We explored the mall and found a shop which sells some foreign stuff. I was taken in by a bag of Old El Paso chips and a jar of salsa and I almost bought it if it weren't for the fact that it was horrendously overpriced and Old El Paso isn't really that good. So, I bought a Ginger Ale (a dicey buy because some ginger ales are just awful, and this one turned out to be one) and K picked up a can of Dr Pepper. The last can, in fact. I had been tempted by it, just for the sake of nostalgia, but I don't really even like DP so it wasn't a big deal to let her have it.
We then toured the remainder of the mall in search of a perfume shop, specifically. I left all my perfume at home because I didn't want it to explode on the flight over and was just really missing having something to spritz on to freshen up my room or myself. I found a shop that sold make-up and perfume almost exclusively, and probably smelled about 60% of their stock in search of something I'd like. I found some Juicy Couture, which I remember liking, but it was ￥9,000 (over $100 USD) whereas in the states you can get JC for like $60. So, I was like "nooo thanks" and after smelling about 43,187 other perfumes finally found one that I like. It's by Britney Spears (SHUT UP) and it's called Radiance and I like it okay? Besides, it's not as if Britney Spears actually has anything at all to do with the inception, creation, marketing and even aroma of this perfume. So, I have perfume now, yay.
Then we got lost looking for the Mexican restaurant and passed an area that, while I'm not fully certain if it was a red-light district or not, featured large images of naked ladies. We were led by some helpful Japanese to the shopping district which housed the Mexican restaurant (what? I want to see how the Japanese interpret "Mexican food"), but were disappointed to find out it was not open until 5. We wanted to eat something, so we swung into a yaki niku (grilled meat) place, where they bring you a small charcoal grill to your table and you cook the raw meat yourself on the grill. I had some riceballs wrapped in meat and some chicken wings. We tried to keep it on the cheap side and not eat too much, since we were planning on meeting others later. After that we wandered around a bit more and found a little place for a couple of drinks and/or coffee. The girls had cocktails and I had a beer and we relaxed and watched the crowd for a while.
After that, it's a long drawn out tale of getting lost in Umeda trying to find the restaurant with no success. Being lost and/or not meeting our goal seemed very stressful for K. We ended up having dinner at Yodobashi Camera (which is actually a huge electronics mall that has a food court up top) and then took a long walk to the train station home. By that point, I was pretty tired. I had planned on Sunday to head to my hostel and pick up a pair of shoes I left there. The hostel is also in Umeda, so I probably should have done it on Saturday, but I didn't feel like dragging M & K all the way to the hostel. So, instead I said, "Let's go Sunday and we can explore the area around the hostel." Well, that didn't happen because I was sick as a dog on Sunday and even M didn't feel very good. I stayed in my dorm and just rested, relaxed, drank hot tea, etc. I got several "mystery" medicines from helpful dormmates which did help, but in the end I asked Yuki to write down the name of a cough medicine so I could go pick some up. I got that, along with some Vick's cough drops, from the kusuriya on Monday. They really, really helped. After our "home room" class Monday, Lindzi (an Aussie who is in K & M's dorm) and I ended up going to my hostel.
Then we got lost looking for the Mexican restaurant and passed an area that, while I'm not fully certain if it was a red-light district or not, featured large images of naked ladies. We were led by some helpful Japanese to the shopping district which housed the Mexican restaurant (what? I want to see how the Japanese interpret "Mexican food"), but were disappointed to find out it was not open until 5. We wanted to eat something, so we swung into a yaki niku (grilled meat) place, where they bring you a small charcoal grill to your table and you cook the raw meat yourself on the grill. I had some riceballs wrapped in meat and some chicken wings. We tried to keep it on the cheap side and not eat too much, since we were planning on meeting others later. After that we wandered around a bit more and found a little place for a couple of drinks and/or coffee. The girls had cocktails and I had a beer and we relaxed and watched the crowd for a while.
After that, it's a long drawn out tale of getting lost in Umeda trying to find the restaurant with no success. Being lost and/or not meeting our goal seemed very stressful for K. We ended up having dinner at Yodobashi Camera (which is actually a huge electronics mall that has a food court up top) and then took a long walk to the train station home. By that point, I was pretty tired. I had planned on Sunday to head to my hostel and pick up a pair of shoes I left there. The hostel is also in Umeda, so I probably should have done it on Saturday, but I didn't feel like dragging M & K all the way to the hostel. So, instead I said, "Let's go Sunday and we can explore the area around the hostel." Well, that didn't happen because I was sick as a dog on Sunday and even M didn't feel very good. I stayed in my dorm and just rested, relaxed, drank hot tea, etc. I got several "mystery" medicines from helpful dormmates which did help, but in the end I asked Yuki to write down the name of a cough medicine so I could go pick some up. I got that, along with some Vick's cough drops, from the kusuriya on Monday. They really, really helped. After our "home room" class Monday, Lindzi (an Aussie who is in K & M's dorm) and I ended up going to my hostel.
We checked out Umeda again, had some soft serve at a place called "Sweden" (a Japanese ice cream shop - I had sakura ice cream, which was delicious), I finally had my first experience with Japanese "Italian" food (it was good!) and I got my shooooes back finally. Yay. I also picked up a small gift for Yuki because she has been REALLY helpful in helping me adjust and find things I need (medicine, Takarazuka tickets, the post office), as well as she basically filled out my internet application form for me... Yeah. I picked up some cute cookies from a gift shop in Umeda. I hope they're as tasty as they are adorable. On the way home I got a couple of groceries at Minami Senri station, and then got rained on all the way home.
The weather in Japan is simple:
Does Jenn have her umbrella?
Yes ---> Blue skies, sunshine.
No ---> Dark skies, rain, really cold wind.
Well, that's pretty much my weekend. Golden Week (sort of like "spring break" I suppose) is coming up at the end of this month, and I'm sure there will be all kinds of shenanigans to be had.
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