Exploring Tokyo

For the past few days, I have been exploring a little bit more of Tokyo. There is so much here to see and I feel like it would take a lifetime to see it all. Last Friday and Saturday, Yumi and I went out with his parents to different parts of the city. They wanted me to see an older area of the city that had various shops and shrines, and also a newer part. We started our day shopping at the older area. There you could find almost anything you would want. Food, Japanese style clothing, swords, souvenirs... you name it. We spent some time there just shopping around. Yumis dad goes crazy everytime he sees candy and seems like he wants to buy it all, whereas Yumis mom goes crazy everytime she sees something that has cats on it. I probably didnt mentioned this before, but they have two cats at their home, Popy and Lily, and they are treated like royalties. Haha. :) Popy, for example, cries every night to Yumis mom around 10 because he wants to go to bed but she is still awake. Its just so funny to watch them interacting.

After shopping, Yumis parents wanted to take me on a boat ride to the Rainbow Bridge. I must say that I was impressed with our boat. It was very modern inside and out. It took us about 20 minutes to get from the station to the bridge area. When we stepped out of the boat into this little island, we could see the big city behind us. The picture on the right was taken from the port. As usual it was a hot day here, so we relaxed at this huge Starbucks for a bit before exploring the area. Before the sunset, we all went out and took pictures with this Statue of Liberty that they have, which looks just like the one in New York City and it was also given by France to Japan. Go figure! Later, Yumi and I separated from her parents and went shopping at this local mall. While looking around at the Puma store, one of the Japanese workers asked me in English where I was from. I told him that I live in the US but I am Brazilian. Then, all of the sudden, he asks me `Oh really?` in Portuguese. I just kept starring at him, like, how in the world do you know Portuguese? And then he explained that he went to the University of Parana in Brazil as an exchange student for a year, and there he learned Portuguese. I still think it is so odd how this guy knows Portuguese.. but we had an interesting conversation as he talked about Brazilian women. Haha. Oh jeez. After that, we went to watch the city lights. There, Yumi and I saw an Abercrombie and Fitch that was like 10 stores high. It was crazy, so we decided to go in and check it out. OMG! Why did we ever do that! First of all, as soon as we go in, we notice this huge line of girls.. I first thought that they were waiting to try on some clothes.. but then I realized that there was a shirtless Japanese guy there, and they were in line to take a picture with him. Also, Yumis parents were following us in the store, so I think they were a bit freaked out when they saw the guy. Lol. The A&F of the US usually has some loud music, but this one felt more like a night club to me. The music was really really loud. Yumi and I started going up the stairs. We went up like 2 floors, and those were just of guys, so we kept going up to find some girls stuff. On the third floor, there were two A&F workers dancing around and telling us to dance too. Haha. That was weird. We kept going up and at the 5th floor, it was still only guys clothing.. we were tired of going out and scared of this store, so we just left. Haha. But what an experience! Yumis dad also wanted to take me to this special kind of restaurant and so we went. There, they bring you these really fine cuts of raw meat and also vegetables, and you are supposed to cook them in the boiling sauce in front of you. I must say that the meat was AMAZING! Japanese food has yet to disappoint me!

As I approach the end of my trip, I feel blessed for being able to explore so much in such a short time. Ill try to post some more about the Japanese lifestyle soon. xoxo!

Durante esses ultimos dias, eu estive explorando um pouquinho mais de Toquio. Tem tanta coisa pra se ver aqui e eu acho que precisaria uma vida inteira pra ver tudo. Sexta feira e sabado passado, eu e a Yumi saimos com os pais dela para ver um pouco mais da cidade. Eles queriam me mostrar uma area mais velha e outra mais moderna daqui. Nos comecamos o nosso dia na parte mais velha, que tinha lojinhas diversas vendendo qualquer coisa que voce possa imaginar. Comidas, roupas japonesas, espadas de samurai, souvenirs.. E engracado ver os Japoneses fazendo compras.. Eles ficam doidos com essas coisas bobinhas que brasileiros nao estariam nem ai. O pai da Yumi, por exemplo, fica doido quando ve doce e quer sair comprando tudo. A mae fica doida com coisas que tem gato. Eu acho que eu nunca mencionei que eles tem dois gatos na casa, Popy e Lily, que sao tratados como se eles fossem bebes. Haha. O Popy, por exemplo, comeca a chorar pra mae da Yumi todos os dias as 22 horas porque ele quer ir dormir e ela ainda esta acordada. Aiai!

