The trip to USJ started with everyone getting up and out of the house by 5:00 AM. We piled into Naho's family's car and drove over to pick up some of her cousins and aunt. The seven of us -Naho, Naho's father, mother, aunt and cousins, Hina and Haru (I think ages 9 and 5)- set off on the three hour drive to Osaka and Universal Studios.
We got there at about 8:30 and immediately after entering the park got in line for the Space Fantasy ride. This was when it first really hit me- I was going to have very little idea what was being said during the little shows before the ride that are supposed to set the mood and entertain you while you wait your turn. It wasn't really that big of a deal because often times its fairly easy to guess what is going on. After the first ride we went on Spider Man, Back to the Future, Back Draft (a film I had never actually heard of), as well as watched the Water World show. Following these rides we quickly went over to the Peanuts section of the park where Haru, who has taken a liking to me in the few times we've seen each other, and I rode down the water slide raft ride. After that, Naho, Hina, Haru and I rode on the Charlie Brown Roller Coaster before the group reformed and rode on the Jaws boat. I thought this was one of the fun ones and one that I had been looking forward to.
After the ride, we went and grabbed a bite to eat from the Jurassic Park restaurant. It was good, but fairly expensive. Finally, we got to the Jurassic Park ride. This is the one I was anticipating riding because Jurassic Park is one of my favorite books, as well as a good movie. After this ride I thought maybe the day was starting to wind down for us. We had gone on all of the actual rides and had been in the park for around 6 or 7 hours. I was mistaken to think so and really because of how far we had driven and the cost to get in, it only made sense to get our money's worth.
This is the point that the day started to get a bit longer for me. We now went to the Rock and Roll Monster Concert that was the show being put on because it was near Halloween. It was only about a 30 minute show, but I had only managed to squeeze in about 4 hours of sleep the night before so I nearly nodded off several times during it. After this, Naho's Aunt and I went on the American Dream Roller Coaster. No one else wanted to go on it because it is supposed to be scary, so we were able to get on it more quickly by going individually. It was fun, but I had been expecting it to be super intense based on what Naho had been saying so it didn't quite live up to the hype. After that we went on to watch Terminator 2: 3-D. It was a long line, a very long pre-show show (during which I spent the whole time holding Haru like he was in a chair so he could see) and then the actual show. I was getting pretty tired by this point, but we still went and watched Sesame Street 4-D and then went on the Space Fantasy ride one more time. In between those last two, we actually stopped and grabbed an ice cream from the Baskin Robbins and it was good, but I was getting pretty tired by this point.
Well, when we finally got back to the car it was 8:30 PM and we had spent about 12 hours walking through the park and riding rides and watching shows. I was very tired and after we grabbed a bite to eat at a rest stop I slept the majority of the way back. It was a pretty good trip, but I was very worn out by the end of it.
Not a whole lot went on in-between that event and today. I went and applied for a gaijin card which I would need if I were to stay longer, but it is not certain I will get it. I should know within the next week or so and depending on that I will either be home in January or else Mid-December. I just have to wait and see what the government says. In addition to that, I haven't been very successful so far in securing a job, but I am still trying and applying to a lot of them.
This past weekend I traveled back to Hiroshima to spend Halloween with Eddie. I had to take the train from Onomichi to Hiroshima and then the bus to Eddie's place, but it went smoothly again. After I got there, we had a quick bite to eat and decided to go to one of the bars in the area that exchange students and teachers are known to frequent. Unfortunately, it appeared that we were the only obviously native English patrons that night, so we didn't stay for too long.
The next day we went into downtown to look for costume supplies. Eddie decided he wanted to be Edward Cullen from the Twilight series so we were looking for vampire teeth and body glitter for him to use. After wandering through the stores for a while and not finding anything we really needed- we did find a lot of other strange, cool and ridiculous junk- he decided to go as Totoro, a Japanese anime character. I was going as Cookie Monster with the help of a t-shirt and hat from Naho. I forgot a camera so I will put pictures up of the costumes once I get them from Eddie.
We had been invited to a party with some students and fellow English teachers that Eddie knew just up the hill from his apartment that began at 6. We got back to the apartment and just about 6 and still had to put together our outfits, so we managed to be a fashionable hour late. It wasn't a big deal however and soon we were munching on pizza and other American goodies. We ended up just spending the evening playing rounds of Mario Kart 64 and playing card games or just talking.
The next day I had to try to figure out how to get back to Onomichi from Hiroshima which is a little more difficult. There are a lot more trains coming and going and a lot more platforms in Hiroshima, but in the end I was able to figure it out and got back safe and sound. Since then I have mainly been watching Blazer games (I am very happy the season finally started) and hanging out with Naho. We are going to go to another little festival thing tonight so I will try to get some pictures and get another post up before too long
