Tuesday I got together for some girl talk with Ayaka at Gusto after she got off work, which was
really nice, since she is awesome to talk to. On Wednesday, Charles, Miki, Yuuki, Tony, Ayako and I got together at Marina's place to eat Soumen (cold, long, buckwheat noodles that you dip in some kind of brown broth and eat with scallions) and do fireworks! It was exactly what I needed, so by Thursday morning I was back on track and ready to kick butt. Nothing like a little fireworks to put a spark back in you (and yes I meant that to be totally and completely corny.)Thursday I went to go see Airbender with Tony and Charles at Toho Cinemas in Hitachi Naka last minute, where we ran into Charles's other American friend, Reuben. We ended up staying and talking so long that they actually kicked us out and then we stood outside talking for so long a police officer was came by and told us to scram since we they were closing the parking lot soon
><. It was fun though. I've never seen the Airbender series, so I had no expectations going into it. They all had and said it was pretty good, though some of the casting should have been reversed. So now I think I am going to see the series now because I am very intrigued. I hope they make the rest of the movies! Oh yes...and by far the coolest thing about the movie theater? The floor leading into the theater glowed and changed colors. O_O Japanese movie theaters are awesome. So expensive but awesome. They have little mini stores where you can buy movie merchandise, really good food (they even sell beer) for surprisingly, very reasonable prices and you reserve your ticket. Also, Japanese people stay and watch the credits. They also make no noise. Not to gasp, not to laugh, not to talk nothing. It was nice...but also very weird.
><. It was fun though. I've never seen the Airbender series, so I had no expectations going into it. They all had and said it was pretty good, though some of the casting should have been reversed. So now I think I am going to see the series now because I am very intrigued. I hope they make the rest of the movies! Oh yes...and by far the coolest thing about the movie theater? The floor leading into the theater glowed and changed colors. O_O Japanese movie theaters are awesome. So expensive but awesome. They have little mini stores where you can buy movie merchandise, really good food (they even sell beer) for surprisingly, very reasonable prices and you reserve your ticket. Also, Japanese people stay and watch the credits. They also make no noise. Not to gasp, not to laugh, not to talk nothing. It was nice...but also very weird.Friday morning I was woken up bright and early at 6 am by being shaken back and forth. I was trying to figure out who had gotten into my room and was shaking me before the shaking continued to the point that I was rocking back and forth on my mattress. That's when I fully woke up and realized that there was another earthquake going on. This one actually went on for a full minute or two and I found out later was a level 3 (nothing in my room fell over), so I just kind of laid in bed and waited for it to be over and go back to sleep. The sensation is still very very weird. Especially because I was in my bed which, give how hard my mattress over here is, I shouldn't be feeling/moving or anything.
Saturday started at the crack of dawn, and I do mean that literally, since I woke up at 4:30. Ayako, Tony, Miki, Marina, Yuuki and I decided to all go to Disneyland for the day since Disneyland has been featuring a special campus pass for students that is 15 dollars off for the month of July and this was the first chance we have had to go. Unfortunately since we all live in three different cities (Marina, Tony, Ayako and I live in Mito while Miki lives in Tsukuba and Yuuki lives in Ishioka) and Disneyland is 2-3 hours away, this meant we had to be at the train station at 6 in order to catch the right sequence of trains to make sure we all ended up on the same train to Maihama (Disneyland's train station) right around when the park opened. Talk about a long day.
Saturday started at the crack of dawn, and I do mean that literally, since I woke up at 4:30. Ayako, Tony, Miki, Marina, Yuuki and I decided to all go to Disneyland for the day since Disneyland has been featuring a special campus pass for students that is 15 dollars off for the month of July and this was the first chance we have had to go. Unfortunately since we all live in three different cities (Marina, Tony, Ayako and I live in Mito while Miki lives in Tsukuba and Yuuki lives in Ishioka) and Disneyland is 2-3 hours away, this meant we had to be at the train station at 6 in order to catch the right sequence of trains to make sure we all ended up on the same train to Maihama (Disneyland's train station) right around when the park opened. Talk about a long day.
The park was no where near as crowded as it was in March, despite it being a Saturday and most middle school and high schools having just got out for summer vacation this past week. I was 
surprised by that at first, but then again, since its the Manatsubi (the hottest time of the year where ever day is over 90 degrees at least...and that's before you add the humidity), it was hot. Over a hundred degrees without the humidity...so with the humidity...I really have no idea what degree it felt like. The surface of the sun maybe?
