OK, I don't really have a good excuse for not posting a blog in so long, except for the fact that I was not on the computer all weekend and I guess yesterday I was just feeling lazy.
Friday, I went grocery shopping at the Uny because I had to pick up a few things I couldn't get at the Odakyu grocery store, and I wanted to see if they had a skirt for Nick's outfit. They did have a few skirts, but they were all more than I wanted to spend and I didn't see anything that would really fit the costume. So, I bought my groceries, took the bus home, chilled for a while, and then got dressed for the party and went to the train station. I decided to stop in Ebina and shop around Atsugi for the skirt and just meet up with Nick and his co-workers when he called. I came up empty in Ebina. In Atsugi, I found a skirt in my price range, and took it in the dressing room to try it on -- I figured if it wasn't going to fit me, then it wouldn't fit Nick. Although it was a large, I couldn't get the skirt up -- a large here is like an extra small in the US. Japanese girls don't have hips -- I needed to find the Japanese Lane Bryant, but I don't think that exists yet, and even then, if all of the pants and skirts are made for girls with no hips, it wouldn't help. So, I realized that our only chance would be to find a skirt with an elastic waist. I ended up finding one that would suit our needs in Mylord, next to Hon Atsugi train station, but I didn't want to buy it -- I thought I would describe it to Nick first and maybe even have him look at it. Before I went into Mylord (pronounced Meelowdo by the Japanese), Nick had called to say he would meet me at Hon Atsugi train station at 7:30pm.
At 7:30p, Nick and one of his co-workers, Oze-san, met me at the train station and we walked just around the corner to an Asian and Italian restaurant called Tapas. Here, Amemiya-san and another gentleman were already waiting for us, and they said more were on their way. All in all, there ended up being 7 Japanese guys and Nick and I.
The food was really good, and the guys just ordered small dishes for us all to share. The menu was an electronic menu, which sat on a docking station when not in use, and to order, you just touch what you want on the screen and the waitress brings it to you! It was really cool and very convenient. We left there around 10:30p and headed home.
Saturday, Nick and I went to Atsugi and I showed him the skirt I had found for his costume. He decided that would work, and we bought it. We then went to the 100 yen shop to get a tie for me. Before we had left the apartment, I tried on my costume and we decided a tie would pull the whole thing together nicely. Around 1:30p, we met Harada-san at the train station -- he was going to Yokohama anyway to visit a friend, and we were going for shopping and the Halloween party, so we decided to meet up with him and travel there together and grab lunch. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Yokohama, which is overly decked out for Halloween (you almost can't see some of the artifacts). After lunch, we went to LL Bean to exchange Nick's backpack, which was very easy, especially with Harada-san there translating for us. After LL Bean, Harada-san helped us to find pre-paid phone cards for our phone (our minutes were almost out!), and he took us to an electronics store much like the one in the electronics district in Tokyo. In Japan, they have Ipod Nanos that are 2GB and much smaller even than the ones we have in the US. They had them for under 1000 yen, which is equal to under $10. Unfortunately, the menus are in Japanese, so it wouldn't do anyone we know much good! After wandering around that store for a while, it was still too early to meet George for the party, so we went to a TGI Fridays close to Yokohama station and had a drink.
From Yokohama Station, we had to take the Subway to where the party was going to be and it ended up taking longer than we thought, so we were about 15 minutes late meeting George. The place where the party was held was called Billy's Cafe, and was a very American-influenced bar. When we got there, we met George's friend, Ken Hara (who organized the party), and changed into our costumes. Ken owns an English school in Yokohama and this was a party for his students to learn about Halloween and to practice their English with Nick and George and I. Many of them spoke English very well, and we had a wonderful time. Ken was dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, and as you can see from the pictures, he made a very good pirate! Nick ended up looking more like he was wearing a kilt than a skirt, but everyone loved his costume.
Ken was talking to Nick and I and asking how everything was going in Japan. Nick told him that I was traveling around and seeing things, but that I didn't really know anyone, so I kind of get lonely during the day. Ken told us that on Wednesdays at 11am, he invites English-speaking people to come into the class and talk with his students for them to practice their English. He said he wouldn't be able to pay much, but a little something. I thought this sounded like a great opportunity for me to meet some people, and would give me something to do, so I think I am going to go this week. We left around 10:15pm as it was a long haul back to Zama and we wanted to get back before the trains shut down.
Sunday, we got up and went to Disneyland. When we got to the gates, we asked a man where to buy tickets and he told us that they were not selling anymore tickets until 5pm. I was pissed. It had taken a really long time to get there and I had really been looking forward to it. We decided that since we were there, we should buy tickets for this Saturday. So, we did that and also cashed some traveler's checks since it ended up that they did that at the ticket office too.
We left there and went to Ueno (which is still in Tokyo) and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch again. This was a Hard Rock I had not been to yet. This one was in a train station, and is the smallest of the three we've been to here -- it may even be smaller than the one in Detroit. After lunch we found the National Science Museum, which had an enormous statue of a whale in the front.
