October 30, 2008
Mai Pen Rai
It is taking some time to adjust to the different way of life here. And by saying 'here' I mean the compound, plantation, out in the boonies, Timbuktu, the sticks also known as the Bang Na campus. I feel so far removed from civilization. I am a city girl born and bred and have never lived outside of Chicago. I even went to college in the city. And now I have completely transplanted myself to a place where I am surrounded by rice fields and completely out of my element. In some ways I feel like I am an 18 year old kid and away at a small college town for the year. There is no public transportation anywhere near me with the exception of taxis. And I am not that brave to take one by myself. Even though this is a relatively safe country, you never know...especially when the driver has to take 3 back roads just to get on or off campus. Its a bit ridiculous. I am not liking the fact that I feel as though I am losing some of my independence, shouldn't this experience be the other way around? I guess I am just learning to deal with all this...mai pen rai...a common thai saying...which translates to no big deal, no worries, its okay, never mind, its cool. I must say that not for one moment have I ever thought twice about the decision I made by coming here. I am still very much happy that I am here and experiencing everything around me. But I will be honest I am sooooo excited and thankful that majority of us are heading to the city for the weekend. Tomorrow afternoon can not get here soon enough. Shannon was amazing and scored a hostel for some of us. She also found a 25 kilometer bike riding tour that I am going to do on Saturday. I look forward to wandering aimlessly around the city...oh and I have this sneaking suspicion that I am going to feel right at home! Until then...
October 27, 2008
Pattaya
Our group was so excited for our first trip to the beach on Sunday...well lets just say it was a bit of a disappointment. First of all the buses were an hour late picking us up, it was raining non stop, and we spent majority of the day at a tropical garden. The garden wasn't that bad. We did see an elephant paint a picture with its trunk, saw a tiger up close, and I saw these amazing statues throughout the garden.
We finally made it to the beach at 3:30pm. It was overcast, cloudy and the water was murky and not beautiful. I had very high expectations for the beaches of Thailand. I was quite bummed. But it was Pattaya...I have heard not so good things about the place. I heard it was seedy so I guess I just set my expectations too high for my first beach experience. That is totally fine as I am here for a year and I just need to do a little traveling and visit the islands and I guarantee Thailand will redeem itself. I have the faith.
So you know how I said that last week was our first week of 'work' and that this week would be our first week of classes....well I lied...apparently this is still the registration week and next week we will finally start teaching! Here at Assumption University I will be working in the Center for English Language Development. This is a brand new start up program (our group of teachers are the guinea pigs). First year students can take our basic or level 1 conversational English classes and by-pass the required verbal exit exam at the end of their 4th year, which from what we hear is pretty intense.
Their marketing for these classes didn't go over too well. They interviewed 6,000 of the incoming freshman and they were anticipating at the very least 2,000 to sign up and as of now there are only a few hundred. What that means is there are too many teachers and not enough students. So this week we are going into all the English classes to promote our program as well as setting up several tables around campus. Should be fun, good times.
We finally made it to the beach at 3:30pm. It was overcast, cloudy and the water was murky and not beautiful. I had very high expectations for the beaches of Thailand. I was quite bummed. But it was Pattaya...I have heard not so good things about the place. I heard it was seedy so I guess I just set my expectations too high for my first beach experience. That is totally fine as I am here for a year and I just need to do a little traveling and visit the islands and I guarantee Thailand will redeem itself. I have the faith.
So you know how I said that last week was our first week of 'work' and that this week would be our first week of classes....well I lied...apparently this is still the registration week and next week we will finally start teaching! Here at Assumption University I will be working in the Center for English Language Development. This is a brand new start up program (our group of teachers are the guinea pigs). First year students can take our basic or level 1 conversational English classes and by-pass the required verbal exit exam at the end of their 4th year, which from what we hear is pretty intense.
Their marketing for these classes didn't go over too well. They interviewed 6,000 of the incoming freshman and they were anticipating at the very least 2,000 to sign up and as of now there are only a few hundred. What that means is there are too many teachers and not enough students. So this week we are going into all the English classes to promote our program as well as setting up several tables around campus. Should be fun, good times.
