十八、十九日: 京都とCOMME-CA

Day 18

Today, we woke up fairly early because we were going to head over to 京都 to meet up with one off Shuu's friends. We headed out around 10:50am and arrived in 京都 around 12:10pm. *We made the mistake of taking the 普通 train, so it took almost an hour* We arrived in 京都駅 and met up with his friend and her friend. We had planned to eat at マクドナルド but the place was packed and I wasn't too into eating there, especially after the メガタマゴ XP Instead, we went over to this place that specialized in making オムライス. It was really, really good. It was the first time I had ever had it. I had a hard time talking to Shuu's friends because of two major things. The biggest one being, I didn't know what to say. As most people know, I'm really... unsure of how to act around new people. *A key reason to why I have a hard time meeting new people* The second was that I was afraid of making mistakes with my 日本語. It's one thing to be able to read and write, but it's another thing to be able to speak. Coupled with my deteriorating knowledge of 日本語 and my fear of making a mistake and making myself look foolish, I kept mostly to myself. *Towards the end of the night I started to feel just a little bit more confident speaking* After we finished eating we headed to do some カラオケ. It was fun, but the lack of indie songs made it a little harder to sing the songs we wanted. None the less, it was fun. Afterwards, we explored the area and went down the main shopping street that kind of reminded me of 竹下通り. After a while, Shuu's friend's friend had to go home so we said good bye and we continued to look around. We went to a 書店 and a guitar store, before ending the night at a KFC. We talked for a little while longer, then decided to head home. When we got to the station we headed to our platforms, took some pictures, and said out final good byes. It was a really fun day. Probably the most we've done while here in Japan. We headed back to 大阪 on the 特別快速 and it only took about half an hour.

Day 19:

I had waken up early with the idea that maybe we would go out again today, but I wasn't sure I wanted to take the chance again. I went out the door around 1pm to go out and shop for some of my friends and coworkers. I went to the COMME CA mall- store thing that was in front of the 大阪駅 and spent a few hours there. I went to the JUMP store in there, along with UNIQLO and the electronic store. It was actually pretty fun. After I had finished with my shopping, I headed back to 谷町. Something that not many people know is that I like being around people. I like to see how people interact with others and to the environment. This whole time I've been here in Japan has been great. Ever since I had taken Sociology, my thoughts about studying people have been magnified. A great place to study in on the 地下鉄. Just the behavior and everything you see is interesting. Anyways, after that, I got back to the apt. To my surprise, Shuu was still sleeping. :/ I contemplated going out again, but I decided against it and hung around till he woke up. Essentially, that was my day.

We have one more day of free time here in Japan. I don't know how it will be spent, but I'll be sure to write about it soon. Until then...

*On a side note, I've noticed that a few of my friends have been saying that I don't seem to be really excited when I talk about being here. Well, for one, I use to live here. I know what to expect, I know what's around me. [This was most common in 東京. In 大阪 it's a little different b/c it's a new place] Second, I've pretty much done what I wanted to do and that was just to get here. I do enjoy being here in 日本, however. Being here instills the idea that I want to keep traveling. I'm going to keep going with my teaching degree and continue to try traveling. I've only seen so much of the world and I want to be able to see all of it. That's my goal and that's what I plan on doing.*