WOW! Craziness

I feel like it's been forever, you guys!!!  I'd say it's b/c I lead such an adventure filled life (which is obviously true) but a large part of it is me being lazy and procrastinating by rereading Death Note / online comics / other random internet stuff.  Of course, not surprisingly, I'm also procrastinating now...  oh well.  Wednesday's a holiday, right?  I'll catch up on sleep then.

So first of all, it was Monday today, and, although the day straightened itself out fairly quickly, the beginning was not particularly auspicious.  Mainly because of the following incident: I was trying to make some copies when the copier jams (not unusual), so I took it apart to unjam it, grab something that I thought was paper but was actually something covered in ink, get ink all over myself and have to go find people to fix it.  I was distressed.  Before school starts is entirely too early to be breaking technology.

Next, let's talk about my apple cider experiment.

So the whole thing started while I was talking w/ one of my coworkers and I found out that Japanese people have NO IDEA what proper cider is.  The best they can think of is this pop that is called Mitsuya Cider, which is not really cider.  It's like Sprite or something (I may have mentioned this before, as well as my extreme sadness the first time I tried it...)  So, I decided they really needed to be exposed to the awesomeness that is fresh apple cider and, having found instructions on the interwebs, I made an attempt.

Here we have my sustenance for the project:

Salad sushi.  Yummy.  (Unless you've recently visited me and decided you can't eat it.  Then I just feel sad for you.  XOXO)

 Look at all the apples I got!  12 bags of 'em!  I went to the store and I think the cashiers were giving me some funny looks.  It's all good though.  As I was bagging, another customer looked at me and was like "apple juice?" and I was like "you know it, dude."  Also, I found normal sized apples at a fairly reasonable price!  I was really excited.

Here's my set-up:

Brand new blender and jug!

Midway through:

So let me tell you a little story about my brand new mixer.  I went and bought it and was making my cider, BUT THEN, midway through the process, it stops working!  I was distressed!  I thought I'd have to go buy another one!  Then, my friends assured me that it's really easy to return stuff in Japan and I was given confidence that I could take it back and get another.  So I did!  And it worked!  And it was mostly in Japanese!  Go me  :)

But, I had planned on making two batches of cider and taking one to a party Sat night, well that didn't work b/c there was no blender, so now I have all these extra apples sitting around...

I eventually got the cider finished and took it to school and shared it around.  It was good, but not the best ever, I think b/c I ended up dumping so much water in b/c I was afraid that the blender would break again if there wasn't a little liquid to start w/.  Everyone said they liked it anyway.  It made me miss real cider.

Well, that's about it for today, other than random stuff like I don't think this old house/electric system can supply me w/ enough heat for the winter w/o blowing a fuse or three and the bugs in the shower (I need to pore some more nasty draino stuff on them) and I really need to go write another exam... but you really aren't interested in that sort of thing.  ALSO: computers at school w/ viruses on them that nobody told me about and people have known about for awhile apparently and are only just now getting around to banning us from using the computer/getting it fixed. I'll probably take my computer to school tomorrow.

Next time (maybe) we find out about having friends visit and serenading them on the streets!

Fun adventures in Japan, pt 2

JR Line Shuts Down Due to Fire

Where is Pt 1, you may wonder?  Part 1 involves me on a bike in Osaka in the rain wearing a suit and heels.  This happened when I visited in the spring, before I really started the blog.

So here's how it goes down.  I go to a party.  JR line is working fine.  I leave the party with a bunch of other people.  We get to the JR station and are confronted by masses of people staring at the monitors which say that there has been a fire along the railway somewhere and all the stations through Kobe City are shut down.  

So we, along with the other hundreds of people who wanted to take the JR line, switch to the Hanshin line.  Now of course the Hanshin line is not equipped to hand that many extra people.  When we got on, it really wasn't that bad, a little on the extra crowded side, perhaps, but nothing worse than rush hour.

However.  By the time my friends got off at Sannomiya, people are packed in more or less like sardines.  The platform is full, lines extend back to the wall and line the wall (it's a biggish station, so that's a lot of people).  For every person who gets off the train, 5 more get on.  No seriously, at every station I thought it was as full as it could get and they always got more people in anyway.  By the time I got off, the situation was getting a bit dire.  

Unfortunately, I was not near the door, so I had to squirm my way out from my little corner.  It was pretty bad, but everyone was really nice, yelling at people outside that they couldn't get on yet cause people were trying to get off and moving as much out of the way as they could.  I felt a little like in Finding Nemo where they're bouncing through the jellies and then suddenly burst into the open sea.

Here's the situation in the station:

 (At this point, the driver has tried several times to close the doors, but can't b/c people can't fit all the way inside the car.  People on the outside who will be waiting for the next train were pushing people on the car further in so that the doors could close)

 (I have never seen this station so crowded.  And this is after we have crammed as many people

as possible into both trains)

Everyone who was left behind, waiting for the next train.

Strangely enough, there was only one person who seemed perturbed about all this.  (He kicked an emergency telephone.)  Every one else was pretty calm and patient and helpful-making sure people got off who wanted off, helping people to squish in, etc. Thinking back, I'm sure it wouldn't be nearly as orderly in the States.  Of course, usually only have one line going anywhere, so if it broke down people would have to take taxis or buses.