October 25, 2008
KhaoSan Road
Yesterday morning we had to have our University required health exam (blood work, urine sample, chest xrays...the whole shabang). I received a clean bill of health for those inquiring minds. I felt like I was on Grey's Anatomy in this get-up. 
Since the hospital was in Bangkok, we decided to spend the remainder of the day in the city. We ended up splitting up into two groups. One went venturing into the city as the other group (the one I was in) went to get a traditional Thai Massage....aaaaaaah. For 250 baht (equivalent to about $8.00usd) I received a one hour beating of a lifetime. This is not your typical calm, serene, just lay there and relax massage...no no no you are an active participant in this game. This petite woman used her hands, forearms, elbows, and feet to stretch me sideways. At one point she was completely on top of me kneading her elbows and putting pressure on certain points on my back...it was great!
Afterwards we trekked it up to KhaoSan Road to meet up with our other group. In order to get there we had to take a subway, the skytrain and a river ferry. The KhoaSan Road area is known for the cheap hostels and the place where international backpackers hangout. We met up with our group and were asked if we wanted to try the ants they purchased. Um, um, um...okay sure why not. They are a delicacy here you know. Those little creatures were flavored with lemon and onion and completely DISGUSTING!. I will never eat them again.
We ended up staying at this bar for quite some time and had full reign of the upstairs. The beer was flowing and the dancing was hilarious. It was a lot of fun. When a group of us were calling it a night we had to walk to the main road to catch a cab. And of course there were street vendors everywhere and I got what was probably the best pad thai I have ever eaten. What once was pizza or burritos at 1am has now officially been replaced by pad thai!
P.S. Its been 8 weeks and 5 days since I quit smoking. YAY ME!
Since the hospital was in Bangkok, we decided to spend the remainder of the day in the city. We ended up splitting up into two groups. One went venturing into the city as the other group (the one I was in) went to get a traditional Thai Massage....aaaaaaah. For 250 baht (equivalent to about $8.00usd) I received a one hour beating of a lifetime. This is not your typical calm, serene, just lay there and relax massage...no no no you are an active participant in this game. This petite woman used her hands, forearms, elbows, and feet to stretch me sideways. At one point she was completely on top of me kneading her elbows and putting pressure on certain points on my back...it was great!
Afterwards we trekked it up to KhaoSan Road to meet up with our other group. In order to get there we had to take a subway, the skytrain and a river ferry. The KhoaSan Road area is known for the cheap hostels and the place where international backpackers hangout. We met up with our group and were asked if we wanted to try the ants they purchased. Um, um, um...okay sure why not. They are a delicacy here you know. Those little creatures were flavored with lemon and onion and completely DISGUSTING!. I will never eat them again.
We ended up staying at this bar for quite some time and had full reign of the upstairs. The beer was flowing and the dancing was hilarious. It was a lot of fun. When a group of us were calling it a night we had to walk to the main road to catch a cab. And of course there were street vendors everywhere and I got what was probably the best pad thai I have ever eaten. What once was pizza or burritos at 1am has now officially been replaced by pad thai!
P.S. Its been 8 weeks and 5 days since I quit smoking. YAY ME!
Chulalongkorn Day/Ayutthaya
October 23rd was the anniversary of the death of King Chulalongkorn (Rama V) and is a public holiday here in Thailand. So what better thing to do than go to the Ancient City of Ayutthaya and see the ruins. We had a busy day... we went to Bang Pa In Palace, ate lunch along a river, rode elephants, and went to Wat Maha That.
Bang Pa In Palace was stunning. Beautiful greenery everywhere. Since it was this particular holiday there were wreaths of flowers and pictures of the former King placed in his honor. Here our group of "teachers" finally took a group shot! All 15 of us. Aren't we cute? As you can see some of us had to wear scarves, wraps, sweaters, or jackets that would be because here in Thailand you have to cover your shoulders while in palaces and Wats/temples.
Outside of the Palace there were, of course, street vendors(they are everywhere)...they had the most amazing fried bananas. mmmmm. After a very filling lunch (not the bananas but lunch along the river) we went to ride the elephants. You would have thought I was a 5 year old kid, I was sooooo excited. I rode with my friend Jorge. From atop the elephant we had some beautiful views of various ruins. I was on cloud nine, I was so happy.
