Well I have managed to be here in Japan nearly one year now. It's hard to believe that it's been that long already. When it all started time was going so slowly, and then I decided to get into EVERYTHING and now I never have time. Heh, that's how things go I guess. However lately despite the good times the world has been kicking me pretty hard. I want to say the ball started rolling towards then end of March when my Iphone was stolen till now when I am unsure I will be able to get a Jap License based on a rather stupid stipulation. I think I've just hit my limit of bad things to the point where I can't hide my weary anymore. On top with the longest (I would like a significant other) stint in my twenty-four years of life, things can get a bit complicated. It's pretty crazy. I cry at every movie that has a touching ending. Not balling or anything but misty eyed. I get pissed at Japans attempts to make me feel bad for being black even when these "attempts" aren't direct.
From the sound of it, it makes it seem like my year was rather sour which couldn't be further from the truth. I've had a hell of a year and my experiences have been fantastic. Hence why I’ve probably waited till now to actually whine/dwell about the bad things that’ve happened. However I feel that I should lay out a Positives/Achievements vs. Negatives/Failures list to see what I've done.
Positives/Achievements
Lead Role as Yamamba for the Charity Shows 20th performance the “Idol of Oz”
Created the Tickets for the Charity Show
Helped with Costume Design for the Charity Show
Advanced my make-up ability being the Lead Make-up artist for the Charity Show and for Van’s Fashion Show, MASQUED.
Traveled to three countries outside of Japan; Vietnam, Thailand, and Hong Kong China
ENJOYED teaching my students, especially my Chuo and Koshino kids.
Made good friends
Attempted relationships
Gained a measure of Fame with the JET and Japanese communities
Improved my Art skills and maintained moderate frequency in creating it.
Had NO drama with JETS.
Maintained most of Lent
Went to other parts of Japan; Sapporo, Osaka, Tokyo.
Watched a SUMO tournament
Went to the (biggest) Yuki Matsuri (snow festival) in Japan.
Learned to eat food I thought I’d never eat. Ex: Squid, Quail Eggs, Seaweed etc…
Started sewing ( bought a machine.. need to actually use it! Heh)
If there are more please help me list them. I’d like to make a note of it to myself.
Negatives/Failures
Didn’t loose any weight really. Maybe a few pounds here or there
Had my Iphone Stolen in Vietnam
Had bronchitis during Silver Week
Back went out for about two weeks
Vietnam Visa flop
Jap License dilemma (on going)
Didn’t save at least 5k this year.
Didn’t learn much Japanese
Did not climb Mt. Tateyama
Lost my house key (on going dilemma)
Haven’t been devoted enough
Accepted that in Japan I’m always going to be the “best-friend” and never the Girlfriend.
I should be writing more but I am at work and actually pretty sleepy T_T Laterz!
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Thursday, June 24, 2010
Movie Night & MASQUED!
*This post will be a summary of my last two weekends since I simply don’t feel like writing them in separate posts. *
June 11th-13th
Friday June 11th was a normal Friday but Adam, Lawrence, Christine and I were to eat at Pizza Jam before we went to play poker at Bryans place. Unfortunately Pizza Jam was closed (which is horribly odd for a Friday) and we resorted to eating at Gustos where Saiyuri meet up with us. After that Christine decided to go home and Saiyuri and I headed over to Bryans. Zack and Diku ended up making an appearance and so it was an eight player group for poker. Of course this eliminated quite a few games we could play since most games require that you have no more than seven players. Nevertheless it was a night of poker and on the TV FIFA world cup was playing. I have never been one for soccer but since I am in a country where soccer is pretty important and I have quite a few European friends the world cup is serious business. The game is interesting enough during world cup time so it was an overall “guys” Friday night. Poker lasted till around one in the morning and with that I drove home and hit the hay.
