Greetings from Nagasaki!

今日の日本語の言葉: sekai (世界) - world

This word was brought to you by the eye-opening moment I had today. The world is so damn beautiful, and so very large.

I woke up today as usual at 5:00. We had to be at Hamamatsuchou station by 8:45, so I had enough time to chill, check email, watch something, etc. before having breakfast and packing and then heading off. I left at 8:00, according to my watch, though it really was 8:12 more so. Thus, when I actually got there, I got there at real 8:48. I overshot, and I thought I had plenty of time. Luckily, I had left "early" so I actually didn't get there all that late.

From that point, we just headed straight to Haneda airport by another train, and checked in without difficulty. They didn't check any ID or anything for us. They just took us at our word that we were who we said we were. I will never understand how Japan is so trusting, with their bikes, with their IDs (drinking and now this thing at the airport). It's a nice thing. I wish more of the world could be like this.

When we made it inside, we immediately went to search for food. We found a very nice soba/udon place, where I got udon (of course; I always prefer thick noodles over thin if possible). On the way, I saw multiple Pokemon planes, which made me so happy! I was sad to find out that ours wasn't a Pokemon plane, but it was next to one! Close enough, right?

Large school group gearing up to go somewhere! 

The bathrooms are also very interesting. They have this seat you can put your baby in as you go to the bathroom. Do they have that in America? I mean, if they don't, and you don't have a stroller, what do you do? I've never had that problem, for obvious reasons, and thus, I've never really thought about it until now. They also have this little monitor that plays advertisements in the stall, and this platform you can fold down and stand on when you change so that you don't have to stand barefoot on the dirty ground. The Japanese have thought out practically everything.

On our way back from eating, we passed by a large group from an all girls school (it was a very large group), who, as they passed us, kept waving at Ian and making comments to each other about how handsome he looked or how much he seemed like an actor. That has been the comment that I've heard about every stereotypical "European" looking guy. And as for girls, I feel highly uncomfortable sometimes when drunk guys ask for my name. They're much more outgoing than Japanese girls. xD

When we were on the plane, I passed time by reading Tsubasa CHRoNiCLE (in Japanese, which is so damn hard because the language is all keigo (which is like, honorifics to the level of kingship, because it is about a princess and her kingdom and stuff, after all)). I also drew more of my cover. I've finished the pencil outline for Travis and Armando, though I've yet to ink them in yet, so you'll just have to wait. ;]

On the plane, Ian played some Pokemon (I think it was Pokemon Blue) on his computer. He read a little Game of Thrones on my Kindle as well. Shannon fell straight asleep, and I used that opportunity to put cute little cat stickers on her fold down table (with messages like "Sleep well?" and stuff written on them). She was quite happy to see them when she woke up, so I'm glad.

I've never seen the pouch behind the table up top
like that before. Has anyone else? 

We touched down without Ian noticing (he can be dead when he's asleep), and I caught my first on ground sight of Nagasaki! And, of course, it's water. Nagasaki is all water everywhere. And all seafood. The airport is also tiny, though I expected that. It's still not that small compared to some local airports in Vietnam though, which can only house like, one plane, and only ever receive planes small enough to have propellers and stuff. xD

They even advertised on the conveyor belt... 

During the bus ride over to our hotel, I took many pictures. I was listening to Yiruma, actually, which made the trip that much more magical. Actually, I think that this point, while looking at these pictures, you guys should go listen to some Yiruma music in the background. For a good playlist of Yiruma, click here. Really, listen to this advice, if you ever listen to me. It makes a world of difference in experience. (Make sure to turn autoplay on so you don't have to go and change song every time; and I also suggest you put it on shuffle for the maximum effect. The playlist songs aren't ordered well, and shuffling will probably yield better results).

Anyways, I took these pictures while listening to Yiruma, and I kept thinking of Miyazaki movies, especially of My Neighbor Totoro, which—I know, it's bad—I've never seen. But I know the art for it, and I know many scenes from it. The old style houses, the hills, the fields, etc.—they all kept reminding me of Totoro. And they're all so beautiful in their own way (especially the old style houses). I couldn't help but take so many pictures!

Very cool side-of-the-mountain graveyard. 

When we reached our destination, we walked to our hotel. On the way, we passed the building for the old British embassy. It's very stained and old looking, and it had a vague eerie feel to it, but it was really cool to see. I think it's been around since before the bombing, too, which makes it even cooler.

