Southern Japan...November 2006

I just got back from travelling across the country and it was GREAT! I got to see Christine one of my best childhood friends...I miss her already! It's getting late here and I took almost 300 pictures so I think I will post a new blog for now, as promised with a few pictures and then upload the rest into a shutterfly album and then email that later. sound good? ok...

So Friday morning I caught the 5:59 am train to Tokyo (yes A.M!) haha and then from Tokyo I took the Shinkansen to Hiroshima...the trip was about 7 hours but I slept most of the time so it wasn't so bad.



"6 in the morning..."

When I arrived at Hiroshima Eki Christine was already there waiting for me...happy times!! Our very first stop, Okonomimura!!! Okonomimura is okonomiyaki village where in one building there are almost 30 different okonomiyaki vendors all specializing in hiroshima-yaki...closest thing to heaven on earth haha..





We checked into our hotel and went shopping! We both weren't supposed to be spending money but did some damage at Zara...i got a new fall coat, work pants, and a turtle neck. all very practical, at least that's how i reasoned with myself. :) We spent dinner catching up and were there for hours, it was great. Then we checked out a couple of bars and called it a night.





The next morning we had breakfast in the hotel and then joined a tour group. First on our tour was Miyajima island! The weather was absolutely perfect :) Miyajima was a lot of fun and just as I remember it.










We ate okonomiyaki (again!) for lunch on miyajima, and this one was even better i think! We also got to see them make momiji-manju :) oishiiii!! We also got lucky because there was a Japanese wedding going on at the temple! People have told me that you are lucky if you get to see one.






After Miyajima it was straight to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Park...we visited the A-bomb dome and museum.






I have a ton of pictures of the museum but I'll send those through shutterfly instead...Christine and I can now say that we've been to the Holocaust museum and now the Hiroshima museum together...and both made us want to cry...i just can't imagine people doing something so horrible to innocent people.

That night we took the Shinkansen into Kokura, Kyushu (where Christine lives). We ate Turkish food, *correction*, food from the Ottoman empire (hahaha inside joke)...Turkish food is basically greek food so we had hummus, pita, baklava (sp?), stuffed grape leaves, turkish tea...Sugoi!! Then it was off to hang out at a couple of bars that Christine and her friends frequent on the weekends...The second bar is called the O.C. Lanikai, Ben-the owner is from Hawaii but also lived in Orange county, demo...oc lanikai.







The next morning Christine cooked spam and eggs :) kawaii ne?


On Sunday, Christine, Desi (JET in kitakyushu), and I explored Fukuoka :) Hakata and Tenjin...all i can say is SHOPPING and FOOD!!! we ate sooooo much that day, i think i gained 10 pounds! Desi knew all of the things to eat in Fukuoka and he kept stopping at all these neat little shops, oishii kata desu!


(insert brianne in the middle) we missed you girlie!!


fukuoka eki

Ohori-koen...absolutely beautiful :)






Gion temple...big budda man




Hakata ramen!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! once you have hakata, you won't want anything else!




Christine and I got our hair cut by Yasu. Yasu was a hairdresser in New York for 10 years, his english is good so all of the foreigners in the fukuoka/kokura area go to him. He did such a good job, I told him that I would return and that it gives me a reason to go to fukuoka again, haha.




The rest of the night was spent drinking coffee and eating more pastry...Tenjin core is THE hot spot of fukuoka...the entire area is already decorated with christmas lights, trees, and poinsettas!! crazy eh?




That night we stayed up until 3am watching star wars and having a discussion about the psychological view on language acquisition hahaha...desi is bi-lingual and is determined to find a faster/easier way to learn japanese so that he can say he's tri-lingual. gambatte! haha. Christine took monday off and saw me off as I left Kokura, and headed back into Iwaki. It was awesome getting to see her, and the entire trip we couldn't believe that we were in Japan together...no parents, no chaperones...just us. Hopefully our next meeting is sooner than later :)

This weekend I have follow-up training in Tokyo. So yet another weekend that I won't be in Iwaki, but at least this time my tickets are paid for! I'm looking forward to training because I'll get to see some of my friends from initial training that I haven't seen since. However my apartment is upside down right now and needs MAJOR cleaning!!

Well that's it for now...I'll upload the shutterfly album later, this wasn't even half of what I took! hahaha. Love you guys and thanks for keeping up with the blog :) kiotsukete!
-Andie