The following morning (12th) I woke up and made my way to Toyama to practice at the venue with my group. We needed to practice the skit they were to perform for the show. It was a pretty quick practice. It lasted no longer than an hour and then we were off our separated ways. This was good because I needed to go home and prepare my dish for Movie Night that started at Christine’s place at six. I ended up preparing fried potatoes as my dish since I recently just learned or (attempted is more the right word) to make them like my mom, and I have to say I did a darn good job. After I drove to Uozu I managed to get fairly lost trying to find her house on foot. I was this close to turning around and going home but finally I found it (thirty minutes later) and went in. Thankfully everyone adhered to the “not everyone brink desserts” rule and ended up with one or two desserts but several dishes of food to eat. Everything was good and people really liked the potatoes so I was glad. We had basically eaten before we started watching movies. It was decided that we would watch Kick Ass, which was a pretty decent movie. It was far more raw than I thought it would be and the amount of gore was impressive considering that Kick Ass is somewhat a Super Hero Parody. I would also like to say that no little girl should be able to do that. O.o After that movie we kinda just chilled out, a few of us went over to Ally’s to chat and then back to Christine’s. It wasn’t long after that, when I decided to drive home. It was an all together good weekend.
July 18th-20th
This Friday I want to say that I did something be in all honesty if I did, what I did escapes me ^^; All I know is I prepared my make-up, clothes and sketches to leave early the following morning to Toyama for the Fashion Show preparation that day. I ended up not landing much sleep because of an impromptu conversation with Trevor till 3am in the morning. I managed to make it to Toyama and after a while of waiting and two missed tram opportunities to the venue I was picked up and taken to Mau Fine Arts where the fashion show was to be held. Once I arrived I helped to set up a bit but most of my work really didn’t kick in until we started doing skit and run way walks. We got the models in their corsets and vests after practicing that morning and had a full run. Vannie was there to watch the first run and I took it upon myself to do a second run of the show because there was some fine tuning to be done with the skits and such. Once the second run was over most everyone went and acquired some kind of dinner and or lunch or simply just left for a while. I didn’t have much of an appetite and even when I was hungry I was too busy to really eat. So I just sat around and did nothing when I could.
Finally about two and a half hours before the show we began putting makeup on the models, fixing hair and dressing them in their corsets and vests. It was truly and hectic few hours and there were several break downs. Thankfully everyone got it together, I didn’t go crazy and everything that needed to be done was done (for the models anyway) Vannie and I hurried to get dressed in something decent (I looked a hot mess in my opinion) and waited for the show to start. Thankfully the show went well and the crowd seemed to like it. Once the last skit was over Vannie and I ran out waving crazy at the camera. The runway walk through the two bottom floors went well to as we followed the models waving and thanking the audience. When it was ALL OVER the models posed on the stage and then mingled with the crowd. I did as well and was trying not to die from heat. It was a job well done, but I was tired, and really tense for some reason. A few Japanese woman came up to me and told me how nice they thought the make-up was and then made the “oh wait Ive seen you before” face and asked if I was in the Play. I told them I was Yamamba and they freaked out and were really excited. They asked to take another picture with me as the Make Up designer of the Fashion Show. They wanted to have pictures of that as well as the pictures they took with me at the Play. It was really sweet of them. Made me happy that they thought I did a good job. As the party went on things were ok till around 11:30 or so when there was some serious rifts between the owner and some models. He cursed one of them out for one reason or another and it just started a snow ball effect of tense conversations and us ultimately having to leave the venue three plus hours early. As a result to this debacle people were extremely upset, sad, pissed, and tired. It was a little more than crazy. Sara moved the party to Ajito where I went later after packing things up. I spent another two plus hours there dancing and such, but in truth I was just exhausted the whole time. I was just spent for that day. I was happy to then drive home in Lawrence’s car because he had drank. Either way it got me home to be in my bed, in my apartment in peace and quiet. My head hit the pillow at five am Sunday morning and I didn’t leave my bed again till five pm that evening.
June 11th-13th
Friday June 11th was a normal Friday but Adam, Lawrence, Christine and I were to eat at Pizza Jam before we went to play poker at Bryans place. Unfortunately Pizza Jam was closed (which is horribly odd for a Friday) and we resorted to eating at Gustos where Saiyuri meet up with us. After that Christine decided to go home and Saiyuri and I headed over to Bryans. Zack and Diku ended up making an appearance and so it was an eight player group for poker. Of course this eliminated quite a few games we could play since most games require that you have no more than seven players. Nevertheless it was a night of poker and on the TV FIFA world cup was playing. I have never been one for soccer but since I am in a country where soccer is pretty important and I have quite a few European friends the world cup is serious business. The game is interesting enough during world cup time so it was an overall “guys” Friday night. Poker lasted till around one in the morning and with that I drove home and hit the hay.