When we reached our hotel, I totally thought we were in a different place. It was like being in Portugal all of a sudden, with all of the decor and stuff. Their elevators were also old style, with its way of counting floors and its door style. They also had old style lamps in the hallway, and my room was so cute! The little round mirror I have—which I guess is for makeup or detail work or something—is very endearing in a weird way. I love it!

The very nice view from my window~  

When we got downstairs again to get ready to go, we saw the beautiful archway leading to where breakfast was going to be tomorrow. This place also has a magical feeling to it. Nagasaki is just so nice! And we're so lucky because CIEE treats us so well (CIEE is paying for all of our meals during this trip. Can you believe it?).

When we left the hotel, we stumbled upon this school performance thing going on. All the children were dressed up, and they were so damn adorable! They had full kimonos and stuff, and half the children were dressed in a classical Japanese style, while the other half were dressed in the traditional Chinese style. Both were adorable, and we stayed and watched for a while before heading off.

We went off to Chinatown to find some food. I wanted to eat chanpon or sara udon, which are both very famous types of food in Nagasaki. I also wanted to eat hitokuchi gyoza, which is like a mini gyoza, but they were only sold in the evenings. So we settled for a nice restaurant and I got chanpon, which, I have to say, is probably the best noodle dish I have ever eaten. And for those of you who know me well, you know I've eaten all sorts of noodle dishes from udon to ramen to Vietnamese bun and mi xao (crispy fried noodles) to pad thai. I'm a noodle geek. And if I'm sitting here saying this could be the best thing I've ever eaten, you might just start to be able to imagine how it tastes. Like. WOAH. I was speechless when I ate my first bite. Of course, everything is delicious in its own way, and pad thai is delicious in a way that chanpon can never be, but I have never been speechless about noodles before in my life. This did it for me. Really. WOW.

I also got some sort of... meat bun to try. It's called kakuni manju. It's delicious, but very bad for your health, and very starchy (most of it's the bun, and not the meat). Still, I had to try it, because it was something Nagasaki related, and I can probably only find the best here anyways. =]

Restaurant at which we later ate. 

I like it how it's regular, special, and extra special. If you can read
the kanji, the Japanese is just as unhelpful. xD

When we finished eating, we left to find our way to the famous Nagasaki viewpoint from Mt. Inasa. On the way, we passed by this little river that was paved with red on either side. It was very royal looking, though the dirty water sort of threw me off of that a little bit. I've heard that in Okinawa, the water is crystal clear though. I want to go!

That's Mount Inasa in the distance, I think. 

When we reached the rope-way, there was this nice temple before you get to the ticket center, which I thought set the mood perfectly. Ian and I went exploring around while Shannon got the tickets and we waited for the lift to arrive. It was a really beautiful place, and with the way that things were set up, I got some very ideal looking pictures. Again, this is like right out of Miyazaki movie for me. Now I understand that those beautiful shots in the movies actually can exist just as wonderfully in real life.

When we left up the lift, I was completely full of anticipation. I've seen some nice sky views before in my life, like in Jordan, but I've never seen any in the dark before (although I hope I will get to see Tokyo at night from Sky Tree, and Dubai at night from the Burj Khalifa, etc.). Even as we were going up, the view was already getting pretty nice and exciting. And it was the perfect time to go up to see the city in sunset, and then once again in darkness when everything lit up.

Another mountainside graveyard. 

At this point, I'm going to write no further until the pictures finish. These pictures can speak for themselves, though with my iPhone camera, I couldn't do them justice. Actually, with any camera, you can't do it justice. The combination of the crisp, fresh air, the cool breeze, the murmur of people, the soft background music of Yiruma, the small moving cars below, etc. all make for an unforgettable and indescribable experience. I guess you'll just have to go there to see for yourself, ne?

And please, please, please be listening to Yiruma at this point. If you are somewhere where you can't, then I recommend you stop reading and resume at a later point. It really is important to me that you get even a vague sense of what I felt as I looked upon Nagasaki from this height, and you can only dare to even get close with the help of Yiruma.

Okay, now I'll shut up until the pictures are done. I also suggest you click on the picture to make it larger, and scroll through the gallery instead of just scrolling through the page. Happy viewing!