Mais tarde, os pais da Yumi me levaram num passeio de barco ate a Rainbow Bridge. So que o barco nao e o barco convencional dai do Brasil, claro. E um bem mais moderno por dentro e por fora. O barco nos deixou numa ilha pequena e quando olhamos para tras, podiamos ver a cidade dali. O dia estava quente, como de costume, entao nos decidimos relaxar num Starbucks antes de seguir em frente. Antes do sol se por, nos tiramos fotos com a Estatua da Liberdade daqui, que e igual a de Nova Iorque. O porque que o Japao tem uma estatua tambem, eu nao sei. Depois de tirarmos fotos, Yumi e eu fomos passear pelo shopping da ilha. Nos entramos numa loja da Puma e um cara japones que trabalhava la ficou me rondando e depois me perguntou em ingles de onde eu era. Eu falei pra ele que eu morava nos Estados Unidos, mas que eu sou brasileira. Logo ele vira e diz `serio?` em portugues. Eu fiquei sem reacao quando ouvi. Nunca esperava que ele falasse portugues... Eu o perguntei aonde ele aprendeu e ele falou que fez intercambio por um ano na Universidade do Parana, e acabou aprendendo o portugues la. Depois ele comecou a conversar das mulheres brasileiras.. ficou falando que tinha uma ex namorada que era brasileira e que um dia ele ainda se casa com uma brasileira.. Eu comecei a ficar sem graca com esse papo dele e antes que ele me considerasse uma de suas opcoes pra casar, eu corri de la. Haha. Eu hein!

Depois disso, encontramos com os pais da Yumi e fomos pra cidade. Eles queriam me mostrar como era a noite com as luzes das lojas todas ligadas, as tvs nos predios e tudo mais. Muito legal. O pai da Yumi queria me levar a um restaurante japones em que eles te trazem um corte muito bom de carne e te trazem vegetais, e voce os cozinha numa agua fervente que fica na sua mesa. Nossa, particularmente a carne foi a melhor. Adoro comida japonesa!

Logo, logo terei que ir embora e pelo pouco tempo que eu fiquei aqui, vi muitos coisas diferentes e conheci tantos lugares maravilhosos. Se eu ainda tiver tempo, vou postar algumas coisas do estilo de vida japones. Um beijo!

Kyoto, Nara and Hiroshima

Last week Yumi and I took some time to travel around Japan. It was a great opportunity for me to see a little bit more of her country. We traveled by Shinkansen, the Japanese `bullet train.` As you might have figured, it took us no time at all to get there. The train traveled 340 km in like two and a half hours. Wow! Anyways, our first stop was in Kyoto. We spent about two days there mostly going to shrines and temples in the area. The first picture on the left was taken in one of these shrines called Kinkaku-ji, or Temple of the Golden Pavillion. Everything is so well preserved in these shrines and the fee to visit them is not expensive at all. Each temple charged about 500 yen per person, which would be around 5 dollars. Not too bad! Kyoto was the place I liked the most in our trip. There were also a lot more foreigners there than here in Tokyo, so I felt more part of the group than an outsider among the Japanese. :) Along the way, we also got to try some amazing food! Ive gotta tell you, there has not been one time that I have complained about the food here. Everything tastes so good! I love how they use a lot of vegetables in their dishes, and how fruit here actually taste fresh (unlike in the United States...) While in Kyoto, Yumi and I were fortunate enough to be placed at a hotel right above Starbucks! Haha. So we HAD to make daily trips. The Starbucks here is also a bit different than the US. The drinks tend to be a bit more expensive, and I feel as if they have less options here. My favorite Japanese drink from Starbucks is Hojicha Tea Latte, which is a sort of roasted green tea drink.

Continuing on our trip... On the third day, we went to Nara. It was raining a bit in the morning so that made the trip unpleasant sometimes. But Yumi and I made it fun. Nara is known for having all these cute deers around. People want to take pictures with them and they are very sweet. However, they can be wild too. If you leave your purse unnoticed, they might reach for some paper to eat. Yumi and I saw this happening a few times to some people who werent paying attention.. :/ Nara also had a lot of shrines and temples for us to visit. One of the prettiest to me was the Todai-ji temple, which had this huge (I really mean HUGE) Buddha figure inside of it. We also visited a brand new temple which I cant remember the name of, but which was really pretty as well. Most temples have an abundance of gold in them. Those that do not have some type of meaningful thing, like a dry garden, for example.