The following morning (12th) I woke up and made my way to Toyama to practice at the venue with my group. We needed to practice the skit they were to perform for the show. It was a pretty quick practice. It lasted no longer than an hour and then we were off our separated ways. This was good because I needed to go home and prepare my dish for Movie Night that started at Christine’s place at six. I ended up preparing fried potatoes as my dish since I recently just learned or (attempted is more the right word) to make them like my mom, and I have to say I did a darn good job. After I drove to Uozu I managed to get fairly lost trying to find her house on foot. I was this close to turning around and going home but finally I found it (thirty minutes later) and went in. Thankfully everyone adhered to the “not everyone brink desserts” rule and ended up with one or two desserts but several dishes of food to eat. Everything was good and people really liked the potatoes so I was glad. We had basically eaten before we started watching movies. It was decided that we would watch Kick Ass, which was a pretty decent movie. It was far more raw than I thought it would be and the amount of gore was impressive considering that Kick Ass is somewhat a Super Hero Parody. I would also like to say that no little girl should be able to do that. O.o After that movie we kinda just chilled out, a few of us went over to Ally’s to chat and then back to Christine’s. It wasn’t long after that, when I decided to drive home. It was an all together good weekend.
July 18th-20th
This Friday I want to say that I did something be in all honesty if I did, what I did escapes me ^^; All I know is I prepared my make-up, clothes and sketches to leave early the following morning to Toyama for the Fashion Show preparation that day. I ended up not landing much sleep because of an impromptu conversation with Trevor till 3am in the morning. I managed to make it to Toyama and after a while of waiting and two missed tram opportunities to the venue I was picked up and taken to Mau Fine Arts where the fashion show was to be held. Once I arrived I helped to set up a bit but most of my work really didn’t kick in until we started doing skit and run way walks. We got the models in their corsets and vests after practicing that morning and had a full run. Vannie was there to watch the first run and I took it upon myself to do a second run of the show because there was some fine tuning to be done with the skits and such. Once the second run was over most everyone went and acquired some kind of dinner and or lunch or simply just left for a while. I didn’t have much of an appetite and even when I was hungry I was too busy to really eat. So I just sat around and did nothing when I could.
Finally about two and a half hours before the show we began putting makeup on the models, fixing hair and dressing them in their corsets and vests. It was truly and hectic few hours and there were several break downs. Thankfully everyone got it together, I didn’t go crazy and everything that needed to be done was done (for the models anyway) Vannie and I hurried to get dressed in something decent (I looked a hot mess in my opinion) and waited for the show to start. Thankfully the show went well and the crowd seemed to like it. Once the last skit was over Vannie and I ran out waving crazy at the camera. The runway walk through the two bottom floors went well to as we followed the models waving and thanking the audience. When it was ALL OVER the models posed on the stage and then mingled with the crowd. I did as well and was trying not to die from heat. It was a job well done, but I was tired, and really tense for some reason. A few Japanese woman came up to me and told me how nice they thought the make-up was and then made the “oh wait Ive seen you before” face and asked if I was in the Play. I told them I was Yamamba and they freaked out and were really excited. They asked to take another picture with me as the Make Up designer of the Fashion Show. They wanted to have pictures of that as well as the pictures they took with me at the Play. It was really sweet of them. Made me happy that they thought I did a good job. As the party went on things were ok till around 11:30 or so when there was some serious rifts between the owner and some models. He cursed one of them out for one reason or another and it just started a snow ball effect of tense conversations and us ultimately having to leave the venue three plus hours early. As a result to this debacle people were extremely upset, sad, pissed, and tired. It was a little more than crazy. Sara moved the party to Ajito where I went later after packing things up. I spent another two plus hours there dancing and such, but in truth I was just exhausted the whole time. I was just spent for that day. I was happy to then drive home in Lawrence’s car because he had drank. Either way it got me home to be in my bed, in my apartment in peace and quiet. My head hit the pillow at five am Sunday morning and I didn’t leave my bed again till five pm that evening.
