No, Really, I Am an American

Yoss and VoW arrived safe and sound last Wednesday afternoon. I was quite bothered by the fact that I was a little late. Turns out their plane arrived a bit earlier than expected and my planning did not quite go the way I would have liked. Of course, neither of them was really fuzzled by it, but it was time that could have been spent together instead of waiting.

I was pretty amazed with the luggage VoW brought with her — I mean, it was pretty much two carry-ons…and I don’t even know if I could qualify them as carry-ons. “This one is mostly your stuff,” she said, hefting one of them.

The bus ride back was pleasant. Yoss sat next to me and we chatted about the usual goings-ons back home whilst VoW seemed content to jot stuff down in her book. Good to know peoples is alive back in the States (and that was purposeful, not a grammar mistake). Our plans were not overly complicated. We pretty much brought stuff back to the house, and then went back into Namba to try and get some sushi. Of course, it was prime dinner time, so the all-you-can-eat place had a line going out the door. We settled for Royal Host then.

Now, don’t get me wrong, Yoss and VoW in the country was all kinds of shiny. But I think one of the things I was pretty excited about was my new DS Lite. I busted that sucker out the second it was in my hands. She’s very white. And yeah, I decided it’s a she. I was at a loss for names for a spell; Yoss advocated for “Zoe” or “Jayne” — the latter of which I was quite tempted by. I also flirted with “Miranda”. I finally settled with “Miho” — I figured a Japanese name would be pretty cool, and she probably will be the death of me.

A game of Settles was most definitely played. It was nice to play a board game again. It’s very different with only three people. It seemed to go by really fast. Or maybe it was that they were jet-lagged. Or ‘cuz Grant was playing with us — come on, let’s face it, he does take a year and a day to take his turn and all.

It’s the start of the rainy season here in Japan, so pretty much there were about three days of partly cloudy weather, versus the rain storms that would take up the rest of the time. Thursday was one of the rain-free days. I wanted to try and make the most of it and thus planned an excursion to Fushimi Inari, a shrine just outside of Kyoto City. I had wanted to take them to Akameguchi, but I had never been to Fushimi Inari before and I’d heard it was a pretty easy hike. Mike did also mention that he wanted to see some culture stuff and this place was supposed to be one of the famous shrines in Kyoto.

We woke up at a reasonable hour, much to my surprise. Yoss and VoW had some errands to run, so I took them into Namba and to the currency exchange place in Namba Parks. After some breakfast at this tea place, one of the ones I’ve always wanted to try ‘cuz it looks so fancy, we went to Spotaka so Mike could buy a hat and a pair of sunglasses, two items he’d meant to pack but sadly forgotten. By the time we got to Kyoto, it was right around noon thirty.

I’d forgtoeen that with the rainy season comes the humidity. It wasn’t completely intolerable, but it was certainly present. We made sure to stop by the convenie and pick up water, or in my case Aquarius.

The beginning of the trail was pretty level, passing under hundreds, and I mean hundreds of torii gates with a gradual incline. And then there were the stairs. There are several little shines as you go up so there were plenty of places to stop and take a drink before pressing on, as well as Chozusha. We also saw a bunch of off-trails that seemed interesting, so we’d follow one or two of those from time to time. I guess I really have increased some stamina as, according to Mike and Vicki, I’d frequently “leave them in the dust” going up. I just thought they were taking in the sights — I mean, a torii gate hike isn’t exactly common for us in Illinois. I guess they were having some trouble keeping up with me.

We we started the way down, we saw another off-trail. It looked interesting so we decided to try it. In retrospect, we probably shoulda just kept to the main path. I’d read about this swell waterfall that was supposed to be somewhere slightly off-course on the way down and thought perhaps this would take us there. We should have known better when we didn’t see any other people around. We really didn’t think much of it because at the base of the stone step trail was another shrine area. We kept waking around until we came upon a paved street. This was probably not part of the hike…

The climb back up the way we came was pretty much ruled out as it had been crazy steep in the first place. That left only one option: the street. We followed the street quite uncertainly as vehicles were as sparce as people. It seemed that the area we inadvertently stumbled upon was a kind of farm/lumber area. We saw a neat bamboo forest…so that was kinda cool.

Eventually, we wandered down long enough to find some semblance of civilization. We managed to find some train tracks and started walking parallel with them through the suburb we found. When we saw an official looking gentleman, I kindly asked for directions to the nearest station. He pointed us to a Keihan station, Tofukuhi, I think, which was only one or two stations past where we were supposed to end up anyway. We managed to catch a semi-express home, so that meant we could find seats. After that hike, we were pretty happy about sitting down.

I had Miho with me, so naturally I built up my character. Oh, how evil the DS be for me!

When we got back to Osaka, we finally got a chance to eat at the sushi place. It wasn’t bad, and we managed to get in at the 850 time, so it was even cheaper than I expected. Woo! It was back to the house thereafter, as the prospect of walking elsewhere caused some protesting from our weary feet and legs. But yeah, it was pretty cool what we did.

