Japan: Day 14 - End :(

Sorry this week has only been about Japan, but don't worry, tomorrow will be another recipe! :)

I know it doesn't seem like I did a lot of things, or at least a lot for staying in Japan for a month, but I actually did! I just can't put 3000 pictures on here. Well I guess I could, but I'm pretty sure it'd take forever to load and all that tech-y stuff. Well back to my trip, so you know how I said I was going to school? Well I did, or at least sorta. Keio (the school I went to) had summer break so we had the classrooms all to ourselves! But we did see some students, like the college kids. (Yea, if you know Keio school then you'll know there are several campuses. I went to the hiyoshi one) Do you wanna see my teacher? He looks very wise...doesn't he?

Just a little warning, but I'm pretty sure this post is gonna be super duper long! So what did we do in class you asked? Games! And we went on field trips practically every other day. We even went to camp! It was all the way up in the mountains, I'm pretty sure the area is called Tateshina. The air was super fresh, and it was kinda chilly. It was a relief to not have to worry about fanning myself!

We stayed at Tateshina for a couple of days (I switched families right before, so I'll get to my 2nd host family in a second) and they were filled with nature stuff. Like hikes and stuff. Okay, so they weren't really hikes, we took the ski lift up the mountain and walked down. Woo hoo, such a work out. Well actually it was...I know, I was really out of shape. :(

 Right went I got to the bottom of the mountain I was so tired, but I was also really really hungry. Can you guess what I bought to eat? ice cream! yum! Japanese soft serve is the best!

You see the caterpillar? We found him on one of our walks/hikes around the cabins. Oh, and you know what else we find around the cabins? A snake! I'm not kidding! And it was really scary too, cause we had just taken a bath and were walking back to our cabins in the dark, when all of a sudden someone starts screaming (imagine a girl screaming) and everyone freaked out! Sorry the picture is so bad. I was one of those screaming...

On our way back we stopped at a soba making place. Man, those old little ladies sure are strong! We mixed the flour stuff

then formed it in to a dough

then we flattened it super super thin

lookit those hands go! sorry I don't have a picture of how thin the dough was rolled out. It was so thin it was amazing it didn't break. We then cut the dough. Can you tell which ones are done by us and which ones are done by the super strong super tiny old Japanese lady?

You guessed it! The upper right hand corner is the super strong super tiny old Japanese lady's work. But it all tasted good. See, we're all smiling

And boy, spending an hour making noodles sure makes them taste a whole lot better! Wow, those strands are sure not uniform. I don't think I'm getting a job there...

And no trip to Tokyo is complete without going to.....

Okay, wait. I think it should be. You know why? Cause Disneyland was soooooooo (multiply by a gazillion) crowded! It was fun and all, but I would so much rather be spending time exploring than here. I'm not saying I didn't have fun, of course I did, but really, Disneyland in Japan? C'mon. Plus I'm not much of a roller coaster rider...space mountain =  O.O uh oh...

I almost tried to get out. This was my all time favorite sign. Escape pod anyone? But it actually wasn't that bad. Okay, it wasn't scary at all. For some reason, maybe I'm just bigger, it isn't as scary. But I'm pretty sure all the rides aren't as scary, cause even thunder mountain wasn't too bad. There weren't any huge drops...like splash mountain. >.< couldn't ride that! Wayyy too scary for me! Yes, I'm a big baby..

But while everyone was riding splash mountain...I was eating popcorn! They have several different flavors sold in popcorn stands like the one below. They had some pretty interesting flavors (shoyu butter? curry?), but my favorite was honey! And there are these cute little containers for the popcorn. I don't really recommend buying them unless you like the container....who would want to carry them on the rides?!

OOH! Aren't these melon bread cute?! They are shaped like Mike, you know Mike, from Monster's Inc.!

Or how about Roz? The scary lady also from Monster's Inc...

Or what about a chilled tip torta? Um, no thanks. Those were sooooo weird. It was cold (hence the name), shaped like a super skinny burrito, had a weird doughy pastry-like outside, and filled with some kind of salty stuff (we got the caramel one, but I'm still not sure why it was salty). Sorry it's such a bad description, I just can't explain it!

My favorite ride is hands down Pooh's Hunny Hunt. And it's not just cause of the name! (Although it makes it ten times funnier telling other people!) They wouldn't let us take pictures inside, but the ride was sooo cute! It's for more littler kids, but the gift shop had a ton of pooh stuff (no pun intended..or maybe it was...?)

My host mother was an amazing cook. I mean she made The Best anko (azuki bean) ever. Like Ever. I would eat bowls of it by itself. I'm not kidding. It was that good. See those little white mochi looking things? We made those! It's called shiratama. I have to go find some...cause it was really good! Tastes similar to mochi, but super easy to make. I should make a post on them...first gotta find it. (Dang, I should've taken the bag..)

This is heidy. He's a labradoodle, oh, and he has her own blog! (Yea, he's named heidy but is a boy...strange, but just go with it...) He's super hyper, but he's really sweet, and he's really fluffy! (fwah fwah!) Oh, I found a post about me!

OMG! Do you see what I see?

Yes I do! It's a square watermelon!!!

And a gourd shaped watermelon!! OMG!

Wahhh! ;( Farewell party....boo hooo we had to go home the next day....but it was the most amazing trip...Ever! (We all had to put skits on and we sang the pokemon theme song...in japanese!)