Routine

Sorry for the lack of updates lately! Nothing exciting has been going on...

School's GREAT! My students are so fun, and happy and energetic that it makes me job REALLY easy and enjoyable. I wonder if I'm still in the "honeymoon phase". Outside of work, I hang out with Jennifer in Kobe, and haven't gone anywhere lately. I'm going to Osaka tomorrow after work to hang out with a few fellow teachers, and then I think the Kobe Jazz Festival with Jenn & Co. on Sunday. Monday.... I'll clean my apartment, because it's dirty :)

I'll try to take some photos too! Sometimes I wish I had a really small compact camera (hint hint).

Love you!!!!!!!

Postcards & Sweet Tea

I FINALLY bought some stamps ("Kitte wo, kudasai.") so postcards should be arriving in a few weeks? I'm not sure. Let me know when you get one!

I also made 1.5L of sweet tea yesterday. It doesn't quite taste the same, because they don't have Lipton tea or Luzzianne, everything's black tea, yellow tea, jasmine tea... But it was delicious, and I already drank it all, and am making more right now.

"Exprain"

I just heard this from one of my fellow teachers:

"When rife hands you remons.... you go to shopping."

It perfectly sums up some people's grasp of English. I laughed out loud.

Golden Week! - Day Seven: Slices in Osaka

This morning, I left Takatsuki to come home to Kobe. When I got home, Jen called and said she was seeing Anthony off at the JR Station in Sannomiya. We were going to meet up, and we decided to head to Osaka to try and find this pizza place Jen had heard of. I am so glad we went. I was so super freaking excited to eat nachos and pizza! It was super delicious. So yes, I went to Osaka for pizza.

(Photos taken on my cell phone, sorry for the crappy quality)

Golden Week! - Day Five & Six: Takatsuki Jazz Festival

Went to Takatsuki for a Jazz Festival. My fellow teacher Lamika lives there, so I stayed with her. I met many awesome people (Matt, the former teacher at Lamika's school, from Australia; Dane from Australia; Luke, Lamika's coworker; Hiroko and Tomiko, and other's I can remember!).

This was the second band. The singer saw the group of us gaijins in the back of the crowd, and said something into the mic that made everyone turn around and look at us. I'm guessing something like, "Hey, look at all the gaijins!".

Either way, she said, "My name is Lucy I'm from New Orleans!". I don't think I believe her. She tried to stick the mic in Luke's face to get him to sing, but he was too embarassed.














The next venue was on the roof of a department store. Pretty random. Picture One - L to R: Hiroko, Luke, Matt, Lamika. Picture Two - The band that was playing on the roof. Picture Three - Hiroko and Matt. Picture Four - Dane














































Next bar! This poor woman... she could not sing. She tried very hard, however.
























Day Two! Monday, Lamika and I went to JK Cafe to listen to a band that's style was simply "Black". Not "Jazz", or "Etc." like some others, just.... "Black". Interesting. They were AWESOME! The singer was from the States, but the pianist, bass player and drummer were all Japanese. Here is a video of him singing a great blues song:

And finally... two cute boys who made friends with us in one of the bars. I just love his facial expression!

Golden Week! - Day Four: Harborland

Today I walked to Harborland in Kobe. It's about two and a half miles away, and I wanted to take photos right when they turn on the lights at the Kobe Port Tower. So I assumed I would need to be around the area at 6pm. I left my apartment at 12. I definitely walked around Harborland for 5 hours before I said "Forget this" and left. I'll go back again and take night photos, but maybe I won't go by myself :)
In HaRe Department store, there was a small band set up in the middle area. As I walked by, they were singing "Stand By Me" in English. It was pretty good actually. The lead singer had a nice afro haha.

Between my aparment and Harborland I found an old camera store. They had all kinds of lenses, camera bodies, and random things. I will definitely have to go back and explore the store soon.

One of the store owners who says hello to me when I walk past made me laugh so hard today:

Me: "Good afternoon!"
Store Owner: "Aloha!"
Me: confused

Does he think I'm Hawaiian? haha.
In Harborland, on Saturdays they have a flea market. It's awesome.

Golden Week! - Day Three: Kyoto

Day three of Golden Week! Today, Ayako, Lamika, Adam and I went to Kyoto to sightsee. We visited Rokuon-Ji Temple (proper name) also called Kinkaku (popular name) also called The Golden Pavilion (nickname). It was built in the 1220s. That's crazy. Here are some more photos: