The English Corner members decided that last week's Nomikai was not enough and wanted to
meet up one last time (for real this time) at Takarajima, the local Yakiniku place for a 2 hour Tabehoudai (all you can eat) lunch on Monday. Unfortunately due to some people having class, a massive thunderstorm and Hiroki needing to go to the hospital last minute to get something checked in his eyes, it was only Tony, Tomoko, Mune, Sho and I, but it was still fun and very delicious. I am going to miss Soft Calibi (the softest, tenderest and most delicious meat ever) dipped in Yakiniku Tare oh so much. All of us missed breakfast either due to oversleeping or in preparation for our lunch, so we ended being so hungry and eating so much that we took little 
naps on the zabuton (floor cushions) around our tables between orders and before dessert. I know that Yakiniku originally comes from Korea...but aside from Yakisoba, I would have to say that hands down Yakiniku is my favorite Japanese food. Especially with the sauce that they use at Takarajima.After a much needed nap (read: food coma), Yasu, Ayaka, Yuki A., Yuuki and Miki came over for a Sloppy Joe/Cheese fry dinner at my place. :) (I had invited them before Takarajima was planned, so no, I didn't intentionally plan a double whammy gorge fest.) Not surprisingly, I didn't eat much, but they all loved it, even though I couldn't make it quite right since they don't sell hamburger buns or Tomato paste here, the vinegar isn't quite strong enough and the cheese is a tad off. But what little of it I did eat, was yummy. :) My room mate from the fall semester, Jill, has been asking for a while now to meet some of my friends, since I've talked to her about them so much...so she made a little cameo appearance via Skype, which was fun and Yasu said they really enjoyed (especially when Jilly and I talked at what is a normal speed...for us). Yasu couldn't believe it when he asked her if when I talked if she thought it was slow, and she said yes, it had slowed down a lot since having come to live in Japan. After Jill headed off to work, we called it a rap since Ayaka and Yasu had reports and Miki and Yuuki live almost an hour away...and well, Yuki A. and I couldn't very well play SPOONS by ourselves. :P
Today the International Exchange Center took us all on a class trip to Fukushima (the state north
of us), which was a lot of fun. The day started off early, with all of us taking a chartered bus to Iwaki. We first got off at a little shrine that...our tour guide didn't really explain, and there really wasn't a whole heck of a lot there, but the scenery was very pretty. Inside the temple a man was talking (I believe) about the virtues of Buddhism and the like, so we sat in for a little bit of that before taking "Class pictures", since this was the class trip for the Spring Semester, which was fun, because our group is really cohesive one that gets on really well together.We all went and got Omikuji which also had little cell phone charms in them, and I just happened to get a purple one which matches all the other charms on my phone. :)
For those of you who don't know, Omikuji are little strips of paper with your fortune on them that you pick randomly either out of a box (as was the case at this shrine) or you get by shaking a metal or wooden canister until a stick falls out and you get the fortune that is matched with the number on your stick. The most basic three are Daikichi (大吉, best luck), Kichi (吉, luck) and Kyo (凶, bad luck). However at some temples (such as this one) they may also have varying degrees in between Daikichi and Kichi and between Kichi and Kyo. I almost always get Kichi (luck), but today, since this temple included Chu-kichi ( 中吉, middle/above average in this case) and Shou kichi (小吉, little/slightly above average) for their fortunes, I got Chu-kichi. :D I've yet to get a Daikichi, but I'm okay with that...because all my Japanese friends firmly believe that always getting Kichi is the best kind of luck you can have. They tell me that if I always get the same kind of luck, that must mean that my luck is consistently good!After the shrine, we headed to the Iwaki Coal and Fossil Museum, which was cool, for what little
I understood (Sometimes deciphering those English terms at museums is hard enough. Japanese was near impossible.) They had this one giant room that was filled with fossils of giant dinosaurs, prehistoric whales and other sea creatures and what my friend Greg assures me is a Prehistoric Sloth...though I personally think its way to big to be a sloth! The elevator down to the coal mining exhibits was quite cool. The front of it was painted like a bunch of coal miners going down a coal shaft, and when you got in, the wall opposite of the door had a window with black and yellow striped bars in front of it. The elevator was completely dark, and when you started moving, the elevator would start shaking and there were images outside the window of the elevator that made it look like you were descending. Instead of floor numbers, the monitor that lights up and tells you what floor you're on currently had depth in meters, and a voice over would announce your depth and tell you when it was safe to leave. When the doors opened, it opened up to a "cave" and a miniature shrine of a mountain deity that all the workers would pray at before going to work. It was really cool!
After that, we headed to lunch at the pier, which was at this really pretty restaurant with a really nice view over the harbor. Because Tony had over slept and gotten to the bus late and because we had gotten lost at one point between the museum and the harbor, we unfortunately only had about 15 minutes to eat and appreciate the view, because our 1 o'clock "Day cruise" around the harbor was taking off, with or without us. The harbor itself wasn't anything particularly special, especially because its so industrialized and features mostly barges, smoke stacks, walls and construction sites (though not to an over powering, nature damaging degree), but it just felt so nice to be out on the ocean and with the sunshine and the breeze. What was most interesting though, were the seagulls. I know what you're thinking, sea gulls? Those annoying birds that always make loud noises and try to steal your food at the beach? Yes, them.
