Sunshine Sakae and Bonsai!

We had cereal for breakfast again - yayyy! And salad. I don't think I can ever accept salad and cereal together.

And mikan too!

Miyabi had bread with Nutella (which is a big thing here). I told them in Japanese that Americans love Nutella.

The Yuko was like "isn't it pronounced nut-tella?"

And I told her no it was "noo-tella" and she was so surprised.

Miyabi kept going "noo-tella janai!" (It's not noo-tella) and kept saying nut-tella over and over again.

Haha sorry to burst your bubble, guys.

Another thing about pronunciation, when I told Yuko the other day that I was going to the bonsai experience, I pronounced bonsai like I always do, with the "bon" of bonsai sounding the same as the "bon" of "bonfire" and Yuko didn't know what the heck I was talking about.

Finally she was like, "ohhh, bonsai!" Export she pronounced it "bone-sai." (Like a dog bone).

Rawr. So I've been saying bone-sai since then.

I caught the super rapid train this morning! Yatta! 

And isn't this bus just the cutest bus you've ever seen?

Fat kitties!

Oh, random fact, in Japan they call Hello Kitty "kitty-chan" lol.

On the train this morning, I realized I could read the electronic board!

Tsugi wa Nagoya = the next station is Nagoya

It's not much, but it's still cool!

Holy crap Sakae station was huge! It had tons of shops, most of which wet having New Year's sales. It was like a freaking mall and it reminded me a lot of the Houston underground!

I walked upstairs and asked the guy at the counter how to get to exit 12 and he directed me.

The escalators had ads on the handrails!

I saw this outside!

Much different than the Central Park I know.

I found every exit but 12 lol, so I just went up 13.

This restaurant in the station had this cute fake food display:

Then it was a short three blocks to the SoftBank. 

So pretty!

A ferris wheel and a tennis court on top of a building!

Another cute bus!

There were decorations for the new year (year of the horse) all up and down the streets:

And the SoftBank was next to a Best Western!

The people at the SoftBank weren't helpful at all. They didn't speak English, so I gave them Matsui san's letter and they said it was "muzukashi" (difficult) and that I should go to the SoftBank in Sakae eki because they speak English there. Luckily I'd seen the SoftBank in the station, so I knew where it was.

So I walked back. And they told me no one spoke English there either and drew a circle on my map directing me to another SoftBank where they said English was definitely spoken. Fml.

So I went to the next SoftBank. There, they told me no one spoke English. When I showed them where the other SoftBank people had written that this SoftBank spoke English, only then did they tell me the international staff were on the 2nd floor, but I'd have to wait. I gave them the letter and they wrote on it "English -> 13:00" and told me to wait until 13:00 so I just left because I had to leave before 1 to make the bonsai thing.

And I went to Sunshine Sakae!

It was so awesome! I really want to ride that ferris wheel with friends sometime because it's only 500 yen (I asked using Ikura desu ka? haha).

I went up to a book/game store on the third floor that was having a sale. It was also where you can get into the ferris wheel. I didn't see anything I wanted but I thought this was interesting:

So of course I went in.

So much porn 0_o

After that I was bored so I left. I saw a huge sign across the street for Book Off and I've been wanting to go there so I went over. But it wasn't on the first floor, so I entered the first door I saw but it only went to a phone store, so I walked back out.

This lady who worked for Book Off was outside handing out tissues, so I asked her where Book Off was, but she wasn't understanding me. This lady saw us struggling and came over to help me in broken English. She even walked into the right door with me and through the department store to the escalator. It was so nice!

I headed up to the 8th floor to go to Book Off, but I ended up stopping on the 7th floor because I was enticed by the huge Daiso that took up the entire floor! I spent way too long in there. 

This picture of a kanji learning book is for you, Bridget. Soak up the alpaca-ness:

I wanted to buy this cute plaid pink bow but decided to wait until after I went to Book Off so I hid it with the paper lol. I wa sad because I couldn't find any folders (I desperately need some) at all. I also wanted a hand cloth to dry my hands with in the bathroom (that's what everyone uses instead of paper towels), but there weren't any cute ones. :(

So I went up to Book Off. It was SO awesome!! I found 250 yen CDs that I spent a long time looking through. I was trying to find a Home Made Kazoku CD and I finally found some over in the 500 yen CDs, but I decided I didn't want to spend that much. 

There were also 105 yen books! I found a book of the first 3 of a manga series I read in high school. I decided I'd get it to practice my Japanese, but then I realized I'd have to carry it all day and it was really thick, so I decided to come back after the bonsai thing and I hid that too. I also saw GameBoy games I wanted! I decided I'd have to come back and get those too.

I wanted to stop at Oasis 21 before I went to the bonsai event, but I was cutting it pretty close. It was 12:30 and I still had to ride another subway line to where the bonsai event was and it was at 1:30! So I grabbed my map to see where Oasis 21 was so I could try to stop there quickly.

You guys, I think I'm a magnet that attracts Japanese guys. Because bam. Japanese guy asking me where I wanted to go. His name was Roy and it turns out he was from Antartica and he said he was penguinese lol and his dad was a penguin wtf. But he lives in Japan now and works around Oasis 21.

Roy had a limp but he ended up walking with me all the way to Oasis 21. It was SO beautiful! I wish I'd taken a picture, but didn't want to make him wait while I did. It had a pool on top that reflected water ripples down below to the mall area.

