Goodbye, Amerikuh

Hi, I'm back!  Back to this blog and Japan, actually, hee hee.

Right now it's past midnight, and I have been traveling for the past 24 hours.  I traveled from Miami to Dallas (3-4 hours) and then finally arrived in Tokyo at 4:15 pm Tokyo time  (after a 14 hour flight and an hour through customs and shipping suitcases to my future home).

It's been a whirlwind of a trip, but one thing I can definitely say is that I am thoroughly impressed with my program's organization and seamless transitions.  There was always a representative at every point of the journey from the USA all the way to the hotel room accommodations for orientation (I now have a two day orientation in Tokyo before I go to where I will teach in Osaka prefecture).  I never for one moment felt confused or lost.

Oh yeah, what am I talking about?  I am still recovering from this trip, ha ha.  I am back in Japan to teach English at the junior high (middle school) level as an Assistant Language Teacher.  I just finished my master's in English Education, and I'm really excited to teach!  I have found my passion, and now I can merge it with my interests in improving my Japanese and chilling in Japanese culture and mountainous country filled with delicious takoyaki and sushi.  See, that's the real reason I'm here.  I'm here to eat as much sushi as possible.  Mmm, that salmon.

I'm trying to remember what I wanted to write about, but my mind is still in zombie mode and all over the place.  Let's see… Right now, I'm in a hotel room with two other young ladies who traveled with me from Miami on this program.  I just skyped my mom, and I contacted other family and friends via facebook, LINE, and Tango to let them know I was safe and happy.  Oh, and then before that I met a friend to eat an izakaya (pub), and I ordered a Cassis Soda (omg, how I have missed that drink).  Before that I showered because, geezus, I felt so gross after that 14 hour plane ride.  Oh!  And on the plane ride, I drank quite a bit of the complimentary white wine, got quite tipsy, and then napped for about 3 hours.  In the past 24-36 hours, I have probably only slept 6 hours total.  I should sleep now before I just ramble on and fall asleep at my laptop.  Gotta wake up in like 5 hours.

Night!

I have returned to the land of the free~

Welcome Back to Amurika

Today was the first day I drove a car after nine months of being in Japan.  Yesterday was my first visit to Walmart since nine months ago.  Since about two weeks ago I had bbqs, days at the mall, movie theater experience, and many other “all-american” things for the first time in a long time.  Although I have been experiencing a bit of reverse culture shock mostly in the forms of “Oh my goodness, they don’t make xyz-food or drink in these sizes!  This small xyz-food or drink is the same as a large in Japan!” and “Service in America will never compare to Japan’s.  Geez, so rude…,” I’m actually really glad to be back.  It’s nice to finally have been able to spend time with close friends and family I haven’t seen in so long and be able to hug and kiss people and not feel awkward about it in public.  However, I do really miss the mountains in the horizon, my Japanese friends, the ease and convenience of travel and consumerism, and all the memories I made there.  It’s really bittersweet actually.  Both countries have good and bad to them, and I can understand and appreciate both.  BUT, seriously, there is no place like home.  I’m so happy to be back.

Adventure in the Green Tea Capital!

Uji a.k.a. Matcha Town a.k.a. Home of the Best Green Tea Anything in Japan!  ^__^

May 5, 2012

Guys, I have an announcement to make:

I LOVE GREEN TEA.

Thank you.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Yesterday I went to Uji, the green tea capital with Andrew.  It’s famous for its many temples and shrines, especially Byodoin Temple, its Tale of Genji museum and statues that are scattered around the Uji Bridge, and, of course, for its green tea.  And boy, does it have green tea.  Not only green tea but there are many green tea-flavored foods to be found in Uji.  There’s green tea soba noodle dishes, green tea soumen noodle soups, green tea udon noodle dishes, green tea crepes, green tea candy, green tea soft serve ice cream, green tea parfaits, and just green tea in any form that will sell well to tourists. Like me, ha ha.

We took the Keihan line train to Chuushojima, transferred to another Keihan train, and got off at Uji station.  We immediately went for the bridge and after crossing it, we found a statue of a lady from Tale of Genji.  Ok, so I’ve never personally read the Tale of Genji, but I know it’s a super big deal as a work of literature.  Despite that, I did enjoy the statues, and visiting this town helped peak my interest in a bit more so that I might want to read it once I get home and have all of summer break to do so.  According to Dr. Hulvey back at UF, the Tale of Genji is the best work of literature ever so apparently, this is a must on my “to-read” list.  :P

After posing with the statue for a picture, we could immediately see the famous green tea street that leads to the Byodoin Temple.  Once we crossed the street to our left to it, I was bombarded with a very strong scent of green tea.  The green tea aroma was just EVERYWHERE.  It was really nice.  All the shops and restaurants had their specialty menus out, free samples, and their green tea soft serve ice cream machines out.  It was super cool to walk down this street, for a green tea lover like myself.

Eventually we got to the end of the street and wandered a bit down towards the river for an awesome view, and then we backtracked a bit in order to get in on some Byodoin action.  It cost 600 yen to go inside the temple grounds, and it’s a reasonable price.  Most temples and shrines just have the temple and some smaller temples/shrines and pretty foliage.  These temple grounds did, too, but the entrance fee also gave you free admittance into their museum that contained a lot of really neat Buddhist artwork and (recreated?) temple pieces like the phoenix that rests on the roof of the temple up close.  You could pay an extra 200 yen to go inside the Phoenix Hall, but I was cool with not going.  I just took pictures of the outside, and then just used my awesome zoom on my video camera to sneak some peeks into the interior.  Muahaha

After the temple and lots of picture-taking I ate some green tea zorasoba for lunch while Andrew had a meat udon noodle soup and a chocolate/vanilla ice cream cone.  Andrew doesn’t actually really like green tea stuff all that much, but he came with me to enjoy the town anyways.  :)

We then wandered around a bit, hung out by the river and the island in the middle of it with a pretty big stone pagoda, and saw another shrine and another Genji statue, and just cruised around.  It was a really nice day with really nice weather, and since it’s finally spring, all the flowers were in bloom including the wisteria blossoms, which are in season now.  Super pretty!  And, of course, because it’s Kyoto, the town itself is super traditional and just really nice to look at.

Before we made our way back home, I had to have a green tea dessert.  I really wanted a green tea parfait I’d seen in an ad earlier, but then I came across a green tea parfait boat that I just had to have.  Oh my goodness, it was so amazing and delicious.  Thank you, Uji, for your green tea deliciousness and dessert-y goodness.  I took my time with this sweets feast, and then we made our way back home with a very satisfied me.  Heh heh~

Thus, I definitely recommend visiting Uji, especially if you like green tea.  It’s got Kyoto’s antique and clean feel, a lot of shrines and temples, a Tale of Genji museum and statues, awesome views from the bridge and river, and just a lot of culture and historical pieces.