A Beach Day
Beach in Hitachi-taga.

I WENT TO THE BEACH FINALLY!!! YAY!

Before the beach I had training. Booooo. I thought we were going to be late, so the beach wouldn't be an option. But luckily we got out at 1pm! And also luckily I signed a contract finally. I was a little pissed because it began on the 1st of August, and I have been in the city since the 19th of July. But they are paying us a full 100% pay for August, when it is normally 60% because of the holiday. But then we might not get a holiday. But if I am an hour away, and I am not teaching yet, I am pretty sure I will be getting paid for doing nothing.

But anyway, back to the beach!

The beach shop. They had cool flags up before, but they were closing up shop. >.<

It took SO LONG to get to the beach from the train station! It was around a 20 minute walk. I saw a bunch of shiba-ken though! YAY! And the route was pretty scenic.

At the beach we talked and played with a ball. >.< Oh, I was there with a bunch of other area teachers. I wanted to swim, but the water was cold, and it was overcast. The sand is weird, it is very fine and dark. It sticks to everything!

Opposite the water.

dAfter the beach we went to a kaiten-zushi (conveyor belt sushi) place! I love kaiten-zushi because everything is only like 105 yen for the most part.

So good I had it twice!

I never use the conveyer belt though. >.< I just order from the menu and it comes on a special train above the normal one.

The menu is to the left and then you order on the screen to the right.

The sushi, it comes!

Friends! Yay!

So yeah! That's it! I'm really lazy. @_@

~Stephanie
10:53 AM | Category: | 0 comments

A Wandering Day
A nearby shrine.

Yay for Thunderstorms!

The other day (Monday) I decided to go to the beach. Well at least my goal was the beach. I got a little bit distracted though.

First I found this shrine and pond. Shrines and temples are hidden everywhere in Japan. It is pretty fun to discover them!

Waterway with shrine in the distance.

Turtles!!!

FISH!!!

Flowers!!!

Panoramaaaaaaaaa~

Next I went to a store on the way to the train station. I needed to get some sunscreen. Sunscreen here is expensive. >.< I bought a 40ml bottle for 500 yen. I shoulda brought some from home! There was an 80ml one for 2800! And they also like to add skin whitening agents to their sunscreen. It is very important, style wise, to be white here. >.> They even where arm "socks to stay white.

After that I became distracted by the clothes. XD I didn't buy anything though! They have some really great deals now! I also found some bad use of English. >.<

Yeah, I think I'd avoid this university. >.>

I also had to eat lunch because I missed breakfast. I am really craving suika (watermelon) because I know I won't buy it.

Yes, that is a $60 watermelon. It was smaller than the ones we get at Ralphs!

I feel like investing in a watermelon farm. They have $20 watermelon that are equivalent to the ones you can buy in the 99 cents store!

After shopping, I went and chilled outside and watched some kids playing. There was the most adorable little 2 year old running around with her mom closely behind. And while I was sitting there, I saw a couple of gaikokujin (foreigners) ride up on bikes! I knew these guys!

They invited me out to eat, and it was really fun! :) We went to COCOS haha. Yes THAT Cocos! Of course the food was different, but it was nice! I just got a dessert and the drink bar. It was yummy. I should have taken a picture of the drink bar. They have like so much and it is unlimited. I had an iced cafe latte and melon soda. They also have coco, soda, tea, juice, etc. All for 180 yen!

The menu.

That's all!

<3 Steph
9:36 AM | Category: | 1 comments

A Clean Day
Sunday, I again did nothing. At around 11 I went out and went for a walk. I just walked south, because I always walk north. I took some nice pictures, but I accidentally deleted them. >.< They have Bob's Big Boys in Japan! I did have a pic, but yeah, deleted. >.>

I do have a pic of the park I went to!

The park was actually adjacent to a big temple that I need to go back and visit. It was also behind a nursery school. It was nice to be able to sit outside and read my kindle... except for the huge ants that kept crawling on me. >.<

I was out for about two hours, hoping my room would be finished when I returned. It wasn't. XD So I had to wait for a half an hour in the lobby. The window was open and there was a nice breeze, so I looked through the tourist pamphlets.

I had to use the restroom while I was waiting, so I took the opprotunity to take some pictures of the toilet features. As everyone probably knows, toilets are a bit different here. (The western style ones.) I thought you might like to see the features!

So you can wash your front, your back, and adjust the placement and the strength. You can also get an air dry! It is interesting, ne? >.<

There is also another box that provides these services. I thought it was a funny drawing. I like how she keeps her pants on. XD

When I was waiting I also noticed there was a microwave in the lobby. -_-;;; Never saw it before. I also noticed that I can pick one of three pillows. *o* I asked for the nice, fluffy one.

So I finally got back to my room, and I took pics! I had organized my temporary home to be fairly liveable, so I was proud.

My bed with my hand-made pad.

My desk/dining table.

My drawer. (It is organized by clothes type!)

My shoe area and electronics storage.

My closet, I think it is about 1ft across. >.>

My bathroom!

That's all for Sunday!

~Steph
9:42 AM | Category: | 0 comments

A Shopping Day
See Robby, there are plenty of pillows! :D

Today I didn't really want to do anything, cause I walked around yesterday. So I cleaned my room and made it livable. It is really nice now, but I will wait to take pictures until it gets cleaned by the maids.

I want this one so bad! XD

Later in the day I became a little stir crazy, so I decided to walk somewhere. I didn't really have a destination. So I walked north for about a mile, and then I turned around. >.> I wanted to go by this park, but I came upon the local grocery store instead. I wanted to get some viable snacks for my room so I wouldn't ever have to buy lunch. I get breakfast for free, so I just want a big meal for dinner to save money while I can't cook for myself.

