Kobe!

This weekend Briana and I headed off to Kobe to stay with my co-trainee Stephen, and meet up with some of the other trainees who live close by (Brittany, Cheryl, and Michelle). We took the local trains to get to Kobe, so it took about 2 and a half hours or so. But it was only three trains, fairly simple. We got to see the BEAUTIFUL Japanese countryside as we went from one major city to the next. We rode through Kyoto (which I'll be returning to in a couple weeks) and Osaka (which I would really like to visit some time). We made it to Kobe around 1pm and met up with all the others.

We went to this really random man-made river that runs under the Shinkansen (high speed bullet train) tracks. It was wonderfully cool, and beautifully clear and clean. So I changed into my bathing suit and we dived right in! Well... Briana and I were celebrating the night before (at Miroku, of course) because she renewed her contract for another year! I'm so happy that she is going to stay! Anyways, Briana was hung-over, so no swimming for her. She sat and chatted with the dozen other random people who we were all connected with. It was a gathering of Amity NETs and JTs from the area.

ANYWAYS, I went swimming. We waded through the water until we got to this deep pool with a rock face surrounding 3/4 of it, and a waterfall on 1/2 of what remained. Of course we climbed and jumped a bunch of times. Then we just sat in the water and got to know one another. After while we went back, but when I realized that our plans for that evening were still several hours away, Michelle, her fiance, and I went back. This time we decided to climb the waterfall and see what else there was. Well it was a long trek, barefoot, through a river with rough rocks and pebbles at the bottom. But we came to another deep pool after not too long. We were content to just recover there, but there were other foreigners there who told us that if we went further we would come to another, bigger waterfall with a higher place to jump from. So of course we had to go! Climbing up for this one, was an ordeal. You had to press you back against one side of the wall, and your feet ont he other, and kind of shimmy up a few feet. We only jumped once off this one, and then we were BEAT. But it was gorgeous, and fun, and felt great! Well worth it. The journey back was even easier, since we had done it once before.

When I got back tot he picnic space I was beat. So I dried off and we talked a bit. Then Briana and I went with Steve to his place. We changed and what not, and then went back out to meet back up with everyone at a rooftop beer garden. All you can drink and all you can eat for $30! It was amaaaaaazing. The food was meh, but the company was good, and the beer was flowing, so a good time was had by all. After that place closed, we went to a bar called The Hub. Its a British styled pub. My table ordered this HUGE graduated cylinder full of beer that is almost as tall as I am! But really it was just like buying a pitcher. Perry-

Okay wait, quick side story about Perry.  One of my friends from LMU named Kaitrin, was the same year and major as me. We took Japanese class together and studied abroad in Japan together. Then I go to Kobe to an event organized by a guy named Perry. Who also went to LMU and is also friends with Kaitrin, and also studied abroad with her in Japan (she went twice). Holy crap, small world!!!!

So at the Hub, Perry pushed Briana and I to talk to some random Japanese guys at the bars. He was basically like, "Hey have you met my friends here?" and then disappeared! We talked to the guy for a bit. He bought two graduated cylinders full of margarita and gave one to us. And a Zima... randomly. He kept the other for himself. His friends came and joined us and we made small talk and took pictures together. The four of them are were firefighters, and thats pretty darn cool.

We didn't stick around for too long at the bar though, because we had to catch the last train back to Steve's place. We knocked out pretty quick since it had been such a long day. The next morning we grabbed breakfast at McDonalds, bought some Omiyage (souvineers. In an office setting its traditional that if you go somewhere on vacation, you bring back something edible to share with everyone) for the other teachers back home, and then grabbed our long train ride back to Ogaki. We almost had a little hiccup changing trains in Osaka... but we made it work, thank god!

I spent the rest of the day cleaning and generally doing nothing. Though I did go on a little night time bike ride. I really need to do more of that, or start running to keep in shape. I intend to as soon as it stops being so darn hot. Maybe at the end of the month?

Well, that's all from me for now!
まったね！
～寒