Nara to the end

In Nara Sean and I went on the day we were leaving. It was a beautiful place I wish to I could've seen more but one day was enough to see alot for 6 hours. We went to shrines and temples and saw the pagoda and big buddha (for 500 yen). We hiked a little up the mountain and made our way back down the mountain to the station after lunch.

Now for the rest of the trip after that. :)

I suppose I will do it by sightseeing as I've explained a lot of my grievances and thoughts already.

My next trip out was to Odawara with Liz. It was a frightfully windy day but all together nice. Odawara was a pleasent little beach town with lots of nice people. I spoke to an old man briefly in the wind about the town he spoke really incredible english (I don't know why these people don't have better jobs, not that I know what he did he just didn't seem the type to know english.) My only regret with the many brief contacts that i've made especially the older folks is that I could not get to know them better because the were so interested in who I was. After wandering a bit more we found the main street with all the shops and looked around a bit and got some food. After which we decided to go back to the station and go home.

2 days later we went to the yokohama this being our second time, our first time to yokohama was with a group of us and japanese kids. I'll talk about that trip first. Most of the Japanese kids were concerned with shopping, which was a little scary because its just such a captialist society. Shopping is great and all but I'd rather go up a tall building. Anyhow we also went to the ramen museum which was awesome. This place had 9 different kinds of ramen from all over Japan. Now for you americans that think ramen is just that little packet of noodles with flavoring, your wrong, really wrong. Ramen is one of my favorite foods. I've decided that if one day the oppurtunity comes about I am opening a legit ramen shop in the us. Anyhow that was pretty much that trip.

The next time around to yokohama with the whole class we took a tour of a park which the name escapes me. But anyhow it was quite large and we didnt have much time to see because we were attending a tea ceremony. MY pictures on Facebook shall suffice for the tour I will load lots here soon especially when I get back to the US. The tea ceremony was not quite what I wantedm, everyone was loud and boisterous as fuck and it was really annoying and frankly really american, no one really can appreciate the silence and zen like moment that is a tea ceremony. Oh well.

Our last trip this past week was to Kamakura, I definately plan on going there again some day. We visited the Daibutsu which is another giant buddha, and we visited a temple which the name escapes me again as well. But anyhow there were lots of sea eagles everywhere and a really pretty view. Kamakura itself is a beach town with lots of surfers and made me wish I was a surf bum. The beach had shacks and lots of rubbish every where and just made me feel real nostalgic for a time in which I never lived. If i had to live anywhere in Japan it would be kamakura or tokyo.

This last friday we had a thanksgiving farewell party. In which we all got dressed up in tuxes and the ladies in kimonos. I myself not one to be fancy didn't really enjoy it, but the tux was the most comfortable one i recall ever wearing. Though I do believe what makes a tux uncomfortable is the shoes and well we all wore sneakers. It was a fun little party anyhow we all mingled and took pictures and they even had a cake for myself and the 4 or 5 others that celebrated birthdays in japan. There were speaches, handshakes and a small gift for everyone from the school it was a good time and I'm very thankful to the school for putting up with this mangy bunch of americans.

Now I wait. Tomorrow we have the day off and I'm not quite sure what to do. As I've been putting it going home is going back to the real world and I'm anxioust to get to it. I hate the real world but I can't live this fantasy life forever it doesnt work that way and its too fucking expensive. Thank you everyone who supported me and helped me get to experiance this country for the last 2 and half months its been really eye openning. Especially to the travel possibilities it makes me want to explore the rest of the world. I've definately breached some boundaries travelling as an adult. As most of you know I've only travelled as a kid now that I am older I have the power to go anywhere and do anything and I wouldn't have realized that without you who helped me get there. Thanks so much I love you all so much, I look forward to getting back to see you.


Its time to finish this.