Week 83: The first week of insanity

ok, hold onto your hats, because we did a LOT this week.

Monday, I spent so much of the day in transit. Dani was supposed to come in at Noon-ish, so I had to leave around 10:30.  When I finally made it to the airport, I found out her flight was delayed.  When her flight finally landed, she messaged me to tell me she was still in China, she had missed it.  So I went BACK to Osaka, for an appointment, and then back to the airport to catch her at the new flight at 6:00.  Which didn't land until 6:30, and she didn't get out of customs until 7...Yeah, let's not talk about Monday anymore.

Except, the airport was nicely decorated for spring.

Pokemon spring!

Yeah, Japan's excited about its sakura, even though they haven't really bloomed yet.  By NOW they have started, maybe 10%. On Monday, they were just promising buds.

Tuesday was "let's let Dani recover from jetlag a little" day.  We ran errands, I dragged her to my chiropractor, (I won't show the picture of her cupping) I let the city hall know I was moving, we made brownies, etc.  I left some of the brownies out for the missionaries, but forgot to bring them to class. They were so sad when I told them!  

Why did I tell them? I can hear you ask.  Because when we were waiting for the church to open for class, we were being bothered by a very friendly drunk guy trying to speak English to us. Just wouldn't stop. So I called the Elders and they said they'd let us in early.  I told them I figured the drunk guy could talk to them instead of us.  

Then they left the church door open.  We had to shoo the drunk guy out and lock the door after him. :P

That's why I told them I forgot their brownies.

Tuesday night I taught class and let everyone know I was leaving.  Everyone is really sweet and I'll miss them.

Wednesday is when we started touring in earnest.

We went to Nara!

The deer were VERY Interested in the fact that we had something different, and we figured apple slices wouldn't hurt them.

We brought apple slices

we were VERY popular.

Their summer coats are coming in, so they look mangy

Occasionally we would give apple slices to other people trying to get pictures with the deer where the deer were obviously bored with their normal crackers.  

We saw the big Buddha hall,

And guess what! I finally went through the hole in the pillar!

It's not a big hole, mostly kids go through it.  And weirdo foreigners.  Maybe in the past when people were smaller, adults did, too, I don't know.  But it *was* a rather tight fit, and once you get your arms and head in, it's really hard to get enough traction to get any further, so Dani pulled me though until I could use my arms, and then I did the same for her.

After that we mostly just wandered around and looked at the grounds and the various shrines.  And the really big bell.  

No, you can't actually ring it, the log is chained up

We wandered the town a little and saw them making mochi

And then we were tired, so we called it a day.  Kinda. We went back and had dinner, but then we took off to my favorite bathhouse and just hung out there for a couple hours. (no pictures.)

Thursday, we joined a friend of mine and went up to Ibaraki!  What does Ibaraki have, you may ask?  It has an Instant Ramen museum!

the inventor Momofuko Ando

Declared one of the greatest inventions of our lifetime!  He got the idea for instant noodles from seeing the long lines of people waiting for even a bowl of noodles after the devastation of WWII.  He said "A people can only be happy if there is enough food".  So after 10 years, he built a shack in his back yard and started testing, trying to find a food that was 1)tasty, 2)fast 3)easy 4)could be stored at room temperature and 5)...I don't remember.  Anyhow!  After a bunch of tries, he got it!  And it was an instant hit.

Later, he tried to sell it to America.  He met a grocery distributor and the guy said "OK, so what IS Ramen?"

"It's soup you eat in a bowl with chopsticks."

"Ok, well, I have a coffee cup, Let's see what it tastes like..." 

So the distributor threw the ramen into a coffee cup with some hot water, and in 5 minutes ate it with his fork.  He said it was delicious and would be glad to sell it.  Momofuku Ando was staring at the cup going "now THERE'S an idea...."

And Cup Noodles was born!  :D

Of course, first he had to bring Styrofoam factories to Japan. And invent freeze drying.  So really, I'm quite impressed!

