Nagoya-ing It Up!

Well…it was fun but it all had to come to an end at some point I guess. I can’t keep going to karaoke and riding back and forth on the subways with some kind of income to sustain my “exorbitant” tendencies. At this moment, while I write this (obviously not while you are reading this two weeks from now), I sit inside an eerily familiar McDonalds in the Iisha area of Nagoya which looks like a model replica of any McDonalds you might find in the US. Creepy. The only difference is that the food and service is purely Japanese – In other words, better. The reason for sitting in the restaurant stems from the fact that I am supposed to show up at an allotted time to meet with Peppy Kids Club and get myself a nice, cozy, well-used room for training. I arrived in Nagoya at around 7:50am after sleeping on a night bus for about 10 hours from Sendai.

Speaking of Sendai, perhaps I should fill everyone in on my ridiculous exploits. When I first arrived in Sendai, I met Kevin at the station. Kevin was late – He’s always let. But I have to love him anyway because he has such pretty blue eyes. After walking about 15 minutes to his apartment as the morning was just beginning to feel the effects of the Summer Sun we got to his apartment where he and I both fell to the ground and partook in a small cat nap. Of course, Kevin slept much longer than me since he hadn’t really planned ahead and stayed up far too late the night before meeting someone at 7am. After reading through most of “Darling ha Gaikokujin da!” (My Darling is a Foreigner) I got a little antsy and headed out into the bustling streets of Sendai on my own, telling Kevin to call me when he was awake. First Stop: Tsutsujigoaka Park (Try saying that three times fast). There I just relaxed for a shot while and enjoyed watching the little kids play out in the field briefly before retreating to the trees to cool down. Afterwards I headed towards one of the main streets of Sendai where I finally found some Chocolate Chip Melon Bread! *Cue Angelic Singing* Along the way I also came across and bakery called “Pi-ta- Pan” (Peter Pan) I even took a picture of the sign since I thought the word play was wonderful. After walking up and down the road a few times and watching little kids play in the artificial streams along the sidewalks I finally met up with Kevin.

Kevin decided that we should go see Sendai Castle. It’s rubble now, but it is still a very amazing place. Of course, this adventure turned into an endless quest very quickly. Forgetting which bus stop to get off at, Kevin had us get off way up the mountain (past the castle). This would have been fine if Kevin had not seen a “giant Buddha statue” on a nearby mountain. So after a brief rest at Tohoko University we headed further up the mountain towards this mythical statue. After about 20 minutes of walking, Kevin decided to ask for directions from a local construction work. Kevin’s questions was greeted by a “You’re on the wrong mountain.” Yea…Wrong Mountain. So we walked back down the mountain all the way to the castle. Of course this was an adventure in itself since we now had to walk down winding mountain roads with no sidewalks while cars buzzed around the corners.

After about 30-40 minutes of walking we finally got to the castle site and I enjoyed some delicious little Sendai treats and received a wonderful fortune (FOR A CHANGE!). It said that everything will go well for me this year. I hope so. I would really like things to. Kevin and I proceeded to do the tourist thing and pray at the nearby shrine before going to take 1000 pictures of the statue of Date Matsumune (Daimyo of the Sendai area during the Warring States Period) and the beautiful view of Sendai from the base of the castle grounds. While taking pictures we bumped into a large group of Koreans who were part of some very large Universalist Church group. They began singing and praying that it would rain or thunder too much. Well… I think their singing angered the gods more than anything else and as Kevin and I began our return trip to the nearest bus stop it started raining.

Seeking shelter in the local International Center, Kevin and I looked at all the gifts given to Sendai by her sister cities. This experience serves as a great example for how much the US sucks. One of the sister cities was Dallas, Texas and it had given gifts just like everyone else. With all the states given colorful dolls, pots, antiquities, and exquisitely crafted items the Dallas gifts seemed slightly out of place since they obviously came from any of the numerous tourist shops present in the city (They gave them a freaking Souvenir PEN!) I don’t know about you, but if I was Sendai, I would be greatly insulted by this. I mean, it’s just unbelievable that they thought that would be ok. For God’s sake, give them a nice horse shoe or something! Anyway, everyone already knows that the US pisses me off.

