was SO tired when we got back. I fell asleep at 5pm and didn’t wake up until 11! Training starts tomorrow, though, so hopefully the extra sleep will help. :) I had an amazing time exploring Okayama today, and hopefully tomorrow will be an adventure too!

Until next time!

We Embark Upon an Epic Adventure!

 

11/20/11

We have 2 days off before training starts, so we were free to wander around the city, and today I had one of the best days of my entire life!

After staying up until 2-3am talking with Chelsea (my awesome roomie), I woke up at 8am and couldn’t go back to sleep. It was my first day in a brand new country and I was WIRED to go exploring. A small group of us (5 total) gathered in the common room and we decided to go wander around the area around the school. There’s a vending machine with hot and cold drinks right outside of the dorm building next to a tabako (tobacco) shop. We got hot coffee in a can, which is the best drink in the whole world on a cool autumn morning, and just started off on the main sidewalk leading away from the school.

We went really far, just on that same street , and read funny store names, bought kare-pan (curry buns), and almost got run over by sidewalk bikers. Then, we came upon a purse lying in the middle of the sidewalk.  We kinda stood there looking at it and trying to figure out if we should pick it up and where to take it. No one else really stopped to look at it, so Rose finally grabbed it and we went into a small bakery nearby to ask if someone had lost it. The manager only spoke Japanese, and for a few minutes Rose and I (the others waited outside) were at a loss for how to explain the situation. Finally, Rose was able to get across what had happened, her Japanese is much better than mine, and the guy told us to take it to the kouban (police box) nearby. He was really helpful and even drew us a map, which was awesome!

I didn't take this photo, but it's just to show you.

So, we left the bakery and went off in search of the kouban, but got a little lost on the way and had to stop random passers-by for directions. We found a huge park with both a baseball and a soccer stadium. There were games going on in both, and also some kind of event going on outside with food and tents for something called “The Dream to  Children.” I think it was a charity event going on during the soccer game. We didn’t stop right away since we still hadn’t found the police box yet, but after maybe 10 more minutes we finally arrived.

Rose, Chelsea, and I went inside with the purse and encountered 5 police officers who did not speak any English (I see this becoming a pattern in the future-more reason to brush up on my Japanese). Thank goodness Rose was able to communicate a bit more fluidly, and we were able to tell them where we had found it and what had happened. My contributions were random outbursts of “keiki no mise!” (“cake store” grammatically, but it made them all laugh), and “koko, koko,naka!” (“here, here, middle,” trying to explain that it was laying in the middle of the road). The best one though was, when trying to locate the Amity dorms on a map for our contact address, I pointed to the map and said “TABAKO!!!” (because of the shop right across the street), but unfortunately said it rather loud and intensely. I definitely need to work on my Japanese… Everyone got a good laugh out of it, and we did eventually locate the building. :) The police people were super nice and took their time to help us out. There were tons of credit cards and almost ¥70,000  (over $700 cash) in there, so it’s a good thing we found it. If it was my purse I would have been freaking out! They found the girl’s id card and called her on the phone, but we left before she got there.

Afterward we went to the “Dream to the Children” and ate chicken on a stick (sorry, I forget what it’s called) and blueberry cheesecake ice cream. :)Then we wandered away down the road and turned right over a looong bridge. We found a book store, and then a department/grocery store called “Happy Town” which was HUGE! We bought food for dinner and I bought a bag to use in place of my purse which I unfortunately packed in my big suitcase that was forwarded to my school. My bag is super awesome because it is ENGRISH! 

The transcript reads:

Dear My Friend, Hello. How are you? I m very very fine! About five years pass since you return to the hometown. I am glad to be gone of you. [Something] it s very lonely if it happily spends it. I looks forward to meeting you some time. I [something] your nappiness. Thank. TO JAPAN

My favorite part is that this is supposed to be a letter to a friend, but apparently the writer is happy to be away from them. I don’t think their friendship is very strong, probably because of the reciever's "nappiness." Taking care of your hair is important in Japan I guess. :P 

At the top of the store (it had 3 stories)  we did puri-kura which is like a photo booth where you can edit the photos afterward with sparkles, stamps, and doodles and it prints you tiny, tiny photo stickers that you can put on things! :) I will see if I can take a good photo of our photo so you guys can see it!

Afterward it was getting late (like 4-5 hours since we had left the dorms), and we decided to head back. It took FOREVER to walk back and it got really cold and started to rain too. Most of us didn’t have jackets or umbrellas, so by the time we got back we were super happy to be inside where it was warm and dry. We ate our food, played uno and Egyptian rat screw, and then made Popin’ Cookin’ sushi-candy! It’s basically a kit where you use powdered gels and water to make realistic looking food items… but out of candy! There will be photos as soon as the girls upload it to Facebook for me. The reviews were correct about it, though. It doesn’t really taste bad, but it has a weird texture. Kind of wet and mealy. But making it was FUN!

I finally got to talk to my family for like 5 minutes over skype, but our internet connection was so bad (we officially don’t have any in the dorm, so we’re sneaking an unprotected one) that we all had trouble hearing one another and eventually it just cut off. This was the first time since leaving Columbus that I really broke down. I felt super homesick and I just missed my family so much. I know that this is a natural part of “growing up,” but it doesn’t have to hurt so much, does it? I wanted to tell them that I was fine and all about what had happened today, but mostly we said “I can’t hear you.” I did get to tell them that I love and miss them, and the best part was hearing them tell me that they loved me too. <3

Overall, we had an amazing day today. I didn’t expect to have this much to write on the first day, but hopefully the adventures will continue!

Oyasumi nasai! (goodnight)

Shawna

P.S. I promise to take more photos... I forgot... :/ In an epic rpg adventure party, you never have "knight, wizard, rogue, photographer." :P

THE EAGLE HAS LANDED! :D

Here's my first journal entry from last night (Friday)! I don't know how often I'll be able to post, since we have very limited access, so enjoy! I'm sorry for any sleepiness-induced spelling/grammar errors. :P

Nov. 18, 2011

I am here. I have finally arrived in Japan! Right now I'm snuggled under the covers of my room at the Training Facility dorms, and though I am much too tired to be writing anything, I'll try to give an update.

The plane ride was super long, but I can't say that I didn't enjoy it. Actually, I think I am officially over my fear of flying. :) The takeoff wasn't nearly as scary by my third flight. My favorite part is right when the plane's about to land and you anticipate the wheels touching down with a bump, but then they don't and your heart leaps, and then the plane wobbles, glides a little further... and fakes you out again before startling you when it actually does touch down. I barely made my last flight and had to run to the boarding station, but I made it and flew into Osaka at around 5pm. Afterward my training group and I had to take an almost 2 hour local train + shinkansen (bullet train) combo trip before we finally could consider ourselves "arrived."

I haven't been able to call my family yet to let them know that I've arrived, which makes me a little sad. When we were at the airport I was going to use the international pay phones, until I realized that it was 4am in America. Then, after we got to the training facility we couldn't find an international pay phone to use. :( My awesome roomie, Chelsea let me use her skype to call home, but I had to leave a message. We have been stealing a scant 1-2 bars of unlocked wireless here, but other than that I'm in a technological wasteland until I can get a phone plan. Hopefully I can call them back tomorrow.

Dude, I just got a spark of internet. Google is in Japanese on my screen. :P

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For the record, Chelsea and I stayed up all night talking. :) But this moring I don't have a headache or anything despite waking up at 8am! I think I may have avoided jet lag all together!