So before I left Chicago I wrote down to made it a priority to see a particular Buddha image and I knew it was Ayutthaya but not sure where. Since we were a large group I figured it would be hard to venture out to the various Wats to find it. When we entered Wat Maha That, my friend Lauren L. came up to me and told me that the image was here! I almost cried, I was soooooo excited! I immediately left the group and starting roaming the ruins to find it....and I found it!!! Oh how pretty. It's a sandstone Buddha image (head) entangled with a tree. The body is gone, and the sandstone head is entrapped in the roots and lies beneath a Bodhi tree. Amazing!
As I have mentioned before Ayutthaya has some spectacular ruins and these pictures do not do them justice. This was by far my favorite day thus far. I got to do the one thing in Thailand I really wanted to do (ride an elephant) and see the one Buddha image I really wanted to see! YAY!
P.S. I changed the website for pictures, I am now using Google Picasa...it has a pause button...I think this should work better for you. Let me know!
Bang Pa In Palace was stunning. Beautiful greenery everywhere. Since it was this particular holiday there were wreaths of flowers and pictures of the former King placed in his honor. Here our group of "teachers" finally took a group shot! All 15 of us. Aren't we cute? As you can see some of us had to wear scarves, wraps, sweaters, or jackets that would be because here in Thailand you have to cover your shoulders while in palaces and Wats/temples.
Outside of the Palace there were, of course, street vendors(they are everywhere)...they had the most amazing fried bananas. mmmmm. After a very filling lunch (not the bananas but lunch along the river) we went to ride the elephants. You would have thought I was a 5 year old kid, I was sooooo excited. I rode with my friend Jorge. From atop the elephant we had some beautiful views of various ruins. I was on cloud nine, I was so happy.
So before I left Chicago I wrote down to made it a priority to see a particular Buddha image and I knew it was Ayutthaya but not sure where. Since we were a large group I figured it would be hard to venture out to the various Wats to find it. When we entered Wat Maha That, my friend Lauren L. came up to me and told me that the image was here! I almost cried, I was soooooo excited! I immediately left the group and starting roaming the ruins to find it....and I found it!!! Oh how pretty. It's a sandstone Buddha image (head) entangled with a tree. The body is gone, and the sandstone head is entrapped in the roots and lies beneath a Bodhi tree. Amazing!
As I have mentioned before Ayutthaya has some spectacular ruins and these pictures do not do them justice. This was by far my favorite day thus far. I got to do the one thing in Thailand I really wanted to do (ride an elephant) and see the one Buddha image I really wanted to see! YAY!
P.S. I changed the website for pictures, I am now using Google Picasa...it has a pause button...I think this should work better for you. Let me know!
October 22, 2008
First couple of days
After our walk around campus on Saturday, a few of us were feeling adventurous. We wanted to venture off campus. Thankfully we stopped and spoke with some students who had told us a place to go...Central Bang Na. Central Bang Na is a mall. It is 9 floors of everything one can ask for in a mall...it even had a mini roller coaster, movie theater, grocery store and a bowling ally. Fun stuff for a Saturday in Thailand!
On Sunday we made it to Bangkok. Our student guides decided to take us to Mah Boon Krong (MBK), Siam Discovery, and Siam Paragon...guess what those are??? MALLS!!! I guess they thought we loved to shop! Anyways our group wanted to branch out and see some of the city. First of all, Bangkok traffic is nuts...and I have not even seen it during rush hour yet. I can't even imagine.
As I am sure most of you know, Thailand is famous for shrines and Buddhism. And I finally got to see a minuscule bit of it. Our first turn out of the mall we see a 4 faced Buddha statue, known as the Erawan Shrine or 'Thao Maha Brahma'. At this shrine people pray for good fortune.
At 6pm I had my first experience with the playing of The Royal Anthem (often called the King's song). This song is played everyday at 8am and 6pm (on the radio, at train stations and all state buildings). Aaaah so that explains the 2 minute bell clock tower fiasco I hear every morning...
We found an awesome beer garden and sat down for several drinks. And mustered up enough courage to try the street food. I played it safe and went with some fried chicken wings with some amazing sweet, sour, and spicy sauce.
