ネイティブが教える英会話のジェムスクール☆Teachers☆

It was a very rainy day in Osaka. I was on a bus and I was quite tired. I was laying down and looking out the window when I noticed the skyscrapers. They bent and twisted through the drippy window. I thought I might capture a photo. At first I thought it came out poorly, but when I looked closer, it looked very surreal. I thought it was a beautiful look at how the day felt. Dreary and distorted. It was a long day indeed.

  

I've been trying a few different ways to keep warm in my apartment. On Sunday, I decided to go to Nitori to look for a kotatsu. Since I don't have a car, that meant going by train. I didn't get out until after my delivery came (a beautiful Spring jacket) which had me on a train in the late afternoon.

I'd done this before. I had to go to Motoyama station (pretty far!) and walk to the YouMe town. It was cold and a little windy, but I walked to the mall with no problems. At the Nitori, I walked in circles a few times, not seeing any kotatsu displays. Turns out that they were only selling the tables! I found a small table for less than 6000 yen and timidly looked for a salesperson to help me. I had to use Japanese but I did alright. One lady helped me get a Nitori point card and sign up for a delivery. Sadly, I would not be warm and toasty this weekend. Delivery was scheduled for next Monday.

I had some Thai curry and nan and did some people watching. I went to GU and found some pants for Yosakoi practice this month. I also found some sakura jewelry that made me nostalgic for Spring weather.

I left the mall happily with my bags, but found it dark outside and raining! I used the Maps app on my phone to walk to the station but it died after 10 minutes. I was lost in the dark and the rain, wondering which way I should go. Such a situation would have terrified me in the past, but I was confident that I could find my way to some kind of store and ask for help. I walked in the direction where there seemed to be the most light and cars, and after a straight shot I found the station. Whew! The trains don't run very often to Motoyama though, so I had a bit of a wait until I got on a train.

What a day!  

On Tuesday, I decided to do a little exploring on my own (mainly because everyone else was so tired from the night before). I chose to check out Shibuya, mainly because I remembered that Hachiko was there (I only know about Hachiko due to a video game, haha). I ended up wandering over to the park right before Meiji Jingu, and I was glad for it, because the weather was absolutely gorgeous this day. I did also head over to Meiji Jingu itself, and checking out the park within (I think it's called Yoyogi?). While there, I came across a man who was feeding birds peanuts straight out of his hand. He handed me some to try, and what do ya know? I had at least ten birds come to take nuts from me. It was so fun!

After I left Meiji Jingu, I headed over to Harajuku, since it was so close. I didn't spend too much time here, as it was starting to get late, but I did end up getting dinner at this nice little place. I don't remember the name, nor the name of the dish itself, just that it was risotto. It was my first time actually trying risotto, and I can say that I wasn't disappointed. After dinner, I headed back to the hostel to meet up with the others, and began talking with some of the other guests at the hostel. At some point, it was decided that we should all go to karaoke. There were ten of us, and we ended up having to try a few different places, as one had no rooms availabel, and another was just a bit pricey. We ended up at this one place that was an izakaya on the first and third floor, and karaoke on the fifth. The karaoke room was a bit small for all of us, but we managed, and ended up singing until maybe 3 am. It was such a fun time with new friends. It makes me look forward to the next time I am in a hostel!   

I absolutely love tanuki. I have since before I came to Japan. One of my favorite authors, Tom Robbins, wrote a novel featuring Tanuki as a character. I love trickster characters, and so tanukis are right up my alley. I'm really glad I'm in Shikoku, because there are a lot of tanuki legends here that I hope to learn. Also, a lot of tanuki statues, which I think are adorable.