We decided to go in, even though Nick had been there before and said that none of the exhibitions were in English. The reason we decided to go in was they were having a special exhibition on Mummies, which Nick and I are both interested in. We had to pay extra to see the Mummy exhibition, of course, but a guy that worked there told us the video before the exhibition had English, which I assumed to mean it had subtitles or something. No such luck. The video was kind of cool, it was about a mummy they had found and done a cat-scan on. The movie was in 3D and they showed the inside of the mummy and cross-sections of it. It would have been way more interesting if we could have understood what they were saying. Although maybe not, because the woman next to me fell asleep halfway through (it was only a 15 minute movie -- they fall asleep anywhere). After the movie, the exit of the theater spills out into the exhibit, and there were HUNDREDS of people in the tiny exhibit area. There were so many people that we couldn't even get near to the exhibits. Through the people, we could see that there were no unwrapped mummies, which was what we wanted to see anyway. So, that was a waste of the extra 20 yen, but we decided to check out the rest of the museum. We saw some really great dinosaur skeletons and some other prehistoric creatures, and although we couldn't read about them since everything was in Japanese, we had a good time looking at them. We left the museum and headed back to the train station. We were both tired and cranky and decided it was time to go home.
Yesterday, I worked out (Turbo Jam cardio and abs!), cleaned, read my book (I'm obsessed, everyone read "The Historian", it is excellent!), and went shopping. It was raining yesterday, as it is again today, but I had to go out anyway to get some groceries, so I decided to take the train to Machida and go to Tokyu Hands to look for a coffee maker (we've decided we can't live without one). I ended up finding a decent one and also bought a water filter as well. I also found a poster I had been wanting to get here -- I'd seen it in the US, but I thought it would be nice to find it here since it is a Japanese picture and would have more meaning from here. You guys may have seen it...
For dinner we had leftover Cavatini I had made Sunday night -- I've finally settled into the cooking in Japan thing!
Today, like I said, it is raining again. I will probably dub around on the net, do some yoga, and I'm not sure what else... tomorrow I have to leave not too long after Nick to get to Ken's school before 11am -- I hope it's not raining!
Friday, I went grocery shopping at the Uny because I had to pick up a few things I couldn't get at the Odakyu grocery store, and I wanted to see if they had a skirt for Nick's outfit. They did have a few skirts, but they were all more than I wanted to spend and I didn't see anything that would really fit the costume. So, I bought my groceries, took the bus home, chilled for a while, and then got dressed for the party and went to the train station. I decided to stop in Ebina and shop around Atsugi for the skirt and just meet up with Nick and his co-workers when he called. I came up empty in Ebina. In Atsugi, I found a skirt in my price range, and took it in the dressing room to try it on -- I figured if it wasn't going to fit me, then it wouldn't fit Nick. Although it was a large, I couldn't get the skirt up -- a large here is like an extra small in the US. Japanese girls don't have hips -- I needed to find the Japanese Lane Bryant, but I don't think that exists yet, and even then, if all of the pants and skirts are made for girls with no hips, it wouldn't help. So, I realized that our only chance would be to find a skirt with an elastic waist. I ended up finding one that would suit our needs in Mylord, next to Hon Atsugi train station, but I didn't want to buy it -- I thought I would describe it to Nick first and maybe even have him look at it. Before I went into Mylord (pronounced Meelowdo by the Japanese), Nick had called to say he would meet me at Hon Atsugi train station at 7:30pm.
At 7:30p, Nick and one of his co-workers, Oze-san, met me at the train station and we walked just around the corner to an Asian and Italian restaurant called Tapas. Here, Amemiya-san and another gentleman were already waiting for us, and they said more were on their way. All in all, there ended up being 7 Japanese guys and Nick and I.
The food was really good, and the guys just ordered small dishes for us all to share. The menu was an electronic menu, which sat on a docking station when not in use, and to order, you just touch what you want on the screen and the waitress brings it to you! It was really cool and very convenient. We left there around 10:30p and headed home.
Saturday, Nick and I went to Atsugi and I showed him the skirt I had found for his costume. He decided that would work, and we bought it. We then went to the 100 yen shop to get a tie for me. Before we had left the apartment, I tried on my costume and we decided a tie would pull the whole thing together nicely. Around 1:30p, we met Harada-san at the train station -- he was going to Yokohama anyway to visit a friend, and we were going for shopping and the Halloween party, so we decided to meet up with him and travel there together and grab lunch. We ate lunch at the Hard Rock Cafe in Yokohama, which is overly decked out for Halloween (you almost can't see some of the artifacts). After lunch, we went to LL Bean to exchange Nick's backpack, which was very easy, especially with Harada-san there translating for us. After LL Bean, Harada-san helped us to find pre-paid phone cards for our phone (our minutes were almost out!), and he took us to an electronics store much like the one in the electronics district in Tokyo. In Japan, they have Ipod Nanos that are 2GB and much smaller even than the ones we have in the US. They had them for under 1000 yen, which is equal to under $10. Unfortunately, the menus are in Japanese, so it wouldn't do anyone we know much good! After wandering around that store for a while, it was still too early to meet George for the party, so we went to a TGI Fridays close to Yokohama station and had a drink.