On Monday morning I was anxious to start my day and I was up super early...so I thought it would be the perfect time to go out for a run. Bad idea! Have I mentioned how hot and humid it is here? Even at 6am it was quite gross out. But I ran anyways. After about 20 minutes I had to stop as my clothes were soaked through and sweat was pouring down my face. Sight to be seen, let me tell you. Anyways this was our 1st day of our 3 day orientation. Officially this was considered our first day of work. We got our cubicles and I took my my first day of school/work picture!
At our orientation we received our syllabus for the classes we will be teaching. We will be teaching 5 classes that meet twice a week for 90 minutes. We received a ton of information and paperwork...don't get me started on the paperwork. It was a very overwhelming day. And we got 'homework' (what? I thought I was done with school...argh) we had to create two lesson plans. How easy right? WRONG. Especially if your lesson planning training consisted all of a 20 minute lecture that day! Thankfully the other teachers here are amazing and some of us got together and brainstormed and bounced ideas off each other.
Tuesday morning I woke up and had my first minor 'work' freak-out moment....ha ha ha its only the second day and I have not even stepped foot into the classroom yet!!! "I am not a teacher" "I don't know how to create lesson plans" "I know nothing about ESL" "I don't know what I am doing" these were my thoughts...Thankfully my aunt was on skype and successfully calmed my nerves a bit.
Today (wednesday) was the wrap up of our orientation. Overall it was three intense days of sitting, note taking, activities and learning new information. Hopefully I will retain some of these ideas and use them in my classroom. Afterwards I seriously needed to get active. I couldn't even imagine running outside at 4pm so I went to the pool for a bit, that was a nice. I need to buy a bike!
Oh so check this out...the ketchup and hot sauce bottles. No ketchup and mustard on the tables...its ketchup and hot sauce. I am in heaven!
And this has to be my favorite sign here...4th one down...can you read it? It says "some kind of food/curry" lol
On Sunday we made it to Bangkok. Our student guides decided to take us to Mah Boon Krong (MBK), Siam Discovery, and Siam Paragon...guess what those are??? MALLS!!! I guess they thought we loved to shop! Anyways our group wanted to branch out and see some of the city. First of all, Bangkok traffic is nuts...and I have not even seen it during rush hour yet. I can't even imagine.
As I am sure most of you know, Thailand is famous for shrines and Buddhism. And I finally got to see a minuscule bit of it. Our first turn out of the mall we see a 4 faced Buddha statue, known as the Erawan Shrine or 'Thao Maha Brahma'. At this shrine people pray for good fortune.
At 6pm I had my first experience with the playing of The Royal Anthem (often called the King's song). This song is played everyday at 8am and 6pm (on the radio, at train stations and all state buildings). Aaaah so that explains the 2 minute bell clock tower fiasco I hear every morning...
We found an awesome beer garden and sat down for several drinks. And mustered up enough courage to try the street food. I played it safe and went with some fried chicken wings with some amazing sweet, sour, and spicy sauce.
On Monday morning I was anxious to start my day and I was up super early...so I thought it would be the perfect time to go out for a run. Bad idea! Have I mentioned how hot and humid it is here? Even at 6am it was quite gross out. But I ran anyways. After about 20 minutes I had to stop as my clothes were soaked through and sweat was pouring down my face. Sight to be seen, let me tell you. Anyways this was our 1st day of our 3 day orientation. Officially this was considered our first day of work. We got our cubicles and I took my my first day of school/work picture!
At our orientation we received our syllabus for the classes we will be teaching. We will be teaching 5 classes that meet twice a week for 90 minutes. We received a ton of information and paperwork...don't get me started on the paperwork. It was a very overwhelming day. And we got 'homework' (what? I thought I was done with school...argh) we had to create two lesson plans. How easy right? WRONG. Especially if your lesson planning training consisted all of a 20 minute lecture that day! Thankfully the other teachers here are amazing and some of us got together and brainstormed and bounced ideas off each other.
