How 'bout them Giants? (Aka Japan Day 3, Part 3)

All this and it was only 3:00 in the afternoon.  We got in line for tickets early (they start being sold at 3:30) to make sure we would get good seats.  And oh yes we got good seats.  But more on that later.  

    Then it was back to the dollar store so they could get some origami paper and to the ship to drop off our awesome science stuff.  We also changed into our baseball outfits we had bought and I broke out the face paint.  Finding a place to eat dinner was a challenge.  The places nearby had personal pizzas for $20 and the prices went up from there.  We found a tiny, French-ish style cafe with only $15 hamburgers so we ate there.  I ordered a hot dog and despite it's dodgy look, it was quite good.  Plus, there was a cat in the cafe.  So it was a good choice.

    Theeeeeeeen GAME TIME!  We knew our seats were good when we bought them, but we found out they were AMAZING once we got to the stadium.  I believe we were in the fifth row right near first base!  I don't think I have ever been that close outside of a Spring Training game!   It was so fun to be at such a familiar type of event in such a different setting.  I tried to note all the differences like how there were cheerleaders and bands at the games in Japan, they play for 10 innings (I think), and there are no garlic fries (sad face.)  One thing that was the same was that the Giants were playing!  (As the visiting team)  Same colors and everything!  And like their World Series Champ sister team in the States, they skunked the competition!  Hannah and Courtney were making fun of me because I cheered whenever either team got a hit or made a play.  

    I think it was around the third inning when it started raining, but it didn't really appear to be a problem.  It was warm enough that we were content to get completely soaking wet and still enjoy the game.  I got bored and started reading though...

Just kidding.  (That is a joke with my family so I just took the picture and then went back to game watching.)  We also had a really good conversation about spirituality and life changing experiences and philosophy and stuff.  Because of course that's what you do at a baseball game in Japan in the pouring rain.  

It was a very exciting evening that we ended with a hot chocolate party back on the ship.  :0)  I was a little giddy about being up past my usual sleep time and thought I would show them how street I am.  

   

Japan! (Day 3 Part 1)

   Transit day between Kobe and Yokohama was a strange sort of day.  There were so few people on the ship because most students had decided to travel independently to the next port.  Andrea and I had our sleepover and spend the day trying not to fall over as we were doing our homework.  (Rough seas.)  Since it was the anniversary of the Titanic sinking we watched a bit of the movie (probably the worst thing to do if we wanted to honor the victims) and took pictures of us on the deck in Titanic movie style (ok that is the worst thing we could have done.)  Not much else to say about that.

   I woke up in Yokohama having no idea what I was going to do that day.  I had been signed up for a home stay but I guess some of the families backed out so a few of us got bumped from the trip.  Everyone else I knew was on their own field programs.  Luckily, I met up with Andrea at breakfast and she had found someone who was also looking for a travel buddy for the day.  

   We got ready and then headed out with no idea where we were going (as all good adventures start.)  I got a map from a tourist office and we decided to head one direction to end up at a park.  Along the way we found a different park with some beautiful cherry blossom viewing.  There was also a mini-garden show going on which was cool to browse.  

    Having done the park thing, we turned back from the shore to head into the city.  We found a doll museum and I knew my mom would never forgive me if I had skipped that.  :0)  It was pretty cool.  There were dolls there from all different times in history all over the world.  I saw several dolls that my grandmas, mom, or I had growing up.  

I thought this one was a little scary actually.

NOT a Samantha doll as I had thought.  It's a Jennifer doll.  

Another rather creepy looking doll.

A Shirley Temple Doll!  (Queue "When I grow up.")

(Above) A friendship doll ceremony.  (Below) Friendship dolls.  Best idea ever!  :0)

Oh and I found some yummy maple candy.

    Our next goal was to find a mall.  We never quite made it to the big mall, but we did find a small one.  Things were pretty much way to expensive, but it was still fun looking around.  There were some beautiful fabrics and designs that would be totally worth all that money if I had had that much to spare.  We found a dollar store (really a $1.20 for us) and I picked up some snacks and, randomly, an eyelash curler.  I had always wanted one despite the fact that they kind of freaked me out and I was in Japan so.....(BTW I tried to use it tonight and I blinked while it was clamped and that led to ouch.  Maybe I'm not quite old enough to use one yet.)  

    At that point we were both pretty darn hungry.  I was being enthusiastic (difficult) because I absolutely wanted to have sushi and all the places we could find were western food.  Bleh.  Finally we found a grocery store in the basement which had an excellent sushi choice.  And don't worry, I made sure not to eat any endangered species.  :0)

    We took our lunch to the park outside of the baseball stadium to eat since it is considered obscene to eat in public here.  I was even hesitant to eat in the park, but lots of other people were eating lunch there, so I figured it was ok.  The sushi was SO good!  And the setting was beautiful!  There were huge tulip gardens all over the park and big trees sheltering the area.  We weren't the only ones enjoying the sights.  There was a street fair going on to celebrate the blooming of the tulips and cherry blossoms.  It was really cool but we didn't have time to really explore since the person I was with wasn't feeling well.

  

Japan! (Day 2 Part 2)

  I was so immersed in the museum that I completely missed the meeting time for my group.  I had a few minutes of panic as I searched for them in the huge peace garden, but finally caught up.  I could then relax and enjoy the beautiful scenery and memorials.

  I found the paper crane memorial and had a beautiful moment placing my two chains of sewed cranes amongst the thousands of brightly colored wishes for peace.  

Then there was a bit more hurrying to get to my group who had somehow gotten ahead of me again.  On my way there, I came across a large, important looking party.  There were lots of men in secret service style suits and sunglasses, photographers, and smartly dressed women holding umbrellas for someone who must have been very important.  I came to an intersection in the path right after they did and I was fascinated/embarrassed that they stopped the whole party to make way for me to get to the other side of the path!  I smiled apologetically at the women in the middle of the pile of people and moved quickly away from all the commotion.  I found out later that there was speculation that it had been the PM of Cambodia's wife.  But speculation isn't exactly reliable.  

I took some last minute pictures of the beautiful area and then we rushed to the train station to catch our BULLET TRAIN!

This building was the only one left standing this close to where the bomb went off.  It is now preserved as a symbol of hope and peace.

I have to give total kudos to our guide who managed to get all sixty of us on the bullet train after a mad dash through the station and leaping through the doors as they were ready to close.  The experience was not good for my subway anxiety.  (See strange fears discussed in past blogs.)  I managed to find my seat and get settled before the train took off.  (Yep, like a rocket.  It's that fast.)   I think we got up to around 200 miles per hour!  It took less than 90 minutes to travel what it had taken us 5 hours to travel in a bus!  I believe that is the fastest I have ever gone on land in my life.  :0)

We arrived at our stop before I even fully settled in.  It was a great way to travel.  I hope California can get us one of those from NorCal to SoCal!  

Now I'm back on the ship waiting for Andrea to come over for a sleep over!  (Our roomies are out on multi-day trips.)  We very much intend on doing things right with lots of junk food eating, movie watching, and possibly some pedicures.  :0)  

Oh and also:  I found this sign on the ship today.  Are you my mummy?