Yes, I’m sitting naked on the floor right now. I don’t mean to paint such a graphic picture, but it is SO HOT HERE!! Today… er.. okay, yesterday, was “fureaidei.” Apparently, it means “contact” in Japanese. Every Friday, (or payday – but not both in one week) is called fureaidei, and this is the only day where all employees must leave work at 5:15pm. Regular time. If this were a Canadian office, every day would be fureaidei!
Anyways, I left as soon as I heard the chimes – I wasn’t going to do overtime if I wasn’t suppose to! (Not this time, anyways…. ^_^) I had plans. I needed some stuff, which meant I had to go for a bikeride. Mainly, I needed snacks and sake, and a pillow-case. I ended up getting lots of snacks (I’m currently addicted to a few things, one of them being Oreos), mandarin oranges, some stationery, a 6metre cord, and a pillow (with a pillow case!). I went there with John, and we ended up going to McDonald’s.. or… “makudonaludo.” McDonald’s is much better in Japan. You order your stuff, (in my case, I *try* to order my stuff, and sometimes end up with the wrong things), and then you sit down. They’ll give you your drink, and bring you your food when it’s ready. When it’s ready! There’s not a huge reservoir of fries sitting in the pan, or a massive line of burgers waiting for their turn – they make them when you order them. My fries and burger were actually quite hot when they brought them to me. Boy, did I feel special. Of course, it’s also more expensive in Japan. My big-mac meal (big-sized) ended up being over 600 yen with tax. That’s like, $7 CDN? KFC is apparently even more expensive.
So I had most of what I went for, and managed my way back with my goods in the basket and my backpack, sweating profusely. Yes, I’m trying to get back to it being so friggin hot here. Patience. I finally got back to my room (a 15minute bike-ride and 5 flights of stairs later), and tried to organize some of what I bought. The cord was to make a clothes-line-type thing in my room, to dry clothes and hang stuff. I set that up as best I could, and I’m pretty happy with the results. Now I can… hang… stuff. =) There’s just not enough room in the wardrobe. I figured, since I was already sweating so bad, and I wasn’t stopping, even in the presence of my air conditioner, I would go for a run. However, like it had earlier in the day, it had begun raining quite hard. I didn’t care. Did some stretches, especially on my delicate still-healing ankle, and left. I went for quite a long jog. It was enjoyable. Actually, I wished it had rained all the time, but it stopped on my way back. I was completely soaked when I got back, and had a shower/bath. I tried showering with as cold water as I could get. That helped. But as soon as I got back up to my room, and had gone up an extra floor to put my laundry in, I was sweating like a dog again. And so, my nakedness is explained – I had to cool down!! I’m actually ok now, but I’ll have to go get my laundry soon. =/ It is so humid and muggy here, even when it’s raining, it’s usually hot. And man does it rain! It rains much harder than it does in Vancouver, but only for short bursts. Yesterday, I think, there was a thunder storm that lasted about 10 minutes, but that was the heaviest 10 minutes of rain I have ever seen. COOL. =)
Last weekend, Amy came from (near) Nagano to visit us Gifu folk (Ben, John, Shirley, and I). That was really nice of her. We went to Nagoya (again) and went around all the sites. Nagoya is the fourth largest city in Japan, so it’s a fair size. I still can’t get over all the craziness in Japan. We must stay there overnight and go clubbing or something. That is something I *must* do sometime soon – cash permitting. The next day, we biked to Ogaki, the opposite direction of Nagoya – a much smaller town, but still not “small” by Canadian standards. We ate some Mr Donut (Thanks for the coupons, Kahori!), and DAMN was that good! WAY better than Tim Horton’s. Japanese bakeries also looks SO good. So much interesting things I must try! After that, we went to Ogaki Castle, and then Ben, Amy, and I had SUSHI (for a mere 800yen!) And it was good, too! We’re taking note of that place. After that, we said bye to Amy at Ogaki station (I hope she had a good time), and then Ben and I decided to take the train as far into the country as it went. After a 30 minute train ride, we were in Ibi. This was a small town. We walked around for three hours. I WISH I HAD BROUGHT MY CAMERA!! Ben shared his pictures with me, so it’s not so bad. We walked straight to the mountains which were covered with dense bamboo and many other kinds of trees (which I’m not sure of). Very green. Very lush. Awesome scenery.
This weekend may be quite busy. I should probably go to sleep soon. A lot of interns are coming to Nagoya, and we’re hosting. I would like to go to the Sumo that is in Nagoya, currently, but the tickets are quite expensive. Maybe I will go to another city to watch it. Let everyone else test the waters, tell me how it is. =) I’m hearing it’s a wait-10 minutes-to-watch-30-seconds cycle. =/ I have to save what money I can for the traveling I may have to do soon (long weekend).
My laundry must be done now.