Sooo reports on the international vacations at last. I’ll go into the Hong Kong excursion first since it’s a bit more fresh in my memory, and Vietnam just had A LOT of things that happened which I can’t remember in sequence or day to save my life at the moment. Perhaps looking at pictures will help me remember! ANYWAY *pics to come*
Departure & Arrival in HK: Hilda, Debbie and I left Toyama via night bus Wednesday night on the 28th of April. As usual it didn’t land us in Osaka till the following morning. Then we took the train to Kansai airport and off we went (after some much deserved Starbucks and Subway) on our flight to HK. After the WORST FLIGHT KNOW TO MAN( so much turbulence on entry that we had to circle back four times towards the ocean in hopes for LESS turbulence to land in) we arrived to a rain sodden HK. This didn’t lift our spirits seeing that the forecast predicted rain for the entirety of our stay. Nevertheless we made it to our hostel in Fortress Hill and then went to a local restaurant to eat. The first meal choice was not supreme and because of the rain and my LACK of umbrella I managed to catch a cold the first night I was there. After dinner we made a night of it, and hit the sack early.
Day two: Ocean Park: So to our delight the day brought sun to our doorstep and with this we decided that today would be the best day for the amusement park. Ocean tends to be recommended over HK Disney. I don’t know why since we didn’t manage the opportunity to go to HK Disney. Nevertheless we arrived there and the park was situated with a wonderful ocean view true to its name. First things first we grabbed some lunch (which was surprisingly very tasty), then Hilda and Debbie to a ride on the rollercoaster. After that we grabbed some snacks and played a few games but unfortunately we all came up empty handed. Close by there was a small aquarium that we moseyed through while we were waiting for the dolphin show to start. When we went to the stage area for the show a mariachi band played before the performance, and one of the guys was eyeing my friend Hilda. It was quite amusing to watch them play eye tag back and forth during their performance. The dolphin show itself was cute. A show worth seeing but nothing overly spectacular, though the seals stole the show somewhat. The trainers would gave them high-fives and the “wink and finger” pose whenever they did a good job. Needless to say this action stuck with me and Hilda for the rest of our HK trip ^^. After the dolphin show it was onwards to watch the bird show (ok performance, but the birds were pretty!) and then to see the PANDAS! They were so cute ^^. The red pandas were adorable and spunky as well. The two Giant Pandas were busy eating their bamboo leaves. One even tried to take some from the others pile and that panda promptly got up took his food back and continued eating. It was too hilarious. The panda gift show was soo tempting but I managed to keep my hands in my pockets while I was there. Things were simply too expensive there and only being on day two of my trip I wasn’t willing to spend all my money in one place. Before leaving the park around six that evening we stopped to take pictures with some of the life size dragon models in the “How to train a Dragon” section of the park. I know a few people who would have quite enjoyed that part of the park. I was thinking of you guys when I was there ^^. By the end of my time there I was ready to head out. T’was a long and fun day and after I returned to our hostel area we grabbed food and everything else was of no particular importance. We hit the hay and it was onward to day three!
Day 3:The Night Market: Today was a slow start, which was good for me because I was sick, and getting a bit more sleep on my otherwise sleep deprivation antics on vacations. We decided to go to the other side of the island and look around. Before we took the short ferry ride to the other side we stopped and watched a Pilipino fashion show for a few minutes. When we got to the other side we hung around the cultural center to see if there were any free shows going on that day. There turned out to be nothing of note going on so we kind of just past the time talking and sitting around the building out of the beaming hot sun. I think this day was probably one of the hottest days of the entire trip. Finally we set off towards the night markets. They were quite far from the pier area and we passed tons of shopping areas. I completely understand why china is the number one consumer of name brand goods after being on the strip. Before the night markets we took a stop in this electronic store when I ended up getting talked into buying this James Bond pen. It writes and is also a 4gig memory stick that takes photos and video. I haven’t till this day fully figured it out but it was an interesting purchase, one I wouldn’t make again if I were to turn back time, but one I don’t mind all at the same time. When we finally reached the night market we decided to grab some food before we went shopping. Though once we were satiated it was time to bargain. I quite enjoyed the aspect of bargaining with the vendors, and I managed to get a few souvenir like items for my trouble. Most of the stalls sold some of the same things so it made it easier to still get what you wanted even if a certain vendor wouldn’t lower their goods down to an acceptable prize. All in all the experience was quite fun and there were so many people and foreigners there. It was crazy how well most people we met in HK could speak English. They must all have had GREAT ALT’s lol. They put the Japanese to shame as far as English speaking is concerned. When the three of us finally decided to call it a night my feet were on fire. We had shopped for seven long but fun hours.
