Okinawa
DAY 2:
So we woke up and it started with a buffet of deliciousness! Waffles, pancakes, salad, a variety of fruits, sausage, bacon; you know all the good stuff. We waited until the we were able to go swimming and then did so! It was so nice to be back in the ocean. Not like I can swim in Canadian waters or anything, but just to be near it again was nice. We rented an eight-shaped inner tube so that my host sister (who cannot swim) could enjoy the water too. We splashed about and eventually everyone hopped on the float and my host father and I swam them all the the other side of the swimming area. I walked (painfully) on the rocks to go sit on a bench. I spent the better part of ten minutes just taking in the view. The impossibly blue water, the smell of the ocean, the feel of the wind. I felt so calm. Then after I was abruptly woken from my state, I borrowed my host fathers goggles and went for a little snorkelling. Even in though the area was cut off from the rest of the ocean, a bunch of small fish made their way into the swimming area. So I saw many different types! Blue, black, yellow; so beautiful. Then I made my way back to the beach as it started to rain. We returned to out rooms and took showers before heading out for lunch. We found this small pizza restaurant called "Wine and Pizza 58". It was a very nice place! I had (very delicious) fish and chips and tasted everyone's pizzas. For dessert I had apple pie! So yummy! We returned to the hotel and got ready for snorkelling! We arrived at the office and changed into our wet suits and boots. We looked like the cast of Gantz. It was awesome. We we paired with a couple for our tour and after getting all of our gear (flippers, goggles, etc.) we hopped in a van and made our way to the snorkelling area. After being taught how to breathe in the goggles (I honestly had no idea how to do so haha) we all went down towards the cliff. We made our way along the shore and ended up in a cave. It was ridiculously busy this day so there was about 100 people in the cave/water. We got in and floated along. I wasn't really paying attention to the instructor and just kind of did my own thing within the group. It was quite difficult to hear anyway haha. Because it was so busy there was this one jerk who kept hitting me. If I hadn't turned around after the sixth time he hit me he would never have had apologized. This put me in a sour mood because it continue to happen the entire tour. Either with the previously mentioned person or hitting peoples flippers or having people hit me in the face. Also, I had to pee which made everything worse. It was very irritating. People were just being rude. After getting in to open water we were given soggy fried tofu and fed the fish. Once again, just beautiful. All different shapes, colours and sizes. If you looked down you could see people scuba diving. "That must be nice" I thought "No body is in the way down there". After getting caught in another torrential rain we ended the tour and it was quite an experience. Before returning to the hotel, my host parents took us to a tourist sight. It was a cliff and absolutely stunning. You could actually patches of falling rain off in the distance. After we walked the trail, we bought sundresses and went back to the hotel where we slept for about an hour. We woke up and went to dinner. It went to an apparently famous restaurant that specialized in meat. It was so good! Salad bar and everything. Like really tender pork and this delicious steamed rice dish that was wrapped in a large local leaf. We also order this steamed meat that was steamed with Japanese liquor. Just, urg, pure heaven for the tongue. We returned to the hotel and watched the Olympics before I jumped into bed and fell asleep to the Lord of the Rings.Day 3:
When we woke up we got our buffet breakfast again. Same food, but just as delicious. We then again waited to get into the water and swam for a few hours. My host father, host sister and I rode a banana boat and a seat-like tube pulled by a sea-doo. Not as fun as when I used to go to my friends cabin and we would pull each other, but still fun. Aside from getting seawater in the eyes; not fun. We checked out and decided to go into town and do some sight seeing before our flight at 5. We found this really beautiful area that was mostly just shallow water. It was like a scene from a movie. We then made our way more into town and then we found it, the most wondrous sight I could see... A&W. I never knew this existed in Japan. Well, I should've known going to Okinawa, which is a very westernized place, but still it was a lovely surprise. I had been ranting and raving about root beer ever since I saw a sign for A&W on the first day. At my request we went and ordered. It wasn't the regular baby, teen, mama, papa burger but it was easy to tell what was what. My "Mozzarella Burger" was the substitute name for a "Teen Burger". After waiting awhile, we got our food and returned to our car and began our "feast". I was so happy to have root beer again! But... unfortunately it wasn't as great as I had thought it to be. I guess I have grown accustomed to Japanese taste and it just.... didn't taste that good. The burger was awesome though! I let my host sisters taste root beer. Their reaction was priceless. I should have filmed it. They said it tasted like a vitamin drink mixed with medicine without the positive properties. Before returning the car we went to the Imperial Castle. I believe that is what it was. Anyway, everyone was getting cranky and none of us wanted to be there. Though very beautiful, we trudged through the castle and read the boards and returned to the car. We then returned the car and jumped on the shuttle bus to the airport. We bought souvenirs and I saw a bottle of Habu Sake. Habu is a snake. There was an actual snake in the bottle. It was really awesome. There was a sign warning people that if they tried to take it back to their home country it may be confiscated. Oh, so dangerous. At 5 we boarded our plane and returned home. I was feeling sick from the A&W (I TRUSTED YOU!!) so I didn't eat when we got to Haneda Airport. We got a bus back to our house because we are lazy and didn't want to take the train.