Tuesday morning I woke up and had my first minor 'work' freak-out moment....ha ha ha its only the second day and I have not even stepped foot into the classroom yet!!! "I am not a teacher" "I don't know how to create lesson plans" "I know nothing about ESL" "I don't know what I am doing" these were my thoughts...Thankfully my aunt was on skype and successfully calmed my nerves a bit.
Today (wednesday) was the wrap up of our orientation. Overall it was three intense days of sitting, note taking, activities and learning new information. Hopefully I will retain some of these ideas and use them in my classroom. Afterwards I seriously needed to get active. I couldn't even imagine running outside at 4pm so I went to the pool for a bit, that was a nice. I need to buy a bike!
Oh so check this out...the ketchup and hot sauce bottles. No ketchup and mustard on the tables...its ketchup and hot sauce. I am in heaven!
And this has to be my favorite sign here...4th one down...can you read it? It says "some kind of food/curry" lol
October 21, 2008
Pictures
A few people have mentioned not being able to view the pictures. I have posted all of them at http://heidibrusek.myphotoalbum.com/
October 20, 2008
The living quarters
My room is a tiny, cozy, and comfy place. I am on the 3rd floor. When you walk in you can see the huge clock tower out my screen door (I have a mini balcony) it really is a picturesque view I must admit! Immediately on my right is the bathroom. Everything in there is normal (I was worried I would have a squat toilet-most of the university bathroom stalls are those darn toilets in the ground like Japan, maybe its an Asia thing?) Continuing on, I have a shoe rack, various cubbie holes, drawers, a closet, full length mirror, TV, mini fridge, bed, desk, and a coffee table...you know all the standards...and yes, that my dear is a twin bed!
So take a look again and notice all those bare walls, I need some color...I need something that's for sure...perhaps you can send me some homemade drawings, sketches, postcards, pictures, and or posters...ah but that would entail you needing my mailing address...ok ok...I know I know...once I get it I will email it to you!
So take a look again and notice all those bare walls, I need some color...I need something that's for sure...perhaps you can send me some homemade drawings, sketches, postcards, pictures, and or posters...ah but that would entail you needing my mailing address...ok ok...I know I know...once I get it I will email it to you!
Bang Na Campus
Saturday (18.10.08) a few of us decided to take a walk and explore this beautiful campus. WOW! It is stunning. What do you think? The first three pictures are the view from my room. Nice, huh?
There are some pictures that were taken today (20.10.08) from our office on the 20th floor from the Cathedral of Learning Building. Can you see the rice fields?
There are some pictures that were taken today (20.10.08) from our office on the 20th floor from the Cathedral of Learning Building. Can you see the rice fields?
October 18, 2008
Tokyo Town backtrack
After a very long flight we (Lauren, Shannon and I) arrived in Narita International Airport in Japan. We took an express train to Itshburka where we proceeded to get lost trying to find our hotel. Why would we think that anything would be in English? We were looking for Sunshine Street, how difficult is that? Apparently for three American woman, very! We finally found our street and then our hotel. Talk about small. There were three twin size beds crammed in a small little cube of a room and the bathroom was compact to say the least - I wish I would have taken pictures to show.
Anyways we got settled, refreshed and decided to venture out and find some dinner. Ah dinner...starvation has set in, airplane food not so good. We wander from place to place staring at plastic pieces of food and finally decide on a small little corner joint that looked halfway decent. We walk in an are immediately greeted by this petite older woman saying "Konnichiwa". We get seated and are given these hot wet washcloth towels to clean our hands with followed by menus (which are all in Japanese). HA! The hostess woman speaks all of 5 English words none of which helped us order our dinner. Please take a moment and just imagine three American women miming what we would like to eat...and one of them making charades of "NO SEAFOOD" <---guess who that one was? We ended up with some egg dish (in one of the pictures)...oh and as you can see we had no problem ordering beer! And I somehow lucked out by getting some chicken noodle soup (in another picture). But the best part of the night was when we were leaving and the entire staff screams out "oyasumi nasai" meaning goodnight. It was at that moment when it hit me, Heidi you are not in Chicago anymore...you my dear are in Tokyo Japan...how fun!