Monday, June 21, 2010
Closing Night!
Considering I’m writing this two/three weeks after it happened the details of the week are pretty sketchy. However it all ended up leading to that Fridays (4th of June) trip to Takaoka to prepare for Saturdays final shows. The ride up was enjoyable mainly because Niikawa members of the play were all on the same train. The one bad point about this is that I left my sketch book on the train because I was talking with people. As far as I know there wasn’t anything of much note in the sketch book except a Soul Eater drawing I had finished just before leaving work that day. Nevertheless I got there and had a tech run that night in costume. At the end of the night ( I was tired as balls) went to the Brazilian restaurant to eat. It was delicious as always and I am always happy to eat real cow when I have the chance. ^^ After that I camped out at Nicole and Ryan’s place for the night.
Saturday June 5th: The following morning I woke up early to catch the tram to the venue at eight in the morning. I met a few friends at the station and proceeded to tell them about a dream I had that involved most if not all the charity show (play) members. The got a real kick out of it, and it carried all the way to the dressing room where I informed everyone about their roles played in my dream. It was a running joke for the rest of the day. ^^ As usual the dress rehearsals were long but needed and we all ate our fill of Mc Donalds. The sheer amount of cast members that bought food there is quite hilarious. Fast food is truly the best when your stressed out and over-worked and want something quick, salty and greasy! When it was time for the first show we were a bit nervous but it all worked out. I said all my lines perfectly and sung my song. However the second performance at night who had more ppl I messed up one of my lines again, but once again no one noticed. I must be really good at hiding my f’ups hehe. However when it was time to go out and greet the audience as they were leaving the venue, I couldn’t have received more compliments whether it be on makeup or my singing voice or my costume (which the lovely Van made). A lot of people also mentioned that the felt I didn’t have enough time in the play and that they wanted to see more of my character. It was really flattering. I was also asked about next year’s play (which I haven’t even thought about joining really) and if told to pursue acting as a career O.o It was crazy hehe.
After the show we cleared out and I went to have dinner at Gustos before getting ready and heading to Clover Hall where the after party was being held. The after party was indeed and interesting venture. I danced a lot, people called me gorgeous because I decided to curl my hair a little. In fact people straight up didn’t recognize me which was weird in and of itself. It was a good time and people got pretty wasted. I had maybe two drinks and didn’t have anything even resembling a buzz. That was ok though. It’s interesting however to note that I think I might just drink less there then I did when I had parties in the states. I don’t know how that happened. O.o
Nevertheless the party didn’t end till 4am in the morning and Ryan, Nicole and I walked zombified back to their place where we crashed HARD.
The following morning though I was tired as balls I work up around twelve to gather my stuff to meet at Café skew for the Fashion show meeting.. The meeting lasted quite a while but we managed to get buffet lunch at the Brazilian restaurant, and having good food like that makes having long meetings far more bearable. It wasn’t till around six o’clock, a trip to the fabric store, and picking up my things did I get a ride with Everson back to Toyama along with Vannie. From there Vannie waited with me for my train and we managed to have some time together when we weren’t talking about something that was business related. It was nice and we both acknowledge how good it was. FINALLY I made it home that weekend and honestly once I did I have no clue what I did the rest of the night. LOL
Saturday June 5th: The following morning I woke up early to catch the tram to the venue at eight in the morning. I met a few friends at the station and proceeded to tell them about a dream I had that involved most if not all the charity show (play) members. The got a real kick out of it, and it carried all the way to the dressing room where I informed everyone about their roles played in my dream. It was a running joke for the rest of the day. ^^ As usual the dress rehearsals were long but needed and we all ate our fill of Mc Donalds. The sheer amount of cast members that bought food there is quite hilarious. Fast food is truly the best when your stressed out and over-worked and want something quick, salty and greasy! When it was time for the first show we were a bit nervous but it all worked out. I said all my lines perfectly and sung my song. However the second performance at night who had more ppl I messed up one of my lines again, but once again no one noticed. I must be really good at hiding my f’ups hehe. However when it was time to go out and greet the audience as they were leaving the venue, I couldn’t have received more compliments whether it be on makeup or my singing voice or my costume (which the lovely Van made). A lot of people also mentioned that the felt I didn’t have enough time in the play and that they wanted to see more of my character. It was really flattering. I was also asked about next year’s play (which I haven’t even thought about joining really) and if told to pursue acting as a career O.o It was crazy hehe.