For the fourth and fifth days of our trip, we left the Kyoto area and went to Hiroshima. However, we stayed at a Japanese style hotel off of the coast of Hiroshima, in the Miyajima area. To arrive there, we had to take a the Shinkansen to Hiroshima, an area train to take us to a port and then a boat to Miyajima. The most famous thing of the area is the Shinto Itsukushima shrine, which has that sort of red gate in the water. It is as pretty during the day as it is at night, when its lighten. The area is also known for these little cakes filled with sweet beans, and they are really good. Since we were at an island, all of our meals at the hotel included fresh seafood, which I loved! That night we relaxed at the hotels hot springs before heading to Hiroshima the next morning. Honestly, the whole Hiroshima area surprised me. I expected the whole area to be preserved as it became after the World War II. However, there were only a few spots left. We learned that hours after the bomb hit Hiroshima, its citizens were already making efforts to reconstruct the city. It was so sad hearing from a guide of all of the stories from the WWII. The A-bomb Dome is pretty much the only thing that they preserved and I looking at the damage made to it (basically only the base of the building is left), I cannot imagine what that bomb did to the whole city. That afternoon was filled with learning and sadness. The museum covering the details of the war had so much information that took us almost 3 hours to go through the whole thing. After that, we were exhausted and headed to the train station to get a Shinkansen which in 4 hours would bring us back to Tokyo. Pics from this trip are posted on Orkut and Ill soon post them on Facebook as well.

Semana passada eu e a Yumi tiramos um tempo para viajar pelo Japao. Nos viajamos no Shinkansen, o `trem bala` japones. Como o nome ja diz, o trem e rapido mesmo. Viajamos 340 kilometros em duas horas e meia. Ta doido! Nossa primeira parada foi em Quioto. A area e famosa pela quantidade de templos e nos passamos a maioria do nosso tempo os visitando. A foto a esquerda foi tirada em um dos templos chamado Kinkaku-ji, ou Templo do Pavilhao Dourado. Tudo e bem preservado nesses templos e o ingresso nao costuma ser caro, por volta de 500 yen, ou uns 5 dolares. Quioto foi o lugar que eu mais gostei de visitar nessa viagem. Principalmente porque por la tinha muito mais estrangeiros do que aqui em Toquio. Tinha mais franceses do que tudo, e uns americanos rabugentos tambem, claro. Nos tambem comemos muito bem nessa viagem. De tudo que eu ja comi aqui, nao posso reclamar de nada. Tudo de muito bom e eles usam bastante legumes e verduras quando cozinham, tipo o Brasil assim. Alem do mais, as frutas daqui nao tem o gosto ruim igual as dos Estados Unidos. Yumi e eu tambem demos uma sorte danada de ficarmos num hotel logo acima do Starbucks. Entao e CLARO que nos tivemos que dar uma parada por la todos os dias. Minha bebida favorita aqui e o Latte de Cha de Hojicha, que e um tipo de cha verde.

No terceiro dia da nossa viagem, nos fomos a Nara. Estava chuvendo aquele dia e nos tinhamos que andar de um lugar para o outro, entao as vezes divemos que parar e esperar a chuva passar para podermos continuar. A regiao de Nara e conhecida por ter um monte de veadinhos. Eles sao bem doceis e os turistas adoram tirar fotos com eles. So que tinhamos que ficar atentas, porque eles adoram pegar pessoas destraidas de surpresa e comer papeis ou qualquer outra coisa que eles viam. Em Nara, nos continuamos a visitar os templos japoneses. Um desses templos, o Todai-ji, tinha um Buddha ENORME dentro. Um outro templo que nos visitamos, o qual eu nao me lembro o nome, tinha acabado de ser construido e era muito chique dentro, com muito ouro e muitas pinturas japonesas. A maioria dos templos possui muito ouro, enquanto outros que nao tem tanto ouro tem outras coisas que sao de importancia aos japoneses, como os jardins de pedra.