I was smart though and packed a liter of water in my backpack that everyone laughed at me for in the morning, saying my backpack was going to be to heavy...but by 1 or so Marina looked at me said, "You're right. I am jealous". We made the best of it by running in and out of stores and getting on air conditioned rides fairly frequently as well as indulging in ice cream and shaved ice once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
We got on a bunch of rides and were able to get more than two fast passes. (the amount my mom and I were able to get before they all ran
out in March). We rode all the Mountains (Space, Splash and Thunder), Buzz Light Year, Captain EO (the Michael Jackson attraction that is a 3-D "music video" that Coppola, Lucas, Jackson and Disney made 25 years ago), the Carousel, Its a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Snow White, and the longest wait we had was 70 minutes. (We walked on the Carousel, Its a Small World and Pirates) We also never had to wait longer than 15 minutes to get our food and had plenty of time to go shopping and watch the Midsummer Night Panic Show and Electric Lights Parade :)
It was a lot of fun just running around with them. Its really funny to note just how differently Japanese people do major theme parks compared to Americans. Tony and I were dressed very normally by American Theme Park standards. Comfortable pants or capris, good sturdy sneakers, baseball hat or sunglasses, a backpack and a light cotton/comfortable shirt or T-shirt. Miki
showed up in a cotton sundress and gladiator sandles. Ayako was wearing a nice shirt with two layers and a short jacket with black jeans, a leather hand bag and girly sandles. Marina was decently close with jeans, sandles, a shoulder bag, and a cotton shirt, and Yuuki was the closest in a T-shirt, shorts, backpack and chucks. So we all teased them about their wardrobe on the train. I would like to point out that while Tony and I were waiting in line for the Buzz Light Year Ride, most of the girls wearing sandals said their feet hurt and they had to sit down. :P (This picture is while we were waiting in line...it is Tony and Yuuki's reaction to the mural on the wall saying that Aliens were coming and we needed Star Command's help)
Normally, in America, my family will hit up the parks in a very orderly fashion. Going through one area of the park, one at at time, with the occasional one person running off to get Fast Passes for everyone to eliminate unnecessary walking. However, Disneyland is so small, we just kept walking from one end of the park to another to get on rides while we were waiting for our Fast Pass time to come up. It led to some very tired feet by the end of the day, but it did lead to us getting on a lot of rides, which was nice. Plus they're just a really fun group to hang out with, and I adore my friends, so I didn't mind just running around the park or waiting in long lines with them. :)
surprised by that at first, but then again, since its the Manatsubi (the hottest time of the year where ever day is over 90 degrees at least...and that's before you add the humidity), it was hot. Over a hundred degrees without the humidity...so with the humidity...I really have no idea what degree it felt like. The surface of the sun maybe?I was smart though and packed a liter of water in my backpack that everyone laughed at me for in the morning, saying my backpack was going to be to heavy...but by 1 or so Marina looked at me said, "You're right. I am jealous". We made the best of it by running in and out of stores and getting on air conditioned rides fairly frequently as well as indulging in ice cream and shaved ice once in the morning and once in the afternoon.
We got on a bunch of rides and were able to get more than two fast passes. (the amount my mom and I were able to get before they all ran
out in March). We rode all the Mountains (Space, Splash and Thunder), Buzz Light Year, Captain EO (the Michael Jackson attraction that is a 3-D "music video" that Coppola, Lucas, Jackson and Disney made 25 years ago), the Carousel, Its a Small World, Pirates of the Caribbean, Haunted Mansion and Snow White, and the longest wait we had was 70 minutes. (We walked on the Carousel, Its a Small World and Pirates) We also never had to wait longer than 15 minutes to get our food and had plenty of time to go shopping and watch the Midsummer Night Panic Show and Electric Lights Parade :)It was a lot of fun just running around with them. Its really funny to note just how differently Japanese people do major theme parks compared to Americans. Tony and I were dressed very normally by American Theme Park standards. Comfortable pants or capris, good sturdy sneakers, baseball hat or sunglasses, a backpack and a light cotton/comfortable shirt or T-shirt. Miki
showed up in a cotton sundress and gladiator sandles. Ayako was wearing a nice shirt with two layers and a short jacket with black jeans, a leather hand bag and girly sandles. Marina was decently close with jeans, sandles, a shoulder bag, and a cotton shirt, and Yuuki was the closest in a T-shirt, shorts, backpack and chucks. So we all teased them about their wardrobe on the train. I would like to point out that while Tony and I were waiting in line for the Buzz Light Year Ride, most of the girls wearing sandals said their feet hurt and they had to sit down. :P (This picture is while we were waiting in line...it is Tony and Yuuki's reaction to the mural on the wall saying that Aliens were coming and we needed Star Command's help)Normally, in America, my family will hit up the parks in a very orderly fashion. Going through one area of the park, one at at time, with the occasional one person running off to get Fast Passes for everyone to eliminate unnecessary walking. However, Disneyland is so small, we just kept walking from one end of the park to another to get on rides while we were waiting for our Fast Pass time to come up. It led to some very tired feet by the end of the day, but it did lead to us getting on a lot of rides, which was nice. Plus they're just a really fun group to hang out with, and I adore my friends, so I didn't mind just running around the park or waiting in long lines with them. :)
With faces like those, who wouldn't want to hang out with them?
