Birthday
Masami, Me, Otousan
Masami, Me, Naoya
Nara
New Yorker in empty train (we later found out WHY - going the wrong way)
Floridian in seat designated for old people, pregnant ladies, the injured, and child carrying.
The train we got on was the RIGHT TRAIN. Somehow we ended up negative two stops before we realized why everything looked so familiar. We were actually a short walk from one kid's house by then. So we got off, went back where we came from, and found what happened. At the station after the starting point, the train did indeed turn around and go back where it came from! So next time we got off, switched trains, and continued. Took a while!
Nara is awesome. It's a mecca of.. something... there's a lot of meccas, you know. A mecca of petting deer at temples. A mecca of weirdo foreigners in the street looking confused, including us.
We hit up the department store first. The New Yorker needed a new shirt, so he bought something unusually tight while I shopped in the ladies section. I discovered I do not fit into a 73cm skirt, the average largest size. Dammit! Oversize skirts in Heiwado, here I come. Anyway, I bought a shirt.
I then ran back in once we found it was raining to buy that pink fold up umbrella and some socklets. Onward!
Koukousee. Highschool Students.
We met them in the temple arena. They said HELLO hello hell-O! hellooo. We returned the sentiment. We said "wasssuuuuup".
They said "Good-bye!" as we left.
Shika. Deer.
We met them in the deer park. We said hi. They looked at us funny. We took photos.
We petted the deer. Some obaachan was scratching a buck, who seemed to be liking it. The highschool kids fed them crackers, and gave some foreign guy with an ice cream cone some deer crackers too. There were elementary students around too. The ponds had turtles.
This is the pagoda we could see from the top of the department store (soon you'll see!)
We were starving. We found Okonomiyaki in the rain. We were the only ones there. The lady that served us was very nice. She said she had been working there 35 years. She cooked it ALL right before us, not in the back then dump onto us like at the one by the school. It was pretty good. I didn't think it would be. Before we started eating, the New Yorker expressed glee at having been given two scoopers. She snatched one and took it back to the kitchen. The lot of us roared with laughter.
The shop was a lucky find. If I find it again, I'll eat there. The boys were happy to have just MEAT, and I was glad to eat the non meats.
We headed back down where we came from, and into the Shop 99 for dessert. I bought random things, including animal crackers with a chocolate side, and the animal's name stamped in English on the cookie side. So, I ate Hippo, Swallow, Wolf, Furseal, Elephant, Hen, Cock, Eagle, and .. yeah. Most cookie boxes don't have swallows.
I bought a book of plain paper. One day, I'll draw.
Next we stumbled about, and I refound the clothing store we passed on the way in. The tops had great English on them, so I bought my favourite. Plum with gold lamee lettering, reading "A bird in the hand can be messy", complete with a somewhat deformed bird.
We then found a department store to escape the rain, waste some time. I bought one last thing despite temptations - a tube of Pumpkin Pudding toothpaste. I'll try something more defined next time, it's kinda unexciting. I thought of Amanda, of course. The store also played a jazzed up version of Bear Necessities, and sold plenty "Nightmare Before Christmas" merchandise.
We grew weary. We caught the view from the 6th floor (the roof). We could still see that tall ... what's the word! stacked... pagoda?
Then, we headed home. I had spent too much time out of the box.
I found my bike with a parking ticket on it. Just a kind warning saying I can't park my bike there. Heeded! It's funny, because the Floridian had lost his yesterday - it was impounded, we think. I laughed about it as I had forgotten, and taking it back I said perhaps mine'll be gone when I get there. Darn near was, then!