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!!
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