From Yokohama Station, we had to take the Subway to where the party was going to be and it ended up taking longer than we thought, so we were about 15 minutes late meeting George. The place where the party was held was called Billy's Cafe, and was a very American-influenced bar. When we got there, we met George's friend, Ken Hara (who organized the party), and changed into our costumes. Ken owns an English school in Yokohama and this was a party for his students to learn about Halloween and to practice their English with Nick and George and I. Many of them spoke English very well, and we had a wonderful time. Ken was dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow, and as you can see from the pictures, he made a very good pirate! Nick ended up looking more like he was wearing a kilt than a skirt, but everyone loved his costume.
Ken was talking to Nick and I and asking how everything was going in Japan. Nick told him that I was traveling around and seeing things, but that I didn't really know anyone, so I kind of get lonely during the day. Ken told us that on Wednesdays at 11am, he invites English-speaking people to come into the class and talk with his students for them to practice their English. He said he wouldn't be able to pay much, but a little something. I thought this sounded like a great opportunity for me to meet some people, and would give me something to do, so I think I am going to go this week. We left around 10:15pm as it was a long haul back to Zama and we wanted to get back before the trains shut down.
Sunday, we got up and went to Disneyland. When we got to the gates, we asked a man where to buy tickets and he told us that they were not selling anymore tickets until 5pm. I was pissed. It had taken a really long time to get there and I had really been looking forward to it. We decided that since we were there, we should buy tickets for this Saturday. So, we did that and also cashed some traveler's checks since it ended up that they did that at the ticket office too.
We left there and went to Ueno (which is still in Tokyo) and ate at the Hard Rock Cafe for lunch again. This was a Hard Rock I had not been to yet. This one was in a train station, and is the smallest of the three we've been to here -- it may even be smaller than the one in Detroit. After lunch we found the National Science Museum, which had an enormous statue of a whale in the front.
We decided to go in, even though Nick had been there before and said that none of the exhibitions were in English. The reason we decided to go in was they were having a special exhibition on Mummies, which Nick and I are both interested in. We had to pay extra to see the Mummy exhibition, of course, but a guy that worked there told us the video before the exhibition had English, which I assumed to mean it had subtitles or something. No such luck. The video was kind of cool, it was about a mummy they had found and done a cat-scan on. The movie was in 3D and they showed the inside of the mummy and cross-sections of it. It would have been way more interesting if we could have understood what they were saying. Although maybe not, because the woman next to me fell asleep halfway through (it was only a 15 minute movie -- they fall asleep anywhere). After the movie, the exit of the theater spills out into the exhibit, and there were HUNDREDS of people in the tiny exhibit area. There were so many people that we couldn't even get near to the exhibits. Through the people, we could see that there were no unwrapped mummies, which was what we wanted to see anyway. So, that was a waste of the extra 20 yen, but we decided to check out the rest of the museum. We saw some really great dinosaur skeletons and some other prehistoric creatures, and although we couldn't read about them since everything was in Japanese, we had a good time looking at them. We left the museum and headed back to the train station. We were both tired and cranky and decided it was time to go home.Yesterday, I worked out (Turbo Jam cardio and abs!), cleaned, read my book (I'm obsessed, everyone read "The Historian", it is excellent!), and went shopping. It was raining yesterday, as it is again today, but I had to go out anyway to get some groceries, so I decided to take the train to Machida and go to Tokyu Hands to look for a coffee maker (we've decided we can't live without one). I ended up finding a decent one and also bought a water filter as well. I also found a poster I had been wanting to get here -- I'd seen it in the US, but I thought it would be nice to find it here since it is a Japanese picture and would have more meaning from here. You guys may have seen it...
For dinner we had leftover Cavatini I had made Sunday night -- I've finally settled into the cooking in Japan thing!
Today, like I said, it is raining again. I will probably dub around on the net, do some yoga, and I'm not sure what else... tomorrow I have to leave not too long after Nick to get to Ken's school before 11am -- I hope it's not raining!
posted by Stacy Bee at 9:15 AM
6 Comments:
Have fun at school!!!!
Cute Nick! LOL
Stacy makes a cute boy! :)
Hot costumes. Did you make him keep that on later to roleplay!! hahahahaha. Stacy, I know what you need for Christmas.....giftcards to the Outback! And Damn that tokyo disney!!
dear stacy, i wish i could have seen you in the schoolgirl outfit. miss you much ~ ed
Very funny Laura -- I know that was you...
Interesting Trip.
Enjoy yourself!
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