I don't think I've ever seen so many of them in one place. At one point, there probably was over 50 and they followed us around the entire harbor...and we were out to sea for a good 45 minutes! Admittedly, they were probably following us after awhile just because people were feeding them, but they started following us all on their own, and they came so close, that you could just reach out and touch them (if they didn't dodge you at the last minute.)Next we went to Aquamarine Fukushima, the local aquarium that is currently celebrating its 10th anniversary. The architecture of the aquarium was really unique and abstract, but really 
cool, though, for as big as it was, I was surprised that they didn't have a giant tank full of all kinds of sea life like at Aquaworld in Ooarai. It was still really cool, and my favorite part was when I was walking by one of the giant tanks and one of the scuba divers stopped to wave at me, as well as the hallway that was formed into a triangle by slanting glass from two different tanks.
I was also really surprised by the walruses...I've never seen one in person, and I had no idea that they were that big. I really can't even compare anything to its size. I've seen sharks at Ooarai that are smaller than them, easily. And their tusks are huge (not really a shocker since they're behemoths as well). It was also kind of cool the entire hands on exhibit they had for kids which featured a jungle gym/story time, a little area where you could go fishing (whether you got to keep them, I don't actually know.) and a little beach where all the kids went to play and run around. The water looked so cool and refreshing that if I didn't have to get back on the bus and worry about getting sand everywhere, I totally would have gone and dipped at least my feet in.
We headed home for the day, which resulted in mostly everyone just passing out from our long, exhausting day, and later Tony, Marina, Aaron, Masashi, Adon, his girlfriend whose English name is Nicole (I think I can handle that), Elena and Kazuto all met in the lobby of the Kaikan for Aaron's Burrito night! It was so yummy and so nice to have something Mexican/Hispanic, and Aaron's handmade guacamole was delicious. Though, on the down side, I clearly have been away from spicy food for way to long, because I put hot sauce on my burritos, which was delicious, but later I had to call it an early night because my stomach was hurting so bad from not being used to that much spice! Oh no! Must take quick corrective measures!
Well I best be going, I have to meet Aya at Gusto for breakfast to say goodbye, and I need to start packing for Fuji...for those of you who don't know, I'm leaving with Tony, Adon, Yuuki and Nicole around 1 to go to Fuji because we're going to go climb it to see the sunrise! Yikes! I'm nervous, but also very excited since this is on my bucket list (and no, you are never to young to have a bucket list.). I'll be gone for a couple of days in the Fuji/Hakone area, so I'll talk to you all later about my adventures! This is probably where my blog is going to get behind on itself because almost immediately after coming home from Fuji, Mito Komon Matsuri starts and I'll be busy with that the whole weekend as well!
The next time we talk I'll be a successful climber of Fuji! =O Talk to you then!
cool, though, for as big as it was, I was surprised that they didn't have a giant tank full of all kinds of sea life like at Aquaworld in Ooarai. It was still really cool, and my favorite part was when I was walking by one of the giant tanks and one of the scuba divers stopped to wave at me, as well as the hallway that was formed into a triangle by slanting glass from two different tanks.I was also really surprised by the walruses...I've never seen one in person, and I had no idea that they were that big. I really can't even compare anything to its size. I've seen sharks at Ooarai that are smaller than them, easily. And their tusks are huge (not really a shocker since they're behemoths as well). It was also kind of cool the entire hands on exhibit they had for kids which featured a jungle gym/story time, a little area where you could go fishing (whether you got to keep them, I don't actually know.) and a little beach where all the kids went to play and run around. The water looked so cool and refreshing that if I didn't have to get back on the bus and worry about getting sand everywhere, I totally would have gone and dipped at least my feet in.
We headed home for the day, which resulted in mostly everyone just passing out from our long, exhausting day, and later Tony, Marina, Aaron, Masashi, Adon, his girlfriend whose English name is Nicole (I think I can handle that), Elena and Kazuto all met in the lobby of the Kaikan for Aaron's Burrito night! It was so yummy and so nice to have something Mexican/Hispanic, and Aaron's handmade guacamole was delicious. Though, on the down side, I clearly have been away from spicy food for way to long, because I put hot sauce on my burritos, which was delicious, but later I had to call it an early night because my stomach was hurting so bad from not being used to that much spice! Oh no! Must take quick corrective measures!
Well I best be going, I have to meet Aya at Gusto for breakfast to say goodbye, and I need to start packing for Fuji...for those of you who don't know, I'm leaving with Tony, Adon, Yuuki and Nicole around 1 to go to Fuji because we're going to go climb it to see the sunrise! Yikes! I'm nervous, but also very excited since this is on my bucket list (and no, you are never to young to have a bucket list.). I'll be gone for a couple of days in the Fuji/Hakone area, so I'll talk to you all later about my adventures! This is probably where my blog is going to get behind on itself because almost immediately after coming home from Fuji, Mito Komon Matsuri starts and I'll be busy with that the whole weekend as well!
The next time we talk I'll be a successful climber of Fuji! =O Talk to you then!
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