We tried to get lottery tickets for One Man's Dream II and premium seating in front of the Castle for the Midsummer Night Panic show, but with 6 people, I guess its really not that surprising that we didn't win the lottery. We did still get to see the midsummer night panic from the back of the courtyard, and though it was kind of hard to see, I enjoyed the light show that they played all over the castle at night...oh and the fire. That was cool too.
There aren't a whole lot of characters running around Disneyland, which surprised me. I think the whole day I saw The Fairy God Mother, Sleeping Beauty and Prince Phillip, Peter Pan, Chip and Dale, Pluto and Tweedle Dee and Tweedle Dum. That may seem like a lot when its listed out, but really, I am used to seeing a lot more at the Magic Kingdom. Also, the characters didn't have handlers which I thought was really strange.
In Florida, there are character guides who walk around with the characters, make sure people don't cut in line, make sure the character doesn't pass out from heat exhaustion, take pictures for the family and make sure kids don't get to out of control pulling on the costumes...but there was no such thing here. So not only did we always have to find someone else to take our picture, but we basically had to fight to get a picture with a character...because...well...the Japanese people were just kind of rude. They'd push in front of you, even if you were all ready standing with a character, getting ready to take a picture and other kind of stuff that just wouldn't fly in Disney World. It was a little annoying, but we still managed to get pictures with a lot of the characters.
In Florida, there are character guides who walk around with the characters, make sure people don't cut in line, make sure the character doesn't pass out from heat exhaustion, take pictures for the family and make sure kids don't get to out of control pulling on the costumes...but there was no such thing here. So not only did we always have to find someone else to take our picture, but we basically had to fight to get a picture with a character...because...well...the Japanese people were just kind of rude. They'd push in front of you, even if you were all ready standing with a character, getting ready to take a picture and other kind of stuff that just wouldn't fly in Disney World. It was a little annoying, but we still managed to get pictures with a lot of the characters.
By far the most interesting (aka weird) character was by far, Tweedle Dee. I really don't know what was up with him, but when we saw him wandering The Red Queen's Banquet Hall/Its a Small World, he kept gyrating/moving his hips/stomach in...oddly suggestive ways directly behind the children whenever he would take pictures with them. I am really not sure why Japanese parents didn't see a problem with this...but then again I did see people toting infants around in 100 + degree heat and taking them on rides they should not have been on.
Seriously. I saw a set of parents taking their infant on The Haunted Mansion...and then I saw another woman try and take her infant on Space Mountain and it caused a big hullabaloo in line when they had to figure out was staying behind and who was riding, because, surprise, surprise the ride operator was not going to let an infant on Space Mountain. I am beginning to wonder how Japanese children make it past infancy...but anyway....Tweedle Dee. He saw us laughing at him and all but grabbed (scratch that, he did) Tony to take a picture. It was so weird but had us laughing the entire way through the Line of Its A Small World.
Seriously. I saw a set of parents taking their infant on The Haunted Mansion...and then I saw another woman try and take her infant on Space Mountain and it caused a big hullabaloo in line when they had to figure out was staying behind and who was riding, because, surprise, surprise the ride operator was not going to let an infant on Space Mountain. I am beginning to wonder how Japanese children make it past infancy...but anyway....Tweedle Dee. He saw us laughing at him and all but grabbed (scratch that, he did) Tony to take a picture. It was so weird but had us laughing the entire way through the Line of Its A Small World.
Would you let him near your children?
We went on Pirates which was actually freaking cool because its very different from the Florida version and even has a restaurant attached to it! You get in the boats and float down a river and before you get into the tunnel that will take you to the ride and you float by river side 1800th century New Orleans restaurant with "outdoor" seating during "night time". It was really expensive, so unfortunately, we couldn't go, but still, it was a really cool idea!