That night, we played Phase Ten, and get this — I totally won! It was sooooo cool! I mean, come on, y’all know how I never win these games, with the exception of Golden Deuce. I was pretty excited about kicking ass! ‘Twas to sleep thereafter.

Friday rained all bloody day. I was actually a bit surprised with that — I mean, I knew it was supposed to rain and such, but usually there’s a lull here and there. I can’t say we did much. There was definitely some sleeping in, and then I got a message from my Kuya and we headed into Namba for Slices. I know, I know. Mike and Vicki didn’t really come all this way just to eat food they could have at home, but it is one of my usual haunts and they didn’t seem to mind. They seemed to like it fine. It ain’t nothin’ compared to Lou Malnati’s of course, but it was a kind of “comfort food”.

We took them to DenDen Town thereafter, just to see what it’s like and what you can find there. Vicki bought an interesting looking flash drive in the shape of a squid, but for the most part everything else we looked at you could get in the states anyway. With the exception of the dark and light blue DS Lites. It seems I’ve corrupted Yoss a bit into buying one.

Kuya took his leave after walking around with us for a bit; then the three of us headed to Umeda so I could show them one of my favorite haunts: Kinokuniya. We roamed around there for a little and then decided to get a snack before returning to Shoji. We were going to try and go to a Kobe beef place, but the timing just didn’t quite work out for us. I think we ended up eating McDonald’s and watching Gilmore Girls. I had introduced them to Mos Burger the night before, and while they seemed to like it, McDonald’s just seemed like a better prospect.

Saturday I had work, but afterwards Mike and Vicki came with me to meet my students and they had a chance to see what teaching was like for me. Granted, it wasn’t really teaching much, it was more or less giving the students a chance to practice with native speakers on a one-on-one basis.

Sunday, I worked again, but then Yoss and VoW came out for Firefly Sunday. We went to all-you-can-eat yakiniku, an experience they seemed to enjoy. Heck, it’s probably one of my favorite dinners we have here. Then again, I love me some dead aminal. Everyone, sans Steve, came back to the house and we watched Dodgeball and played Super Munchkin. It was pretty cool. I think if we all met, the folk from home with my friends from Japan, we’d get along all right.

On Monday, much like when my parents were here, we went to Nara in the morning. It was kind of a pain waking up as I think we were all pretty happy sleeping instead, but this was once again one of the nice days so we wanted to try and make something of it. We caught a semi-rapid, which was pretty shiny, so we didn’t have to make any transfers.

The first thing we did when we got to Nara was seek out a pagoda. Vicki didn’t have much on her list of things to do, but see the deer and “pet a pagoda” were on there. The deer aren’t hard to find, so as we walked towards the pagodas, we found the rapscallion critters. Mike wanted to feed them, and much like with my mom, he got attacked by deer. The same thing ended up happening to both Vicki and myself. It was grand.

The pagoda was blocked off, so Vicki had to content herself with seeing them and taking a perspective picture of her petting it. After walking around that part of the park, we headed to Todaiji. It was funny walking with Mike and Vicki ‘cuz lots of the school children would say hello. That didn’t happen so much when I was with my parents. One of the things about blending in, I guess. I told them that the next time they’re greeted, they should respond with “What’s up?” to see what happens. (We got blank stares.)

As we were leaving the temple, there were bunches of souvenirs for sale that were actually kinda cool. We chipped in to get something for the Halfway House. We’re not sure yet if Chris and Mark will be happy about it, or be wickedly creeped out by it, but we thought it was cool and somewhat fitting. Muhahahahahahaha….

Pretty much, the Nara trip consisted of deer feeding. Mike said he prolly spent about 1000 yen on the deer biscuits alone. Before we ate lunch, he still had some left over and we passed by the Turtle Pond; one of the few places I remembered how to get to from my first trip to Nara with Braden last year. The first time I visited the pond, there were really only a few turtles, this time about there was a plethora. Since we had the deer biscuits and it was unlikely we’d see anymore deer, we thought we’d feed the rest to the turtles. So, for those of you who are wondering, yes, the turtles will eat deer food. In fact, so will the fishies. It was pretty funny watching the critters duke it out for the food. Mike particularly enjoyed the little turtles who scrambled on the backs of the bigger ones to get to the food, or the huge-ass ones who seemed to come outa no where and take the food down, followed by a passel of other turtles.

We took to the main street, which would take us to JR Nara Station. I was all kinds of proud of myself for remembering this and also that we could get to Kintetsu Nara Station if we went down one of the side streets. Of course, I can’t claim it was all due to memory — I had McDonald’s as a landmark. We found this great little Japanese restaurant; okay, so there are lots of great little Japanese restaurants down the shopping street, but this one in particular seemed to have decent prices. I was wicked proud of myself for being able to read bits and pieces of the menu. The lady asked us if we wanted to point to the window, but I think we surprised her a bit by ordering off the menu instead. Woo.

