The rest of week 5...

Before Saros writes about our epic Friday, I feel the need to quickly recap on the rest of our week as follows:






We went to Tennoji with Juerg and saw these watermelons, a cool $140.00 or so. This may have been wk 4, I forget...

We voted at the IMD building in Osaka business park. We spent quite a bit of time trying to find the 16th floor of the IMP building before we realised we were in the wrong place.This was the view from the 16th floor of the IMD building where the Australian Consulate is located.

On the bottom floor of the IMD building, there was a shop selling lanterns, clothes and animals. I got to hold an African Pygmy Hedgehog, which was cool, but also painful. Sometimes I forget their spikes are... well, spikes.

We walked past Ange's Cafe (and thought of Ange.)

I've been told they serve a delicious crab spaghetti.

Meanwhile Sarah has been enjoying the delights of Japan... Including Miso soup. Looks pretty tasty Sarah...

Who could resist such a treat?

Delightful.

Anyway, you've probably already read about OsCast so yeah, it was awesome! Til next time! xoxo Carlos
P.S. Friday morning smoking room: 2:10am.
Carly: "I get that you're funny and all, and you like to talk... but I have to be up early tomorrow, and I like to sleep, so it would be great if you could finish this up on the roof."
Mingers: *Sit in stunned silence* 5 mins later... *mingers silently file out, no doubt to head up to the roof* SUCCESS!

P.P.S. Here's a shout out to our very own Sewer buddy, you know who you are...

The Octopus Always Wins

Despite having no particular enjoyment of Sushi on my part (and Saros only liking Chicken Sushi), we were alarmed and excited to be invited to the equivalent of Sushi train. We ate before we went (tacos were pretty successful) and had to wait 20-30 minutes before we got our tables. We had two tables, us, Linda and Oh*, and Nicolas, Ayumi, Fumio, Sebastian and Anthony.
















^^ Carly, Sarah, Fumio ^^
















^^Fumio, Oh, Linda ^^

The Sushi drifts around on plates on a conveyor belt next to each table, but you can also place an order on the Shinkansen (bullet train). The Shinkansen is way cool, by the way! Oh was quite enthusiastic, reaching for all manner of slimy goodness while I eyed the desserts. The plates are colour coded, red and white for fish and rice, yellow for sushi or other things with rice, and green for drinks. (Green tea is free and is on each table, but there are orange and apple juice boxes on the green plates which I took advantage of).
















^^ Some sort of slimey green thing ^^
















^^ Baby Squid ^^


We had cucumber Sushi (I really don’t like seaweed), some kind of crumbed chicken or pork with rice which was pretty good, chocolate mousse and chocolate cake. It was about this time we probably abandoned all sanity, as we decided to make my dad proud and everyone of our friends laugh, and try some fish. Not just any fish… we tried this:















^^ Octopus tentacle on rice ^^

It was a war between us and the Octopus. It was really, really bad. It tasted rather strongly, and made the rice underneath taste of it also. It was inchewable… well, maybe you’d better see for yourself what it was like…




^^ The Octopus war of ’10 ^^

Yep, that’s me almost vomiting about 9 times, and Sarah almost snotting up the place in her distress. After that video ended, I was still trying to swallow the damned Octopus! Beno, we’re saving the Takoyaki (fried Octopus balls) for Tokyo, so bring your game stomach!
If you love me, or pizza, or pants, you should comment ;)

xoxo Carlos

P.S. As to who won the war? We may have won the battle, but the Octopus won the war. The Octopus always wins.
P.P.S.
* Oh, aka Oh-san is the J-Hoop of Japan. He’s always super nice despite a rather tenuous grasp of English. Lovely guy. And if you were wondering, his name is actually “Oh”/ “Sang Min Oh”.
P.P.P.S.
I don't know why Fumio's being a minger in the photos, he's generally supposed to be a ladies man, not a mutant!

