Kobe, Osaka, Karaoke and Lots of Gyoza

The past few days have been excellent. If not extremely tiring. Since it has been exam week at school, I haven't been required to attend at all, meaning I had heaps of free time on my hands. I decided to spend it with the other foreign students from my school, Miyako and Ellen. Mostly since they are both leaving at the end of next month and we may never see each other again!

On Tuesday we met at school and rode to Teramachi and Shijo to do some shopping. Originally we had planned to see a movie, but over Starbucks it was decided that we would go to karaoke instead (Much to Ellen's dismay). Karaoke was fun, but Ellen had to go and meet her sister so we had to leave fairly quickly. We took purikura and then Ellen left. Afterwards Miyako and I grabbed some KFC to eat. It was my first time eating KFC in Japan, and it wasn't all that different haha. It was filling though, and not too disagreeable. It started raining while we were riding home, which was annoying, but kind of nice since it was so hot that day and helped cool us down a bit.

On Wednesday I met up with Miyako again and we went to a nearby art/craft center where her grandmother works. We tried our hand at making some...things. I don't even know what to call what we did in English, that's how unartistic I am. But it was fun and afterwards we watched a kimono show and then ate lunch at the cafeteria with her grandmother.

Thursday was fantastic. I met up with Miyako again on the bus to Kyoto Station and we caught a train to Osaka. At first we just explored HEP5, a big shopping mall out the front of JR Station Osaka. I went there last time I went to Osaka, and it's most recognizable by the huge ferris wheel on its roof. I saw heaps of stuff I wanted to buy but it was all kind of pricey. 8,400yen for a belt is a bit extreme for me.

After HEP5 we walked around Osaka a bit and where feeling hungry. Lucky for us we stumbled upon Gyoza Stadium! Craig had told me about this place before and said it was great, so I had to go myself. It's kind of like a theme park attraction in the fact that it's very themed to the point where they play mock traditional Japanese songs about gyoza all the time. There are two main seating areas and around each one there are differet stalls set up. They all specialise in different types of gyoza, and they're fairly affordable. So you choose a seat, order from 2 or 3 different stalls and then you can eat all the gyoza you want! It was all really, really good.

Gyoza Stadium was a hit, and I'm definitely going back there sometime. But after that we had no idea what to do! Miyako suggested catching a train on the Hankyu line and going to Sannomiya in Kobe. I thought it was a great idea, since I'd never been to Kobe before. So we set off that way! Sannomiya is great. It's a much more lively and interesting shopping district than anything in Kyoto. There are those digital TV screens on buildings and everything.

After looking around Sannnomiya we started walking towards the sea and Harborland. We had a mission... after trying Gyoza Stadium we had to try Kobe's Sweets Harbor. A themed place like Gyoza Stadium, only specialising in sweets and cakes from all around the world. We finally made it there after a lot of walking and went in. It was designed to feel like a harbor, with the seats being little ships and everything! In Gyoza Stadium fashion there were a lot of different stalls specialising in different things, from ice creams, to cakes, to a stall which boasted to have all the different types of pudding from around the world!

We ordered ice cream first and Miyako went with the random ice cream flavour. The store has a new flavour every day which is a mix of lots of different things, once you order it you have to try and guess what it is! I think this time it was Coffee, Melon and something else all mixed together. I played it safe and went with a Mango ice cream haha. After that we ate this wafer-ish thing with strawberries, custard and cream on it. Very filling.

After Sweets Harbor, I got a message from Carissa who I had emailed knowing she lived in Kobe. I called her and we planned to meet up in Sannomiya for a karaoke get-together, and she was bringing along Felicia, who I had met last time when we all went to Osaka together.

Before catching a train back to Sannomiya I got around to purchasing an ICOCA card. Basically it's this nifty alternative to buying train tickets. You scan the card in at the gate when you go into the station, and then when you go out again at whatever station you end up at; it calculates the fare for you and deducts it from the prepaid charge balance on the card. Better than having to choose which type of ticket to buy every time, which can be annoyng and tricky if you aren't sure.

I've heard I may be changing host families within the next few weeks and will probably be catching a train to and from school, so it will be handy to have. Anyway, we met up with Carissa and Felicia who had just come from school in their school uniforms (Haha) and we went to karaoke. They had to be out of the city by 9PM, since their teachers were apparently patrolling the city to catch any students who were out late at night! Only in Japan. We ended up taking purikura after karaoke and eating McDonalds. I tried the teriyaki burger for the first time and it was rather agreeable, they sure didn't hold back on the mayo though.

After McDonalds we all headed home. Once we were back at Kyoto Station we found out the bus we would normally catch to get home had already finished, so we had to catch another bus that went on a huge detour. I ended up getting off out the front of the Daitokuji and walking home for 20 minutes or so. This wouldn't be too bad, but despite being past 11 at night it was still around 28 degrees or even higher, and ridiculously muggy and humid.

I was home a bit late, which wasn't so good. But this is the first time it's ever happened, so I got let off the hook for now... haha. I need to be more careful about the trains and buses here! I didn't realise how long it would take just to get back home.

Today I am recovering from all the walking done yesterday and just relaxing for my last day off school before classes start again on Monday. Not long to Summer vacation now! How exciting! I have photos from all the stuff I did, and hopefully will get around to putting them up soon!