The next morning since we are jet legged and awake at 5am we decide to head out to the Tsukiji fish market. This fish market is the largest in the world and in the '1000 places to see before you die book'. In order to get there we have to take the Tokyo subway system...lets just say "OYE"!!!! Fine we get there with minimal headaches. We weave in and out of the vendors and try to stay out of the way. Lauren and Shannon try free samples of fish. At one point they stopped and starred at this huge piece of tuna....from where I was standing it looked like a red raw piece of bloody fish. They both take bites and immediately tell me I have to try it. HA HA HA -guess they don't know me? Then Shannon has to say to me that "we are in the world's most famous fish market where this is the freshest fish in the world" dang you got me there. But um no. Just a tiny piece they protest and I cave. YES I gave in. I took the moment and seized it. Now it was a minuscule piece but it was raw tuna nonetheless...you can see from the picture how nervous I was to eat it. I thought I was going to gag! Perhaps its all mental and I will never eat it again but at least I tried raw tuna at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo Japan! 2 gold stars and a pat on the back for me!
From there we walk to the Hamarikyu Gardens...where you stroll through beautiful greenery and a sense of tranquility comes over you...that is until you go to the bathroom...umm it was a toilet in the ground. Now I would vote that I am an expert squatter from all those port-a-potty visits at festivals and my squatting during camping trips but this was just weird. But then back to the gorgeous scenery and the hole in the ground...what hole in the ground?
We continue on subway and all to Asakusa. A popular tourist spot. Where we walk through the Kaminari Gate, enter the Sensoji Temple, see the 5 story Pagoda, and walk the Nakamise shopping street. And guess what??? Its not even 1pm yet!!! We need a beer or two!
We make our way to a part of town called Shibuya and are in awe of the tide of people at 2 in the afternoon. This intersection has to be the busiest in the world, it was insane. We stand in amazement for a while watching the ebb and flow of this massive amount of people...where do they all come from? From Shibuya we head to Shinjuku for more walking, beer, sake and dinner. We walk, we drink, we ate...then we needed to sleep. We called it a night!
The next day we once again get up way too early and decide to walk around some more. We head back to Shinjuku and walk around during the daylight. We sneak up top of one of the "skyscrapers" to get an overview picture of Tokyo. I am not going to lie...I wanted to know if we could see Mt. Fuji from a tall building. But on this day the weather was too foggy and alas there was no sighting.
We head back to our hotel gather our belongings as we need to hightail it to the airport for our 2nd leg of this venture...the real reason we are out here...BANGKOK THAILAND!!! We get to the airport with time to spare. Lauren and Shannon want to head to a sushi restaurant one more time before we leave Tokyo...They order several kinds of sushi and once again try to convince me to try a piece. HA HA HA... okay fine the Narita rolls (conveniently named after the airport) has cucumber, wasabi, seaweed wrap, rice, little orange fish eggs, and shrimp. I agree to try it if they take out the shrimp...I dunk in soy sauce and eat. Once again I am not liking what I am eating. Look at that, twice in two days I tried raw something or another. And still I don't like it! But go me, A for effort!
Oh...p.s. Did you know that Tokyo is a candidate city for the 2016 Olympics just like Chicago?
Anyways we got settled, refreshed and decided to venture out and find some dinner. Ah dinner...starvation has set in, airplane food not so good. We wander from place to place staring at plastic pieces of food and finally decide on a small little corner joint that looked halfway decent. We walk in an are immediately greeted by this petite older woman saying "Konnichiwa". We get seated and are given these hot wet washcloth towels to clean our hands with followed by menus (which are all in Japanese). HA! The hostess woman speaks all of 5 English words none of which helped us order our dinner. Please take a moment and just imagine three American women miming what we would like to eat...and one of them making charades of "NO SEAFOOD" <---guess who that one was? We ended up with some egg dish (in one of the pictures)...oh and as you can see we had no problem ordering beer! And I somehow lucked out by getting some chicken noodle soup (in another picture). But the best part of the night was when we were leaving and the entire staff screams out "oyasumi nasai" meaning goodnight. It was at that moment when it hit me, Heidi you are not in Chicago anymore...you my dear are in Tokyo Japan...how fun!