Nos ultimos dois dias de nossa viagem, nos fomos pra Hiroshima. Pra chegar la, tivemos que pegar outro Shinkansen, um trem local e mais um barco para chegarmos a ilha onde passariamos a noite, em Miyajima. O templo Shinto Itsukushima e a atracao dessa regiao, que consiste do portao vermelho na agua da foto a direita. O portao e bonito de manha e a noite, quando esta iluminado. A regiao tambem e conhecida por ter esses bolinhos recheados de feijao doce e mesmo que voce nao acredite, eles sao bons! Ja que estavamos em uma ilha, todas as refeicoes do hotel tinha frutos do mar, incluindo o cafe da manha! Aquela noite nos relaxamos no spa do hotel antes de irmos a Hiroshima na manha seguinte. Eu fiquei surpresa com Hiroshima. Achei que eles fossem preservar a regiao toda que foi atingida pela bomba, mas nao. Eles praticamente preservaram um predio, e o resto e tudo predio novo. Um dos guias nos disse que horas depois que Hiroshima foi atingida com a bomba nuclear, as pessoas que sobreviveram comecaram a ajudar a reconstruir a cidade, pouco a pouco. Aprender sobre a guerra mundial na escola e ver com os seus proprios olhos sao duas coisas bem diferentes. Principalmente escutar as historias de quem estava la, presente no dia, foi muito triste. Yumi e eu aprendemos muita coisa sobre a cidade e o povo, que hoje em dia fala de Hiroshima com muito orgulho. O museu local sobre a guerra abrangia tanta informacao que demoramos tres horas pra ver tudo. Depois de irmos ao museu, nos comemos e ja estavamos exaustas, entao fomos a estacao de trem e pegamos o Shinkansen que nos levaria de volta a Toquio em quatro horas. Ja coloquei algumas fotos no Orkut e logo colocarei algumas no Facebook. Beijos!

After 3.776 meters and after losing Yumis parents on the way :( , we made it to the top of Mount Fuji. It is the highest mountain in Japan and its an active volcano (even though it hasnt errupted since 1708). Anyways, getting there wasnt as easy as I had read. The way was filled with all kinds of pavements: rocky, earthy, volcano dust...you name it! I was impressed at how many people were there. Our group was mostly made up of Japanese, except for me. The tour guide talked and talked for a long time in Japanese.. and I just stood there and pretended I was understanding everything. When he was done, I would ask Yumi what he had said, and she would tell me like a phrase or two. Haha. But everything ended up fine. We climbed from 11h30 in the morning until about 6h in the evening. It was a long and tiring climb, and some people could not stay with us the whole way. We had a wide range of ages, from children to older adults, in our group. We were going to spend the night at the 8th station, the closest to the summit. However, on the way, some children seemed to feel tired or hopeless of getting to the top, and the parents had to stop and stay with them. Yumis parents made all the way to the 8th station, about 3600 meters up the mountain, but her dad felt sick overnight and they decided not to go. Yumi had had about 1h30 of sleep because she got altitude sick but she was still determined to go to the top. We woke up around 1h this morning, got ready and met our group to climb to the summit and watch the sunrise. The climb did not take that long, only about 1 hour and a half, but we were so tired from the previous day that we had to push it at times. Around 4h we made it to the summit. It was very cold and breezy, so we went inside a little restaurant to warm up. Then, around 4h30 we went out to wait on the sunrise. The top was crowded of people. I kept sitting on the volcano ground to try to warm up while Yumi took pictures (I brought my camera up without its battery, so I enjoyed staying warm while Yumi got cold taking pictures for me. haha. Just kidding... not!) Anyways, after almost freezing to death, I hear this `woow` from the crowd. The sun had risen and it has gorgeous! The sky was picture perfect. The tiredness and the hard work were all worth it when we saw the sunrise. We hung around until about 5h and we started descending. To me, descending was even harder than climbing the mountain. It is faster but the pavement is made of dirt and rocks, so when you step it feels as if you as skiing, and there isnt really much to hold on to. A lot of people fell with their butts on the ground (not me, of course!) It only took us 15 minutes go to back to the 8th station, where we were staying. Once we got there, we had breakfast and took a nap until about 8, when we had to go down the whole mountain to go home. Ugh! This part was the worst. To try not to slip on the rocks and dirt, you have to walk on your ankles. It not always worked, but thankfully none of us fell or got injured.. but try walking on your ankles for almost 3 hours... It hurts a lot! Plus carrying all your backpack weight and being tired... Miserable! But after all of this, we got to the bottom of Mt. Fuji and drove to a hot spring place. Im used to the way spas work in Brazil and　here　was　just　a　little　bit　different.　Here,　men　and　women　go　to　different　places.　There,　you　shower (Japanese style) and then you get into the next area...naked. Hahaha. Thats the part I wasnt used to. But it all went well and it was very refreshing. Yumi and I still cant believe we made it all the way to the top of Mt. Fuji. It was an incredible experience and I would recommend it to anyone. Just make sure you are in physical and mental condition before, because the climb isnt as easy as they say, but it isnt the hardest either. Anyways, now Im off to relax as well. Ill post some more pictures from the summit on Facebook and Orkut. :)

