It's not officially over until Sunday, but I wanted to give a quick wrap up of Golden Week since my first day back to work is tomorrow. My well laid plans were not all kept, but I did a suprising amount this year, too. Got no travel in unless you count Maiko Day in Kyoto. But oh well.
Those few early days I meant to do a lot of packing, laundry, and Shamisen practice. What I mostly did was lie in bed and read the internet. I guess Goth Club day after can be excused. However, the other days where I was just avoiding things was just a waste. But whatever. I feel relaxed and ready to go back. I did get boxes and packing tape and I did return my movies. I did some laundry, too. Time to do the dishes tonight. And get me some mousse for my hair. Oh, the reminds me.
Thursday I actually only stayed in Osaka. I was glad because Amanohashidate would likely have been obnoxiously crowded. :) I instead went to a salon in Shinsaibashi with Ayumi. It was a fancyish type place with people dressed all in the hottest fashions. The guys, and girls, were very trendy. The two guys that did the most for my hair were dressed in jeans, but had pretty hot belt buckles to compensate. One had a baseball cap and open, white button down over his yellow T shirt. The other had a red Tshirt and a hole in his ear. I guess he didn't wear his earing any more. But it was pretty cool because he showed me how he could fit a comb in there! HE also did magic tricks, and tried some English Manzai with his friend. He was a former Judo competitor and proved it to me by showing his ears and finger injuries. He said he was teaching his friend Judo in their spare time and both demonstrated their favorite moves to me. It was really a great time and we did some English conversation in between shampoos, wave treatments, electric curlers (Digital Perm, strange) and me drinking my complimentary hot tea (which tasted like the stuff you get free in hotel rooms). They were two really great guys and they were joined by a pochari girl who was really good at English. i gave her my number and hopefully we'll meet up for some English and coffee. :D
All my conversation that morning was in Japanese ...
Ayumi and I met Kana for lunch. We went to a Chinese place that had it's original store in Shanghai. The B lunch set included veggies, Chinese noodles, 6 soup-filled meat dumplings, mango pudding and all we could drink Jasmine tea. It was amazing and I hope I can go back before I leave. We talked a lot in an English/Japanese mix about travel, Jay Chou, and local gossip. It was great and the coffee shop (Eurpean style, soooo cute! Or even American Classic style ...) put a cap on the whole outing. I had to leave at five to meet kaito. We went to a beer hall and had dinner. It was izakaya syle with many little shared dishes. The German sausages were interesting. I had Weiss beer and KPO, which was sort of fruity. Both were good but going out twice in one day was too much. I tried to eat light. And by the way, I had 3 small beers and he had 2 large and one Stout. Plus he ate more than I did. But I paid about $25 wich was half of what he owed. I am a good person. But I'm tired of men who don't have money. Sometimes it's nice to be treated. And then to have them let you treat in return. But I digress from the greatness of the week.
Friday was indeed Maiko day. It was quite an experience and I will have a few posts about it comming up. This week was amazing. I saw a lot of people and did many things that can only be done in Japan. The conversation was good and those memories are preiceless. I missed out on traveling around, but I didn't miss it at all. Sometimes people are worth staying home for.