Since she lives in Ukraine, the closest Disneyland is either in China or France (aka not very close), it was Marina's first time to Disneyland. I'd never seen her this excited or have this much
of a reaction. While we were waiting by the Man and the Mouse statue I turned to Miki and Marina and said "Guys! We're at Disneyland TOGETHER!" And they got really excited and we basically went skipping up to the statue laughing like children...even Marina! And she normally doesn't get that excited about anything and is a huge fan of dry humor. We also walked by the Merry-Go-Round and got really excited exclaiming "Guys! Guys! Can we please ride that?! Please! Please, I've never ridden one!". We were running off to get Fast Passes, but we did manage to make it back there to ride it, and she was very excited. Especially when Tony told her some of the horses go up and down. She said she had waited 21 years so she was willing to beat up small children in order to get one of those horses (this, of course, was a joke...I think) Luckily, they all went up and down, so she didn't have to worry. So here you go...Marina's first Merry Go Round!
of a reaction. While we were waiting by the Man and the Mouse statue I turned to Miki and Marina and said "Guys! We're at Disneyland TOGETHER!" And they got really excited and we basically went skipping up to the statue laughing like children...even Marina! And she normally doesn't get that excited about anything and is a huge fan of dry humor. We also walked by the Merry-Go-Round and got really excited exclaiming "Guys! Guys! Can we please ride that?! Please! Please, I've never ridden one!". We were running off to get Fast Passes, but we did manage to make it back there to ride it, and she was very excited. Especially when Tony told her some of the horses go up and down. She said she had waited 21 years so she was willing to beat up small children in order to get one of those horses (this, of course, was a joke...I think) Luckily, they all went up and down, so she didn't have to worry. So here you go...Marina's first Merry Go Round!
We had a really fun time and ended up heading home at 8:30/9 (the parks here close at 10 because all the trains stop at midnight) because Mito is that far from Disney and we caught the last train home. It was awesome and I'm so glad I got to go with essentially my favorite group of people here in Japan! Here are some other random/fun pics from the rest of the day.
Also in random other news, on Friday, I had to submit my move-out paperwork :(. I was not happy with this because it made me put a count down on my days here...as in 3 weeks from today, I'll be on a plane home...and 4 weeks from when I submitted my paperwork, I start school again in America. While I miss my family and being able to be verbally understood ever day, as well as some of my favorite foods...I think I will miss here more, and I'm not ready to go. There is so much I still want to do! So much I still want to see and experience!
Of course, just how moving in over here wasn't an easy process, moving out isn't going to be a walk through flowers either. I'm leaving the last day of Bon, a three day festival all over Japan which is kind of like the Japanese equivalent of Day of the Dead. This, of course means the school is going to be closed...which means that I can't go give my key to anyone at school, the Japanese RA will be back in his home town for the holidays so I can't give it to him and no one will be around to do my room check. So I have to give my key to either Marina or Adon and trust them to remember to give it to the RA when he gets back.
Also, I have to have my room check five days before I leave. Please note that the room check is to make sure that you have all of your stuff out of your rooms and takes place on the day you leave. The teacher told me I had to have all my stuff out of there. I told her that wasn't possible and when she stared at me and tried to figure out why, I kindly explained that I'll still be living there for the next half week or so, and as such, I will still need to eat/cook, shower, sleep and I am not repacking and unpacking my suit case every day to get to my clothes and that they would just have to trust me when I say I will take care of it. Oh goodness Ibaraki University. You have been so good to me...and I will miss you...but some of your organizational skills...
Well that's all for now! Got to go study for some F.I.N.A.L.S! Wish me luck!
Of course, just how moving in over here wasn't an easy process, moving out isn't going to be a walk through flowers either. I'm leaving the last day of Bon, a three day festival all over Japan which is kind of like the Japanese equivalent of Day of the Dead. This, of course means the school is going to be closed...which means that I can't go give my key to anyone at school, the Japanese RA will be back in his home town for the holidays so I can't give it to him and no one will be around to do my room check. So I have to give my key to either Marina or Adon and trust them to remember to give it to the RA when he gets back.
Also, I have to have my room check five days before I leave. Please note that the room check is to make sure that you have all of your stuff out of your rooms and takes place on the day you leave. The teacher told me I had to have all my stuff out of there. I told her that wasn't possible and when she stared at me and tried to figure out why, I kindly explained that I'll still be living there for the next half week or so, and as such, I will still need to eat/cook, shower, sleep and I am not repacking and unpacking my suit case every day to get to my clothes and that they would just have to trust me when I say I will take care of it. Oh goodness Ibaraki University. You have been so good to me...and I will miss you...but some of your organizational skills...
Well that's all for now! Got to go study for some F.I.N.A.L.S! Wish me luck!
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