After the show we cleared out and I went to have dinner at Gustos before getting ready and heading to Clover Hall where the after party was being held. The after party was indeed and interesting venture. I danced a lot, people called me gorgeous because I decided to curl my hair a little. In fact people straight up didn’t recognize me which was weird in and of itself. It was a good time and people got pretty wasted. I had maybe two drinks and didn’t have anything even resembling a buzz. That was ok though. It’s interesting however to note that I think I might just drink less there then I did when I had parties in the states. I don’t know how that happened. O.o
Nevertheless the party didn’t end till 4am in the morning and Ryan, Nicole and I walked zombified back to their place where we crashed HARD.
The following morning though I was tired as balls I work up around twelve to gather my stuff to meet at Café skew for the Fashion show meeting.. The meeting lasted quite a while but we managed to get buffet lunch at the Brazilian restaurant, and having good food like that makes having long meetings far more bearable. It wasn’t till around six o’clock, a trip to the fabric store, and picking up my things did I get a ride with Everson back to Toyama along with Vannie. From there Vannie waited with me for my train and we managed to have some time together when we weren’t talking about something that was business related. It was nice and we both acknowledge how good it was. FINALLY I made it home that weekend and honestly once I did I have no clue what I did the rest of the night. LOL
Hong Kong Trip: Part 2
Day 5: Lantau Island: Waking up early the three of us took the tram to central and took the ferry ride to Lantau Island. It was a nice ride though I was half conscious during most of it. When we arrived and got off the ferry we took in the sights. It was quite a pretty little island. It was also hot as all balls as well. So we leisurely walked down to the beach area and took refuge at a table under a tree on the beach. At first Hilda and I sat and chatted an just enjoyed relaxing while Debbie went off and played on the beach. It was amusing to watch her. Hilda and I both commented on the about of genki that girl had and that I could not remember a time where I was just super genki for no reason. After an hour she came back to the table where we were sitting and asked if we wanted to go play with her. Since I was younger Hilda said it was my job to go. Laughing, I rolled up my pants legs and took a stroll down the beach with Debbie. We came to a place at the end where there was a pretty rock mass and both her and I took several pictures there. My pants got soaked all the way to the upper thigh but it was cool so it was nice. After that we returned to Hilda and Debbie took a rest while I took pics of Hilda on the beach. We attempted jump pictures as well and they turned out “interesting” lol.
Once we had enough of the beach we decided to take the bus to the Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha) site. Before we left however we had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was truly pleasant and the food was good as well. The bus ride to the Buddha site took much longer than I expected, but the view was absolutely beautiful. When we reached the site we had a good number of stairs to climb before we reached the top of the hill where the monument was. The Tian Tan Buddha was the largest bronze Buddha erected until recently weighing in at 250 metric tons. Us visitors also had the privilege of climbing 268 steps to get to the base. I felt every one of those steps. God I’m out of shape lol It was worth it though. If I were to have a rocky moment that moment would have been it haha.
The view was really nice from the top of the hill and many pictures were taken. Unfortunately there might not be any evidence of these events because Hilda’s camera (the one person who had a camera on this tour really) SD card got messed up. So in the end she might not be able to retrieve her photos. *crosses fingers in hopes she does* While up there I ended up purchasing a jade flower necklace from inside the shop at the base of the Buddha. In truth I think we stayed up there as long as we did simply because it took so much effort to get up there el oh el. When we finally did leave we went over to this gold(or at least it looked like gold) palace where entered, looked around for a short time in then just sat in the court yard talking and enjoying the shade. It was pretty late in the day by this point and being high up we managed a decent breeze. At one point I would have even deemed it chilly. The turning back point was the sun beginning to set. So we started the journey back to Hong Kong Island for the night.