Day 4:The Peak: Day four and my feet were still a bit bleh. Granted the next two days are a bit of a blur. I’m not sure if they happened on that said day or vice versa. So just saying the event should suffice. On this day we decided to check out the Botanical Park. I had no idea what kind of adventure I was in store for. It was hot as it always is in HK and the amount of stairs and hills I had to climb to reach this garden was insane. It doesn’t help that I am out of shape. However I think if it just wasn’t 90 degrees outside I might have faired a bit better. All the same we finally made it there and walked around in the park, Hilda and I still hot as all get out. There were a lot of animals in the park and I was particular entertained by the lemurs. I have no doubt that the love for them came mostly from the Madagascar movies. In fact when Hilda and I saw the Lemurs we (most appropriately I might add) began to sing the ‘I like to move it move it!” song. An for a few quick amazingly quick moments a few of the lemurs seemed to like it. It was a nice park but zoo like atmospheres can only keep me entertained for so long. So after an hour or so we made our way back down the hill taking mind to stop at the near by Starbucks for a well deserved frappuccino. Then it was back to the grind to find our way to the Peak lifts. When we got there the line was out of the building and up the street. I was sure we were going to be there for the rest of the day or perhaps not even make it to the lifts. We got inline anyway and thankfully the line moved fairly fast. However the whole time there were a bunch of Indian guys in front of us that was Starring at Hilda the WHOLE time. Its like damn she’s got some big boobs (and yes they are indeed great, but only for friends like moi! lol) By the time we made it to the lifts we managed to loose them on the way up to the peak.
The view on the lift to the Peak area was quite nice, and the incline up the mountain was nearly 90degrees. When we reached the top the lift let us out directly into the souvenir shop. I happened to buy a mirror in there and then met the others. The giant and quite cool building inside was basically and modern and quite high-end mall. Since we had no money for that or did we want to spend money on that we found a way to look outside at the view and take a few pictures. Then we went to the level area outside, sat and ate bagels we had picked up on the way down from the Botanical Gardens and just chilled out. It was nice to stop moving/standing and since night had fallen by this point it was no longer hot. We stayed up there for quite a while when we decided that it was time to find some real food. The ride back down took a quarter of the time and we made our way to this steak place called Ruth’s back at central. It was a really nice place and the waitresses English was impeccable. Once we looked at the menu we knew exactly why. The prizes for a hardy meal for one could have very well killed a day or twos spending money. Just to order a side of vegetable is was 75 HGD (Hong Kong dollars) which is roughly $10 American dollars just for a side of vegetables. In the end we decided we couldn’t afford to eat their so we left (oh my pride >.<;;). Instead we found a party of central that we had yet to see before. The streets were lined with restaurants and clubs/bars. We chose to eat at this Middle Eastern restaurant and the food there was quite scrumptious. Even though I did have my heart on steak I’m glad we had a chance to eat at that restaurant.
Thursday, May 27, 2010
Wednesday, May 26, 2010
Injuries and Opening Night!
