I should've kept up

I know that I should try and recount all of the things I've done since Osaka...but I just can't. At least, not really, not the way that I should. So, unfortuently, you're going to get a brief run-down of the basic things that happened to my Ma and I.

Kobe, was interesting. We went on a ropeway to see a waterfall, went to an Earthquake Museum (I hat eearthquakes), and ...did more stuff but I don't know what. Went back to Osaka, went shopping at HEP Five (a huge mall), and rode the ferris wheel on top.

The next day we went to Osaka Castle, where there was a summer festival going on. We then headed to Hiroshima, where we did everything all Americans do and I felt guilty for no other reason than being American. We had a fantastic hotel again, went shopping, ate at a great restaurant and discovered the joy of rice wrapped in egg.

After that, we went to Kyoto, where we took wrong buses, walked all over the place to see two shrines and a castle, and then got lost on the way to the ryokan. The ryokan was fantastic, save for the fact that the poor maid/servant/kimono girl looked like she was going to bawl everytime she spoke. She didn't speak any English. I tried. We had trouble not doing anything. We had a 12-course meal and it was absolutly fantastic. Ma got to have a traditional Japanese bath...minus all the people.

Spent the day in Kyoto, where we saw...stuff. Oh, we walked the Path of Philosophy, and saw a Zen garden place. (Why does it feel like we did so much more...). We then headed (too late) to Osaka to pick up our bags, and then Nara to stop at the hotel. The hotel was not quiet as fancy as we wanted, and had no internet in the rooms. We tried to hurry, but we made it to the trains too late to get to Kyoto early enough to go to the Gion Corner to watch the maiko dance. We went anyway, hearing that they also did tea ceremony and seeing if we could do that. Turns out we could...and it was just us. SO, Ma and I got a private tea ceremony/lesson from an ex-geisha. She spoke very good English and ws very, very patient and kind. I was super excited by that. We left feeling ok about being late, and ate at a nearby cafe that was serving desserts only. Went back to Nara to spend the night.

Turns out the festival we were hoping to see in Nara as my book said, was a week later than we thought. Yeah for that. We spent the day in Nara, seeing the Great Buddha, and having a blast feeding random deer that are all around the place.  Saw some more shrines, and picked up this shrine book where they "sign" it (the monks from the shrine). Very amazingly done. Ma lost her glasses, we traced all our steps, ate lunch, split up to look for/buy things, I bought a shirt, went to wait for Ma at this one place, and it turned out exactly where I was waiting, were her glasses. Pretty lucky. Tried to make it to another temple, but it was too hot and my back was killing me.

Next day we went to Tokyo. Tokyo is pretty awesome, I must say. Our hotel was right next to a train station, which happened to be one of the train stations all shinkansens (bullet trains) go through. So we hoped off there, found our hotel easily enough, and pretty much everyone spoke perfect English. It was nice to hear it, really.  We went to Akihabara and then Harajuku. Way too much fun. And shopping.

Next day we went to Hard Rock for dinner...what did we do during the day? Umm...visited Mt. Fuji! Right! Most of the stuff in Tokyo is closed on Monday, so we went to Hakone park where it was actually way too cloudy to see Mt. Fuji. But Lake Ashi was beautiful. I think we went shopping in Ginza as well that night, since we got back 2 hours earler from Hakone than we thought.

Our last day, we went to a shrine, went more shopping (we have great taste, but no money to buy it; though Ma did get me $21 stockings), saw the Imperial Palace. Unfortuently, it rained (and I mean poured) all day. So we didn't get to go to Tokyo Tower or to Disney, like Ma and I wanted to. But we still had a nice last day. Ordered room service for dessert too.

We decided that we were going to take the Airport limosine for $30 rather than drag all our luggage through numerous trains to get to the airport. We got there at about 12:30, having left at 11. We then checked in (I was like...5 hours early for my flight, and everything worked out with not taking the first "part" of it from Chitose to Haneda), and I went in search of Ma since we were in different parts of the giant terminal. Found her, waited, we then ate lunch, waited some more, and then Ma took off. I had a lot of waiting to do for my flight (about 2 1/2 hours til we started bording), so I shopped around a little - well, looked mostly. Then I decided to go to the gate and wait. Luckily, I had a book from Ma so I read that.

It gets time to go and guess who shows up?! This boy, Matt, that I met on the trip to Japan (though I think he forgot my name), was in fact, on the same return trip. We talked about our different trips, and made our way to the counter with the ladies swiping our tickets. She swiped mine, and the machine beeped. I looked confused, apologized for whatever was wrong, and waited while they talked. She looked at me, handed up a new ticket, and said "You've been upgraded to business class." I went from row 26 to row 6, right next to the door. With a personal TV and an almost table like  tray and champagne at the beginning of the flight. Oh, yeah, my seat turned into a bed. Sahweet.

I watched four movies, only got about 4 hours of sleep, had trouble eating breakfast, but overall, best flight I'd been on.

Now I'm at my Dad's, with two days left before I go home, and a lot to do. I need to pack tomorrow and do laundry. I'm working with him on Monday, and then we leave for San Diego because I have a 6:10am flight on Tuesday back home. I connect in Denver, then home by 6pmish.

I also finished reading "Breaking Dawn," which was incredible. Dad almost bought me a paperback "Twilight," since I wanted to re-read it and didn't own it. Also bought some stuff for school today. Some clothes, an agenda book.

I have to study Chinese really hard when I'm not packing/shopping/or hanging out with people. So, basically, I'll be studying the day or so before classes start. Yeah, that's good. I have a feeling I'm so screwed. Ah, well. I don't have my book here, and studying from the computer just isn't the same though it shouldn't really matter. Still, I don't like feeling this behind already. I'm just tired.

I have a stressful semester, but I'm looking forward to it. Have to contact my research professor, prepare myself for teaching, buy more books/supplies. My roommate seems super nice too, so that's cool.

For now, I'm reading "Twilight" and figuring out how I'm going to pack everything I have. Hmm.