Macau: Well today was an exciting day, not only because we were going to another island, but also because traveling to Macau requires you to have a passport, THUS getting another passport stamp. For some reason, the three of us are very anxious and excited to get a passport stamp. In reality after this Christmas I might need a new passport. Customs don’t go about stamping your passports neatly so there are things all over the place, and thus there was no effort in saving space. That and the stupid Vietnam visa that didn’t work *grumble* ANYWAY out to central and another ferry for the trip to Macau. Macau is known for its Pilipino influence as well as its reputation of being mini-Vegas. After we passed into Macau we were bombarded with people trying to get us to go to their hotels.
We decided that we would try the MGM hotel first since it looked like it had some interesting things to see. Once inside I knew why they called Macau the mini-Vegas. Before entering other hotels later it was the most elegant and filthy rich hotel I had EVER been in. I could just feel my wallet crying just for standing in the lobby. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures with the zodiac replicas they made out of flowers that filled the inner mall at the MGM. We also watched the fountain display in front of the Wynn hotel before we went back to the MGM lobby to watch the dragon dancers. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a show, but when the two dancers who wore the dragon costume came on it was pure awesomeness. It was completely worth every minute I spent watching it, and besides being cool to watch it was also FREE yatta! After this we decided to head toward St. Peters (I think) arch ruins. It was a long and tasty walk. Once we got around the general area there were tons of street venders selling sweets and procured/multi-seasoned meats. We grabbed a few samples on the way to the ruins. There, we sat and chatted a while. There wasn’t much too see. It was a huge arch, but nothing compared to the architectural genius I’ve seen in France and Rome. Once we decided to head back we were on the look out to find another heritage site. A Historical Church that I can’t quite recall the name of. The fun part was stopping and tasting nearly every available sample as we walked down the street of venders and shops. It was quite yummy and both Hilda and Debbie ended up buying something. The church was also not that impressive, or at least not anymore impressive than my own church in the states, but because of it’s history it was worth a look. After that it was relax time in the square. The three of us sat on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard of the main streets. There we simply talked and goofed off for a few hours, enjoying the breeze and each other. When it became a bit dark we decided to walk back to the hotels and there we did much of the same, sitting outside talking and enjoying the night. It was so cool to see all the casinos light up and people watch. I quite liked Macau .
The last full day in Hong Kong we decided to look around at museums. We went to the art museum and the science and space museum. They were both interesting though museums at large don’t do too much for entertainment. However I do like museums depending on what type of art I’m looking at and if I just learned about what I am seeing. This was the focus of the day until the evening when I was supposed to meet up with my friend Lydia( whom I was trying to hook up with all week). Unfortunately we got the museums mixed up and I ended up missing her. It was really sad cause I don’t know the next time I’ll be in Hong Kong or when she will visit Japan. After some serious frustration and brooding on my part I watched the Symphony of lights with the others ( it was alright, but nothing of what I expected it to be) and then made our way back to the night markets on the other side of the island to do some last minute shopping. We had some money to burn because we opted out of going to HK Disneyland. That and the exchange rate back to yen would have hurt us more than just keeping the HKD. After a few more hours at the night markets we decided to call it a night on our HK trip. The following morning we packed up, at Popeyes at the airport, bought omiyage (of course) and headed back home for Japan!
Once we had enough of the beach we decided to take the bus to the Tian Tan Buddha (Big Buddha) site. Before we left however we had lunch overlooking the ocean. It was truly pleasant and the food was good as well. The bus ride to the Buddha site took much longer than I expected, but the view was absolutely beautiful. When we reached the site we had a good number of stairs to climb before we reached the top of the hill where the monument was. The Tian Tan Buddha was the largest bronze Buddha erected until recently weighing in at 250 metric tons. Us visitors also had the privilege of climbing 268 steps to get to the base. I felt every one of those steps. God I’m out of shape lol It was worth it though. If I were to have a rocky moment that moment would have been it haha.
