Life in Japan

surfing

Tue, 26 Jun 2007 15:44:25 GMT

CURRY at Sheena's

Sun, 24 Jun 2007 06:10:35 GMT

My friend Sheena is form New Dheli, India. She had a bunch of people at her house for and indian curry night, midnight bannana wafles and a serious Jenga tournament. After that we watched some movies and then just went to bed, the next morning we hit the town, she lives in nakatsu and had suhi. I burnt my hand cause I wasn't paying attention while I was serving my tea....
anyway here are some pictues of the night!

http://apujapan.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2504&l=cf88b&id=506133525

TOKYO

Thu, 07 Jun 2007 05:52:08 GMT

Took a 4 day trip to tokyo for a seminar and met up with tomoko to hit the town!!!

Yakiniku, cool bananas, and beppu's sex museum

Mon, 28 May 2007 12:37:22 GMT

So I've been so busy with examns and projects I havnt had time to write anything down here. Well it's been a hell of a month, but all bad things apart there have been really good things like strolling arround the ghettos of oita with some friends. One of those crazy nights include, clubbing in APU's student fav, cool bananas hahaha there is nothing much in oita so everyone who goes out goes there. Then going to some yakiniku in downtown beppu followed by a dipp in onzen and to finish that a strolll in beppu city. That day I went to the sex museum, yeah hyou read right, hahaha apparently beppu is this really sketchy town and they have a sex museum its so weird, with information about animals and other random things.
Everyone to yakiniku!!! the small plate holds the 3 different sauces for the grilled meat.
Me and some of the excahnge students at cool bananans
me and the norway people!

SEX MUSEUM BEPPU
really tacky but it's one of beppus atractions!

Mon, 28 May 2007 12:02:19 GMT

Bepp

La tercera es la vencida?

Thu, 24 May 2007 15:30:21 GMT

So I lost my cool posters I had in kyoto when I moved here so I was avvoiding studying for my japanese midterm and I did this hahaha, trying to get a japanese lisence really fucks up your head, I cant sleep nor think properly since all this started hahahaha is reall hell, but the good news is that Im only 2 questions away, at least that was todays score, I got 86% and I need 90% stupid hey? but its japan and I have to work with the system it doesn't matter how silly it is.

late bday video

Tue, 15 May 2007 08:11:15 GMT

Pau aqui esta el video ya bien peusto para que lo puedas ver no se por que no lo habias podido ver, espero que estes muy bien te quiero.

Heaven and Hell +Kyushus biggest waterfall

Tue, 15 May 2007 06:58:32 GMT

In most religions there is a concept of heaven and hell and budhism is no exception. Last weekend I took a small road trip to Ajimu, a small town close to APU. I got to see kyushus biggest waterfall and a place called Heaven&Hell which was pretty cool but I got attacked by spiders in hell,　indeed was hell. The night before me and some JETS( my friends who are english teachers) went to hit parade an 80's themed club/pub which was a lot of fun. Now that I live in the southern islan of kyushu sometimes its hard because I feel like beppu is not so japanese, even thou Im still in japan, im not in kyoto, as many of you know kyoto is Japans cultural heart. Nevertheless I've grew to like this place a lot, there are not as many things to do here as there were in kyoto specially with its proximity to osaka, but I still manage to have fun nights out, I guess its not really the place but the people you go out that make the fun of the night.
Waterfall
Me pointing the entrance to HELL
The three demon/guards at the gates of hell. Basicly hell was just a small cave, at the beggining of the cave there were this 3 statues that represent some demons, and as further I went into the cave there were so many spiders and it was really really small so it was a bit weird. I got bit by one on the back of my neck but geeze for hell I dont think it was half as bad!!!!

As everyone knows in between heaven&hell there is a place called EARTH, this was the representation of earth, our earth were people live everyday and try to do good things to go to heaven.
Its not easy to get to heaven, I had to climb through a really small cave going upwards. There is a chain so u can hold to that and clib but still it was a bit challenging, but worht it. ...