Rain, Rain Go Away

Currently sitting in the JF house kitchen watching a baby headbang to death metal on the TV...Japanese shows never cease to amaze haha

So Tuesday marked our epic trip to Nara for the annual Candle Festival that is held there. Chizuko had warned us of the possibility of rain, so first thing in the morning I headed down to the 100 yen shop and got a 55cm umbrella, so I could cover my camera and stuff if need be - and thank God I did! (Carly took her Gortex and travel umbrella. My travel umbrella was from Kmart, so it kind of collapsed in on itself when I tried to use it the day before. Once again, Kmart Quality at its best!) The weather in Nara reminded me of Australia when it just changes weather conditions so much in one day. By the time I got back from the shops I was so hot and sweaty that I actually wondered why the hell had I bought the umbrellas for! Carly noted that I looked like some kind of sweaty beast as I back in our room and collapsed in the cool on my bed. On the way to the subway Carly got shat on by a bird, which I found quite amusing. Nanna Vause's tissues came in handy once again! haha PS that bird gave Carly crappy luck...It still rained!!!! We met up with Chizuko at Tanimachi-QueChome (for a while there we thought it was pronounced 9 Chrome...didn't realise there was no 'r'...our bad!)

Righto, there was apparently meant to be a Typhoon coming through last night and today...but so far...it's just been a bit of pissy rain. Which is a little disappointing...a bit of wind and rain would have been a nice change to the straight 35 degrees of sun and humidity we've had every single day we've been here. Ok that's a lie, it rained on Monday, but still.

Back to the story - Chizuko, Carly and my self met up with Yoshida-san and hopped onto the JR express line to Nara, it was actually only $5 to get there which isn't too bad. The views were amazing from the train as we went through the city of Osaka and up and through a mountain! Soo amazing...and the photography we took probably didn't do it any justice...as it was a bit hard getting good photos while going along in a train at the same time. Here are some on the way up anyway:





























































We finally arrived in Nara at around 4pm, where we met up with Chizuko's sister and then found what we dub DeerBaby.















Deer baby is every where, on everything, in Nara. Carly and I found it quite hilarious, and continuously pointed 'Deer BayBeh' out every time we saw it! haha

Once we got out of the station, we started walking up towards all of the temples and things where the festival was being held. On the way we found that deer run wild everywhere around Nara, in between all the hustle and bustle and cars and what not. There were a few times you had to cringe as they just ran out in front of buses and all sorts that had to slam on their brakes. We were surprised the cars didn't go slower! The deer themselves are pretty friendly and got some wicked shots of them! However, by this stage, as we reach the underground path that led up to the park entrance, the sky was starting to grey and I was very glad I'd bought the umbrellas earlier on.















































































We entered the park area and headed up the road leading to Todaiji Temple. It was full of people and deer down the middle; with gift and souvenir shops on the left, and side shows and food stalls on the right.





















Because Todaiji closed at 5 30, we hurried past everything to get to the temple. The first arch that you pass has two old carved figures that look like gods or monsters that I think protect the temple. They are around 1300 years old, and we were told that last year when they went under restoration, they found parchments from 800 years ago! We spent about 5mins there just gawking at the sheer size of them, before continuing to the temple as it started to lightly spit.

































It was only $5 to get into the temple grounds, and we were amazed at how big it was. The grounds were quite large, and surrounded by a big sheltered wall/walkway. There was also a main walkway to the temple in the middle which we headed towards, underneath the shelter from the surrounding wall. We came up to the large main gates in the middle of the wall facing the temple and took a few photos, and as we did, the rain set in. Not like any rain in Adelaide, this was almost as if someone was pouring a huge bucket of water from the sky. The kind that makes you soaked to the bone in a second. After rising intensity in the rain, the sky grew darker and mist rose up from the mountains around and the thunder and lightening began. All in all, it was an amazing mix being at the huge temple with such grizzly weather. We loved it! It made it exciting and different from the usual sight seeing.

With the rain so heavy, only Carly and my self took the side path into the temple, as the main one was out in the weather and the rain was just too hard to battle against. I ended up (regretfully) leaving my good camera with Chizuko and everyone, while Carly and I just took my green waterproof one so it didn't matter if it got wet, and we didn't care about ourselves either, because it was still humid; so we'd dry out eventually. We battled along the left hand side shelter, because it was raining on an angle, we still got very wet, maybe my self more than Carly - as she had her Gortex on, which was quite the battler against the rain. Kind of like the Superman of Raincoats! (Dennis you would've been proud!) haha

Finally we got into the temple, and it was already almost 5:30. We never seen such a huge buddha. Apparently the whole thing was infused with gold! It was just amazing to stare up at it, while listening to the rain belting down and the thunder echoing eerily around the room. To the left sat a mini Buddha, and a creepily tall staircase next to that. Then, behind the main Buddha was small replicas of the temple and wall, then to the right was more old carvings and statues.

