JAPAN!!! nagoya/takayama

Day 2 in Japan!!

Or, is it day 3? I lost track already, is that sad, or really great? :) I arrived in Nagoya airport (central airport) where my brother, James, picked me up. I started laughing/giggling when I saw him. I think I was going to burst in tears, but I didn’t want him to know. I haven’t seen him in a year; I was surprised when I saw him, hence the laughing. I wonder if I’ve changed in his eyes… hopefully, I did, but in a good way :). I gave him a big hug, and headed on the JR (?) or subway, or some metro system on the way back to his dorm.

I settled in to his tiny ass space of a room (actually, it’s not really that bad haha). I sleep on the bed, and he sleeps on the floor. We played ping pong for a while, and decided to cook dinner. I met so many of his friends. Met Veronica first—I love her already. She’s so sweet and kind (from Czech). I met his other bffs Dan (from Vermont), and Martin (Germany). We cooked MEAT, and potatoes yesterday. Chilled in the lobby and met a LOT of my brother’s friends. They’re all very amazing in their own way. I wish I could’ve studied abroad with James, so I could’ve met all these cool people as well. 

IT’S DAY 3!! I made a realization, because yesterday, James and I headed to Takayama -____-. I’m… so, out of it. Yesterday, we woke up at 7am to catch the subway to catch a bus to go to Takayama (I am pretty sure I just made a run-on sentence, or just a really crappy sentence lol). The bus ride was around 2-3 hours long. We arrived at the bus station, and killed off time to catch another hotel bus at 3pm. We killed time by wandering around the town, headed to a temple. I got a fortune that gave me ‘little luck’ and my brother picked a fortune that gave him ‘big luck.’ Congrats jerk :).  

Can I just say, I’m surprised we have no fought/cussed (really cussed) at each other yet? I’m happy. 

We headed to lunch!! And, had the famous beef of Takayama. James complained about how the food took forever, because we were ‘gaijin’—it’s understandable. Did I mention James’s friends were talking about their experiences in Japan when I asked for it? It’s…complicated. But, Veronica assuaged me and told me things weren’t that bad, and I had to experience everything myself despite all these negative experiences told. ANYWAYS, we got our food. It didn’t taste bad, it had to have tasted good in my head, because it was fucking expensive. Everything’s so pricey here; the stereotype is true haha. No wonder everyone’s so skinny and boney, because they’re starving -____-. Haha, jk. But, there are some fatties, which I do not understand why. The fatty menu, aka, fried foods, ‘American food’ (lol), are expensive too haha. My dad was like, “Damn it, Deborah. James should’ve gone to Thailand to fatten up, and you should’ve gone to Japan to starve.” That’s true. 

Wow, I’ve taken a huge tangent. Anyways, we had lunch with famous beef, I have pictures :). We then chilled at the bus center until 3.10pm to catch our bus to the hotel/onsen. We were waiting outside this Washington Hotel Plaza, and as a bus pulls up at exactly 3.10pm, we hopped on with 2 other ‘gaijins’ and realized we got on the wrong bus to the wrong hotel. HAHAHA, that was embarrassing on James’s part; I just laughed the whole ride back into town. Surprisingly, the hotel we’re staying at has good services. They called James on his cell phone to ask where he went—and he stuttered in his bad Japanese. But, I’m proud of him, he actually can speak/understand Japanese to a certain level. We waited for another bus at 4.10pm, and finally headed to ‘Himawari’—the hotel/onsen place. At first, when you looked at the outside of the building/hotel, it doesn’t seem so high class for 10,000yen/person a night. But, the onsen totally made up for it—and so did dinner and breakfast. 

First thing we did, HEADED TO THE ONSEN. I still wore my bra, and undies under this kimono type thing (pictures). I was really hesitant in going in naked (women and men are separated, don’t worry :) ), because as you know I’m really conscious about my body—like really conscious. I STRIPPED naked in the locker room, felt awkward, but… I quickly got used to it in like 1 minute. Haha. I loved it. I saw several old grannies, and no teenagers—YEAH! So, I felt a lot better about myself. It was so relaxing. I went to the outside onsen, and there was a grandmother with her grandson. He liked me :). You know how I hate kids? He can be an exception :). Then his mother came, and… it was just a really nice scene. Yeah, we’re all naked, but, I really didn’t find things that awkward… Is that weird?