Last weekend was a very long and extensive rehearsal for the charity show, and it was also the day I realized that there was something seriously wrong with my back. By the end of the night on my way home I could barely walk. This kind of pain has happened once before and it only lasted two days or so. To my continuing misfortunate that has not been the case. Sunday the 16th of May through the 20th I stayed home and didn’t go to work. I was taken to the hospital by one of my fellow Board of Education employees. I didn’t find out much except that I should lose 80kilos. If you are wondering, 80kilos is 176 pounds. So if I lost that much weight I’d be the size of a vanilla wafer. This experience has only strengthened my belief that Japanese closed mindedness to anything that isn’t Japanese and their medicine is quite useless if you are foreign. They simply just don’t know what to do or say to you. So I paid about 2man that visit and have a bunch of medicines that might as well be sugar pills for all they help. The two pluses about this week of none work and little to no movement is one; the fact that I don’t have to go into work and two; I managed to get a lot of art related projects done. I totally beefed up my DeviantArt page and am in the process of doing more art work soon.
On the 20th I did make it to our first dress rehearsal practice at the venue. I went down with Dee since he decided to drive. It saved me the hassle of getting there myself, money and the company was nice. Once there we all got dressed and didn’t manage to do anything but sit there in out costumes while we did a tech run. The most we had to do was stand in out respective spots during each scene then move when the next scene was ready to be plotted out. Since I am only in one scene for a decent length of time I didn’t have to do much standing which was nice. However I was far from being comfortable. Having a bad back and in a semi-corset and dress for four hours is not what I call fun. After the tech rehearsal a group of us went to a small Isakaiya and had dinner. It was yummy and it’s always nice to hang out with Toyama-ites. Finally when it was time to go home I managed to mess up my foot because there was a dip in the pavement and I tripped over it. Unlucky for me I had flip-flops on so there was nothing to block the impact of my foot from the pavement. There was a lot of blood. I tended it when I reached Alexis house (where I was to crash for the night) and then laid down. We talked for a good bit, and it was nice because I got to get to know her better and then we both passed the hell out.
Saturday the 22nd and the Big Day! Alexis and I woke up and what seemed like the crack of dawn, scrambled over to the konbini to grab some food and taxied over to the venue. This day was a LONG day. In costumes by nine-thirty and three runs of the play. Let’s say for the most part ALL the actors while in the dressing rooms had a wonderful time. We were all pissed when we were around sets. There was just too much tension going on. Our producer and Set leader were basically ready to slit each others throats so the Actors got the backlash from it. T’was not cool.
However before the show the cast sang a medley of Disney songs together and we were all much happier for it. Alexis who is allergic to a lot of things ended up having a small asthma attack because I sprayed a bit of perfume on myself. I had no idea it would make her react. Thankfully we had about twenty minutes before the show for her to breathe in some fresh air outside. She managed to compose herself and beasted in her parts during the play. I was back stage watching it and we were all so excited for each other. We all did a magnificent job. When it was my scene I was bit nervous and I think I might have even messed up one of my lines slightly. Thankfully though I pulled out my song and received the most applause for their song/scene than any other actor. It was incredible and I am truly honored to have been thought in such high standings. When the play ended we took our bows and we were all so happy. Dee and I were asked to hold donation buckets outside as the crowd was leaving. The other actors came out to greet the crowd as well. We managed some donations as well and we were asked to take pictures by the audience and other ALTs that came to see the show.
Around 9:00 I returned to the dressing room and changed back into street clothes. I had had my costume on for around twelve hours. A group of us went to grab some tasty milkshakes at Esqe-Café and then Dee and I made our way over to Banana Pop. There was supposed to be a gathering for people who all had a birthday recently. The main person was Michael our Charity Show advertisement leader. There were tons of people in the bar and I was there for two hours or so just mingling with people. Bryan and Rie were there as well to my surprise and I was happy to see them. I don’t see them too often these days but hopefully that will change in the near future. At least it was time to leave. I hopped into Dee’s car and off we went back to Kurobe. It was a overall good day but I was truly ready to go home.