Feliz dia de las madres!!!!

Thu, 10 May 2007 15:55:40 GMT

Mama te quiero mucho gracias por todo. This post goes to everyones moms who I know hahaha and have been nice to me, to me grandmothers and to tsuda san, but specially to my mom for being the most wonderfull

Happy birthday! Bienvenido a los 20...

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 03:18:01 GMT

Pople it was my birthday and as you know Im in japan and I turned 20 so now finally after a year and a half of illegal drinking im an adult!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. I was comming back from tokyo feeling shitty cause it was gonna be a weird birthday cause I dont have really close friends right now and all that but it was the other way arround. Paul and Hannah, we take most of our classes together they baked a panckake cake with nutella and jelly all over and put strawberries and bananas on the top and sang happy bdy at 12:00.
The next day I had yakiniku and got some cool presents including an amazing dream journal. After that I came back to apu and all the people on my floor coocked dinner for me. We started doing tequila shot games but we had to stop drinking in the kitchen so the party moved to my room. My room is tiny but there were like 17 people in there. After a long time and a lot of alchohol we were being erally loud so the security guy came to my room and told us to shut UP. hahahahaha after that ben the australina guy broke my courtains ( no probmel they are fixed now) hahahaha.Anyway later that night we moved the party to aphouse1 and stayed tehre really late. It was a great bda!!!

I got okonomiyaki birthday cake!

Iwakunis seminar in 7&11 Headquarters, Tokyo

Wed, 25 Apr 2007 02:58:18 GMT

Ok so I had to go to tokyo this past weekend to attend a seminar from the scholarship foundation. Now that I live in beppu in order to go to tokyo I have to ride a 2 hour bus to fukuoka int. Airport and then tak a plane for another 2 hours to Japans capital. I flew there on the 20th so I could see all of my friends who moved there to wrok. I stayed at tomokos house and then the next day I went to meet atsukos nephew, ha brought presents from mexico!!!!. After recieving my birthday presents we went to the streets of harajuku for some window shopping and lunch. Harajuku is one of the most weird districts in tokyo where people dress really funny and sometimes you can see people walking vegetables (Not kiddding). Anyway after harajuku I went to one of tokyos suburbs and headed for 7&11 headwuarters. When I got there I saw this girl walking in the same direction and it was some one I met in the interview last year!. They had an opening ceremony for us, welcoming us to the foundation and we recieved a diploma and everything, then after that we had to introduce ourselfs to everyone and talk about ourselfs for like 5 min. That night we had nomikai, which is a drinking meeting to socialize with people, really common in japan. Before the nimkai they took us to 7&11 to buy groceries and they told us to get everything we wanted!!! so we sepent a lot of moeny in convini. The seminar was so much fun and I got to meet all this smart kids from japan, there were only 3 foreigners, me and 2 girls from Birma. Me and tomoko in HARAJUKU
Drinking and eating lots of candys with the big boss.
In Japan before you start working you have to do group callastetics, so this is everyone at the park for the group warmup.
第１５奨学生 (15th group of scholarship recipients)

First days of uni

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:40:46 GMT

Yesterday was the first official day of uni. I only had a workshop which I thought it was a bit boring cause it was only introductions and things like that. After that I just went to have really spciy curry bit it was good. Today on the other hand was the real first day, I had introduction to economics and Advance Japanese, it went pretty good. Me introduction to economics class is packed there is like 135 people in that class its crazy. The teacher is hilarious, he based his whole lecture on the differences of prodcuing pizzas or robots so most of my notes are full with diagrams of pizzas and robots!!! After that I just came home and chilled out for a bit I have to leave soon cause I have a dorm meeting about some logo for our floor hahahaha kinda lame but still AP HOUSE!
(= )???

