久しぶりだなぁ It's been a while (pt2)

So I have to start off part 2 by saying that if you ever want to feel good about yourself when you're learning a language, keep a blog/diary in that language and look back at some of your first posts after you've been studying a while. I just looked at some of my first posts on this blog and... wow... just wow...

Anyway, back to the interesting stuff. This isn't exactly chronological, but I figure I'll talk about Kobe and Osaka next, while I'm on the topic of travel...

About 3 weeks ago (around Feb 7) I went with my Aussie friend, whose name also happens to be Daniel, to Kobe. We, once again, caught an early bus in the morning and arrived at Kobe around noon. After getting in, we went to the hotel to drop off our bags (although we couldn't check in yet) and then went out sightseeing. (I thought ahead this time and wrote down the names of the places I visited XD) First we went to Ikuta Shrine （生田神社）, which was only about 5-10 min from the hotel.

Ikuta Shrine 生田神社

Here I found the most interesting ema （絵馬） I've seen in Japan so far...

My translation for the text on here is "This year for sure I'll begin to bud..."

After that, I was pretty hungry, but Daniel had eaten a late breakfast and wasn't hungry yet, so we stopped at a McDonalds so I could grab a quick lunch. (On a side note, McDonalds in Japan are having a 'Big America' campaign in which they have themed burgers (Las Vegas, Grand Canyon, Beverly Hills, and Broadway) with the special burger changing every 3 weeks or so. I've eaten all 3 they've already had and am looking forward to trying the Beverly Hills burger =P). After lunch, we went through China Town （南東町） on our way to Minatogawa Shrine （湊川神社）.

The outer gate of the shrine, with Daniel in the corner there

 Afterwards, we checked out a few shopping places (although we didn't buy anything) and then went back to the hotel to check in and relax. After about an hour of resting, I went back out by myself to roam the streets a bit and check out the Flower Clock （花時計）, at which I also discovered that Seattle and Kobe are sister cities =P.

Flower Clock 花時計

A totem pole given to Kobe from Seattle (It also had a small plaque explaining this)

Once it was dark, I met up with Daniel and we went set off for Mt. Rokko （六甲山）, although we had to take a train, a bus, and a cable car to get there =P. The view from the mountain was awesome, and the pictures I took don't really do it justice, but it was way too cold and the wind was too strong to stay and look for too long, so we headed back to get dinner.

Kobe Harbor as seen from Mt. Rokko

The restaurants name was The Steak House (I think...) and we got Kobe beef, which is quite famous, delicious, and a little expensive (=__=;). Still the meal was really nice, and I regret not taking pictures... Anyway, after eating we headed of to Kobe Harborland, which had a bunch of lights and was just fun to run around in, even if we didn't do much else.

Just a few of the pictures I took in Kobe Harborland

When we got tired and it started getting too late, we went back to the hotel again, but not before stopping at a コンビニ (konbini) beforehand for a snack. After getting in and showering, we got a call from our Japanese freinds who happened to be sightseeing in Okinawa at the same time and who may or may not have had a few drinks XD. Regardless, it was fun, but before long we had to go to bed.

The next day, we were up and out by about 10 o'clock, and stopped at, you guessed it, a コンビニ for breakfast before taking the train to go to Osaka. Once again, we arrived around noon and went to the hotel to drop off our bags (after a little trouble with finding it =/). While walking around wondering what to have for lunch, we stumbled upon the Hard Rock Cafe, which ended up being surprisingly cheap (\1000 or about $12.00).

Yum~! おいしい〜！

We left the Hard Rock Cafe and took the subway to Osaka Castle. The orginal Osaka Castle had been destroyed in the Summer Wars of Osaka (early 1600), but the one that is standing now was rebuilt shortly after and very similarly to the original. Most of the castle now is a museum about the castle (particularly the war in which it was destroyed), but it was still interesting.

Osaka Castle 大阪城

After visiting the castle, we bought treats for our friends and host families in the gift shop. Also, something very interesting at Osaka castle, was that they have a 5000 year time capsule (no I didn't mistype that...). I don't know about anybody else, but I feel like they are being really optimistic about the future...