3.776 metros mais tarde e depois de `perder` os pais da Yumi no caminho, nos chegamos ao topo do Monte Fuji. O Monte e a montanha mais alta do Japao e e um vulcao ativo (mesmo sendo que nao ocorreram erupcoes desde 1708). Chegar la no topo nao foi tao facil como eu tinha lido... No caminho tinha tudo quanto e tipo de terreno: rochoso, poeira de volcao... E eu fiquei supresa com o tanto de gente que estava la. Um monte mesmo! No nosso grupo so tinha japoneses e eu. O nosso guia ficou um tempao falando em japones e eu la com uma cara de boba fingindo que tava entendendo tudo. Finalmente, quando ele parava de falar, eu perguntava pra Yumi o que ele tinha falado, e ela resumia aqueles 10 minutos em uma ou duas frases. Aiaiai! Mas gracas a Deus tudo deu certo. Nos escalamos de 11h30 ate as 18h. O caminho e longo e bem cansativo, e tinha gente no nosso grupo que nao aguentou. Nos tinhamos de criancas a idosos no nosso grupo e a maioria dessas pessoas iam passar a noite com a gente no dormitorio da oitava estacao , a estacao mais perto do topo. Porem no caminho as criancas ficaram cansadas e nao queriam mais subir de jeito nenhum, entao os pais tiveram que desistir de subir e ficar com eles (na minha opniao, aquilo la nao e lugar de levar criancas...) Os pais da Yumi chegaram ate a oitava estacao mas durante a noite o pai dela nao tava se sentindo bem e tanto a mae quanto o pai decidiram nao ir ate o topo. A Yumi so conseguiu dormir por 1h30 porque ela ficou enjoada por causa da altitude, mas mesmo assim queria ir ate o topo. Entao nos acordamos as 1h essa manha, nos arrumamos e e encontramos a parte do nosso grupo que ia subir ate o topo. A gente foi cedo pra chegar la a tempo de assistir o sol nascer. A subida nem foi tao demorada, mas nos estavamos cansadas do dia seguinte e divemos que incentivar uma a outra pra continuar. As 4h da manha, nos chegamos ao topo. La em cima estava muito frio e ventando muito, entao nos passamos um tempo dentro de um restaurante que tinha aquecedor. As 4h30, nos fomos la pra fora esperar o sol nascer. O topo tava cheio de gente, mas menos do que quando a gente chegou. Eu fiquei sentada na terra vulcanica tentando me aquecer enquanto a Yumi tirava fotos (eu trouxe a minha camera ao topo mas esqueci a bateria no dormitorio, entao eu adorei ficar la `quentinha` enquanto a Yumi tirava fotos pra mim.. hahah. Tadinha). Quando eu estava quase morrendo de frio, eu escuto os japas `wow` e la estava o sol nascendo... Lindo demais! Tudo que passamos na subida valeu a pena! Nos ficamos por la ate as 5h e comecamos a descer. A descida nem foi longa, somente 15 minutos de volta ao dormitorio, mas dificil demais. Parecia que estavamos esquiando, so que em terra e pedras. E o pior e que nem tem como se segurar nem nada, porque pra onde voce olhava era pedra ou terra ou neve. Algumas pessoas cairam de bumbum no chao (claro que eu nao fui uma delas... eu sou atleta, ne! haha). Quando chegamos ao nosso dormitorio, comemos cafe da manha e fomos tirar um cochilo. As 8h, nos encontramos com o nosso grupo de novo, e comecamos o descer o monte todo. Particularmente, essa foi a pior parte. Pra evitar cair ou escorregar nas pedras, voce tem que andar devagar e nos seus calcanhares. Imagina andar no seus calcanhares por 3 horas.. nossa, doi demais! Alem do mais, todos nos estavamos carregando mochilas cheias de agasalhos, comidas, bebidas e cansados do dia seguinte... Horrivel! Mas gracas a Deus que nenhum de nos se machucou ou caiu. Depois de isso tudo, chegamos a base do vulcao e de la fomos a um spa. So que o spa daqui e diferente dai. Aqui homens e mulheres vao pra dois lugares diferentes. La, eles tomam um banho (japones, sentados) e pulam nessas piscinas de agua quente tipo da Pousada do Rio Quente ai no Brasil... so que eles estao sem roupa. Hahaha.. Aiai esse Japao... Bom, depois de la, finalmente fomos pra casa. Eu e a Yumi ainda nao acreditamos que nos fomos ao topo do Monte Fuji. Foi uma experiencia maravilhosa e eu recomendaria pra qualquer pessoa, desde que voce esteja em condicoes fisicas e mentais.. porque so assim que voce consegue chegar ao topo. Nao e nao facil como eles falam, mas tambem nao e impossivel. Bom, agora vou descansar um pouco.. estou morta! E depois coloco fotos no Facebook e no Orkut. Beijos!