LAURA ROCKS!~

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:31:32 GMT

Ok today I got 3 things in my mailbox,
1.- Phone bill not that excited
2.- letter fromt he scholarship foundation about the seminar in tokyo, pleased.
3.- CARE/BDAY PACKAGE FROM LAURA, THRILLED.
Laura is one of my best friends, we became really good friends in japan, me alvaro and laura were family...
Anyway ever since alvaro and laura left japan has definetly not been the same hahahaha I miss you guys so much. Inside the package were amazing things, like fajitas seasoning, an amazing dotation of Hawaian punch powder!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!. When I was living in the states hawaian punch was my favorite drink, its so goood!!!!!. A photo album with crazy pictures of all our great trips and adventures and MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMmm gummy bears!!!!!!!!!!!!! YESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS as many of you know I have a great weakness for gummy bears once the bag is open I cants stop eating them, hun im really trying not to finish them all at once but who knows what might happen!!!!!! Thanks for the package I really apreciate it

Night outy in oita

Thu, 12 Apr 2007 10:25:28 GMT

Ok as you might know I moved to a really really small town, on top of that I dont even live in the town I live on top of a mountain so it takes about 15 minutes to go down to beppu. Anyway I still live in a pretty cool enviorement where languages and cultures have no boreder a place where everything and everybody is so international so its pretty good. Since there are a lot of people who were in desperate need of a night out some of the older students took us for a night out in oita, a bigger city next to beppu. We went to a club called COOL BANANAS it was so ghetto aparently this place is kinda clandestine so they dont even pay taxes, anyway its a weird place so small and so cheap hahahaha its like 200 for nomihoudai, people who have been to japan know what that means haahhahahaha. Anyway it was a cool night cause we met up with a lot of the students there. The cool korean and cool thai kids were all there and all the white people as well so it was a pretty good night hahahaha the downside was that we had a bit to muc to drink hahahahaha the place ran out of tequilahahahahha! unbelivable but true.

Beppu,別府Entrance ceremony/花見

Sun, 01 Apr 2007 13:42:33 GMT

Hello people well as you know Ive moved to the lovely town of beppu, hahahaha yeah for all of those who know this small town on Oita prefecture is known for its famouse 温泉 or natural hot springs. The town is laid in a mountain and you can actualy see steam coming out from some places. Ok I got to APU and my first 2 days were really strange cause there were only asians and the few foreigners there are they are on the exchange program so we are in differente activities all the time so its hard to se them!!!!. Anyway after 2 difficult days I made friends with some koreans and they are pretty cool hahaha they love socccer and started to make small chatt ablut blanco and things like that, it was pretty amuzing. I live in the R building first floor so we had like a dormroom activity to go to beppus park to do some花見 or flower viewing specially sakura. It was a cool day and I got to meet the people who ive in my room. Anyway in japan every april is the beggining of the school and work calendar, so big companys schools and universitys have and Entrance ceremony for all the new people, today was mine! its a big deal in japan cause the univiersity welcomes you and we werent considered students till the ceremomy ended. So this is the logo of the town hahahaha its everywhere in all the sideways pretty cool. 温泉ばかりなぁぁぁ
This are the people I live with everybody lives in the same flooooor hahahaha most of them are koreans and its interesting cause half of them speak english but no japanese and the other half the other way arround. AS YOU CAN SEE IM THE ONLY WESTERN GUY.
Thisis the entrance ceremony, it was held at the B-con plaza which is a huge hall, I was surprised on how big is it and how many new people are going to APU, there were a lot of speeches but I liked 2, one from the chancellor and the one from one of the current students, both were really inspiring I guess and it made me feel like im in the right place after today I like beppu a lot, been meeting lots of interesting people from all over the world, back in kyoto it was great but apu is so multicultural. Today at the entrance ceremony all this people were wearing like ethnic clothes and I couldnt stop thinking that I should wear a sombrero and a sarape!.
Me and the cool koreans!!!!

