Monday, November 29, 2010

Autumn


Hi All,

久しぶりねー(Hisashiburi ne?) 

It feels like it’s been a while right?

Well last week I had a midterm for my history class. Terrible. But here we are again. Some good things have happened though so let’s get to them.

Autumn has finally decided to present itself upon this place and it’s finally looking autumn-like. I generally love the fall because of the colors. The trees upon the decreasing sunlight say their goodbyes in reds, yellows and browns, a mosaic that entertains my eyes and puts me at peace … here I mostly see yellow however (-. –)... Still, I enjoy the crisp wind and last few days of warmth before I’m shoved in the despair of winter, minus the glitter of happiness in the form of snow –that I apparently won’t be getting at this latitude (-___-“). Maybe I’m not as happy as I thought… lol.



We found out that you can rent bicycles for free at the tourist office by Mishima station. Of course we got on that immediately and went bike riding. You can borrow them as long as you like until 4pm. And as often as you like, I’ll be going there frequently. We didn’t bike anywhere new per say just found things we’ve missed before, it was nice and enjoyable.









I don’t think I’ve mentioned this but I apparently made an unconscious vow not to eat ramen. Why? I’m traumatized. Had some bad ramen, I was scarred, that sort of thing. I’ve stealthily passed the opportunity to eat it since I’ve arrived here, like a ninja =P. But any way, I finally had ramen. Didn’t finish the bowl but hey it’s a step forward no?



Had to go back to Tokyo for the dance performance lessons. Yeah, I suck. I’m really terrible at it. Given the amount of details in each step and me being like Dory from Finding Nemo…*sigh.

But any way, we used the time after to walk around and soak in the liveliness of the big city when we stumbled upon nothing less than that delicious fattening all-American fast food giant Burger King! *Tear.




I went to a Christmas Party for children of Colombian and Colombian-Japanese decent in Tokyo, hosted and sponsored by the Colombia embassy. The first secretary and consul Mr. Diaz invited me. It was nice. I had gone thinking I was going to volunteer but they kind of didn’t need my help. Billy and I got to meet the Colombian-Japan ambassador Patricia Cardenas, PhD though. Yay!

multiracial kids are SO cute!


We also went to Gotenba, the town over to view a set up for amazing Christmas lights. They are set up in a tunnel that is a lot of fun to walk through.










Highlights

Billy and I found out that here in Japan, the bubbles formed by the soapy water bought to have children play around with, don’t pop! Well they do, but not right away. They last really long and you can hold them!! Amazing, yes. They are actually made of something stronger than soap but we didn’t find out what.

Had a really interesting kind of soba noodle. The noodles were crispy, so fried. And then had a vegetable and pork stew poured on top. It was delicious but quite interesting to eat the competing textures at once.

I found a Churro! Longest Churro ever!

Apple pies here are deep-fried (>_<)

I think this is all.

Later.

Monday, November 22, 2010

No Smo-r-king!


Hi All,

Another week has flown away. As things have gotten more routine I have less adventures so bare with me.

But! We did go see the life-size Gundam in Shizuoka!!

Pretty neat right? … Yeah sorry, I brought out the geek in me. We rode the train for an hour and paid about $12 to go see it, and all you can do is see it, but it was fantastic! I mean an 18-meter (~60ft) Gundam!

For those of you who don’t know-

Gundam is a metaseries of anime created by Sunrise studios that features giant robots (or "mecha") called "Mobile Suits", The metaseries started in 1979 as a serial TV show called Mobile Suit Gundam. That first TV series has since spawned a franchise that has come to include works released in numerous media. Gundam is a popular cultural icon of Japan, it is a 50 billion yen business of Bandai Namco (projected 50 billion yen income of the company and reached a highest number of 54.5 billion yen in 2006)




Christmas decorations in Shizuoka.


We went to see Harry Potter –Of course. And it was great! Going to the movies here doesn’t seem too popular. But the theaters are nice and clean! Oh two things I noticed:

1- when you buy your movie ticket you buy a specific seat. It’s like buying a ticket for an actual theater or a play. It’s not like NY where you buy a ticket and you’re running for good seats.

2- The trays are very innovative. Lol You don’t just have the cup holder, it a “cup-plus everything else you buy” holder.


Is it not the coolest thing to see "Harry Potter" written in katakana "ハリーポッター"


Finally we made our own version of ThanksGiving, because we’re American and we can’t skip from Halloween to Christmas. It’s just not right!! Lol

We made it a potluck and man we had food. I mean we had a lot of food!







Highlights

We keep seeing signs of “No Smoking” with the misspelling “No Smo-R-king”. It’s hilarious. I asked my Japanese friends about it and they have never noticed. And they are everywhere!


Damien had a twinkie for the first time. They don’t have them in France so Billy had his family mail him some because after watching the movie Zombieland with us—Well Damien just had to have one of those “…spongy yellow delicious ba$t@rds”




And last but not least, just when you thought you were thousands of Kilometers (~miles) from home, away from most things American and most definitely all things Hispanic much less Dominican. You find the most Dominican thing ever!

I found plantains in Japan (albeit very expensive plantains!). But still!

For those of you who don't know:

"The plantain is a crop in the genus Musa and is generally used for cooking, in contrast to the soft, sweet banana (which is sometimes called the dessert banana). Plantains tend to be firmer and lower in sugar content than dessert bananas. Bananas are most often eaten raw, while plantains tend to be cooked or otherwise processed, and are used either when green or unripe (and therefore starchy) or overripe (and therefore sweet). Plantains are a staple food in the tropical regions of the world, treated in much the same way as potatoes and with a similar neutral flavor and texture when steaming, boiling or frying cooks the unripe fruit. The plantain is the main food source of the Dominican Republic, and is used just as much as, if not more than, rice"



Well that is all.

Later.

P.S. You know I like to know you’re reading, so please by all means leave comments!