So after we had our fill of the castle, we roamed around a bit and then went to check into the hotel before heading back out to Nanba, which is a very lively, popular shopping area. One of the more popular parts on Nanba is an area where there are lots of neon signs, the most famous of which is the Glico Man.

Nanba and the Glico Man

We wandered through Nanba on our way to an okonomiyaki (it's kinda like a pancake, but not really... it's hard to explain, but the ones in Osaka are notably tasty =D) restaurant called Yoshida （吉田）. We both thought the food was a little expensive, so we only bought one, but it was really good and I definitely would have gotten more. But instead we settled on that and headed off for the Umeda Sky Building （梅田スカイビル）. At the top, they have an observation deck and you can look out over the city, so it was a really pretty view, but once again it was a little chilly and the photos just don't do it justice...

キラキラ！

After leaving the Umeda Sky Building, we decided it was too late to do much of anything else in the city, so we went back to the hotel, but stopped at another コンビニ along the way to buy snacks and breakfast for tomorrow.

On Thursday, we had to check out by 10 o'clock, so we were up and out by 9:30. The plan for the day was mostly to run around and see a whole bunch of temples and shrines before heading home. Just talking about the temples and shrines is a little boring, so I'll let the photos do the talking here =D

Unfortunately, I went to too many temples/shrines on the 2nd day and forgot to write down there names T__T; The first 2 pictures are of the same place, and if I understood it right, it was the first Buddhist temple in Japan

Around 3 o'clock, we decided we had had our fill of temples and shrines, and decided it was time to head back. Daniel didn't want to spend a whole lot of money heading back, so he decided to take the bus, but I was willing to pay and hadn't ridden it yet so I decided to take the bullet train （新幹線/shinkansen） back. It was actually pretty interesting, and I ended up making back to Nagoya in just under an hour (compared to the bus' 3 and a half hours).

Wow this is going to take a while to update completely (=___=;)

But I'll keep at it! And when I start to get it mostly updated, I'll start using Japanese again (^o^)

As far as news goes in my life right now, I'm applying for a resident assisstant postion at my dorm back at Notre Dame for next year. I had an interview over Skype 2 night ago and am expecting to hear a decision around Monday or a little later.

Still trying to think of something interesting... but for now 花金！(TGIF)

久しぶりだなぁ It's been a while (pt1)

皆、久しぶりですね～！忙しかったし、楽しんですぎたし、ブログを書いてなかった。(´∀｀*)

いっぱい楽しいことしてたからたくさん書きたい～！それで、英語を使っちゃうかなぁ～

Long time no see (write, post, whatever)! I've been busy and having way too much fun, so I haven't been writing in my blog. =P

I've been doing so many fun things, so I want to write to a lot! But because of that, I may have to end up using English...

Probably the biggest news (that a lot of you already know =P) is that I have a girlfriend now! ♥ 

♥ 三村彩 Aya Mimura ♥

Unfortunately though, she'll be going home to Mieken for 2 weeks as of today so I don't get to see her again until March 6th (T_T)

My last post (if I remember correctly) was about the festival in Nagoya during fall break. Since then, I have travelled around a bit and gone to Kyoto, Kobe, Osaka, and Tokyo Disneyland. I went to Kyoto in the Fall around Thanksgiving with a big group of both Japanese and foreign exchange students.

This isn't everybody but... oh well \_(ツ)_/

We got up early on Saturday to catch a bus in the morning and then stayed until late Sunday night. The first day, we arrived around lunch time and were planning on eating right away, but because we got in a little later than expected and 2 of the girls (I don't remember the name for this but...) were dressing up in kimonos and turning into geisha, we ended up going straight to the geisha thingy place first.

