Singing and Sushi

Rock On

Rick posing with the guitar

The week started off with a meeting in the music room. It was time to practice the songs we were singing on July 4th! Unfortunately, Tribute by Tenacious D has been denied. We replaced it with Twist and Shout, The Beatles' style!

Another Trip to Umeda!

I would like to start this post by saying that I'm going to start paying better attention to the quality of my posts. I'm going to filter out more lame pictures, and put more interesting comments in between them. Or die trying. Or live trying.

Tired and Aching

It was Sunday, and Saturday had been a long day. In between all of the sightseeing and fun times, there had been a lot of walking, and a lot of standing in the hot sun. My legs hurt, and it was raining outside. Luckily, the wi-fi, I mean Rick, was home, so I could surf the internet. It looked like it was going to be another lazy day.

When I checked my Facebook, I had a message from Stacey. She wanted to go to Umeda. My initial reaction was... No. No way. I was too tired, and I could barely walk. But then, Rick- I mean the intern- wait, yeah, Rick left. The rain was becoming just a sprinkle, so I decided to take a walk around the block to see if I was up for another trip.

Another Trip

After making sure Kilo and Jackson didn't want to go, I hobbled my way over to the girls' dorm, so I could tell Stacey I was backing up on my decision. I brought my umbrella, since the rain hadn't really stopped yet, and I had no way to check the weather forecast.

It turns out I was the only one, so it was just me and Stacey, prowling the streets of Japan, much like the first day I got here.


Downtown Osaka

We hopped aboard the train, and made our way towards Umeda.

Kyoto Time, And A Pilgrimage (Or Two)

Exploring Fujiidera

Saturday had arrived. Finally, the day had come to visit Kiyomizudera! I woke up early, and headed down to the station. We were meeting at 10, but I got excited, and showed up at 9. I had about an hour to walk around, so I ventured into uncharted territory, north of the train tracks.

There wasn't really anything in particular to see, well you know, except Japan. I snapped a few pictures of the city, because in Japan, even a leisurely stroll about town is bizarre and interesting.

Screwing Around, and More Karaoke!

A Lazy Week

It had been a busy weekend, and I was more than ready to take it easy.

The view from my bed.

Monday came and went without much fuss. Tuesday I took a trip to the mall at Abenobashi. On the way to the Fujiidera station, I took a small detour. There was an interesting looking bell-shaped block on my map I wanted to check out.

The Land of Haruhi Suzumiya

My First Pilgrimage

Before coming to Japan, one of my main objectives was to carry out some anime 聖地巡礼, or "pilgrimages," for those of you who can't read moon-runes. Today, my goal was to go to the "holy land" of  The Melancholy of Haruhi Suzumiya.

My day began with some laundry. I rinsed my socks separately, since my shoes had turned them green the day before.

The color balance in this image is fine.

I headed down the street fairly early. My destination was pretty far away, and I didn't want to risk being stuck there in the dark. I walked about half a mile down the street to the bus stop on the main road, and noticed a small shrine next to it while I was waiting for the bus.

This kind of thing was really common, but that
didn't stop me from taking pictures of it.

Osaka Castle

A Ride to the City

It was Saturday. Time to go to Osaka Castle!

We met up at Fujiidera station at 10:00, just like before. I got there early, and it was very hot and humid, so I made my way over to the air-conditioned 7-Eleven to get myself something other than my water bottle to drink. I got myself some ice cream, and I chose this tea to drink, because it had K-On! merchandise affixed to it. Yes, drink companies. That's all it takes.

Collect them all!

It even had a little stick for me to pick them up with. How cute.

It wasn't long before the group showed up. After following a moderately-confusing network of trains and subways, we arrived outside the Osaka Museum of History. It's a really tall, cool-looking building.

Calligraphy

Shodo

I really like Japanese calligraphy.  I took a class once and it was really fun. That's why I was excited to do it again in Japan.

The teacher was a really cool guy. We all crowded around him and watched him draw the character 永, which means eternity. 

They gave us some how to papers and set us loose.