Japan Happenings!!
Konichiwa!!
Hello!
Hoow is everyone today? Well, sorry I haven't updated sooner but Japan is not a wifi society so I have limited access to the internet, plus I have been very busy busy busy.
I hardly slept the nigh before because I was so anxious. And after a total of 16 hours of travel I made it! I couldn't believe I arrived! Even walking thru the airport It didn't seem real. I couldn't believe that the dream has come tru! I am so very grateful for this opportunity. It's wonderful. After arriving in Narita, Japan, I had to head to immagration then once they stamped my Passport I picked up my bagage and went to customs. The guy knew hardly any English so didn't ask me much. He didn't even check my baggage. After that, I met up with CIEE program coordinators and I gave them my contact info and exchaged my money then shipped my luggage to my hotel and off on the bus to the Narita hotel I went.
They gave us our room keys and packets of info with further information. After situating myself in the room, a couple of us desided to go to the mall. We took the bus and were just marvelling at everything we saw. It was exciting!! After an hour bus ride, we arrived at Aeon Mall. Oh my goodness is that place huge!! All the stores look small on the outside but then it keeps extending and extending. It was shocking! We found an arcade that just kept getting bigger and bigger. We played a couple of games then we went to a 100 yen store which is equivalent to a dollar store but with nicer stuff. We got ice cream from vending machines and then got extremely tired so we went back to the hotel.
I got back home and took a shower, but uploaded my pictures I took then headed to bed. It was an extremely long long LONG day.
The next morning we had breakfast buffet which was more like a lunch buffet. Japanese ppl don't typically eat breakfast so there isn't really breakfast food here. We checked out of the hotel then got on a bus and headed for Takayama which means tall mountain. It's one of the tallest mountains in Japan. We left at 900 and did not arrive until 6pm. So that gives you an idea of how far away this place is.
We made 4 stops along the way. The first stop was just outside of Tokyo. It was a food stop and just like the mall, it was huge inside. They had any and every japanese dish you could think of. I had 2 onigiri. One with salmon and one with umeboshi (pickled plum). After that, bought some macha ice cream (green tea ice cream). The next stop was just a quick rest stop to use the bathroom. Then we stopped at Suwa lake. It is a sacred lake in Japan and there are many shrines and temples built along the river side. Then we took off and headed up Takayama. The mountain was very windy and the roads extremely narrow. The tunnels were so small that when the buses were passing each other they nearly colided.
The scenery is just astounding. I am amazed at how tall these mountains are. THey are really steep and just covered with really really tall skinny trees. The trees just kept amazing me and they are all so green!! It's such a wonderful masterpiece that God has created! I kept staring in awe at the beauty I was witnessing. I took pictures it wasn't enough. Even if I took a thousands pictures with the worlds best camera, the photo will still never do it justise. I just wish I was able to transmit what I was seeing to someone else so they could witness it themselves.
The forth stop was near the top of the mountain. They had lots of little shops, and this place did not have any English at all. Most places I have been too have English everywhere under everysine except the food, but this place had no english. You had to use Japanese to read everything. I told my self I was just walking around to stretch my legs and help with translating for those that knew no Japanese but I found these adorable owls and just had to get one. So i did. While we were driving away all the employees stood on the road and waved goodbye until we could not see them anymore. It was very nice!
Ok, I will have to continure this another day as I am really tired.