On the 20th I did make it to our first dress rehearsal practice at the venue. I went down with Dee since he decided to drive. It saved me the hassle of getting there myself, money and the company was nice. Once there we all got dressed and didn’t manage to do anything but sit there in out costumes while we did a tech run. The most we had to do was stand in out respective spots during each scene then move when the next scene was ready to be plotted out. Since I am only in one scene for a decent length of time I didn’t have to do much standing which was nice. However I was far from being comfortable. Having a bad back and in a semi-corset and dress for four hours is not what I call fun. After the tech rehearsal a group of us went to a small Isakaiya and had dinner. It was yummy and it’s always nice to hang out with Toyama-ites. Finally when it was time to go home I managed to mess up my foot because there was a dip in the pavement and I tripped over it. Unlucky for me I had flip-flops on so there was nothing to block the impact of my foot from the pavement. There was a lot of blood. I tended it when I reached Alexis house (where I was to crash for the night) and then laid down. We talked for a good bit, and it was nice because I got to get to know her better and then we both passed the hell out.
Saturday the 22nd and the Big Day! Alexis and I woke up and what seemed like the crack of dawn, scrambled over to the konbini to grab some food and taxied over to the venue. This day was a LONG day. In costumes by nine-thirty and three runs of the play. Let’s say for the most part ALL the actors while in the dressing rooms had a wonderful time. We were all pissed when we were around sets. There was just too much tension going on. Our producer and Set leader were basically ready to slit each others throats so the Actors got the backlash from it. T’was not cool.
However before the show the cast sang a medley of Disney songs together and we were all much happier for it. Alexis who is allergic to a lot of things ended up having a small asthma attack because I sprayed a bit of perfume on myself. I had no idea it would make her react. Thankfully we had about twenty minutes before the show for her to breathe in some fresh air outside. She managed to compose herself and beasted in her parts during the play. I was back stage watching it and we were all so excited for each other. We all did a magnificent job. When it was my scene I was bit nervous and I think I might have even messed up one of my lines slightly. Thankfully though I pulled out my song and received the most applause for their song/scene than any other actor. It was incredible and I am truly honored to have been thought in such high standings. When the play ended we took our bows and we were all so happy. Dee and I were asked to hold donation buckets outside as the crowd was leaving. The other actors came out to greet the crowd as well. We managed some donations as well and we were asked to take pictures by the audience and other ALTs that came to see the show. Around 9:00 I returned to the dressing room and changed back into street clothes. I had had my costume on for around twelve hours. A group of us went to grab some tasty milkshakes at Esqe-Café and then Dee and I made our way over to Banana Pop. There was supposed to be a gathering for people who all had a birthday recently. The main person was Michael our Charity Show advertisement leader. There were tons of people in the bar and I was there for two hours or so just mingling with people. Bryan and Rie were there as well to my surprise and I was happy to see them. I don’t see them too often these days but hopefully that will change in the near future. At least it was time to leave. I hopped into Dee’s car and off we went back to Kurobe. It was a overall good day but I was truly ready to go home.
MY XXIV BIRTHDAY BASH!
This has been a whirlwind of a last few weeks, and finally I make it to my long awaited birthday. I had just returned from Hong Kong the day before and spent most of the night and that following morning adjusting/making my costume and fashioning a play list to dance to at the party that night. Surprisingly I was woken up by a ring of my doorbell at 9:30 am. I ignored it the first three rings thinking it was some kind of advertising guy trying to sell me a new internet plan or sell me the newspaper. I was surprised when I finally (grumbling) got out of bed and answered the door Enrique was standing there. I asked him what he was doing at my house at this time of the morning, and he told me “Happy Birthday” and presented me with a present. I told him he didn’t have to go through any trouble especially since I don’t know him all that well. He responded saying that he enjoys celebrating people’s birthdays, and with that he left. Instead of opening the gift right away I put it on the table and went back to sleep for an hour or two.
When I finally woke up again the first thing I did after regaining most of my vision and answering the calls to nature I opened the present. To my total surprise I was starting at a new Pen and Touch Comic Wacom tablet. I looked up the retail value of these tablets and it was somewhere around two hundred dollars. I literally sat there and starred at it for five minutes. It was such an amazing and personal gift that I’m not sure how he pulled it off, and to this day I have yet to take it out the box. I just say its so pretty and place it back in its wrapping.