Finally getting on the bus for Central Sendai, it starts pouring bathtubs. That’s right, bathtubs. Not buckets. Not cats and dogs. Big Victorian Bath Tubs! Of course we have no umbrellas (along with the rest of Sendai) and got sufficiently drenched before we found shelter.

Going to meet up with Kevin’s new lady-friend Marika we were confronted with a serious Moses like problem. The streets had flooded and turned into rivers! But since we are not Moses (no matter how Kevin’s beard may suggest otherwise) we had to wade through the water. It’s a good thing I was wearing flip-flops.

Meeting up with Marika at a star bucks in Sendai Station, we proceeded to take care of a few errands while I helped Marika figure out a kind of word problem for her English phonetics class. Here was the problem. Please provide an example of word that uses only soft syllables and ends in a soft vowel. I’ll post the answer at the bottom of this note for those of you who want to try and figure out for themselves.

Proceeding to a game center, after meeting with Marika, Kevin and I were surprised to find Marika looking for us at the game center later on. Apparently the subway had flooded a little and she couldn’t get home. Due to these rather unfortunate events we headed over to Saizerya (a very cheap Italian restaurant) and chilaxed. I sang many love songs for the two love-birds (hoping to get Kevin to join in – He didn’t). With the subways in working order again we parted ways and Kevin and I headed home.

While trying to sleep in Kevin’s apartment I realized that I was highly allergic to whatever was in it. Sleeping through it all I decided to stay with Mu-chan and her family. There I was treated to delicious meals and warm company. It was a wonderful family. Of course, Mu-chan made me carry all my heavy stuff through the heat to her house from the train station (even though her father could have come and picked us up!) Silly Mu-chan.

My day with Mu-chan included going to a beautiful shrine called Shiogama and meeting up with another friend. We all walked around and relaxed for a while and then headed off to meet with Kevin and go to dinner with him, Marika, and a few other friends.

Little did I know that this was a surprise party and was very worried when they brought me into an apartment complex. At this party there was even more delicious food and the great company of my two new friends Yuna and Mao. After dinner we headed out for all night karaoke where I destroyed my voice by singing Foo Fighters with authentic screaming. It was great fun. I got to sing Jero!

Returning to Kevin’s apartment to relax a little after the all nighter I headed over to the apartment of some more new friends (Sei and William). Enjoying a nice dinner and small bottle of sake with them I raced to catch the bus that brought me to Nagoya (we kind of lost track of time with all the drinking).

And that is pretty much my story for now I believe. I’m sure my friends who were present for these adventures could mention some other stuff too if they wanted.

So yea…. Party on Wayne


Party on Garth…

Eh eh….all right….ok


Add-age!

Place: Web Café in Fujigaoka
Time: 8/1/10 -- 10:45pm
Mood: MY FEET HURT!

I’ve got an apartment here in Nagoya! Just a small two bedroom deal that I share with my new, short term roommate Nigel. It be cool. I gots a futon to sleeps on!

So far Nagoya is awesome. I’ve looked around a lot and spent a lot of time with all the other trainees… A few nights ago I went with a few of the guys out to a yakitori grill and it was great. One of the waiters just kinda sat down and spoke with us (me) about where we came from and who we were. I love that celebrity aspect of foreigners in Japan ^_^

I bought new shorts! Because my other pair tore when I bent down to pick up my gigantic bag for the 5000th time…..yea…ouch

Nagoya city is pretty relaxed. There is no big hustle or bustle like Tokyo, but it’s still pretty nice. Been to one or two little restaurants…they were great! Even got a glimpse into the World Cosplay Summit being held here this weekend!

I start training tomorrow! I’m kinda excited…but you guys know how I don’t really get excited about anything except really cute things :P

Can’t wait to get going to Akita!