New Things/ Coisas Novas

The past two days were full of learning new things. Yesterday, Yumi and I went for a walk in a park by her neighborhood. I had the chance to see a little bit more of her life and of the Japanese. She showed me her elementary and middle school. Even though it was Sunday, the kids were at school playing baseball. The sport is big in Japan and other adults were playing in the park as well. We went home and prepared a usual Japanese lunch: noddles. Later we headed downtown Tokyo to shop. We took the train and took no time at all to get there. Its so nice not to depend on your own transportation to go somewhere... I wish we had something like this in Goshen. The first thing I learned, while shopping at a mall with Yumi, was that the Japanese, when going on the escalators, they stay on the left, so that the right side is free to those who wish to pass by faster. Of course I did not learn that right away, so Yumi had to keep reminding me to stay on the left. Also, when I went into a store to try on some clothes, I forgot to remove my shoes before stepping on the carpet. Thankfully, it seems as if they are used to foreigners doing that and did not mind it much, but still are asked me to remove my shoes. Ops! As usual, it was a hot Sunday, so Yumi and I went to a cafe. I ordered an Iced Royal Milk Tea, but it came unsweetened. So I went back and got some sugar. Though, Yumi reminded me that here in Japan, sugar does not work on cold drinks, only on hot. So she got me what they call gum syrup to put on my drink.

After that, we went home and Yumi cooked all of us dinner. I was impressed with her cooking skills. :) She made rice (as usual...), chicken and a Korean soup. The soup was so spicy that I could barely drink it. Instead, I picked the egg parts of the soup. Yumi wasnt mad at me for not having her soup but I still felt bad.

Every night we watch Japanese shows on the TV here. They seem so silly and they do some strange things on TV here. But they are funny to watch. Most of the time I can kind of guess what they are talking about.

Today was another interesting day. According to Yumi, it was Beaches day today, a holiday. She said it pretty much means that it is a day dedicated to the start of the summer. Since it was a holiday, her dad was off work. He cooked us lunch (noddles). However, there was a little detail that they forgot to tell me. Yumis dad served the noddles in a sort of soup. It was very hot, so I wanted to take my time to eat. Though, I didnt notice that the more I took the eat, the more noddles I had. Then, Yumi told me that the Japanese noddles keep growing if you dont eat them fast. Haha! So I made sure I ate everything I had left very quickly! :) Later her dad took us grocery shopping. What an experience! First of all, the store had 4 floors. Each floor had something different. Like the 4th floor had some random housing things, the first had the groceries. The Japanese tend to use their space very efficiently. At the grocery store, they have these tiny carts, which the Japanese use. Then, they get a basket and place inside of the cart and put their groceries in there. This way, the cart is tall enough that will fit all of your groceries, but narrow enough that wont take too much space. Also, car garages are very tiny and, to me, they barely fit a single car. All drivers, for some reason, tend to park their cars backwards, even into tiny spaces. Streets are very narrow as well.

So back to the grocery store... After that, we went to the pharmacy. Yumis dad got some things and went to the cashier to pay. Soon, he pulls out his CELLPHONE and pays for his things. Wow! According to Yumi, cellphones here can have electronic money and they are accepted almost anywhere to pay for things. She also said that this form of payment first started about four years ago. My mouth just dropped... Their technology is so advanced compared to the U.S.!

Now we are just relaxing at home. We are planning to go to Kyoto, Hiroshima e visit Mout Fuji soon. It should be interesting! Ill post some more pictures later. See ya! :)