Ta-dah! My makeshift pantry. (Above my bed.)

I also have peaches and jellied fruit in my fridge. I was again surprised by the prices of food in Japan. While some fruit was cheap, like my bananas which were ¥175 or the apple which was like ¥198 (It's a big apple), a cluster of (very yummy looking) grapes was like ¥700. Also, rice was much more expensive than I would expect, considering this is freaking JAPAN.

Nearly 4000 for 22 pounds of rice!

At least it seems expensive, right? I guess it would last a while being just me. The only thing that was reasonably priced was the pocky. -_-;; (About 150?) Before I went shopping for food, I looked around the clothes/house items area. I added to my collection of hair accessories I bought yesterday.

They make me so happy!

Oh! I learned a new cool and handy Japanese word yesterday! The two black clips were "toridori". I thought I knew what it meant, but I asked to make sure. It means "by one get one free"! I think it is just "to take"/"tori" twice.

I want! Such a cute futon!

I found some well priced bedding and futon. I can't wait to get my apartment set up! I will probably buy a more expensive futon for comfort, but I will definitely go somewhere like this for bedding. The blankets are so soft.

These were so pretty! All the blankets are soft like down blankets.

One of my favs. <3

While I was shopping, I couldn't help but take a couple of pics of some shirts in English. They had a bunch of shirts with English on them, and they were all equally bad. >.<

"Symbol, the magic of the word"?

They like the word "delight". >.>

While I was shopping I was surprised to find a MEXICAN food section! Wow! (The pasta was right next to it.)

It says "taco dinner set" in Japanese.

I also found these freaking ADORABLE bento (boxed lunches) decorations.

I'll totally do this for my kids!!

Wow! Who thinks of these things?

On the way home I picked up my dinner, and I took a pic of this sign I had seen earlier. I can't imagine how odd this might taste. >.> What is the yellow stuff?!

It says (in English): "The Mexican Taco-Rice that the spicy taste of the salsa source is unbearable. It is delicious that become a habit when eating once."

Dude, why do they write things in English? No one can read it anyway! And I think the yellow might be rice? I don't really wanna find out. @_@

My dinner, the salad dressing is soooo yummy!

Well my dinner, at least, was pretty good. The chicken was a little scary though, cause its just kinda like chicken nuggets. Well tomorrow I'll probably have veggie curry then. Or find a big salad somewhere.

The sky looked odd tonight. Do you think so? The clouds seem lower, or something...

That bright area is between the sea and the clouds.

I might try to go to the beach tomorrow, but I might wait until Monday so it will be less crowded. There is a really pretty beach, but it is about an hour away and 2000 round trip. I bought some reading today, so at least I will have something to do! I'll probably go to the park if it isn't too hot tomorrow.

Yay for studying AND having fun! :D

Bai-bai!

~Stephie
8:49 PM | Category: | 0 comments

A Comfort Day
My new best friend--he needs a name.

I ended up in an arcade on my way to the ocean today. I wasn't intending on doing any of the games, but then I noticed a really cute display... full of vampire cats... uh, and cats that drive in cats. >.>

This made me smile, before it made me cry.

So I want to try to get one of the cute cats eating various treats. My first attempt was a dud, because the crane only goes back like half way. Stupid machine. >:O

But on my second attempt I got my friend! That's where I got greedy... I shoulda stopped there. 1000 yen later I did. -__-;;; You see I freaking ALMOST had the black one in the left machine to the right. Yeah, I ALMOST had it THREE times. That's how these machines get you, you are like I already spent freaking 800 yen, if I don't get it, it is such a waste! Augh. Never again!

And when I was getting more 100 yen coins, I accidentally dropped my friend. I found him near the machine. He has taught me that greediness is bad and looses friends!

I did a bit of futon shopping.

I found a department store, and went to look at futon. Man, bedding in Japan is expensive. >.< I found a nice futon for around 7900 yen. (They had much cheaper ones but they weren't that nice.) This was my favorite though. As you can see it is 158000. Its not too bad, considering it would be something I would be sleeping on for 8 months.

After that I went to a Daiso. Daiso is like a 99 cents store, but it is a 105 yen store. I found this interesting product line there.

That's what she said? >.>

Among other things, I bought these. You will see what they are for later. ;)

What is this for?

Next I rested in a cool open area. I took some pictures because it looked cool.


And then I finally made it to the sea! It is so cool. @_@ There is a highway IN the freaking ocean. I took these pictures from the train station window.

A 180 view.

I told you it was in the ocean...

Those houses are so close to the water!

The train tracks below. I think that's a nuclear plant. >.>

When I got home, I started on my attempt to make my sleep a little more comfortable. I was originally intending on maybe buying a futon and putting it on top of this dreadfully hard bed, but I didn't want to commit to my bed until I knew my apartment situation. Then I saw the aformentioned pads (they are floor pads to sit on) and I had a genius idea! 20 minutes and, ta-dahhhhh!

Isn't it pretty?

It might not look like much, but it actually feels really nice, and it makes the bed so much more comfortable!!! :D I used three safety pins for each side to "stitch" it together. (30 total) I am SO tempted to buy 8 more and make it double the thickness. But then that would be like 1700 yen, and that is too close to a real futon price... not really... but it is a significant number. XD

It also folds up into a nice seat!

Darn it I'm so tempted... and it could be extra padding for whatever futon I buy. I will have to think about it. >.< I hope the same girls that were working today aren't working tomorrow. I bet they thought I was odd buying eight at once. >.>

Here's to hopefully a better sleep! :D

~Stephanie
8:29 PM | Category: | 0 comments