Saturday, October 29, 2011

Advertising works, apparently.

So, David and I boogied into town a few days ago. I gave into my UFO catcher addiction. I can't help it! They're so much fun! And it's only 100yen to try! And the prizes are always so freaking adorable! I won a few small purse charms (1 Miss Bear for Keira and myself and a Donald Duck for Talia) and I also won a ghost Hello Kitty pillow! It's AMAZING. I spent waaay too much money trying to get it, but it equals out to about how much it would cost in store. Maybe a bit less.
Check out that amazing ghost-yness! It's so soft, too! I was really happy when I won it. Ahahaha. I bought a few other things, too. New purse, some fancy leggings, a couple pair of puffball earrings and a witch Asuka and Rei set from Evangelion. (I gave Rei to Angel and I kept Asuka.) I got a figure set of Kagami and Tsukasa from Lucky Star, too!
Cute, eh? And yes~ Those purple haired girls are indeed twins. But no, I'm keeping them both. Angel can buy her own set. Ahaha. We picked up some snacks, too. Got some Halloween themed koala cookies and bought some more Pocky. Ninomiya Kazunari (a singer I like) is the new Pocky spokesperson. There was a big sign of him in the grocery store. How could I resist buying more Pocky? Advertising works, apparently.

So, we had refectory dinner a few nights ago. It was AMAZING. Soooo freaking good! Martin was our server and it was a blast. Yuta came as well and it was nice to hang out with him. He works in pub, so we see him a lot, but it was a lot of fun. He's so funny! So, now for the obligatory food photos.
So, first we had chicken with thin ham slices on top and a small salad. It was served cold and it was freaking fantastic. Sooo goooooood. And the tomato served with the salad was the best damn cherry tomato I've ever eaten. True story.
 After the first course, Keira was all about the roast beef, but we still had 2 courses to go. So, next course was cream of potato soup. And it was the best freaking soup I've ever eaten. OMG. Yummmmmm. This was my favourite part of the meal.
Next up was a lamb dish. The lamb actually tasted good. I think it's because of the tomato sauce stuff. It reminded me a LOT of mum's smothered pork chops. Like, woah. It was good. Not as good as mum's, but good.
ROAST BEEEEEEEF~~~~~~
Oh man. Was it ever goooood! Angel and I were grinning like loons as we ate, because our mouths were pinging from happiness. It was like, I would take a bite and the inside of my mouth went pingy and I just HAD to smile! And after I finished, my brain was sending signals to my mouth to keep chewing. So, I ate some bread. Not quite the same effect, but hey. Oh god, it was sooooooooooooooooooo good! Yuuuuuuuum!
 Ahaha. Dessert was lovely. Chestnut mouse cake and raspberry sherbert. And yes~ That IS gold leaf on top! Poor Yuta! Martin and Yaz took away his normal cutlery as a joke and brought him kid cutlery. We all laughed and Yuta went ahead and used that! It was hilarious!

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

I just wanted to share some pretty pictures.

A few days ago David and I went out to Goshiki-numa with Belinda and Lisa. It was an awesome day and it was nice to get off the mountain. I adore Belinda~ She's a sweetheart and she's helping us with Japanese. She's fluent, so she's teaching us. Belinda and Lisa are teachers, so they can drive. We drove to Goshiki-numa. Its about an hour away, ish. It's literally a park with 5 different coloured lakes. It had a hiking trail the spanned about 4km. I'm so glad I wore my running shoes. Lol. Sadly, my camera hates me, so I didn't get as many photos as I wanted, but here's what I did get.
It was a fun day. :D
I also took a few pictures of BH recently, just because it was nice out.
 
I just wanted to share some pretty pictures. <3

Angel would've keeled over.

So, continuing with Kusatsu, the next day we went to Mt. Shirane. It was lovely. We climbed up part of the mountain and it was a freaking steep climb! Like, almost vertical at some points. And it was kinda funny to have all these old ladies climbing up and down past us and telling us, "Ganbatte!" (Do your best!). Ahaha.
 It was a really good workout to say the least. Ahaha. So, after the trek, we ate a quick lunch. (Yakisoba and cappucino ice cream for me. Yummm.) And then we walked down a little trail about 3km to the gondola thing. Angel would've keeled over. It went practically all the way down the mountain. Lol. It was a lovely view, though!

So, after getting to the bottom we decided to head back to town. We felt pretty accomplished after all that hiking about.
So, in town we FINALLY caught the Yumomi show. It's the traditional way of cooling the water. It was really neat! The ladies sang and there was a dance as well. They were all very talented!
 I took a few videos, too. :D

After the Yumomi show, we hit up another hot spring. This one was outdoors and it was huge! It had started to rain when we left the Yumomi show, so I bought an umbrella for the walk to the hot spring park thing. It was a gorgeous onsen. I wish I was allowed to take photos, but not allowed for obvious reasons. Lol. We soaked for a while and then headed back to the hotel. It was David's last night. We ate at a little family owned restaurant in the town. I had hamburger curry. It was AMAZING. Sooooo good!

So, the next morning David left and it was Keira's birthday. So, I bought her cake. :D
Here's my cake. Lol. It was amazing. Chocolate strawberry shortcake. My life was complete when I found it. *___* <3 
We spent most of the day just wandering and onsen hopping. It was fun. We ate at that little restaurant again for dinner and we went for a walk in the other local shrine. It was really pretty. I love Japanese shrines. <3
 You will notice the stairs. They were steep. And I never wanna see stairs again in my life. x___x

Anywho~ We had as good evening. We found a bathhouse that was waaaay too hot, though! It was a small one, and there was no one there when we got in. (Little wonder why.) We went to pour the hot water on our arms and it scalded. Like ooowwwww. So, I tried to dip my foot in and I couldn't do it. Lol. Oh well. They had an awesome poster with the rules of onsening, though.
 After that failure, we walked back to our ryokan. Lol. The trip home was nice. I've come to the decision that I looove futons, though! Not, like pull out couch futons, but Japanese futons. It's a traditional bed. Basically, a thin mattress placed on the floor with big, fluffy blankets. Lovelove.