The next morning since we are jet legged and awake at 5am we decide to head out to the Tsukiji fish market. This fish market is the largest in the world and in the '1000 places to see before you die book'. In order to get there we have to take the Tokyo subway system...lets just say "OYE"!!!! Fine we get there with minimal headaches. We weave in and out of the vendors and try to stay out of the way. Lauren and Shannon try free samples of fish. At one point they stopped and starred at this huge piece of tuna....from where I was standing it looked like a red raw piece of bloody fish. They both take bites and immediately tell me I have to try it. HA HA HA -guess they don't know me? Then Shannon has to say to me that "we are in the world's most famous fish market where this is the freshest fish in the world" dang you got me there. But um no. Just a tiny piece they protest and I cave. YES I gave in. I took the moment and seized it. Now it was a minuscule piece but it was raw tuna nonetheless...you can see from the picture how nervous I was to eat it. I thought I was going to gag! Perhaps its all mental and I will never eat it again but at least I tried raw tuna at the Tsukiji fish market in Tokyo Japan! 2 gold stars and a pat on the back for me!
From there we walk to the Hamarikyu Gardens...where you stroll through beautiful greenery and a sense of tranquility comes over you...that is until you go to the bathroom...umm it was a toilet in the ground. Now I would vote that I am an expert squatter from all those port-a-potty visits at festivals and my squatting during camping trips but this was just weird. But then back to the gorgeous scenery and the hole in the ground...what hole in the ground?
We continue on subway and all to Asakusa. A popular tourist spot. Where we walk through the Kaminari Gate, enter the Sensoji Temple, see the 5 story Pagoda, and walk the Nakamise shopping street. And guess what??? Its not even 1pm yet!!! We need a beer or two!
We make our way to a part of town called Shibuya and are in awe of the tide of people at 2 in the afternoon. This intersection has to be the busiest in the world, it was insane. We stand in amazement for a while watching the ebb and flow of this massive amount of people...where do they all come from? From Shibuya we head to Shinjuku for more walking, beer, sake and dinner. We walk, we drink, we ate...then we needed to sleep. We called it a night!
The next day we once again get up way too early and decide to walk around some more. We head back to Shinjuku and walk around during the daylight. We sneak up top of one of the "skyscrapers" to get an overview picture of Tokyo. I am not going to lie...I wanted to know if we could see Mt. Fuji from a tall building. But on this day the weather was too foggy and alas there was no sighting.
We head back to our hotel gather our belongings as we need to hightail it to the airport for our 2nd leg of this venture...the real reason we are out here...BANGKOK THAILAND!!! We get to the airport with time to spare. Lauren and Shannon want to head to a sushi restaurant one more time before we leave Tokyo...They order several kinds of sushi and once again try to convince me to try a piece. HA HA HA... okay fine the Narita rolls (conveniently named after the airport) has cucumber, wasabi, seaweed wrap, rice, little orange fish eggs, and shrimp. I agree to try it if they take out the shrimp...I dunk in soy sauce and eat. Once again I am not liking what I am eating. Look at that, twice in two days I tried raw something or another. And still I don't like it! But go me, A for effort!
Oh...p.s. Did you know that Tokyo is a candidate city for the 2016 Olympics just like Chicago?
Bang Na Thailand
Just letting you know I got to Assumption University safe and sound! Got in late last night. I currently dont have internet access in my room but once I do I will go back and tell you all the juicy details about Tokyo. Once I upload the pictures I will send them your way! Until then....peace!!!
P.S. IT'S HOT!!!
P.S. IT'S HOT!!!
October 16, 2008
Tokyo
Konichiwa-
I am here!!! We got here last night.
Flight was loooong but okay. We stored our luggage at the airport, took a train to Tokyo. It took us a few minutes (more like 20) of walking around but we finally found our hotel (nothing is in english why would I think it would be???). Its 6:30am here now and we are showering and heading to the Tsukiji Fish Market.
I am here!!! We got here last night.
Flight was loooong but okay. We stored our luggage at the airport, took a train to Tokyo. It took us a few minutes (more like 20) of walking around but we finally found our hotel (nothing is in english why would I think it would be???). Its 6:30am here now and we are showering and heading to the Tsukiji Fish Market.
October 14, 2008
One year!
So this is how one person packs for a year! Insane. I am leaving for the airport in about 30 minutes. AAAHH.
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