The best thing that we found however (aside from the overly massive Buddha and creepy staircase of course) was this tiny hole at the bottom of one pillar that, if you could climb through it, it is said you will live for a long time. So of course I squished and wriggled my way through, and my god that hole was tiny as it was actually meant for children and Size 0 Japanese people. However, I successfully managed to get through and was quite proud of myself. While Carly filmed and laughed at my expense haha.

I had lined up for quite a while to get in the hole, so by the time I was through, the Temple was closing and we had to get out of there. It was still raining when we got back to the wall at the entrance.

When we got back to Chizuko and everyone, we waited around for a little while and started eating…then totally got told off - ‘NO EATING IN THE TEMPLE AREA!’ ...apparently. Well, I didn’t see any signs… haaa my bad. Shortly after, even though it was still pouring, we got kicked out of the temple as it was way past 5:30 and officially closed. So trudging through the rain with my awesome 105yen umbrella, I had my camera bag and hand bag stuffed up against my chest to keep it out of the rain while from the waist down I was a soggy mess. Carly however, was still in her Gortex and had managed to zip her bag under it which made her look like a soaked and pregnant penguin. We were quite the sight as we made our way back. Fortunately, the rain started to lighten up as we headed towards the souvenir shops to have a look.

All the food carts and stalls on the other side had closed up by the time we arrived, as most were drowned out, and the ones that remained only had soggy squid tentacles on offer, which I could safely say, I did not find appetising in any shape or form. Once we got to the Nara Souvenir shop, the rain had basically stopped, and as we got to the door we even got ‘umbrella bags’ so that we could carry them easily around the shop – the Japanese really do think of everything! The shop was pretty awesome! I didn’t have a good look over at the left hand side much as it was filled with ill looking treats and plush DeerBaybeh’s! The right hand side had some pretty cool stuff though.The back part of the shop was amazing! It was dedicated to ninja and samurai accessories, and not just fakes! They had real swords, ninja stars, throwing spikes, foot spikes, batons….it was awesome! They were all pretty cheap for what they were too…if only you could actually get those sort of things through customs... Once we got out of the shop, it started to get darker as the sun sunk behind the clouds. So we made our way over to our next destination – the floating temple…I actually have no idea what it’s called…but did get some cool photos of it. I think the one thing we loved about Nara was the fact it was mostly growth and trees and not so much of the industrialist surrounds of Osaka. On the way we saw some of the lanterns that had been lit, but nothing compared to the amount that was meant to be. We also saw the section where I think the deer are MEANT to be…however they kind of just roam around everywhere – I have to say I definitely wouldn’t have wanted to be driving through Nara! The mist that was rising up over the mountains from the mix of heat, humidity and rain was unbelievable and quite eery.We reached the floating temple, which was out over a bridge on the water. I was glad they had set up majority of the lanterns on it by the time we got there while the rain let up and I was able to get a few photos of it, before the rain picked back up again. We got told the lantern festival was going to go ahead, but by the time we reached the area for it, the rain was so bad again that it was cancelled for sure.

Luckily, we ended up finding a bus that took us back to the station where we went an Italiano restaurant where Carly was able to get her beloved Cheese Pizza and I had Spaghetti Bolognaise. We got a set that also came with an antipasto Ham starter platter and a Coke. We were pretty thankful for another free dinner, and the Spaghetti Bolognaise wasn't too bad. The ham was a bit weird...bit redder than usual and quite fatty...but was actually quite nice. I also found that eating salad with chopsticks is a lot easier than with a fork! haha Although, everyone used a fork for their dinner which was good (nice and easy...and made my etiquette look a lot neater) haha We also found a Daiso (another 100yen shop) and Chizuko bought us some cool playing cards to add to our collection :-)

Nothing too exciting happened on the train back besides the fact I found you can take a picture of your reflection across the seats...but only until someone comes and sits down in front of you and ruins everything.





















The rest of the week wasn't too exciting. We tried KFC here for the first time, it was horrible, except for the original recipe piece of chicken, as always. But the chips, my god! No salt, just tasted of the fatty fat it was cooked in! So we won't be going back there! We also went to Umeda a couple of times during the week and we got some imported food - Pringles, Oats, Pasta sauce, El Paso Tacos (10 of which I managed to completely burn in the oven....) and some Milky Way bars! Yoshida-san also took us to the movies again yesterday to see SALT. We don't recommend it to anyone, it was pretty damn crap, but still good to get out. We went out for dinner to another Italian restaurant, which was lovely, and once again for free! Then on the way back to the subway station, she also took us to a famous Swedish bakery to pick out some things for our breakfast the next day! We felt so guilty...but at the same time we are quite enjoying being spoilt while we're over here.