The museum was awesome. First of all, it was free.  Even the audio tour/translations were!  And there was a cup noodles experience, where you got to make your own cup noodles!

this was not free

First we decorated them.

COLOR

Then we decide what to put in them.

children are not fast.

Then they pack it up!

they didn't let us participate in this part.

And they gave us balloon bags to keep them safe on our adventures!

Ready to go!

Dani and I are gonna eat them on the plane. :)

The day was still young, so we had some lunch and went to see the Tower of the sun!  (It was also really sunny, so perfect day.)

giant chicken again.

There was a festival again.

can't seem to come when there ISN'T one.

But mostly I think they were there for the Sakura.  Which weren't out yet. But it is sunny, and warm, and the kids can run around screaming, so they go OUTSIDE.

It was STILL pretty early after that, so we went to Osaka castle.  Where I lost my phone in the subway bathroom, so I don't have pictures of that.  Bug Dani for them.  I got the phone back! Thankfully, or you wouldn't get any more pictures!  (though really, the BAD part was I keep my residence card in the back of the case.  it's even WORSE if I lose that!)

THEN we went to the late showing of Sing!  Boy were we wiped when we got back to my place.

FRIDAY.  What did we do Friday?

HIMEJI! that's right!  (tired yet? I know I am)

We went to Himeji!  It was raining.  AAAAAAAAAAAAAALL day.  And cold.  After the beautiful weather we had earlier in the week, this was a real let down.  BUT!  We still went!

We saw the castle!

THE place to take pictures

built for smaller people.

And it was lovely, even though we were cold.

I wish I could see how it looked back then.

keeping as warm as possible!

And there were SOME Sakura.

There's Dani!

And we ended the day warming up with some Hot Chocolate.

So nice!

We had plans for later, but really, we were cold and tired, and just wanted to curl up and dry off.

Saturday, we went to Kobe area!

Dragged Dani to Chinatown!

it's small but fun.

tiny meat buns!

I love the sesame balls.

Checked out the sea-side park.  It's called "Merica park".  :)

it did not move.

Met up with my co-teacher (now THAT'S a story of cross cultures and frustration) and got my letter of recommendation.

Then we went to Arima!  Arima is a small historical village/town North of Kobe.  It is famous for it's natural hot springs which make for wonderful public baths.  I say historical because these public baths have been famous for being historical/natural, and because they have made the downtown look a lot like old Japan.

without the smell.

We checked out the bath house

we are HISTORICALLY clean!

And the local treats

little flat cookies you eat warm! very tasty!

I love translations.

And the shrines and Temples

'cause you gotta

look at all that nature!

he's so scowly

And we saw some native arts!

making bamboo stuff!

And...oh yeah! There was a toy museum!

AMAZING doll scenes

the best part, definitely.

toy demonstrations

a whole FLOOR of automata!  I wanna see this one run!

And it was a fun day!  Near dinner time, we headed back into Kobe and checked one off the "life goals" list.

we waited in line forever.

No, actually, we had a Kobe steak dinner. :)

With our own chef!

And I gotta say, they were NOT lying, it is VERY tender beef.

especially when ordered rare.

It falls right apart, melt in your mouth.

The flavor was "meh".

It really needed those dipping sauces.  I honestly expected more.  Though, according to one transplant, that is the Japanese aesthetic.  The fact that it is that tender is more important than how tasty it is.  I can believe it.  I've had their cakes.

And today is Sunday!  That's the whole week!  (It's a rest day. We're taking it OFF)

I gotta say, I'm really enjoying having Dani here so I can show stuff off.  We're a little bad for each other because we egg each other on.  "Let's go do this!" "Well, OK then."

The best part of today was after church, when one of the ADORABLE kids we have here saw her and held out her hand. She grabbed Dani's finger and started heading to the door.  "You're an adult. This means she can go outside."

So Dani laughed and took her outside for a little.

go on, TELL me that's not adorable.

And then we went home and had a NAP.

Hope you're all doing well!