Japan!

Sa-weet! A little waiting, and just like magic, the problem is solved. Goody.

So, I spent last weekend in Osaka, and I loved it! I only saw a tiny part of the city I was in, but Japan is a really, really cool place to be. I'll post a couple of posts about it, because there are too many pictures for one post, so keep checking in. I think I'll finish with some comparisons between Korea and Japan.

On Saturday morning, me and my friend arrived in Osaka and managed to take the subway to the appropriate stop to find our "hotel," which is actually a hostel. We wandered around for a bit, and then my friend decided to ask for directions, which was a good thing, because we were in the wrong place. Oops. The hotel was in an admittedly seedy-ish part of town, but hey, you get what you pay for, and Japan is friggin expensive. It was clean and safe though, and that's all that really matters. Here it is:

And here's the view from my window. You can see what I mean about the seediness:
But then we decided to take the subway to a VERY nice part of town, not far away, called the Minami area. Here we found the main shopping district...it was interesting because on one street, we were walking outside, but there was a roof between the buildings, so it was a combiniation of in and outdoor shopping. Here you can see the roof, and a traffic light up ahead:

But the coolest was nearby...a canal!

There's my friend in the yellow t-shirt:

July 7 (07/07/07) is a lucky day in Japan, so they had performers along the boardwalk all afternoon and evening:
You can see in the picture above, there are candles by his feet and paper in the tree. Passersby could write out a hope or a wish or a prayer and put it on the tree, or on a candle, for free. It was really cool to see all the hopes of the people represented in material form like that. At night, they lit the candles:
And we'll end that day with a shot of one of the streets at sundown:

Ok, I'm sorry people, but I have no idea what the heck is wrong with this site! If someone has any idea, please email me or comment. It won't let me type in the "Title" field. I suppose I could try to post without a title...but also copying and pasting is not working, so my pictures are all in the wrong order. Any help, greatly appreciated!!

Um.

Having problems with this website...won't let me put a title on posts, and is generally behaving brattily.

MEH.

I will post about Japan soon. I'll give it a day to see if the problems get fixed.

Happy Canada Day!!

HAPPY CANADA DAY EVERYONE! yahoo!

And since it's still Canada Day in Canada, I'm not late posting this. heehee.

So all the Canadians and honourary Canadians got together yesterday to celebrate. What's Canada Day without a barbeque, thought we. Well, the security guard told us we couldn't BBQ in the parking lot, and since it was drizzly, we didn't want to go to the park, we opted for the safest alternative and moved it inside.

It's not as dangerous as it seems...that's a porch, with a big screen door. :D

Here's us Canadians:
Complete with Canadian stickers from one girl's mom. This one says, "Made in Canada:"
Me with an honourary Canadian friend:
After eating so much we could barely move, we decided to play a game we call "Clayinary." Like Pictionary, but with clay. It was Canada & Korea VS The Rest of the World (which included Ireland, Australia, Georgia, and the US). See if you can guess what this was supposed to be:
Speakers. Those blobs. On the bottom, we have music notes, and with the record player and the person dancing on top of the speakers, it was a dead giveaway. Just kidding! And no, it wasn't mine. ;)

We played 2 rounds. It was a tie in the end.

Afterward, despite the showers, we headed outside to set off some fireworks in the park (it's legal to do that here):



Sorry those last ones are so dark. My camera doesn't like taking pictures at night.

I hope you all had a great Canada Day back home! Love to you all! xoxo

Soccer game

Taken by a friend from S. Africa. This girlie's from PEI. The games are a little less chilly these days. heh heh.

And yes, lucky us, we got in for free...one of the players lives in our building. He's from Montenegro.

Muui-do

FYI: literally "Muui Island." Pronounced "Moo-ee."

So last week my friend and I decided to take a nice little drive out past the airport island to this wee little island. Only about a 45 minute drive total. Got on this ferry:
You can see the other side to the right; it was about a 5 minute ride (about $30). And here's my wee little car smushed in there:
And the island (bigger than I expected, but still small):
Once there, we drove across it to this amazing beach. Here's my friend:
And us:
And here are little rooms on stilts you can rent for the night. Just a very small room. No beds, only blankets:
So we sat under these umbrellas all day and did a whole lot of nothing:

The weather was absolutely fabulous...not humid, only warm and breezy. We ate lunch:
I know, looks, er, interesting eh? It's good though. Called ice noodles (that block of white you see is iced broth). And of course, a meal isn't complete without kim-chi (fermented cabbage) on the side. I know, again, sounds appetizing, but I love it! It really grows on you.

Then, after a few hours of watching the tide, we decided to eat dinner:

Korean pizza, which is one of my favourite meals here in Korea. It's kind of like a fried pancake with veggies (you can also get it with squid, but I prefer my pizza without arms, thanks).

We watched the sun sink into your part of the world:
Then we decided to mosy on back across the island and make our way home. We arrived at the ferry slip. Time: 8:05pm. The ferry was across the way, docked at the other side. We got out to take a look around, and watched it coming back across the bay. Excellent, thought we. Until it suddenly took a sharp turn, went past us, and kept on motoring on its merry way out to sea. "Um..." I said. "Uhh...." my friend said. We stood watching and hoping for a few minutes, but alas, it was indeed headed out to its mooring for the night. Dang-nabbit! Last ferry at 8pm. We laughed and giggled for awhile and wondered what the heck we were supposed to do. I had only a wee little tank top...no sweater, no nothing. We drove back to our beach and enlisted the help of the restaurant owner who was closing up (we had been his best, and pretty much only, customers for the day). We said the word for "Room," but he thought we said, "Bread." He lead us around and basically told us all stores were closed. He must have thought we were pigs, after sitting and eating all day, and then begging him to find us more bread. We thought he said the rooms were closed, and we were really stuck. Finally, we made ourselves understood, and for about $50 rented this lovely (note sarcasm please) motel room:

That's the bathroom.
Here's the main room:
Nothing like feeling like Alice in Wonderland for a night. It was SO small! And mildewy, and buggy, and no windows, and boiling hot. I kept dreaming we were in a sauna. Ah well, at least we weren't sleeping in the car! Next morning saw us jump in our little vee-hickle, and head back toward home.

All's well that ends well, especially when the morning view from your car window looks like this:

Felt right at home.

June 21

Happy First Day of Summer everyone! Although it's felt like summer here for quite awhile now.

Incidentally, it's also the first day of monsoon season, oh joy, oh bliss! And yes, it did rain; I'm not sure who told the weather it was the official first day, but it complied. I'm not sure what to expect...I've heard everything from, "It'll pour rain day after day, nonstop!" to "It's not so different from rainy weeks in Canada."

We shall see, we shall see...