... Aaaaannnndddd we're back! I hope you looked through slowly, carefully, and observantly, with Yiruma as your guide. Yeah, I know, my iPhone camera does it no justice whatsoever, but it was the best I could do! You guys will really have to go see for yourself. Maybe you can come with me again!

We made our way back down the same way we came. I got a nice picture of the staircase where the lift comes up, and really just drops off to nowhere, right down the mountainside. It's cool to see it as you're approaching, but I didn't get a good shot of it either way. It's like a staircase where the last step is just missing, and below it is sheer mountain. So cool!

When we got down, I also managed to get a shot of the inside of the little shrine you saw earlier before we toured the city view. It's really magnificent inside, and lord I cannot wait until they invent a camera as powerful and as capable as the eye. Maybe it should just be a chip hooked up to your brain in parts that interpret your light input, so that way we can perfectly have the image that our minds receive, down to every last detail. Wouldn't that be awesome?

At least make it rope-whey, right?

We went into the city to search for dinner. Now that it was nighttime, I really wanted to find some hitokuchi gyoza, but the problem was that the famous place in Nagasaki known for the thing wasn't a pescetarian friendly place, and Ian is such a person. So I decided that I would forgo the hitokuchi, and use it as a reason to come back here with Anna and eat it together. In the end, we settled for Mos Burger, actually, because everywhere else was already full and had a lot of people waiting.

We also went in search of Fukusaya, the most famous place for castella in Nagasaki. I wanted to get some castella for my host family, because Yoshiko-san loves it so much! I wanted to also get some for everybody else in the states, but it expires so quickly that even if I sent it today, it wouldn't get to you until at least a week after it expired, and I'm not sure you want me to pay an arm and a leg for overnight. So when I eat it, I'll try my best to describe to you how it tastes, in lieu of the actual thing. Maybe you guys can use it as a reason to come here yourselves, ne? (I'm really pushing a theme of coming here, aren't I?)

These chairs were so cute! 

I really want those chests. They are so pretty! 

Look at this cute wrapping for castella! They're
wrapped for individual sized portions. So adorable~ 

Ain't this the coolest police station you have ever seen?
It looked to us to be a haunted house at first. xD 

Below is a set of pictures from a cool restaurant that we wanted to eat at, but couldn't because there was already a long wait. You had to take your shoes off as you entered, and then you sit on the ground. It's all grilled meat and vegetables on skewers, eaten with more vegetables and rice. It smelled so utterly divine, and I was very sad to go.

After dinner, we made it back to the hotel (by taxi, because we didn't want to walk, us lazy bums). I'm just so much more surprised this trip than I thought I would be, though pleasantly so. First of all, when I paid CIEE to come to Japan, I did not expect that they would be paying for stuff like my transportation to and from school, or transportation to the CIEE office whenever there was a meeting. On trips, they pay for our meals and stuff too. And back in Tokyo, if we want to do something, we can put it on their agenda by suggesting it, and they'll cover it if they agree to do it. Isn't that just so much more awesome? I am so grateful for their generosity. With the amount that this trip costs, you really couldn't get that much if you did it on your own, mostly because planning takes time, and having fun takes people, both of which are sort of already covered through CIEE.

I also went through the day with Julien in mind, for while we were out looking at stuff and taking pictures, he was waiting at an airport to head back home. He's sure that he'll come back though, which probably makes going home easier. I know I'd be devastated if I was forced out of the CIEE program for any reason. Japan is one of my many, many dreams, and here it is! I still can't quite believe it.

Anyways, I'm now off to sleep! I want to wake up early tomorrow, for there's a long day ahead—which, I guess, also means that there'll be a lot more pictures, another long blog post, and so much more to talk about!

また明日、

マギー

Hello Goodbye~

今日の日本語の言葉: yakusoku (約束) - promise

This word is brought to you from the promise I made today to go hang out with Julien when I get back to the states.

I woke up this morning to a wonderful surprise of Anna being around! I thought she was going to be around later, so it was a pleasantly nice surprise to see her around and spend the morning writing in her presence. It made what I was going to do next a bit less bitter. After all, it's sad to say goodbye to a friend, especially since you were expecting them to be around for a while, and you had made plans and everything.