Well that's all from us for now, keep the comments rolling in! We love your comment love, and missed it miserably on our last post. Remember guys, we're the ones buying your presents...eh...EH!!

Saros Out!

Weekend Fun

On Friday, we were organising some stuff for work when Juerg invited us to walk down to Nagai Park with him. It was about a 20 minute round trip, and after we got about half way there, it started to rain! The rain was not very cooling, and I was dying (both in my head and verbally... by verbally, I just mean that I whinged the whole way there and back... "It's so hot... milk was a bad choice!). We did stop to see our local Hyaku Yen ($1) shop, though it was like, $1.05- jeez, price hike?




















^^ Saros and Juerg posing- this... thing... whatever it is, shoots out steam (unfortunately hot, not a refreshing cold mist) every 10 mins. ^^


We do most of our shopping at the $1 store, they're really cool. This one had more food than the other's we've seen and we spent a bit of money! Juerg bought fireworks. Nagai park is huge, and there is an inside garden that you pay to get into. We'd just gone for a quick walk, so we didn't go in this time, but we found the pool complex which looked horribly refreshing (I say horribly because we didn't have our bathers and it was about to close... so we couldn't use it!). We did a lap of the park (including having some fun on the playground) and walked back to J&F Plaza for our cocktail night, which for me at least, will now be The-Night-Which-Shall-Not-Be-Mentioned.








































^^ Playground ^^

It began with bowls of punch and ladels, fun music and Cal Kings. Nicolas started singing, this guy called Chris convinced everyone to play Titanic (beer and various other liquor) and Nicolas, Chris and Linda had to drink. (It looked truly disgusting). Then Juerg decided to set off his fireworks- there were some cool sparklers, Nicolas, Sarah and Linda had some fun with a trolley and then one firework made a rather loud bang... then we got told to come back inside :(

















^^ Being responsible with fireworks ^^
















^^ Nicolas, determined to push Sarah and Linda into a row of bicycles. ^^

We then turned the J&F Kitchen into a disco and somewhere along the line I made some sort of punch that probably was akin to paint stripper (Sarah said it was disgusting but Juerg and I continued to enjoy it) and we danced! Sarah got the great idea to make pancakes, and Nicolas and Ayumi decided to help. Linda also helped, by pouring so much brandy into the mix that the pancakes tasted purely of brandy.

















^^ Linda gives Sarah a shot of Sapphire Gin to drink. Sarah responds favourably to this suggestion. ^^















^^ J&F "Night which shall not be mentioned" Party ^^


By the time we went to bed, I was very, very drunk and the next day, I felt very, very bad. Sarah was a mix of a little sympathetic and a lot amused. I felt quite horrific on Saturday, compounded by the fact I knew we had to meet Chizuko and see the fireworks! It was a true act of heroism on my part that I didn't just expire on the spot.


















^^ This was taken before the paint stripper punch was poured. I now leave you to imagine my state the next day. ^^

After another nap and a vegemite sandwich, made lovingly (or resentfully, who knows?) by Sarah, I managed to get up and get on the train. I'm not going to lie, the whole way there I felt like shit (Sarah also not feeling too good at that stage). The train moved and swayed, the streets were packed, it was boiling hot and every few meters had a new set of traffic policemen shouting things into loud speakers. ("TURN LEFT FOR THE SUBWAY. TURN RIGHT FOR JR RAILWAY. STOP CROSSING, THE LIGHT IS TURNING RED. STAY WHERE YOU ARE, THE LIGHT IS RED. STAY WHERE YOU ARE, THE LIGHT IS RED. THE LIGHT IS ABOUT TO TURN GREEN. CROSS THE STREET, THE LIGHT IS GREEN.")

Naturally, we understood none of this (Chizuko translated sometimes for us). Miho was home sick and missed out- Sarah and I were really glad we went. We knew we were going to watch the fireworks from Chizuko's brother's office, which was actually on the 21st floor of the Umeda Sky Building, which we will be going to. It's a very tall observatory, with an elevator ride that looks incredibly frightening to someone with a minor fear of heights. It will provide me with unlimited and incredible fear, but I'll go anyway, because it looks too cool (and horribly, horribly high) to miss out on.