After that I spent the entirety of the rest of my day making the final changes on my costume, packing to get ready for the following days’ dress/makeup rehearsal for the play. I managed to get in some talking time with friends on Skype while doing this. Around six in the evening I had my shower done and I was dressed and finishing up my playlist when my MP3 player decided it was time to die. Of course this couldn’t have come at any worse time, so I rushed upstairs and borrowed Dee’s IPod. I managed to get as many songs as I could on there in the time frame I had and then rushed out of my apartment in a panic. I had missed my train so my only other option was to drive there. So pedal to the metal I went down route 8 towards Toyama all the while managing to put make up on my face in the process. Of course the end result wasn’t my best work but it would do considering my restricted time frame. SO! I made it to Toyama ( driving for the first time which could have been a disaster since I had no phone to contact anyone if I got lost) parked at Vannies and had will take me to Ajito (the place where my party was being held) and drive my car back to the Apartment since he still had time before he’d himself join the party. So amazingly even though I managed to get to my own party fifteen minutes late I was still the first person there (of those I invited) and was able to set up the music and other materials for the reminder of the night. So the rest of the night is mostly history.
Slowly but surely people began to show up. Trevor and his axe of awesome came and truly represented his Ares God of War motif. Then again Trevor is a rather talented guy. Tina showed with her boyfriend Hercules and was dressed herself as Persephone. Then not too far after that Jarred, Salvador, Nicole and Ryan, Mallory and others showed. There were several people dressed as normal roman citizens (aka a simple white Toga) and others went all out. My love Tiffany came as the dreaded Medusa, while my friend Shawn came as Apollo (which was sooo convenient since I went as Artemis) so we claimed family ties of awesomeness for the remainder of the night. So dancing commenced and fun times ensued.
Around ten or so it was time to cut the cake, and OMG what a cake. Tiffany surpassed my wildest expectations. I had only ever seen her cake decorating skills once before for her own birthday when she made a Mario cake. So I had no idea what she was going to do with my Roman themed cake. SO with that everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and then Tiff gave a small speech about me. She didn’t have to do that but it was really nice of her. She said I was one of the coolest people that has come to Toyama so it meant a lot to me. Applause ensued and cake cutting commenced and cake eating followed suit, and damn if it wasn’t a delicious cake. It is so rare when a cake looks awesome and tastes just as good.
Once everyone was full with cake (I got two slices!) it was time for the Roman Quiz I had prepared earlier that day. Nicole, Rachel, Trevor, Shawn and Will participated in the quiz while others watched and some relaxed and talked amongst themselves. It was quite amusing since Ryan was taking score and providing commentary and while the contestants either cursed themselves for not knowing an answer or fist pumped because they did. The quiz was a total of twenty-three questions and the winner turned out to be Nicole followed by Will and last but not least Trevor. However I was impressed with Shawn’s knowledge on the subject which in turn just makes him even more of an awesome dude lawl. When the quiz was over and the prizes were handed out the music came back on. For the rest of the night there was dancing, and from what I could tell people were having a good time. Lots of pictures were taken though I haven’t seen much evidence of the night. I was a bit disappointed because some ppl who I just knew were going to be there didn’t show, but for everyone that did was truly grateful and happy about it. Even Nobuki, Asano, Wagner, and Marianna came and it was so nice to see them. I do really enjoy hanging out with them. I consider Nobuki and Asano part of my Brazilian friend group even thought they are clearly Japanese! I wish Evelyn could have come but she is partying it up in Brazil as we speak. I’m going to have to visit her sooner than later! The party didn’t officially end till I walked out of the place around 1:30am. A group of us went to the konbini since we were thirsty and a koban kuruma ( police car) came by stopped and starred at us until we dispersed. I’m sure it looked interesting. Having a group of about ten foreigners (some Japanese) people drinking soda dressed in Roman Regalia looked a bit out of place! But we didn’t care. I just waved at them and went on my merry now 24 way.
When I finally woke up again the first thing I did after regaining most of my vision and answering the calls to nature I opened the present. To my total surprise I was starting at a new Pen and Touch Comic Wacom tablet. I looked up the retail value of these tablets and it was somewhere around two hundred dollars. I literally sat there and starred at it for five minutes. It was such an amazing and personal gift that I’m not sure how he pulled it off, and to this day I have yet to take it out the box. I just say its so pretty and place it back in its wrapping.
