Today started out a little rough, but the afternoon was much better. This morning there were a lot less students than usual for some reason, and all of the energetic students were gone. Needless to say, I felt like I was dragging my class along all day. I managed to do two activities that made them a little more genki, but even that didn`t last long. When I got back to the Yukimoto`s, they were having an argument, so I grabbed some onigiri and left. I brought my kasa (umbrella) since it was supposed to rain, but nothing else. At first I was just wandering around the city, but then I decided to go back to Kishiwada Jo (castle) since the gardens were pretty. I walked around the outside of the moat, but didn`t end up actually going into the inner enclosure. The moat had a bunch of water lilies (and a duck!) and looked pretty. I love looking at water, and the water was pretty to look at. It helped me calm down a bit.
Afterward, I was walking around the streets near the castle, and I ran into Sister Sato. She was very surprised to see me. she invited me to go back to her house and do something with the other interns. It was perfect! It gave me a chance to get away and do something fun for an afternoon - homework was put on the back shelf and I actually took a break! James and Taylor are real lifesavers. We all went out and looked at this street where there were a bunch of really old houses. They looked so cool. There was also one fairly new looking temple that we looked at - it still seemed under construction, so we didn`t actually go in. The area near the temple smelled like wet concrete, asphalt, and wood - just like home.
As we were walking, we met several groups of elementary school children. It was fun to say hello to them and watch them freak out because a gaijin talked to them. There was one group on bikes that waited at a light with us. They kept shouting out any random bits of English they remembered. It was funny.
Next we went to a nearby mall - Bayside Mall. We walked around for a while, and I ended up getting a yellow shirt with a phoenix on it - for $10. It is so easy for me to find clothes I like here. It is really nice. I will have to buy some stuff before I go back to America. There was also a cool fountain/waterfall thing in front of the mall.
Oh, time to mention another weird Japanese thing I found! In the bathroom, there was actually a stand in the stall where you could put your child while you used the restroom. It looked a little like a car seat, and there were all sorts of warnings about how to make sure your child did not fall out - with funny pictures.
When I went back to the Yukimoto`s they took me to Joshin - an electronic store so I could get a microphone for the main computer to use on skype. My first impression of the store: pastel. I had no idea that there were that many electronics that could come in pastel. It was a pretty big store, so later if I have more time I might go back and wander around. It looks like there might be some pretty cool things there.
No comments:
Post a Comment