It was everything I'd seen online and been expecting!

Roy took me down to the information center where I got another map. There was a ice rink too! The people at the center wanted to know where I was from because they have a database with where foreigners are from.

So yeah, at this point I kind of wanted to shake Roy off because he wasn't herringbone the idea and leaving to let me shop, so I told him I had to catch the train and asked him where he was going. I think he must have been lonely because he said he was just walking around. 

So he followed me to the train station. Then I was like okay, I gotta take the Meijo line and then switch to the Tsuremai line and he said he'd go too! Ahhh I didn't know how to get rid of him. At least I'm happy he was there because he shows me I could just get a ticket straight to the station I wanted and use it on both train lines instead of buying two tickets like I'd been planning to.

He had a subway card so he came with me and stayed with me the whole 20 minutes, all the way to the station I had to get off on. It was super awkward. Thank goodness I had something legit to do there and wasn't just sightseeing or I'm pretty sure he would have followed me around all day. 

But he walked me to the Showa Ward building and then finally left when I got in the elevator!

I went up to the 6th floor and checked into the bonsai event. They sat me at table 5. This was sitting at my place:

And I got these papers and this cute bee paper holder thing:

After everyone finally came in, we got started. First we put rocks in the bowls. Then we took the bonsai out of the pot and transferred it to our bowl we put the rocks in.

Then we filled the spaces with soil.

After that, we put moss and white rocks on top in any way we wanted to. I made mine look sort of like a beach. And we got these cute little women figures to put on top!

Me with my bonsai :)

There were students from Nanzan there (none of my friends but 2 girls from my Japanese class), Japanese students from Nagoya Daigaku, and Japanese high school students! A really nice 17 year old high school student sat at my table. She told me my eyes were pretty haha. I'm glad Kumazawa sensei taught us that last semester, I had no idea I would ever actually hear "me ga kirei" lol.

I asked her if she wanted to study English. She said no, but she thought it was interesting. Her English was pretty good though!

Then it was tea time! I got table 5 again but accidentally sat at 6 haha. This is what was at our place:

So cute, right?? And these were in the middle of the table for us to snack on:

I'd had Koala March in America, but not Meltykiss. I've seen Meltykiss all over the convenience stores here and have been wanting to try it!

We got the special winter matcha (green tea) flavored ones!

They were soooo good!

Inside the box

In the little packages at our place was:

More okashi (snacks)!!

These ladies brought around tea for us as well!

The konpeito (little orange and white candies) were so good!

The cookie thing tasted like peanut butter and had peanuts in it!

The wrapped snacks were all really good except the handroll one. That one was wasabi flavored and kind of spicy.

The wrapped white thing tasted weird. Like soy sauce or miso or something. 

I said it was omoshiroi (interesting) and the Japanese people laughed.

The package with the girl on it contained a red bean bun. It was super delicious!!

We were all supposed to bring stuff from our country as well. 

I brought some Reese's chocolates and candy cane kiss's I'd brought from America and gave them to the non-Americans at my table. I showed the Japanese guy next to me some cartoon pictures of Texas too like cowboy boots and cacti that were on chocolates I brought. He liked them a lot!

A Chinese girl at my table who I found out is studying at Nanzan in the 700 level Japanese class, brought these red dessert snacks from China:

They were weird tasting.

Then this cute German guy fom Nanzan who's in the 700 level but is in my Japanese folklore class brought these, which were a type of Ferrero Rocher! They were good! He told me they were made by the same company that makes Ferrero Rocher and asked me what other German candy I eat and I told him about Kinder eggs. He was really cool!

Then the Japanese people taught us foreigners how to make origami cranes with the origami paper we got!

We ended up leaving close to 4:30, when it was supposed to end at 3:30 haha.

I left with the 2 girls from my Japanese class, but ended up having to take the subway the opposite way.

When I got back on the Meijo line, I realize I'd lost the ticket I just bought haha. I didn't need it yet, so I quickly boarded the Meijo train, but I accidentally caught the one going in the wrong direction! So I got off at Sakae.

I debated going back for the book I wanted, but I didn't really want to carry my bonsai around everywhere.

If there's one thing I've learned in Japan, it's how to ride the subways and trains for free, haha.

I was just gonna carry my bonsai over to the mall and quickly get my book, but I saw that the ticket counter was small and there was hardly anyone there, so I knew I couldn't sneak through without my ticket. I'd be caught and have to pay. I'll have to go some day after class next week. 

So I went back and caught the Meijo line going the right way. I knew I'd be fine in Kanayama because it's always crowded there.

Sure enough, I slipped through like a pro and even beat those stupid doors that try to trap me in.

And then I could use my card for the JR home. And I caught the rapid train! For one stop, my bonsai even got a seat to itself! :)

I padded my bonsai in my bike basket so it wouldn't be destroyed. It did bump a bit.

Finally my bonsai made it home! It only lost a few buds total. Yuko and Ken really liked it!

My room is so Japanese now lol!

For dinner, we made takoyaki! Totemo sugoi (totally awesome)!! 

(The pan)

First we put in the batter and the tako (octopus)

Then we put lettuce on

Then weird crunchy things and more batter

Then we used long toothpick things to make them into balls!

Ken said I was jouzou (good at it)!

Tada! Finished product with takoyaki sauce and nori. :)

It was really good! Then Yuko and Ken made some with cheese and hot dogs too. Ugh I was so full when we were finished!