After that I spent the entirety of the rest of my day making the final changes on my costume, packing to get ready for the following days’ dress/makeup rehearsal for the play. I managed to get in some talking time with friends on Skype while doing this. Around six in the evening I had my shower done and I was dressed and finishing up my playlist when my MP3 player decided it was time to die. Of course this couldn’t have come at any worse time, so I rushed upstairs and borrowed Dee’s IPod. I managed to get as many songs as I could on there in the time frame I had and then rushed out of my apartment in a panic. I had missed my train so my only other option was to drive there. So pedal to the metal I went down route 8 towards Toyama all the while managing to put make up on my face in the process. Of course the end result wasn’t my best work but it would do considering my restricted time frame. SO! I made it to Toyama ( driving for the first time which could have been a disaster since I had no phone to contact anyone if I got lost) parked at Vannies and had will take me to Ajito (the place where my party was being held) and drive my car back to the Apartment since he still had time before he’d himself join the party. So amazingly even though I managed to get to my own party fifteen minutes late I was still the first person there (of those I invited) and was able to set up the music and other materials for the reminder of the night. So the rest of the night is mostly history.
Slowly but surely people began to show up. Trevor and his axe of awesome came and truly represented his Ares God of War motif. Then again Trevor is a rather talented guy. Tina showed with her boyfriend Hercules and was dressed herself as Persephone. Then not too far after that Jarred, Salvador, Nicole and Ryan, Mallory and others showed. There were several people dressed as normal roman citizens (aka a simple white Toga) and others went all out. My love Tiffany came as the dreaded Medusa, while my friend Shawn came as Apollo (which was sooo convenient since I went as Artemis) so we claimed family ties of awesomeness for the remainder of the night. So dancing commenced and fun times ensued.
Around ten or so it was time to cut the cake, and OMG what a cake. Tiffany surpassed my wildest expectations. I had only ever seen her cake decorating skills once before for her own birthday when she made a Mario cake. So I had no idea what she was going to do with my Roman themed cake. SO with that everyone sang Happy Birthday to me and then Tiff gave a small speech about me. She didn’t have to do that but it was really nice of her. She said I was one of the coolest people that has come to Toyama so it meant a lot to me. Applause ensued and cake cutting commenced and cake eating followed suit, and damn if it wasn’t a delicious cake. It is so rare when a cake looks awesome and tastes just as good. Once everyone was full with cake (I got two slices!) it was time for the Roman Quiz I had prepared earlier that day. Nicole, Rachel, Trevor, Shawn and Will participated in the quiz while others watched and some relaxed and talked amongst themselves. It was quite amusing since Ryan was taking score and providing commentary and while the contestants either cursed themselves for not knowing an answer or fist pumped because they did. The quiz was a total of twenty-three questions and the winner turned out to be Nicole followed by Will and last but not least Trevor. However I was impressed with Shawn’s knowledge on the subject which in turn just makes him even more of an awesome dude lawl. When the quiz was over and the prizes were handed out the music came back on. For the rest of the night there was dancing, and from what I could tell people were having a good time. Lots of pictures were taken though I haven’t seen much evidence of the night. I was a bit disappointed because some ppl who I just knew were going to be there didn’t show, but for everyone that did was truly grateful and happy about it. Even Nobuki, Asano, Wagner, and Marianna came and it was so nice to see them. I do really enjoy hanging out with them. I consider Nobuki and Asano part of my Brazilian friend group even thought they are clearly Japanese! I wish Evelyn could have come but she is partying it up in Brazil as we speak. I’m going to have to visit her sooner than later! The party didn’t officially end till I walked out of the place around 1:30am. A group of us went to the konbini since we were thirsty and a koban kuruma ( police car) came by stopped and starred at us until we dispersed. I’m sure it looked interesting. Having a group of about ten foreigners (some Japanese) people drinking soda dressed in Roman Regalia looked a bit out of place! But we didn’t care. I just waved at them and went on my merry now 24 way.
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