Last 2 weeks in kyoto

Thu, 29 Mar 2007 17:04:33 GMT

My last 2 weeks in kyoto were fantastic. Lets start with march 14th, as you know feb.14th is valentines, but in japan march 14th is a holiday as well, its for boys to return presents to the girls so if i got something in valentines on march 14ht Im suppoused to give something back to that person (usually chocolates). All the big department stores go crazy arround this time cause all the guys are trying to get presents!.
this is the bottom of Takashimaya dept. store in downtown kyoto where all the sweets stores are.

After like 2 days after white day my friend shinobu who is a photographer asked me if I could model in a kimono for a project she was working on. She is working on the advertisement campaign for a kimono store, so they wanted to shoot some pictures of foreigners in kimono, this day I got a free haircut and got to wear kimono and go arround kyotyo all day plus a free dinner!!!!! good kyoto day

The guy on the left is an italian dude, he is getting married in november this year, the one in the middle is the guy who works in the kimono store he said he allways wears kimono and has more kimonos than jeans!!! (unbelivable) and of course me wiht a weird haircut on the right. Loojk at my amazing shoes (getta) they are made out of snakes skin, COOOOL shoes.
Every night I went back to college residence I pass throu the marvellous Nijo Caslte at night, I finally stopped to get a ghood picture of it, geeze I already miss KYOTO hahahahahaha.

My friends from el coyote made a faiorwel party for me at an izakaya. As japanese costme goes I wasnt allowd to pay for anything that night cause I was leaving and it was a party for me!. Here I am holding a fried frog, the taste wasnt bad but the consistence was a bit weird.

I got an email from and old friend from mexico that he was coming to japan, so he came with a bunch of people from his university and I gave them a tour of the city, it was a bit of a challenge moving 23 people on public buses bt it was good to see mexicans again it had been a while hahahaha I was beggining to think I was forgetting my spanish. I knew some of the people who ere in the group from high school. It was a good day we went to some cool temples and I got to play tour guide again!.

This was perhaps one of the best fays I've had in kyoto. The scholarship foundation called me at arround 10:23 and woke me up to tell me that they were going to give me the scholarship, for all of those who dont know what an effort it was to send the application and sit the interview it was really unexpected cause they had told me I wasnt going to recieve it, anyway its a long story. After that I called my family and tsuda san which is the same hahaha. After spending the whole morning in pj's watching 24 I went to Ginkakuji to se SAZEN or meditation, I had to seat in a weird position on those pillows for 2 hours and clear my mind ( I couldnt do it, had a lot on my head) I was suppoused to be seating in a 90 degree angle but I couldnt so the priest hit me with his wooden stick, yeah if yuou mess up they hit you and then you have to bow).
After meditation Tsuda san took me to a GOOOOOOD sushi place, it was so raw but amazingly good and the presentation was impresive.
The picture on the right shows the sushi I ate that night, the flower shapped one was amazingly elaborated, each petal was made from squid, rice and something pink, a real piece of art. The picture on the right shows the sashimi I ate, the red one is maguro or tuna and it was the best tuna sashimi I've ever had, so soft and tastfull.
The lady of the night, tsuda san, who has been more than family to me in this past year and a half.

Finally after so many hours of long basic japanese lessons and everyday exams I graduated the Kyotogaidai international exchange program, graduation was helled at morta memorial hall and after that the exchange studetns went to our building and they gave us or diploma there. Me and carlota were nervous cause they were naming someone from each department to rise and go on stage to recieve the diploma in fron of everyone and we thougt it was gonna be one of us but fortunately a chinese guy did it.
So first picture me and carlote in memorial hall waiting for graduation to start. Then me and the biwako member group hahahaha thats a 5 people member club but the 5th member was in london, we went to lake biwa during summer and 2 days after graduation we went boat rafting . Me holding my diploma from gaidai and miki looking somehwere else. Piere the other foreigner on the last picture was an exchenge student when I first came to japan, he came to visit for graduatuon, the there is benchan and masaechan hahahaha its weird but guys got more flowers than girls in graduation day, hahaha I didnt get anything...