Nesses ultimos dois dias eu tenho aprendido muitas coisas novas. Ontem, Yumi e eu fizemos uma caminhada em um parque perto de onde ela mora. Ela me mostrou um pouco mais sobre a vida dela e dos Japoneses. Nos fomos a escola onde ela frequentou o maternal e o ensino fundamental. Mesmo no domingo, nos alunos do maternal estavam na escola jogando baseball. Aqui, baseball e tipo o futebol do Japao. Fomos pra casa e preparamos o almoco japones: macarrao. Mais tarde fomos ao shopping em Toquio. Nos fomos de trem e chegamos la rapidinho. Quem dera que tivessemos isso em Goshen! A primeira coisa que eu aprendi quando fomos ao shopping e que quando os Japoneses usam a escada rolante, todo mundo fica na esquerda, porque a direita e somente para pessoas que querem passar mais rapido. Logicamente, eu sempre acabei esquecendo e sempre ia a direita. Mas a Yumi ficou me lembrando, ate que uma hora eu nao esqueci mais. Haha. Outra hora, quando eu entrei numa loja pra experimentar umas roupas, eu esqueci de tirar meus sapatos antes de pisar no tapete. Ainda bem que eles estao acostumados com os estrangeiros fazendo isso e nem ligaram muito, mas me pediram mesmo assim pra tirar os meus sapatos. Ops! Como de costume, estava muito quente e umido aqui no domingo, entao Yumi e eu fomos a um cafe. Eu pedi um Iced Royal Milk Tea mas veio sem ser adocado. Entao eu voltei e peguei acucar. Logo a Yumi me lembrou que o acucar daqui do Japao nao adoca bebidas frias, somente bebidas quentes. Entao ela foi pegar pra mim o que eles chamam de gum syrup, que adoca bebidas frias.

Mais tarde fomos pra casa e Yumi fez jantar para todos nos. Ela cozinhou arroz (claro!), frango e uma sopa koreana. A sopa estava tao apimentada que eu nem consegui tomar. Entao, pra nao fazer disfeita, fiquei catando os ovos que estavam na sopa. A Yumi nao ficou brava que eu nao tomei a sopa, mas mesmo assim eu me senti mal.

Todas as noites nos assistimos os shows japoneses aqui. Eles sao tao mongois e a programacao e toda estranha. E tipo o programa Panico em todos os canais. Aiai. Os programas sao engracados de assistir de tao bobos que eles sao. Na maioria das vezes eu consigo ter uma ideia do que eles estao falando.

Hoje o dia foi bem interessante. Segundo a Yumi, hoje e dia das praias, um feriado aqui no Japao. E tipo um dia dedicado ao verao japones. Ja que era feriado, o pai da Yumi nao estava trabalhando. Ele fez almoco pra gente (macarrao pra variar...). So que eles esqueceram de me falar um pequeno detalhe. O pai dela colocou o macarrao dentro da sopa que ele fez. A sopa estava bem quente, entao eu quis esperar esfriar e comer de pouco a pouco. So que eu nao percebi que, nao importava o quanto eu comia, o macarrao no meu prato parecia ter a mesma quantidade que antes. Depois a Yumi me contou que o macarrao que eles usam aqui continua aumentando de tamanho se voce nao o come rapido. Entao tive que terminar o meu prato rapidinho antes que meu macarrao continuasse crescendo... Hahaha! Mais tarde o pai dela nos levou ao supermercado. Que experiencia! O supermercado nao era muito grande, mas tinha quatro andares. Cada andar tinha era separado por categoria. Os japoneses tentam usar o minimo de espaco possivel. No supermercado, eles tem esses carrinhos de compras bem pequenos. Os japoneses pegam esses carrinhos e colocam a cesta de compra dentro. Dessa maneira, o carrinho tem tamanho suficiente pra caber suas compras, mas nao ocupa muito espaco. As garagens aqui sao muito estreitas e mal cabem um carro. Portanto, todos os carros nao sao muito grandes nem largos. As ruas tambem sao bem estreitas. Os motoristas de carro sempre estacionam ao contrario (com a frente do carro apontando pra rua.)

Depois do supermercado, paramos na farmacia porque o pai da Yumi precisava de algumas coisas la. Ele pegou algumas coisas e foi para o caixa. Dai, ele tira o CELULAR dele do bolso e paga pelas compras. E minha cara tava tipo 'como assim??????' Segundo a Yumi, os celulares aqui tem dinheiro eletronico e sao aceitos em praticamente qualquer lugar que voce for. Uma maquinha scaneia o chip de dentro do celular e faz um debito na conta do seu dinheiro eletronico. A Yumi me disse que isso existe aqui ja tem mais de 4 anos... e eu nunca tinha ouvido nem falar disso! Esse Japao nao e brinquedo nao...

Agora nos estamos em casa tentando fazer um roteiro de viagem para Kioto, Hiroshima e a Mt. Fuji. Depois coloco mais novidades. Beijos!!

Here I am!

