the cure for neurosis and murdered avocados

Welcome to my last week in Japan!  It's really difficult for me to believe that almost nine weeks have passed.  Life in Japan feels pretty routine by now and I'm sad to leave my new friends in a few days.

So of course, I've been cramming in as much time with them as possible in this final week!  Over the weekend, I got together with my German friend and some colleagues for an evening in Osaka and dinner at an izakaya.  Unfortunately for you, no new and strange foods to report this time around.

On Saturday, I spent the morning doing a bit of grocery shopping for my last week and poked through a few stores at the mall near my house in Ibaraki.

You can't make this stuff up.

I've been on the lookout for a shirt that mentioned Georgia or North Carolina, but I don't think I'll be purchasing this one...

Lunch (a sandwich!  it's been so long!) at a coffee shop in the mall.

On Saturday afternoon, my work friend Miho texted and asked if I wanted to do some shopping with her and have dinner.  This was really great since my alternative was to mope around my apartment and feel sad about missing my friends :)  We went to a big discount store called Donki where I bought a huuuuge duffle bag for my trip home.  I'm a little concerned about how much stuff I'm going to have once I start packing.  I've done a lot of Christmas shopping in the past two or so weeks and it's hard to judge how much space everything will take up.  I came to Japan with two smallish carry-on bags and a small duffle.  So my plan is to try and pack over the course of this week to have an idea of how much stuff I really have.  In reality, I'll probably put this off until Saturday morning before my flight.  And by that point it will be too late to buy any other luggage.  Just saying.  

Donki (short for Don Quijote) is sometimes said to be the "Wal-Mart of Japan".  If Wal-Mart was three stories high with each floor being roughly the size of a Kangaroo gas station and so crowded that you could barely turn around in the aisle, I'd agree.  But if you have the patience and iron will to brave the crowded aisles, you can find some pretty fun things.  Peeing boy, for example, was lovingly purchased at Donki.

Donki also has a great selection of these colored contacts.  Normally, colored contacts are nothing to get excited over.  But here, the contacts are actually designed to make your irises appear larger, not just a different color.  Here's a wiki link but there aren't any great photos.  

Last week when I had dinner with some colleagues at a Korean bbq restaurant, I noticed that the waitress' irises looked unnaturally HUGE.  But I figured that maybe her makeup was just really intense or something.  Turns out, she was just wearing a pair of these.  The intent is to make your eyes appear larger, similar to that of a Japanese anime character.  So interesting.

Miho and I hit up another chain gyudon restaurant for dinner- Sukiya.  I think Yoshinoya is still number one in my heart, though.

After some more shopping, we headed back to the same coffee shop that we had visited for the first time last week.  This is the typical scene at the table when we hang out... her Japanese/English dictionary, my Japanese vocabulary book and my cell phone with an English/Japanese translator.

Miho and two other colleagues from our office had invited me to Kyoto on Sunday for a day of hiking, eating and onsening.  We headed out early to try and beat the Kyoto crowds.  The city is really popular in the Fall because of the mountain landscape and gorgeous leaves.  

I'm still not sure why the train platform had video monitors.  But no judgement here.  Only tourist photos.

Once we got to Kyoto, we had lunch at a really traditional looking restaurant.  It was very small and simple but beautifully constructed with wood paneling and paper screens.

Next we headed out on our hike and spent a few hours checking out some temples and shrines.  And many, many steps.

A little bit of Willy Wonka pure imagination, anyone?  Okay.  Maybe just me. 

These little papers were fortunes.  The paper is blank when it's given to you and you place it in this little pond to let the words develop.  Pretty fancy paper engineering.

I couldn't read mine but with the help of my favorite translators, I learned that I should be patient in love and not rush into anything.  And also that my child bearing will be EASY.  And maybe a bunch of other things that I don't remember now.

The ladies I was with were tough and we powered through many, many hundreds of steps around the temples.  By the end of our adventure, all of our legs were shaky and spent.  Time for the onsen!

We took a train back to the town where the onsen was located and spent an hour or so relaxing in the hot spring.  Kurama Onsen has hot springs that are outside so you can enjoy the mountain scenery while you soak.  It was a really nice finish to all of that hiking!  I learned that this particular onsen is supposed to be good for treating diabetes, rheumatism and neurosis.   Who knew some hot, steamy water could do that much??  I'm not really clear on the technicalities of how that works but I'll take it.

As we were leaving the onsen, I noticed a girl speaking English with the receptionist and it seemed like she needed some translation help.  So I asked my coworkers to walk over and help and it turns out she had lost her wallet somewhere in the onsen building.  Luckily, someone had found it on the ground and turned it into the front desk.  The girl was an Australian college student who just got to Japan a few days ago and had ventured out to the onsen by herself.  She's studying landscape architecture and will be in Japan for a few weeks taking a kind of elective for course credit.  She ended up taking the train back to central Kyoto with us and hanging out for a bit.  The funniest thing was after we parted ways with her, my coworkers all commented on how fast we naturally spoke English together.

We headed back to Ibaraki for a round of Korean bbq.  I just can't get enough.

Great camera timer FAIL.

Friends.  

I asked if we could keep the window open even with the really cold weather because I was concerned for our health and safety.  Fire and smoke in a small enclosed room with no exhaust system sounds like a recipe for carbon monoxide poisoning to me.  But don't worry, we survived.  Could I have possibly found the dangerous thing at a Korean bbq restaurant??

If you can even imagine this, we decided after we were finished with Korean bbq that we needed something SWEET to finish our day.  So a few coffees, matcha lattes and donuts later, we were finally finished with our big adventure.  Such sweet ladies; so much fun.  

For my last week in Japan, there are still a few things that I want to see and do before I leave.  One sight that I've been meaning to visit is Osaka Castle.  I mean, two months in Osaka and I still haven't managed to see this place yet??  One of my colleagues recommended seeing it at night at its most dramatic.  I asked a friend from church to go with me and I headed over to Osaka after work on Monday to meet up with him.
  

There's a really large park around the castle and maybe four train stations within a twenty minute walk.  So during the walk to the castle, there are lots of nice views from a distance.  It looks absolutely HUGE but apparently used to be even bigger hundreds of years ago.

From the castle, you can look out over the moat at the Osaka skyline.  After seeing the castle, we headed to a nearby area called Kyobashi for dinner.  We had mushiryori which I think translates to "steamed food".  Lots of vegetables, fish and pork served with ponzu sauce.  So, so good.  

In other news...

Who wants to talk about what happens when you're running late for the bus and you're hopping around your apartment on one foot trying (unsuccessfully) to quickly pull on a pair of tights?

Innocent avocados die.  That's what.

Exciting things:  Going away party this Friday!  I've already mentioned this but I'm excited to hang out with everyone on my last night and take so many photos.  My colleagues are also planning a trip tomorrow (Wednesday) to Kobe with me after work.  And on Thursday, I'm heading back to Kyoto for dinner with another colleague.  SO BUSY.  Trying to cram so much into this past week.  Planning to sell my bike on Friday to a used shop.  Of course I wish I could bring my bike home but I just think the logistics of that will be too difficult.  Bike + excess luggage + small Japanese car = IMPOSSIBLE.

New words:  Muzukashii- difficult; hazukashii- shy or embarassed; wakare mashita- I understand.