2nd last fair well party. Carlota left japan on march 23 and that marked the end of the crazy nights out in kyoto. We went to gayagaya in kiamachi to eat and drink a lot for 2 hours. I gave carlota a bottle of sake to remember all tthe fun times in japan. ]

Finally after 20 million fairwell partys I got my own, we just went to old gayagaya in saiin station with people I know. Bunsho was so funny he gave an onzen set since I was moving to beppu and told me to "get in the fucking onzen(hot spring) hahahahaha. Then mike masae and masayuki went as well my graduated friends who stopped being university students and became part of a productive society hahahaha good luck. The kimono team was there as well but only this time I wasnt wearing one, sannennagarane ghahahahaha. And at last the crazy guys from the italian departmen hahahaha ever since laura and alvaro left me and carlota hang out with them they are 1st years and also my age which was weird cause I allways felt older, they gave me a bottle of sake and made everyone signt it. I also got a tshirt from gaya gaya( laura u r so jealous) hahahaha

And just to give a drmaticv touch to kyoto the best picture from kimono day. I cant believe a year and a half has passed, it went so fast, so many people and memories. This was one of the most exciting and amazing experiences ever, I leave behind so many things and people but at the same time take all the memories. To all of those who I met in kyoto and were a part of this thank you it was GREAT.

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:58:19 GMT

Kenninji was founded in 1202 by the priest eisai. This temple belongs to the Rinzai Zen sect of budhism, one of the largest branches of budhism in Japan. The teachings of this sect are that the suffering in this life can be transcended through equanimity, wisdome compation and meditation. I accidentally ended up here, today at work I had 2 free hours so I decided to go arround gion, the biggest geisha district in kyoto. As I was going arround I followed a small path I had never taken before so it led me to kennin-ji. The temple consists of 5 or 6 big buildings and an amazing zen garde, one could sit there for hours, definetly byt far one of the most beautyful places in kyoto. Its incredible how peaceful the zen garden is. There is a painting on the cieling of one of the buildings of twin dragons, I loved it it reminded me of me and my sister.Anyway here are some of the pictures from the zen temple.
This is the first room you see as soon you walk in the temple. The paintings in the back are the guardians of the temple, as usual the wind and thunder gods are illustrated.
This is what a zen garden looks like the tree in the rock garde contrasts in an amazing way.
This is an old small tea house in the middle of the garde, when I went it was out of service.
This is the cycle of birth and death represented in the garden.
This is the view of thew garden with some of the temples on the back.
This is one of the hallways that goes in the temple, the view was really cool.
I wanted to take a picture of me but no one was there to help me!!!!
This is the picture of the twin dragons on the cieling!! an amazing sight.

After going to the temple I went back to work and spotted a maiko on her shopping spree
After a long day at work I came back to to be welcomed by tsuda san and an amazingly good care risu, or curry with rice, really good. We watched hotel rwanda together and its a great movie, cant believe all the things that happen every day in some countries, 国連に出る

Teaching my old students!!!! Kameoka

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:24:36 GMT

Kameoka is a small city in kyoto prefecture just 20 minutes away from where I live by train. Every month the free guide club at the international community house in kameoka invites me to chatt in english. This group consists of 5 old ladies and 1 old man. This is by far one of my best part time jobs, eve thou is really small they are great, they allways prepare food for me and allways have something to talk about, plus lets give them credit they are 60-70`s trying to learn english and by the way they speak quite well. We have all seen the yakult advertisements of a japanese lady pushing a yakult car hahahaha well I saw it in real life!.
Here are some of the groups member preparing the sweets and coffee!!!!
YESSSSSSSSSSS im a spoiled english teacher. 甘えってくれて良かったねぇぇ
By far my best student, she has been to mexico so we allways monopolize the conversation and just talk about mexican stuff. Here she is eating one of those nasty mexican candys no one seems to like except me or alvaro hahahaha. (paleta de sandia)