^^The Umeda Sky Building in all it's see through elevator and passage glory ^^

The last fireworks show we went to wasn't that impressive to us- It was hot and uncomfortable wearing Yukata (awfully so), we'd had to walk for ages to get there, the fireworks went for an hour and a half with 5 minute bursts then 5 minutes off, which was weird, had fireworks we'd seen before and we were just tired and over it. The 21st floor had an absolutely incredible view. There was a mountain... eh forgot it's name, dead ahead, and a view of the river and the ten or so bridges over it. The sun was going down over the mountain, and we could see most buildings and parks. It was a wonderful view, unlike anything in Adelaide.











^^ Sarah's Panoramic of Osaka from 21st floor ^^




















^^ Another Panoramic! ^^

We had proper seats, and the building was air conditioned, which was already an improvement from the last fireworks. We met Chizuko's family, who were really, really nice. Her brother has just gotten a promotion, and Chizuko showed us the desk system. Closest to the windows are the supervisors, then another table where the higher rank sits closest the the window. Further away is another table, and furthest of all away is where the starting employees sit. Chizuko's brother is now just one step away from supervisor! We met his wife and daughter, who seemed shy of us, and Chizuko's sister. They were amazed (and a little dubious) about our Allen's Snakes Alive, which were amazing. Chizuko brought Yakisoba, Ominomiyaki and Tempura, which I declined (citing food poisoning as my reason, rather than incredibly awful hangover) and Sarah mostly enjoyed... Sarah said the Tori Tempura tasted like KFC and enjoyed it immensely.

















^^ Sarah and the Tori Tempura ^^

Night fell, and the city below us lit up. We could see police cars parked on the bridge below directing traffic slowly. Then all of a sudden, the fireworks started and someone flicked off the lights. I wasn't expecting much, but it became clear that this show was far superior to the last. The fireworks were set off from a barge parked in the middle of the river, and were dazzling. There were fireworks we'd never seen before, including gold fizzling fireworks with rainbow colours- pink, green, purple and orange all at the same time. There were smiley faces and hearts (the hearts were always upside down though), cats, fish and squid. There were stars and what looked like Saturn, fireworks in contrasting colours and fireworks that were low and went sideways over the water instead of into the air. Sarah regretted not bringing her proper camera, and my camera overheaded and the battery died well before the show was over (though I had been filming for about a half an hour, not a bad effort). The show went for about 50 minutes non stop, and everytime there was a beautiful firework, everyone on the office floor clapped or went "Ooooh/Wow/Sugoi!".



^^ Fireworks ^^

By the time we left, both Sarah and I felt far improved and enjoyed the Umeda Sky Building (even the toilets had windows with a great view!). We had been a little confused as to why Chizuko's brother kept describing his company as "Sexy". Sarah and I just smiled politely, wondering how that made sense (I commented that the visitors stickers here actually stuck (unlike DECS visitors stickers... those things just roll straight off. This was the right thing to say, as her brother's company manufactures the glue on the stickers! SEXY!)
It wasn't until we were in the lobby when it hit us like lightening... We looked on the wall and saw the company's name was "Sekisui" which, when said fast and slurred (everyone was drinking to the fireworks), sounded remarkably like "Sexy". We laughed for a long time about that one.

The walk back to our train station was interesting, and instead of buying a ticket each time, we bought a Kansai rainbow card for the subway. We put on $10 and it just subtracts your ticket cost each time.Feeling better (and in my case, hungry), we stopped for a cheeseburger at Tennoji and then went back to J&F Plaza where Sarah was keen to get to "The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo". I've been "letting slip" some misleading information about events, so she thinks she knows what's coming. Yep, every "Have you got up to the part where..." was bullshit, Sarah. You can thank me later for not spilling. Now I have to set up my lesson for Yoshida's classes (just got the info and am feeling apprehensive!) so sayonara for now!

xoxo Carly

P.S. The Italians did move out, thus have not been disturbing out sleep. They apparently come back occasionally to visit one of the other Italians who didn't move out. They're staying in a hotel at the moment.
P.P.S. Dad, please tell Nanna V the tissues are coming in very, very handy.