Conclusion:
Okinawa is absolutely beautiful. With great food and great people. I wholeheartedly recommend everyone to go there at least once!
Swimming
So on August 7th, I met a few (nine) of my school friends for a kind of a going away BBQ. I met Yui and Mitsuki at the station and we went to Musashi-Ranzan. It was about 40 minutes away by train and car, but totally worth it. We arrived at the river and the guys had already set up everything. We started BBQ and playing in the water. The water was extremely deep and there was even people jumping off from a rock into the river. I, of course being a scaredy-cat, didn't jump off. We spent the entire day eating and swimming. Before leaving the river around four p.m. the boys went to go jump off the rock. I was tired and had already returned to the BBQ area and got half dressed before going to watch them jump off. When they did, oh god, it was embarrassing. Four of the boys got in a line and one by one jumped off. But before doing so, in turn, they yelled "Hali, I Love You!" each saying one word. I tried to be stoic and not react but it was really, not embarrassing as such but more annoying haha. When everyone returned to the BBQ area, we played a Japanese summer game called "Suika-wari" (Watermelon Splitting). Someone is blind folded and given a stick. They have to put their head on said stick and spin around. They are then supposed to dizzily make their way to the watermelon with the directions of everyone else. Then the hit the watermelon as hard as they can. Some people miss, some people hit it but don't break it, some people break it and in the case of my friend he split it with his fist. Everyone then eat the watermelon after and it was so delicious. The most delicious Japanese water melon I've had to date. After packing up everything, we made our way to our friends house to do some fireworks! We arrived, got the fireworks and then made our way to a local shrine/playground to set them off. It was really fun! We then played a test of courage where two people are "it" and everyone else hides and tries to scare them. After that we just hung around and talked about a bunch of different things. Around 10 we decided to go home. As I was going home I gave the people not taking the train hugs and they gave me a present. After I hugged the one boy who had a crush on me (since I met him) he said that he can die happy now haha! We all parted ways eventually and I gave everyone a hug. I will really miss them. I'm happy to have met them!
Birthday:
So on August 9th, it was my 19th birthday! I woke up excited and my host mom and sister wished me a happy birthday. I went to get my hair done at 11 and after three hours it was done. I got a perm and it looked good on that day but now it has returned to its straight self. After getting my hair done, I made my way up to Omiya to meet John (Taiwanese Exchange Student) for the last time. As I was waiting for him I called my cousin and we made our plan to meet before I leave. John arrived and gave me a bag. He had bought me a piece of cake the celebrate my birthday. I was overjoyed! We went for karaoke (where we sang a lot of Chinese songs) but, unfortunately, at five he had to leave. I thanked him for being my friend and making my exchange awesome and then we parted ways. I returned home and waited for my host mom to get home because we were to go out for dinner. We went to this really, REALLY delicious okonomiyaki place and just ate and ate. Unbeknownst to my host dad, prior to his arriving, my host mom had bought me an alcoholic beverage. Hehehe so bad. We ate fried meat and vegetables, two different okonomiyaki and yakisoba. I was filled to the brim. Then they brought out a cake! It was your classic Japanese birthday cake; strawberry shortcake with a chocolate block with "Happy Birthday Hali" written upon it in chocolate. The restaurant (about 10 people altogether) sang me happy birthday and I nearly cried. I was so happy. My host sisters then gave me presents. I got a dress, letter set and a cute hair tie. Also with the dress, Tanyo and Haruka (my host sister's friends who I had met at her university) wrote me messages. I felt bad because I never got Natsu anything for her birthday which was last month. I thanked everyone and ,despite being full, we ate the delicious cake.