The view was really nice from the top of the hill and many pictures were taken. Unfortunately there might not be any evidence of these events because Hilda’s camera (the one person who had a camera on this tour really) SD card got messed up. So in the end she might not be able to retrieve her photos. *crosses fingers in hopes she does* While up there I ended up purchasing a jade flower necklace from inside the shop at the base of the Buddha. In truth I think we stayed up there as long as we did simply because it took so much effort to get up there el oh el. When we finally did leave we went over to this gold(or at least it looked like gold) palace where entered, looked around for a short time in then just sat in the court yard talking and enjoying the shade. It was pretty late in the day by this point and being high up we managed a decent breeze. At one point I would have even deemed it chilly. The turning back point was the sun beginning to set. So we started the journey back to Hong Kong Island for the night.
Macau: Well today was an exciting day, not only because we were going to another island, but also because traveling to Macau requires you to have a passport, THUS getting another passport stamp. For some reason, the three of us are very anxious and excited to get a passport stamp. In reality after this Christmas I might need a new passport. Customs don’t go about stamping your passports neatly so there are things all over the place, and thus there was no effort in saving space. That and the stupid Vietnam visa that didn’t work *grumble* ANYWAY out to central and another ferry for the trip to Macau. Macau is known for its Pilipino influence as well as its reputation of being mini-Vegas. After we passed into Macau we were bombarded with people trying to get us to go to their hotels.
We decided that we would try the MGM hotel first since it looked like it had some interesting things to see. Once inside I knew why they called Macau the mini-Vegas. Before entering other hotels later it was the most elegant and filthy rich hotel I had EVER been in. I could just feel my wallet crying just for standing in the lobby. We ended up taking a bunch of pictures with the zodiac replicas they made out of flowers that filled the inner mall at the MGM. We also watched the fountain display in front of the Wynn hotel before we went back to the MGM lobby to watch the dragon dancers. At first it didn’t seem like it was going to be much of a show, but when the two dancers who wore the dragon costume came on it was pure awesomeness. It was completely worth every minute I spent watching it, and besides being cool to watch it was also FREE yatta! After this we decided to head toward St. Peters (I think) arch ruins. It was a long and tasty walk. Once we got around the general area there were tons of street venders selling sweets and procured/multi-seasoned meats. We grabbed a few samples on the way to the ruins. There, we sat and chatted a while. There wasn’t much too see. It was a huge arch, but nothing compared to the architectural genius I’ve seen in France and Rome. Once we decided to head back we were on the look out to find another heritage site. A Historical Church that I can’t quite recall the name of. The fun part was stopping and tasting nearly every available sample as we walked down the street of venders and shops. It was quite yummy and both Hilda and Debbie ended up buying something. The church was also not that impressive, or at least not anymore impressive than my own church in the states, but because of it’s history it was worth a look. After that it was relax time in the square. The three of us sat on the fountain in the middle of the courtyard of the main streets. There we simply talked and goofed off for a few hours, enjoying the breeze and each other. When it became a bit dark we decided to walk back to the hotels and there we did much of the same, sitting outside talking and enjoying the night. It was so cool to see all the casinos light up and people watch. I quite liked Macau .
The last full day in Hong Kong we decided to look around at museums. We went to the art museum and the science and space museum. They were both interesting though museums at large don’t do too much for entertainment. However I do like museums depending on what type of art I’m looking at and if I just learned about what I am seeing. This was the focus of the day until the evening when I was supposed to meet up with my friend Lydia( whom I was trying to hook up with all week). Unfortunately we got the museums mixed up and I ended up missing her. It was really sad cause I don’t know the next time I’ll be in Hong Kong or when she will visit Japan. After some serious frustration and brooding on my part I watched the Symphony of lights with the others ( it was alright, but nothing of what I expected it to be) and then made our way back to the night markets on the other side of the island to do some last minute shopping. We had some money to burn because we opted out of going to HK Disneyland. That and the exchange rate back to yen would have hurt us more than just keeping the HKD. After a few more hours at the night markets we decided to call it a night on our HK trip. The following morning we packed up, at Popeyes at the airport, bought omiyage (of course) and headed back home for Japan!
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