Nana and Hikaru

After they got all dressed up we took pictures as they posed, and then they got cleaned up and ready to go to lunch. We couldn't really decide on a place for lunch, but eventually settled on a noodle shop where we got (delicious) udon and soba. After eating, (if I can remember right =P) we went to check into our 'hotel' (I use quotes because it didn't look like a traditional hotel; it looked more like a small apartment... but whatever) and then relaxed there while we tried to plan out what we were doing next. Later we went out (after it got dark) sightseeing and ended up wandering into a 'haunted' bamboo garden/trail/whatever, which was actually pretty fun, albeit mostly because the girls (except Aya) were pretty scared XD. Since we ate lunch fairly late, no-one was really hungry until about the time we got back to the area near the hotel, which was I think around 9 o'clock(?). We had a pretty large group and there weren't many restaurants in the first place, so we decided to buy dinner at a コンビニ (pronounced kon-bee-nee: probably one of the best inventions ever. It's a convenience store but they're about 10000 times better in Japan because you can find anything from food (both snacks and meals) to toiletries to flash sticks). We also went to a small supermarket to buy a few bottles of umeshu (which the internet translates as sake with plums; unripe Japanese apricots soaked in spirits) and a few other drinks as well as a couple sweets just because XD. Once we got back to the hotel (I should explain the hotel a bit I suppose =P we had 5 rooms; 4 small ones for 2 people each and a 'big' one for 4 people. And the hotel had one community shower/bath that 3(ish) people could use at a time), we went to the big room to eat and relax while taking turns in the shower. Hardly any of the umeshu actually got drunk but we still stayed up till about 1:30 or 2:00, which was a terrible decision seeing as how we planned on waking up the next day around 6:00 or 6:30.

Just chillin' (^o^)v

We somehow managed to get up when we planned to (mostly because Aya set an alarm and actually tried to get people moving =P) and left to go sightseeing. We stopped at another コンビニ for breakfast (and coffee (=_=)zzzZZZ) before actually heading out. Mostly we went to see temples and shrines (many of the names I have regrettably forgotten T_T) including the 金閣寺 (Kinkakuji).

Hikaru, Riho, Yuka, and Nana at the Kinkakuji

At some point, we stopped at a ramen shop for lunch, and got back to the bus station around the time it was getting dark. At the bus station we bought gifts for our (host) families and dinner (once again at a コンビニ =D) to eat on the bus ride home.

Kyoto Tower as seen from the station at night

I'm realizing now that updating this completely is going to take a reeeeeeeeeeaaaaaaaaaally long time so I'm going to go ahead and do this in parts. Also, right now I'm typing this at school between class and don't have any pictures, so I'll have to add those in later.
(edit: you may or may not have noticed that I added the photos (like a boss, I might add))

So for now, hope this is interesting despite being really old news (for me anyway) and not having much Japanese.

...ummm... till next time?

(I need a catch phrase =P)

ただいま！

Not that I actually went anywhere... (If you can't read the title, it says "I'm back!")

ポストするのはひさしぶりだね。ごめんね。

It's been a while since I've posted, hasn't it. Sorry.

大切なエベントのことだけ書くと思います。ぜんぶを書いたら、書きすぎます。＝＿＿＿＝

I think I'm only going to write about the major events. If I wrote everything, I would have to write too much =____=

三週間ぐらい前に、名古屋まつりに行きました。でも、土曜日雨が降ったから、色々なエベントは中止しまいました。しかし、友達と行ったから、とても楽しかったです。まず、名古屋駅でみんなと会って、栄に歩いて行きました。それから、オアシス２１に行って色々な店に見に行きました。そして・・・ さまらいになりました！＞＜

オアシス２１にたくさんろてんがあって、あのろてんにさまらいのよろいがあって着られました。みんな（知らなかった人も）たくさん写真をとりたかったです。後で店に見に行きました。スタジオジブリの店とポケモンセンターがあって、おもしろかったけど、何も買いませんでした。

その夜友達のおどりを見に行ったけど、ぼくのカメラの電池がだめになってしまったから、写真をとれませんでした。でも、本当におもしろくてきれいでした。そして、終わってから、みんなおどりましょうかとさそって友達はおどろうと言ったから、ぼくもおどりました。

About three weeks ago (I think it's been three weeks...) I went to the Nagoya festival. However, it rained on Saturday, so various events were canceled. Even so, since I went with friends, it was still a lot of fun. First everyone met at Nagoya station, and we walked from there to Sakae. Then we went to Oasis21 and looked at various shops. Also... I became a samarai! ><

At Oasis21 there were a lot of booths, and at one booth they had samarai armor and you could try it on. Everyone (even people that I didn't know) wanted to take lots of pictures. Afterwards, we went to look at the stores. There was a Studio Ghibli store and a Pokemon Center, and they were interesting, but I didn't buy anything.