We headed to dinner. Oh my god. I definitely did NOT starve that night haha. I was so full, of STUFF. I didn’t bring my camera down, because 1. I thought it would be a buffet (hard to explain why I thought that way), 2. I’m a dumbass, what other explanation? We had… tempura, sashimi, famous beef, dessert, rice, fish, miso soup, egg thing, a lot of other things I forgot -____-; see how abundant of a meal it was? After our food babies, we headed upstairs to chill until we settled down and could head to another round of onsen. 

I slept like a baby last night; I think the onsen really took a lot out of me—I was so comfortable. We also watched some Japanese game-show before we dozed off—interesting as always :). 

Today: We got up for a fanciful breakfast. Had shrrooooommms, milk, miso soup, rice, salmon, fruit, seaweed, salad… and, other stuff (?) too much to remember :). We headed to the bus stop, and dozed off on the bus, though we had a good night’s rest. Arrived back in the dorm, just ate Tomyum ramen that I bought from Thailand :). And, currently going over my emails, my fucking financial aid THAT IS STILL PENDING! :(, and facebook, and tumblr :).

I can’t wait to go home—Where is my home?

taiwan: red light district.

this is day 100 (?) (who knows what day) in taiwan—the deborah experience. so, what exactly did i do today?

1. shopping, as usual.

2. ended up in my typical spot in taipei —> McDonalds in front of mitsukoshi :) and here. i said to a lady: “excuse me, 這裡有人坐嗎?” and then we ended up having an hour long conversation about:

- taiwan’s education system

- taiwan’s political system

-taiwan’s youth

-american colleges

-my/her life story.

overall, it was a nice conversation, though we did have some language barriers here and there. we exchanged emails, and i might visit her in 台中. which will be sweet :)

3. i went to the “red light district” of the taipei region today. with, YEP YOU GOT IT, dad :). so the ‘red light district’ is often deemed as where prostitutes/high class ‘escorts’ usually, strive, and do their business in. 

-what we did today, on the streets of “林森北路,” we were attempting to find this korean bbq my dad ate at once. but, ‘unfortunately,’ we ended up at this 47 year old, high class taiwanese cuisine restaurant. [you can pretty much order dishes on the streets for like 1/5 the price. no…seriously] so, this place is called “青葉” and it is quite famous for…the high class escorts.

-a side story: i looked pretty nice today. yes, im not modest, but this has to deal with the whole concept of “high class escort ” C: short skirt, tight shirt, mascara, eyeliner, hair down, all the damn works.

-anyways, so my dad and i entered this restaurant, and it was pretty much a japanese restaurant—no joke. all the customers were pretty much japanese businessmen, with their counterpart taiwanese partners, and there were a couple of koreans. i ASSUME some of the customers thought i was my dad’s high class escort. yeahhhhh….that was awkward as a mofo. 

-the story goes on… but, while i was walking the several sketchy alley ways, my dad and i could tell who was not exactly “normal,” and were more prone to “sexual activies”—let’s put it that way :) and while we were strolling along these sketchy alley ways, there were several “japanese bars” behind closed doors. a mini-building, one after the other. and you really can’t see what’s going on behind those doors. and on these particular doors, there are several signs. signs read: you have to be 18 yrs old and older to enter. and then, something about 30 yr olds and i was like… woah, ew, disgusting, sketch, wtf. 

-nope, we didn’t end up going because my dad was like “i’ve been there, done that. deborah, you’ll get hit on. let’s just go to an american type bar, where things are… let’s just say, more open” 

4. rode the train back home… safely. by myself :)

5. drank alcohol, as usual.

pictures coming soooooooon!!!! too bad i didn’t take a picture of myself today, i looked pretty fly, not gonna lie.