Teaching my old students!!!! Kameoka

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:24:20 GMT

Sushi 寿司

Wed, 07 Mar 2007 15:11:28 GMT

Before the las italians left we went to have dinner at the sushi place close to my house. I had plans with tsuda to go out to dinner so we just joined with the italian party. I drove tsudas small hona life car and it was fun, Ive been driving ever since, I think im getting used to driving on the other side of the road!!!!!.
Tsuda san is trying to figure out how to use the electronic menu!!!!

This is a normal ferry restaurant for sushi the sushis are placed on plates that go arround the restaurant.If you want a specific sushi you can order it with the electronic menu on the table.

Kyoto day

Sun, 25 Feb 2007 16:53:36 GMT

Ok today was my day off so as I said before, Im trying to do as much as I can on my lasts days to kyoto, I have all this weird places I want to go before I leave for kyushu. Today I went to kitanotenmangu, shrine dedicated to the god of thunder but in 942 michizane sugawara was enshrined here. He was a famous poet and a noted politicain acused of treason and sent to exile on kyushu (ironic hahah Im moving there). For decades after his exile kyoto suffered many calamities. Go-daigo had a dream in which michizane appeared as the god of thunder and would not rest until he was pardoner, then the shrined was dedicated to him. Ive been to this shrine many times, its a good place to walk and every month they have an antique market.The shrine is also known for its study god, so before entrances examinations for universities in japan people go and buy o-mamori or a charm to help them pass (I got one here before taking apus and doshishas test). The reason I decided to go to this shrine again on my lasts days is the plum festival. Every march 25 the plum festival takes place, its when the plum trees bloom and all the japanese people love to go and see them. There are 3 colour trees, white, pink and a darker pink. Also on this day the geisha or as we say in kyoto geiko of the kamishiken district have an outside tea ceremony to anyone who is willing to pay, on this ocation its only 1500 yen, so its not that expensive. I joined the tea party and it was amazing, all this maiko and geisha arround me next to a garden full pf plum trees, definetly today was an amazing kyoto day. After that I headed to the hirano jinja, a shrine nearby, this shrine its known for its beautyful cherry blossoms but its off season now so it looked a bit sad, the buildings nevertheless were impressive. After visiting hirano shrine I headed towards nijo-jinja, I thought it was a small shrine near the well known nijo castle, but to my surprise its an old merchant house built in the 17th century that became an inn for travelling feudal lord who visited the court.Secret meetings took place here so there are a lot of secret rooms and some corridors that have norrowed walls so a sword couldt be pulled out. After visiting nijo-jinya I went to a small restaurant in front of nijo castle that had allways caught my attentioned but I didnt take the time to see, is a small restaurant with a really nice garden and a small boat in the shape of a dragon, the boat is actually a table where you can have a meal. I just visited but I didnt eat. After my long day arround temples I made my way home to find tsuda san an her 2 grandsons who by now call me older brother. Its weird for me because Im the youngest in my family. They were really tired so I cooked dinner for them and they ate most of it haahahah I was watching 24 and was looking for leftovers but they ate it all, they loved it!!!!. Yes im hooked in 24!

This is the entrance of the shrine, in here you can apreciate the crowd!. Esta es la entrada del santuario, se puede ver que tan lleno estaba. これは神社の入口である、メッチャ人が多かった。

This is the park with all the plum trees in the back, I had a cup of tea and some coockies!!!!This are the sweets, if you look closely you can see the shape of the flowers on the sweets.

I spotted this maiko on the garden and ran after her to take a picture. I asked the old men next to her if I could take a picture with her and he agreed so she had to, she was with him hahahahaha.

This is the mat at the temple with all the geikos performing the tea ceremony, the ones with the hair pins are called maiko, geisha aprentice. Look in the background all the trees are with flowers.