The ride home involved sleeping on my part. Since getting Miho, I’ve been playing lots of Puzzle Quest on the train rides and such, but I was pretty darn tired. I guess Mike was, too. VoW contented herself to writing in her book, and taking pictures of this little beetle. At one point I woke up, and looked around. I was a bit fuzzled, but eventually recognition registered and I realized we were stopped at Fuse. We quickly disembarked from the train since I didn’t know how long we’d been stopped there. It wouldn’t have been so bad if we missed our stop, just turn around and the like, but getting to Fuse is a matter of taking the right train, so I was glad we avoided that.

The afternoon was pretty quiet. Mike and I were pretty tired so we took naps, and Vicki amused herself writing postcards or some such. She and Mike have actually gotten pretty good at navigating the major places around here; Mike was able to get himself to the sushi place, Vicki could make it to the post office and the like. After I had showered and got ready for work, I even wrote her directions to Kinokuniya.

No games for us after I got home from work. I think we watched us some Gilmore Girls and then it was to bed for me. I was still kinda bummed that I couldn’t get the Tuesday off like I’d wanted (I had TOEIC training so the swap didn’t get approved), but it was a split so it wasn’t gonna be a total loss. I agreed to meet them for lunch at Slices and we were trying to plan seeing Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End after work.

Yup. They were definitely managing since they were there waiting for me at Exit 25 when I got done with the first half of my split. Mike and Anna were in charge of finding ticket information since Matt forgot to do so the night before. Rob met us at Slices and it was a decent afternoon. Not as rainy as Friday. I think I ate too much, though ‘cuz afterwards alls I really wanted to do was go home and sleep or chill, but Yoss needed to go back to DenDen Town for some stuff. I lead them back to Nippombashi, and it turned out that that was pretty much all that was needed. Mike said he’d meet us back at the house, and that was that.

It turned out that we wouldn’t be able to see the movie Tuesday night after all since the times didn’t quite coincide with our work schedule. It was no major loss, but it left us with an open night. I invited my Kuya and Anna back to the house for a bit. Much to my horror, when we got there Yoss and VoW were watching Tru Calling. They were amused by watching it with the subtitles, as they pointed out some of the strangest things like “tense music” and “tense music intensifies”. I hafta admit, that was kinda amusing…but still. It’s Tru Calling. And yes, I know. I own the whole series. *sigh* Admittedly, if they had been allowed to continue with the show, I woulda been interested to see where they took it. I still maintain that Jason Priestely sucked the life out of the show; and it prolly didn’t help that in season 2 there were like four cast members. Anyway…

Wednesday was pretty lazy. I guess Mike and Vicki stayed up pretty late watching Tru and the former didn’t stir until about noon or so. Vicki has had this thing about getting donuts from Mr. Donut, so I’m pretty sure we had some of those to munch on. We weren’t supposed to meet Matt and Steve for the movie until 3, so of course, there was more Tru to be watched while I sat in the corner and played my DS.

The movie wasn’t bad. It was Ladies’ Day, so VoW and I only hadda pay 1000 yen, so that was definite bonus. Honestly, I’m not as invested in the Pirates movies as everyone else I know. It was a fun movie. I didn’t have to see it in the theater, but it wasn’t bad. I was slightly disappointed by the two movies I have seen in Japanese theaters so far; hopefully Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix will make up for it.

Matt and I took them to a 280 afterwards so they could get that experience out of the way. Not like it’s the greatest of experiences or anything, but it’s certainly living in Japan type culture. We were gonna try to find a Kobe beef place, but Mike said he could get that back home.

When we got back to the house, of course, they put in more Tru. At least there were at the end of the season so it wasn’t long before we could play us some Citadels. I think it’s funny that I always forget how to play the game; I mean, I have some vague memories of what to do, but I’m never really confident about ‘em. ‘Twas a good round. While we were playing, I remembered why I had been bummed about leaving home in January. I miss my friends. I had mentioned earlier that I really didn’t want to permanently go home any time soon ‘cuz there wasn’t anything there for me. After I made my observation about how I missed everyone, Mike chimed in with, “Maybe that’s reason enough to go back. Chris could probably get you a job at 211 as a T.A. and then you could try for England.” I hafta admit, it’s not a bad suggestion. But I can see myself being pressured by my parents to stay. I think it’s better for me now to stay in Japan, at least until I’m positive about what I’m going to do next.

It was gettin’ kinda late, and for whatever reason, I was kinda tired. So I made some shells and cheese for Mike and left them to finish watching more Tru. I still shake my head about it.

Wednesday consisted of packing and a brief walk to Mr. Donut for breakfast. Like I said, Vicki seemed to enjoy it. (It was between Mr. Donut and Starbuck’s for breakfast mostly. I got Mike onto the cinnamon scones.) After that, it was to OCAT and the bus.

They hid money in my wallet for utilities. I knew it was useless to try and get them to take it back, so I hadda keep it. They said they had a good visit, and I’m glad they came. It was a fun week.

When I got home to the empty house, I was kinda bummed. It was nice to have it full of people and such, especially good friends.