I hope they get things fixed up so we can all get to work tomorrow.

Dear JR: refrain from any fires in the future for the next 2 yrs.  thx, me

Sometimes I think I miss Ireland more than Ohio. I don't know why.

When apples still grow in November
When Blossoms still bloom from each tree
When leaves are still green in December
It's then that our land will be free
I wander her hills and her valleys
And still through my sorrow I see
A land that has never known freedom
And only her rivers run free

I drink to the death of her manhood
Those men who'd rather have died
Than to live in the cold chains of bondage
To bring back their rights were denied
Oh where are you now when we need you
What burns where the flame used to be
Are ye gone like the snows of last winter
And will only our rivers run free?

How sweet is life but we're crying
How mellow the wine but it's dry
How fragrant the rose but it's dying
How gentle the breeze but it sighs
What good is in youth when it's aging
What joy is in eyes that can't see
When there's sorrow in sunshine and flowers
And still only our rivers run free

 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MOKMYBp4Xyc&feature=related

Yay for random Japanese Holidays!

So first, before I talk about fun times biking around Lake Biwa, I'd just like to say that I'm a bit stressed about the blogging situation here in Japan.  If I was in Korea, there would be lots of funny, well written, informative, timely blogs to read, like this one: http://askakorean.blogspot.com/ and others I've seen.  I mean, yeah, there's some that are good, such as the one in my sidebar, but I just haven't seen any that are as prolific and funny as various Korean blogs.  I suppose it would help if I was better about this blog.  Esp the timely part.  Oh well.

So on Thursday it was Culture Day, which means no school!  So I went biking with some other awesome peeps up at Lake Biwa - a pretty big lake up by Kyoto.  Now would be the time to post a map showing the route we took, but as I'm feeling particularly technologically challenged today, I shall refrain.  You can go Google it.  We started at Otsu and went right, all the way around that southern bit, across Rainbow Bridge and back to Otsu.  Like 40km/26 mi/6 hr.  Take your pick of measurements.

So the day started out with me going to the wrong place.  Basically, I'm an idiot, b/c I got on the train a couple stops ahead of everyone else and then stuck my head out at their stop to see if I could find them and the train left w/o me.  So I had to catch the next train which ended up taking a different branch of track, but I didn't realize it, so I had to back track and switch trains to finally get there 45 min after everyone else.

After that we took off. The following is a pictorial tour of our trip.  Also, if your interested and my Facebook friend, you can check my profile from some more pics/vids of me.  (Also bike rentals were 500 yen, which was surprising and exciting.)

So here's our first view of the small bit of lake we were biking.  Yes, we did eventually go by those buildings.  As I remember that was about the time my glutes just went numb.

Here's some of us, looking fresh and energetic. 

Here we have the Michigan.  Later on we saw the Lansing.  I don't know how they decided on these names, but it totally made my day.

Hey, see that tall tower?  That's more or less where we started.  Making good progress!

I love Japanese fishermen.  Why? Cause they fish everywhere.  Seriously, there was this one dude fishing in a ditch.  It was awesome.  I want to be a Japanese fisherman.

Circus tent!  That's what we decided anyway.

Here's us again, on a nice little path along the lake, enjoying the nature.

I heart windmills.  This one was in a botanical gardens, which would have been nice to see if we weren't busy biking.

Touristy place we stopped for lunch.

GIANT bowl of ramen.  It was spicy and peanut-y and  I ate a surprisingly large amount of it.  Super good.

I don't know how there was room for crepes after their giant bowls of ramen...

It was just a little hole in the ground, but we pretended it was a really deep well.  Good times.

These guys were the ones who were supposed to think that it was a really deep well.  They didn't even pay attention to our elaborate play acting.  Sad day.

Look!  Flat!  Fields!  There were even tractors at one point, but I didn't get a pic of them.  Sorry Dad.  Also, that bush in the foreground?  Really fun to stick out your hand and hit them.

Here we all are at the top of Rainbow Bridge.  While everything before this was lovely country-ish, the rest of the way was all town.  Some of it was really nice,  but other parts were a little sketch.

Various views from the top of the bridge.  Also, it's really amazing where you can go on bikes in Japan.  For example, you could never take a bike over Mackinac Bridge.

So I apparently didn't get any pics of the town part of our ride, but there were some really lovely Japanese style houses.  By that time we were all more or less in pain and kind of trying to just get done.  It was also more stressful b/c of tiny/no sidewalks, pedestrians, and so forth, so slightly less enjoyable that way.  But it was really funny going through all the sketch neighborhoods and seeing streets full of love hotels and Pachinko (sp?) parlors.

So let's skip all of that and get to the end, where we have some lovely pictures of the sun set.

Then we went to eat at a random place which was a certain type of restaurant, but I forget what it was called, but got to enjoy some different kinds of food, one of which came to the table and was set on fire (on purpose I mean).

Then I went home and sat in pain.  Then End.

PS-I want go again!!!!