I was so happy to be able to spend my birthday in Japan and with this family. Thank you very much!!
Fireworks
On Saturday, after getting my hair re-permed, I went with my host sister to the Tokyo Hanabi Taikai. Which is a huge fireworks display. We wore our yukatas and made the 100 minute train ride to where we needed to go (I honestly forget the name). We waited in a park for Tanyo and Haruka. Before the fireworks we went to karaoke. There wasn't very many karaoke boxes in the area, "This is a rare thing for Japan" I thought but we eventually found one. An expensive one. But we didn't care we just decided to go for an hour. It was 300 yen an hour... so expensive ;___; . Everyone sang, either together or solos and we laughed and enjoyed ourselves. Everyone was so good at singing! I was jealous haha. After karaoke we went to go find a place to watch the fireworks. We immersed ourselves in the crowd and followed everyone until we made it to a boardwalk. we sad on the concrete and ate previously purchased snacks as we waited for the fireworks to start. However when they did start, we could only see about one third of them. We thought "Meh, it can't be helped. We didn't buy a ticket" and settled for that spot. The fireworks were splendid and it wouldn't be a Japanese fireworks display without a Poké Ball and pikachu firework haha. The fireworks went on for an hour and a half, but ten minutes before ending, we decided to get ready to go by climbing a hill. Which we then found out was a way better place to the fireworks. Oh well. After the fireworks ended, we agreed to go get ice cream at a department store which was across the (ocean) river. We walked a good two kilometres, because we had to go all the way around the river, before getting to the department store. We sat down and ate our ice cream but not before exploring the department store and the bookstore. My host sister and I joked that because there was a really nice apartment complex nearby, that we would marry rich men and have them buy an apartment there. We would live next to each other and cook each other food haha. We made our way home and I said goodbye to Tanyo. We'll meet again!
Crayfish and BBQ
So a couple of weeks a go it was decided that we would go catch zarigani (crayfish). I was really excited because it sounded like such a Japanese thing to do haha. We picked up My host sisters friends (Haruka, Akkun, Mokkun, and Daisuke) and headed for the country side. We stopped at a very large rice paddy and decided to fish there. The way to fish zarigani is tie a string to the end of a stick (we had bamboo, obviously) and then tie dried squid to the end of the string. And as soon as I put my squid into the water, a crayfish grabbed it! It was really exciting! We caught about twenty (I caught four; themost out of everyone) before we agreed that there were no more to be caught haha. After fishing, my host dad and host uncle picked us all up and brought us to my host uncle/aunt's house for a BBQ. Their house is huge for Japan. Like a bigger-than-normal North American house. And they had a garage where we were having the BBQ. We BBQ'd and after people got a bit tipsy we did fireworks. A bit of a dangerous activity when you are on the tipsy side but it was all fun. I went to go to use the washroom and when I returned all the garage doors were closed and I just thought that maybe the wind was a bit too strong and used the side door. Little did I know that it was a bit of a surprise party. As I opened the door I saw two cakes. Your standard Japanese birthday cake and a pie-like pastry. Everyone sang me happy birthday and I thanked everyone as I cried a little. Drunken hugs were received and I hugged them back. My host aunt then gave me a gift. Which also made me shed a tear or two. We then did more fireworks and everyone eventually drifted home. I sad goodbye to everyone and declared that when I come back everyone has to get together again and have a BBQ. Akkun said that then I can get drunk with everyone haha. I am so happy.
Once again I won't let these pile up anymore. It so much better when I have a vivid memory of the events that I write about. I'm going home in three days and I am/(not) happy about it. So many mixed feelings. Now! Back to packing!
No comments:
Post a Comment