I woke up this morning at 8 and went to breakfast with Jeff, Trudy, Derrick, Seth and Blake. We went to another one of those places where you put your money in a machine and don't have to talk to anyone. We're still not sure what is considered breakfast food, but we seem to be managing.
After breakfast we walked around trying to find The Lofts, which is one of the stores that we went to last night. We all wanted to find some rubber cement so we can do a little scrap-booking in our sketchbooks. Unfortunately, there was a little problem with translation. I'm not even sure if they have rubber cement here, so we settled for regular glue and tape.
Later, Trudy and I tried some weird mochi balls with a sweet-ish bean paste on the inside....not really my favorite, but one of our assignments is to try a new food. We documented the process, so hopefully pictures of it will be up tomorrow. Jeff and I also tried some strange omelet thing with onion and some sort of fish in it. It smelled really fishy (literally) but it didn't taste it at all. It wasn't that good, but I think it was meant to be eaten warm. Jeff and I agree that it would make a good breakfast food if it were warm.
Strange Food Documentation:
not ready for pictures
you ready for this?
hmmm...smells like food...maybe
aww...would've been cute
a little sketpical
cheers, buddy
I'm very unsure about this...
Jeff made us laugh
eww, Trudy! Don't pull it apart!
This is what warranted the above disgusted faceAt 4, we met with the whole group to take a trip to Osaka. It takes about an hour to get to Osaka from our hotel. We went to the downtown area, which is "like a tweaked out Time's Square" as one of my peers called it. There are bright lights and advertisements everywhere, as well as plenty of food and entertainment places as well.
We went looking for some early Tadao Ando buildings but ummm...couldn't find them even with the help of Don and his guide book. So instead we went to dinner. Don found this place that is famous for what I'm going to call a Japanese version of latkes. They are like potatoe pancakes that are filled with...things. Jeff ordered one with shrimp and some vegetables and I had one with bacon and cheese (called the Italian Mix). We ended up sharing so we could try both. And of course, there was biiru.
We created our own version of a Japanese cheers, which is "bonzai biiru!", meaning "hooray, beer!" Then we found out that the actual way to say it is "kanpai" but I still like our version better.
After dinner we walked around the downtown area some more. Then Don took us into the strangest place I have ever experienced. When we first entered, it looked almost like a fun house but Don said something about it being a recreation of old Osaka. We were given little handouts and took an elevator up to the 5th story (there was no other option). The elevator doors opened and we were greeted by overly happy Japanese women who handed us tickets. Don informed us that if we don't buy anything we just return the ticket at the end and there is no charge...so then I was really confused as to what the hell we were doing. We started walking through what appeared to be a cross between a maze and a carnival that was designed by Disney, based on the pirates of the caribbean ride (or possibly the Treasure Island scene from Pinocchio) mixed with old Osaka and filled with hundreds of stairs and food vendors trying to sell you things. Apparently, we were in a food court, but it literally took me like 10 minutes to figure that out. I don't know what exactly is was about the place, but it freaked me out a little and eventually made me extremely light-headed. Finally we left the crazy place, but it took me quite a while to recover. Total sensory overload.
We took the subway to the train station and then the train back to Kyoto. I was dead tired on the train but I made it home. I'm trying to keep it relatively short tonight so that I can get to sleep. I didn't get to talk to anyone from home today, so everyone should know that I'm thinking of them. I promise, tomorrow will be a day full of studying Japanese and putting up pictures. There is also a few videos that Jeff took that I will put up as soon as I get them from him or have some way to link to them.
Oyasumi nasai! :) (Goodnight!)
We went looking for some early Tadao Ando buildings but ummm...couldn't find them even with the help of Don and his guide book. So instead we went to dinner. Don found this place that is famous for what I'm going to call a Japanese version of latkes. They are like potatoe pancakes that are filled with...things. Jeff ordered one with shrimp and some vegetables and I had one with bacon and cheese (called the Italian Mix). We ended up sharing so we could try both. And of course, there was biiru.
We created our own version of a Japanese cheers, which is "bonzai biiru!", meaning "hooray, beer!" Then we found out that the actual way to say it is "kanpai" but I still like our version better.
After dinner we walked around the downtown area some more. Then Don took us into the strangest place I have ever experienced. When we first entered, it looked almost like a fun house but Don said something about it being a recreation of old Osaka. We were given little handouts and took an elevator up to the 5th story (there was no other option). The elevator doors opened and we were greeted by overly happy Japanese women who handed us tickets. Don informed us that if we don't buy anything we just return the ticket at the end and there is no charge...so then I was really confused as to what the hell we were doing. We started walking through what appeared to be a cross between a maze and a carnival that was designed by Disney, based on the pirates of the caribbean ride (or possibly the Treasure Island scene from Pinocchio) mixed with old Osaka and filled with hundreds of stairs and food vendors trying to sell you things. Apparently, we were in a food court, but it literally took me like 10 minutes to figure that out. I don't know what exactly is was about the place, but it freaked me out a little and eventually made me extremely light-headed. Finally we left the crazy place, but it took me quite a while to recover. Total sensory overload.
We took the subway to the train station and then the train back to Kyoto. I was dead tired on the train but I made it home. I'm trying to keep it relatively short tonight so that I can get to sleep. I didn't get to talk to anyone from home today, so everyone should know that I'm thinking of them. I promise, tomorrow will be a day full of studying Japanese and putting up pictures. There is also a few videos that Jeff took that I will put up as soon as I get them from him or have some way to link to them.
Oyasumi nasai! :) (Goodnight!)
Osaka pictures:
Total sensory overload! Just imagine that times 10 and you have autism.
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