That night we went to see a friend's dance, but my camera's battery died, so I couldn't take any pictures. However, it was really interesting and pretty. Also, after it ended, they invited to dance, and my friend friend told me to dance too, so I joined them in the dance.

日曜日の天気はよくなったから、日曜日にも名古屋まつりに行きました。その日こうしんを見たり、にわに行ったりしました。そして、よくどこに行くのを知らなくてさんぽしました。楽しかったけど、おそくあそびすぎたから、月曜日はたいへんでした。

(I think pictures can explain things better than I could, so I won't say much about this day)

Sunday's weather became nice, so I went on Sunday as well to the Nagoya festival. On that day, we watched a parade and went to a garden, as well as many other things. Also, we usually didn't know where we were going and just strolled along =P. It was fun, but we ended up playing too late, so Monday was tough.

ごめん、時間がないから、もう書けません。すぐもっと書きますよ。

Sorry, but I don't have time, so I can't write any more. I will write more soon.

さよなライオン！

(for anyone who doesn't get the reference, which may well be all of you, click here)

いそがしい〜！＝＿＿＿＝

I'm so busy! You may or may not have noticed, but it's kinda been forever since I posted... I think I'm like two weeks behind now on posts =______=

花火の後の日曜、ななさんとジェームスさんと名古屋えきや栄に色々な店に見に行きました。それから、日曜の晩みきさんとさちこさんとテッドさんと会って、おこのみやきを食べました。とてもおいしかったです（じつは、ぜんぶ日本の料理が大好きですが. . . ）！おこのみやきを食べてから、カラオケをしに行ったけど、ジェームスさんはしゅくだいをしなくちゃいけないからいっしょに行きませんでした。

o(^_^0)　おこのみやきを作っている　(0^_^)o

月曜友達とスィツパラダイスに食べに行きました。スィツパラダイスが大〜好き！そこでたくさんケーキやほかのあまい物が食べられます。スパゲティーもあったけど、あまい物が好きだからあまりスパゲティーを食べませんでした。すごくおいしかったけど、たぶん食べすぎました(＝＿＝；)。食べた後で、モールでさんぽして、ゲーセンにあそびに行きました。ゲーセンでぼくはブレイブルー（大好きなテレビゲーム）をして、いつもかったから百円だけで三十分ぐらいあそびました＼(＞v＜)／。

おいしい〜！

ドンッドンッ！

The Sunday after the fireworks, I went with Nana and James to Nagoya station and Sakae to look at various shops. Then, on Sunday night we met with Miki, Sachiko, and Ted and all ate okonomiyaki. It was really delicious (but then again, I love all Japanese food...)! After eating okonomiyaki, we went to sing karaoke, but James had to do homework, so he didn't come with us. 

On Monday, I went with friends to eat at Sweets Paradise. I looooove Sweets Paradise! You can eat lots of cake and other sweet things there. (It's like a buffet with nothing but cake and pie and pudding, etc. etc.) They also had spaghetti, but I like sweet things so I didn't eat very much spaghetti =P. It was super delicious, but we all probably ate too much (=__=;). After eating, we wandered around the mall and went to an arcade to play. At the arcade, I played Blazblue (a video game that I love playing) and kept winning so I played for about thirty minutes with just 100 yen (which is I think about $1.30 for those of you who don't know the conversion).

And now, once again, I have to stop writing so I can sleep (=_=)zzzZZZ

Unfortunately, at this rate, I don't think I can keep up with all the fun things I'm doing here (haha), so I'm considering posting in English for a while, although I like the way I'm posting now. If anyone has any preference (if you don't mind waiting for my stories or if you are just dying to hear everything that I'm doing) please tell me, but if there's no problem with it, I think I'll continue to post in Japanese and then translate, even though it takes a long time...

じゃあ、また今度

Well then, until next time

PS: Let's learn Japanese!!! My friends taught me a new phrase a while ago, and since tomorrow is Friday, I thought I'd teach you all =D

So in English, we say "Thank goodness it's Friday" or "TGIF"

In Japanese, you can say 花金／はなきん／hana kin, which pretty much translates to "flower Friday"

みんな、花金！

つかれた...寝たい...

ひさしぶり

Let's get down to business, to write this post!

(As I was starting to write, I turned on iTunes and this song was playing XD)

Anyway......

