Monday, September 28, 2009

Silver Week

At the arcade playing the drums.

Purikura
Purikura
From Saturday September 19th to Wednesday September 23rd I had no school because of a holiday and it was called silver week. On Saturday I got to rest. I did go out to lunch though for soba with my host family and then I went to the DVD and bookstore to get my own card so I could rent DVDs whenever I want to. On Sunday I got up quite early in order to pack for Fukuoka. We left at 10 o'clock in the morning and drove to Fukuoka which is another big city about two hours from Nagasaki. On the way we stopped at a rest stop. The rest stops in Japan are so much nicer than the ones in the United States. It had many street vendors selling delicious food and people playing the drums. At one of the street vendors I got my favorite food in Japan which is mochi. It is a rice cake and is really chewy. We finally arrived in Fukuoka and had to rush to get lunch because I was supposed to meet my friend at one o'clock. We went to a restaurant that served curry and it was delicious but we had to eat it fast so it was a little hard to enjoy. When my host parents dropped me off at Tenjin station my friend took me to another shopping area called Marinoa. At the Marinoa there was a huge Ferris wheel but I did not go on one. After having little luck finding things to buy at the Marinoa we returned back to the Tenjin area and went to an underground shopping mall. It was very cool. The Tenjin area had some of the best shopping. For dinner we went to an Italian chain restaurant and I took the opportunity to order pizza. After a little bit more shopping we returned to my friend's family's apartment. We rented a DVD in Japanese and watched it. Although I had no idea what they were saying I did understand the plot. The movie was based on the TV show that I had been watching so I knew all the characters. My friend's mom was a tea ceremony teacher so she made us some matcha and we had a little tea ceremony. Next we set off for the day first returning to the Tenjin area to go to a couple of stores where I had good luck buying some dresses and a hat. We then headed off to Canal City where we did some more shopping and went to see a movie. The movie was "The Ugly Truth." The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles. At the movie I had caramel corn which was delicious. They also sold french fries, juice, green tea, and hot dogs at the concession stand. When the movie was done we went to dinner at an Indian restaurant. With our movie ticket we got free drinks so I had a lassi. It was delicious. I ordered naan and alu gobi for dinner. It reminded me of home. When we left canal city we were very full and tired. The next day we visited my friend's grandma who was very eager to meet me. She served us tea and some sweets from Italy. We then returned again to the Tenjin area to go shopping again before I was to be picked up. During my time in Fukuoka I took advantage of eating familiar foods! For lunch we went to Starbucks and I a sandwich and had a chai latte. At three o'clock my host family picked me up and we headed back home. I had so much fun in Fukuoka and I have many Purikura pictures to remember it by. Purikura is like photo booth pictures only better! Purikura is very popular in Japan. On Wednesday I had to go get my supplies for tea ceremony club. I met three of my classmates from school to help me get them in the morning. Unfortunately the shop was closed so we went and did karaoke instead. We first stopped by a convenient store to get food to eat while we were doing karaoke. At the karaoke place we rented our own room. It had a table, couches, and a karaoke machine. It was so much fun and a great way to help me with my reading Hiragana and Katikana. I sang a couple of songs in English as well. My other classmates knew the song "Girlfriend" by Avril Lavigne so we all sang it twice and danced around. After I sang that song my throat hurt! We then went to McDonald's for a snack and I had mini pancakes they were really gross. Many teenagers like to go to McDonald's in Japan. We then went shopping, however, I did not buy anything. I had a great last day of break with my classmates!

1 comment:

  1. I love those Purikura pictures! I wish we had those kinds of photo booths here. It sounds like you are having lots of fun with your new friends!

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