Well, I made it! I got to Japan yesterday afternoon (Japan time) and my Japanese friend, Yumi, met me at Narita airport. From there, we took a bus to Tokyo, which is about 40 minutes away. However, with the crazy Tokyo traffic, it took us almost 3 hours to get to our final destination. The traffic here reminds me a little bit of traffic of Rio, except that the drivers drive on the other side of the car and the road.

Its hot and very humid here, so the AC is always on. Ive been trying to get used to the Japanese ways, but I figured it will take me a while until I do. On the first day, right before I got into the house, I was reminded to take off my shoes and clean the bottom of my luggage before I enter the house. Also, I learned that there are certain things that everyone shares, and others that everyone has to have their own, like a bathroom rug, for example. My room is old Japanese style, with the rice mats on the floor, and sort of a paper window and my matress is on the floor, as well. Loved it!

The hardest thing so far is not communicating, but trying to stay awake. There is a 13-hour difference between the U.S. and here, so naps are always welcome. :) However, communication is also an `issue`. Yumis family is very nice and they try to make an effort to communicate with me. Ive been learning some Japanese words and phrases, but it is still not the greatest.

We went out to Yumis cousins house this afternoon where I met part of her moms side of the family. Her grandpa used to be an English teacher in high school, but he taught mostly phrases, so he isnt able to carry a conversation for very long. He kept trying to tell me that the English grammar is very structural, with the subject and verb and then something else, and that the japanese grammar is not always like that. He tried to explain that to me three times, even though I had understood it the first time. ha! He became my buddy after that. :) During this visit, I also had the opportunity to eat the REAL Japanese sushi (Jason, please dont get jealous!) and it was really good! Ive been getting some practice with the hashi (chopsticks) by eating rice, noodles and fried chicken with it. ha!

Sorry I havent had a lot of time to take some pictures (since Ive been sleeping so much...) but I will take some more soon. This one I took today during lunch. Yum! Now its almost time for bed, so Ill post some more tomorrow!

Cheguei! eu cheguei aqui no Japao ontem a tarde (aqui) e a minha amiga japonesa, Yumi, estava me esperando no aeroporto de Narita. La, nos pegamos um onibus para Toquio, que normalmente toma so 40 minutos. Mas, com o transito daqui, demorou quase 3 horas. O transito aqui me lembra do Rio, mas aqui os motoristas dirigem no lado direito, e do outro lado da rua. Aqui e quente e muito umido, entao o ar-condicionado esta sempre ligado. Eu estou tentando me acostumar aos costumes japoneses, mas eu sei que vai levar um tempo ate que eu me acostume mesmo. No primeiro dia aqui, antes de entrar na casa, eles me lembraram de tirar meus sapatos e limpar as rodas da minha mala antes de eu pisar em casa. Tambem estou aprendendo que tem certas coisas que todo mundo usa, e outras que voce tem que ter um somente pra voce, como um tapete de banho, por exemplo. Todo mundo usa o mesmo chuveiro para tomar banho, mas cada um tem o seu tapete.. Meu quarto e no estilo antigo japones, com as `esteiras` de arroz no chao, e a janela tipo de papel de seda, e com meu colchao o chao. Adorei!

A coisa mais dificil ate agora nao tem sido me comunicar, mas sim tentar ficar acordada. Sao 13 horas de diferenca dos Estados Unidos pra ca, entao sempre tenho que tirar um cochilo. Mas tambem, tentar me comunicar e um `problema`. Eu aprendi algumas palavras e frases em portugues, mas meu japones ainda ta fraco.

Nos fomos a casa dos primos da Yumi essa tarde e eu conheci uma parte da familia dela. O avo dela ensinou ingles para estudantes do ensino medio, mas ele ensinava frases, entao ele nao consegue ter uma conversa longa em ingles. Ele estava me explicando 3 vezes que a gramatica do ingles e uma so, e que o japones e uma mistura, mesmo sendo que eu tinha entendido da primeira vez que ele falou. ha! Ele era aquele japones velhinho e engracadinho, sabe? aiai. Durante a visita, eu tambem comi o VERDADEIRO sushi japones and estava muito bom. Eu tenho praticado minhas abilidades com o hashi.. ja tive que comer arroz, macarrao e frango com eles.

Eu nao tenho tido muito tempo de tirar fotos (ja que eu tenho dormido tanto...) mas eu vou tirar mais quando eu puder. Essa foto eu tirei hoje durante o almoco. Hum! Agora e quase a hora de ir dormir, entao eu vou postar mais amanha!