さいきんとてもいそがしかったです。先勝の水曜日ESS(English Speaking Society)はウェルカムパーティーをしました。たのしくて、そこでいろいろな友達になりました。そして、けんだまをしました。けんだまはちょっとむずかしいけど、とても楽しいと思います。

ESSのメンバーは着物を着ていました

 木曜日いけばな先生はじゅぎょうに来なかったから、南山大学で友達とあそびました。みんな歌ったり、おどったりしました。でもあそぶ前に、しゅくだいをしました。じつは、留学生は日本語のしゅくだいをして、日本人は英語のしゅくだいをしたから、おもしろかったと思います。

おいしそうだね〜　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　　

ぼくのホストファミリーはウェルカムパーティーをしたかったから、土曜日ホストファミリーの友達は家に来ました。そして、ぼくは着物を着ました！(*^o^*)（じつは、ななと言う友達によるとズボンがあったから、本当の着物じゃなかったけど、名前をわすれました（＝w＝；））すごく楽しくて、みんな「イケメン！」や「かこい！」と言っていました。

土曜の晩、花火を見に行きました。とてもきれいで、楽しかった。アメリカの花火みたいだったけど、ちょっとちがいました。(Gotta bust out the English for this part -__-) They were different because the fireworks were synced with music and a laser show! たくさん写真をとりました（とるすぎたかもしれない＝＿＿＝）。花火の前にピックニクがありました。お母さんが作ったおすしやいろいろなくだものをたべました。

きれいでしょう☆

明日かんじ小テストがあるから、今ここでおわります。勉強しなくちゃいけません〜

Lately, I've been really busy. On Wednesday the ESS club had a welcome party. It was fun, and I made some friends there. Also, I got to play with a kendama (it's a kind of ball-and-cup game). Kendama is a little difficult, but I think it is a lot of fun.

On Thursday my sensei for Ikebana didn't come to class, so I played with friends at Nanzan. We all sang songs and danced. But before we played, we did our homework. To be honest, though, because the exchange students were doing Japanese homework and the Japanese students were doing English homework, it was kinda fun I think.

My host family wanted to throw a welcome party for me, so on Saturday some of my host family's friends come to the house. Also, I got to wear a kimono! (*^o^*) (As a matter of fact though, according to my friend Nana, because the "kimono" had pants, it wasn't a "real" kimono, but I forgot what it is actually called （＝w＝；）) It was lots of fun, and everyone was saying "You look so good!" and "So cool!"

Saturday evening, we went to go watch fireworks. They were very pretty and it was a lot of fun. They were similar to American fireworks, but they were a little different. They were different because the fireworks were synced with music and a laser show! I took a lot photos (maybe too many photos =____=). Before the fireworks, we had a picnic. We ate sushi my host mom made and various fruits.

Tomorrow I have a small kanji test, so I'm going to stop here for now. I have to study...

Bad Habit

So I'm noticing a trend in my posts... I apologize for not posting in forever, then write a huge post to make up for it =_______=

やめなくちゃいけません〜

すぐポストを書けるといいんですが。

I hope that I can post soon.

In the mean time, hopefully these photos will whet your appetite (^o^)/

 花火！

着物！ 

スイーツパラダイス！

しゃしん！

I finally got my camera to put pictures on my computer! やった！

だから、このポストにたくさんしゃしんを入れます！

Therefore, I'm going to put lots of pictures in this post!

行くよ！Here we go!

ぼくのホストファミリー（ひだの家族）

My Host Family (the Hida family)

日本の食べ物

おいしそうだね〜

Looks tasty doesn't it? 

いくら！ 

Salmon eggs sushi! (or something like that)

日本のデザートが大好き♡

I love Japanese desserts♡

たくさん友達になりました！

I've made so many friends!

カラオケはすごく楽しい♪

Karaoke is so much fun♪

ぼくのインドネジア人の友達はいけばなのじゅぎょうでこのしゃしんをとった

My Indonesian friend took these pictures in Ikebana class

I know I didn't write a lot for this post, but I mostly just wanted to show you guys some pictures (which, let's face it, is the real reason you're "reading" my blog =P jk). Anyways, glad I could finally put these up!

またね〜☆

See ya!