The maiko in the middle is the one who was doling the tea ceremony.

After my trip to kitanotenmangu I went to nijo jinja, and this restaurant/temple place, the bridge with the reflection on the small pond was great.
To end up my day I came back home to eat dinner and watch 24, and I ran into tsuda san and her grandsons, sho and shu hahaha. They call me brother, haha its weird but nice, we ate dinner together and this time I coocked! pasta, not hairy hon hahahah.

Faithful reader!

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:28:43 GMT

Hey this post goes to paula, cause I know she has been reading my journal non stop and leaving me messages every day. Its whats keeping me writting this, I know there is at least a couple of persons reading my journal so I guess its better than none hahahahaha anyway pauala thanks for everything and as I promissed here is the pic! take care and to all of u write somehting!"!!!! its late in japan so have a good day in the west.
OK this is the best picture I got hahahahah lets take new pictures when Im in mexico ok hahahahaha anyway thanks !

PAULETTTTTTTTE

Tue, 20 Feb 2007 16:11:36 GMT

This message goes to my most faithfull reader paula! hahahahahah I feel like only 2 people are reading my journal! Laura and paula hahahaha at least they are the ones leaving my messages anyway Id like to take a moment to say thanks hahahahahah the reason I stopped writing for a while was because I felt no one was really reading it so thanks for reading it now

Mon, 19 Feb 2007 15:10:15 GMT

So people, this is me again updating the journal. Today I went to this huge aquarium in osaka, its kaiyukan, its a great place. Before going to the aquarium me Miki and Hiroki decided to eat okonomiyake in osaka, umeda. Okonomiyaki is like a japanese hot cake but its salty and with sea food and bacon, Its really good, plus they put mayonese and other sauces on top. This was the first the first aquarium where I`ve seen a whale shark. This place is huge its the biggest aquarium in japan and it holds so much water!!!!! by the end of the day I was a bit dizzy cause it was to blue for me anhahahaha and I wanted to go faster but my japanese friends where stopping every 2 steps!!!!!! I was really tired cause I`ve been working a lot lately and this was my day off so I decided to do something good with my time and went there but by the time we were done I was death, I think its the first time in 6 years that I went to bed before 10 and today Im still tired hahahaha I think this job is killing me.

THis is me miki and hiroki at the okonomiyaki place, hey guys thanks for coming along!

This is me and miki at the entrance of the aquarium.

Me and hiroki in front of the huge tank that holds the whale shark.

One of the things that impressed me about the aquarium was the seep japanese sea spider crabs!!!! they are huge with long legs like spiders.

Pickle dinner and okianawa bar

Sat, 17 Feb 2007 15:27:15 GMT

So today I only worked for 9 hours hahahahaha yeah thats my life lately work work work!!!!. Anyway I think its really afecting me, everyone keeps telling me how tired I look and its starting to piss me offf!. Anyway here is a picture of me with hector sensei and our manager, byt the way our manager didnt know how to put on a tie so we spent 1 hour teaching him how to do it!

After a long day I went to mee bunsho to his store, well not his store but the store he works in. The store is located in gion, an old district in kyoto known for its famous places as yasaka shrine and geisha. His store is a sukemono store or japanese pickle store, this pickles are only made in kyoto so they are really special, I got a reallo good meal for free, they wouldnt let me pay because I was bunshos foreigner friend and they were impressed that I could actually eat the pickes and that I spoke good japanese!!!!!
Look at the colors of the food!!!! its so japanese and its a great picture!

This is busnho fixing the meal for me while talking on his keitai (phone).

After the pickle dinner we went to a bar called 海と空( sea and sky) Is a bar with only okinawa products, okinawa is an island on the south of japan famous for its beaches and tropical weather, okinawa belonged to america unitll the late 60`s I think and there is a military base in there, yes america is everywhere!. Bunsho is actually from okinawa