This is going to be a really long post! Every time I want to write an entry, it’s when I’m winding down at night and I’m usually mentally exhausted. I can never think of what I want to write. To help me remember, I’ve put little bullet points on a virtual notepad on my computer. Since were are backtracking to the last few days I’ll start with the second day in Japan, which was Friday.
We woke up really early that day. Outside our hostel window there were kids screaming loudly and it forced us to wake up. The thing about being here is that once you wake up, it’s really hard to fall back asleep. Maybe it’s because the sun is blazing through your window or maybe it’s because you realize where your at and don’t want to waste time sleeping. I’ve never voluntarily woken up this early in my life, so I’m thinking it may be a combination of both things. We had a Mister Donut really close to our hostel so we went there for breakfast. Their doughnuts aren’t all that dissimilar to Krispy Kreme doughnuts and are roughly the same price. They have different flavors and types of doughnuts. I went safe and got a custard and strawberry icing. For me it was the kick of sugar I needed. And it helped me get through the day.
After that we followed Tim’s directions on how to get to Hirakata. We planned on going to there to visit him, Samara, and Kayo and to look around the city. The trains aren’t too hard to figure out. It always takes me riding train once or twice in a particular city before I understand them. But we took the train from our hostel at the Fukushima station to Kyobashi. From there we switched from the JR line to the Keihan line and met up with Tim. He navigated the rest of the way to Hirakata. The train is about a 30-40 minute straight shot from Kyobashi depending on what train you take. After this we made the bad decision to walk to Kayo’s apartment from the train station. It was incredibly hot and humid and was about a 40 or so minute walk. Now I know for some people that isn’t a lot. But I don’t really do all that much walking back home, let alone in 95+ degree weather. My back started to bother me so I had to stop them a few times so I could rest. I have to say as well, that I’ve never sweat more in my life. I’ve come to accept that I’m just going to sweat everyday. I just have to stay hydrated.
After we got to Kayo’s place (she had air thank god!) we cooled off and talked for a bit. After, we decided to go by the school. It was actually really nice to see the school without students there. We got to see our mailboxes and the main building our classes will be in. After, we walked to a clothing shop down the road. The clothes here are definitely interesting. They all have random english on them and they all are incredibly tiny. I could probably fit into a most of it, but it would be tighter than I like my clothes to be. I didn’t buy anything, but Peter and Jess each got things they needed. When we went to leave it started to downpour so we bought umbrellas and braved the storm. Hot, humid, and raining equals a not so happy Dana. It felt like we went swimming with our clothes on. We laughed about it because we couldn’t do anything else. We made dinner at Kayo’s place using food bought from the 100 yen store. 100 yen is roughly a dollar. We fed all six of us for 500 yen. It was amazing. We goofed around at Kayo’s place after. Seeing her apartment made me realize how oversized our apartments are! Her entire apartment is the size my dorm room at the school. It fits one person comfortably, but still compact.
After, we left we took the bus back to the station and made it back to Kyobashi fine. But we took the wrong train to get back to Fukushima and ended up going around the loop of the city. Either way we still made it back to our hostel. We were told that our hostel was having a small party but when we walked down the street it was an entire street festival. There were vendors grilling food and kids running around. We took some pictures and walked slow to see everything. By the time we got back to our rooms I was exhausted and dirty from the rain so we fell asleep pretty quickly.
That’s it for day 2. I’ll try to work on day 3 later today. I’ve been trying to study as much as I can. And we are supposed to go downtown for a festival today. So until next time!
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Dana in Japan 