But that's what I went to do next. I met up with Ian and Julien in Yotsuya to have lunch. We were planning on going to the Sophia U cafeteria, but it was closed due to the festivities that were going on. Apparently, classes were cancelled and they were having a school festival! Everyone was out and about, and I think it was a good parting view of Sophia U for Julien. There was a choir singing Seasons of Love, which made it even nicer, and I totally sang along loudly and unabashedly. I love that song to bits.

I also saw a bunch of fearless guys in drag, all spread throughout the festival, which made my day. I didn't manage to get a shot of this extremely beautiful looking dude wearing a full on kimono, face make-up and all, mostly because I was too busy staring (some guys are totally better looking as women, and this guy (I could vaguely tell), looked good either way). I did, however, manage to catch the guy in the blue dress carrying the Hello Kitty sign, which I think is a nice and small representation of just how awesome this thing was.

After lunch was over (we ended up getting some Indian food), we parted ways, but with the promise that we'd hang out in America. After all, we're all going to New England colleges (Ian: Middlebury, Julien: Champlain), so it shouldn't be a hard goal. I'm gonna miss Julien quite a bit! We've had some good conversations. And, plus, now if I want to go to Hokkaido, most likely I'll be going alone. It'll be an adventure...?

We headed to class, and I got my first test back, which is always a milestone anywhere. 100%! Though compared to Latin reflexives and passive paraphrastics, this was a cakewalk. I had let my teachers know that class was too easy, grammar wise, and I'm happy to be giving them proof, rather than making them doubt what I had said. At least I'm learning more vocabulary as we go along, like the word for a vase, which I've never thought about before.

After class, Saya and I headed to Family Mart (wanting to experience all the convenience stores in the area). I was highly tempted to try the Haagen-Dazs crispy sandwich, which is advertised everywhere (and I got a kick out of the "Vanilla & Beans" flavor label), but I settled for that chocolate ice cream mochi I saw yesterday. It was delicious. Very, very delicious. God, I don't understand how someone can not like chocolate ice-cream, or mochi. Especially the two of them together. #self-centeredviewpointbutthatdoesn'tmeanIunderstandanybetter

They also had a make-your-own-noodle-soup stand, which I haven't had a chance to snap a picture of until now. Most convenience stores (and practically all 7/11s) have this. I find it kind of cool, actually, and I wish they had this in the states, just like I wish they had Noodles and Company up in Boston. I love noodles almost as much as I love rice. #Atkinisrollinginhisgrave #I'vegottenintohashtagshaven'tI

I'm also sick, I think, which started this morning. I've been sneezing left and right, and for those of you who know my sneeze, you'll know that it's the look-at-me-and-my-sneeze-that-shakes-the-room-in-a-bad-way type. It's not a room commanding sneeze, but it definitely is an attention getter. And it's very loud. Sometimes Anna has told me that when she hears it over Skype, she thinks I've fallen over or that something has crashed or something. -_-"

But I celebrated being sick in style! I got myself a mask, covered myself up, and, in that moment, I think a part of me irreversibly became Japanese. And it doesn't want to reverse, so that isn't a problem anyways. It's like a rite of passage, and now that I've done it, I can face this sickness head on with newfound strength. Yosh!

For dinner, I had rice, egg drop miso soup, cabbage, tomatoes, and beef. It might sound simple, but some of the most simple dishes can actually be the most delicious, and this was no different. The beef was divine. How does Japan have such good meat? There are so many reasons besides, but I might want to live here just for that. I really should start learning cooking from Yoshiko-san.

After dinner, I did my homework, drew the finishing touches on my cover thus far, and then went to type this blog post! So below so far is my improved sketchbook cover. Now it has two pairs: Shwatsonlock and Malexei. You guys already know the story behind both the pairings, and you know how much I love them, so there's not much else I need to say. I'm going to start drawing Tramando (or Avis? I mean, they're Travis and Armando; I like Tramando. I'm sticking with that). I'll introduce you to them when I get there (and assuming Anna gives me permission to do so. They're her characters, after all).

That's it for today! I leave for Nagasaki tomorrow morning, so tomorrow's post will be from somewhere else! It still hasn't sunk in for me that I'm on the island that is Japan. It feels like this is just another part of America that has signs I can't read and people I don't understand. But what I'm saying is that it feels so comfortable and so much like home that I can't tell the difference. I love it here!

また明日、
マギー