The first couple days of that first weekend in September were extremely hot, so of course, I headed out to the beach! Since it was so hot, I really wanted to go into the water, and so, I took a little walk in the water, but they started having an announcement that people shouldn't go into the water and since August 28th, you're not supposed to swim there anymore. What?! I mean, sure, there were no more lifeguards anymore, but there were still people playing in the water, so why? Anyway, since then, everytime I've been to the beach, they make that announcement multiple times every day. Most people tend to ignore it. However, there are also police type people on patrol, and if they see people in the water, they come down and ask them to get out of the water. At those times, the people they talk to usually seem to be agreeable and get out of the water, but then go back in after they leave. So typical!
  So many birds...  |
| The weather was beautiful! |
September 4th was the much anticipated new album release live from Yoshida Hiroki!!! (there I typed it using alphabet letters...are you happy now? [you know who you are...]) It was a wonderful night! So much laughing and good times! This particular live was a little bit different from the typical ones, as it was completely unplugged, and he did it together with a guy who plays the accordion. He had done a live with that guy at the end of March, and it's really unique, and creates a kind of different atmosphere to some of his songs. Anyway, during the live, at one point he was doing a cover of 'Smile' (Charlie Chaplin), and he had prepared a bowler hat and moustache to wear during the song. He also came over and took the beer from the lady sitting next to me, and had a sip, then sang a bit more, then came back for another drink. But...the second time he drank, his moustache fell into the glass. He was able to fish it out and tried to put it back on (although didn't keep it on for long, because apparently the beer smell was really strong). The lady whose beer he had drank from, understandably told him to keep it and finish it himself. It made everyone laugh though (well, except for one person who had been sleeping since before the live even started --- don't worry, that person got ragged on by almost everyone when he finally woke up). At the end of the live, pretty much everyone bought his new CD (which I LOVE by the way!), and then a few people stayed to sit around and talk and such things. A couple of people asked me to sit down and talk with them, and since I didn't have work the next day, I agreed and had some interesting conversations.
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| This was posted on Twitter...kind of funny, right? |
On September 7th (the final day of my 5 day weekend), I met up with my lovely friend, who had just gotten back from a trip to Hong Kong, and we caught up at a cafe over tea and cake!
Later that evening, I headed into Osaka, and caught a street live by Colors to Cooks. When it was finished, I talked a lot with Ryo (the vocalist/guitarist), and found out that he also kind of knows Yoshida Hiroki, and heard him for the first time in Hiroshima (which is where Ryo is from). We had an interesting conversation, and I made him laugh when he asked if I was taking the train home. (I told him that it was a little too far to walk ;)) He laughed and agreed, saying I might not get home until the next day if I were to walk.
The following weekend, I spent most of my Saturday at the beach (where else?) and then went out with my friend in the evening. She had asked me to go for pancakes, although unfortunately for us, the first 3 places that we went to were closed! Eventually we did find somewhere with pancakes, and had (as she refers to it) fat chats. Is that an Australian thing? Or just a personal thing? I want to know!! (Tell me later!) After eating pancakes, we took a walk down to Harborland, where we came across this American guy doing a kind of juggling show. He had drawn a rather large crowd, and we stopped to watch as well, and were really entertained.
Oh, and as an aside, recently at the beach, there have been lots of large fish swimming really close to the shoreline! I wonder why?
On Sunday, I found myself in Osaka yet again. Since it's nearly impossible for me to go to Osaka and not find a street live before going home, I wasn't disappointed. This time, I saw FASE, who I haven't seen since maybe May... Anyway, as he was finishing up, an older lady came up to me and started talking with me (in Japanese). When she first started talking, she was like, "Oh, you're Amanda, right? You live in Tokushima, don't you?" (a little bit wrong, but...) I was really surprised because I didn't really remember her at all. At least not at first. A while after, I realized that I had talked to her for a couple minutes in January at a street live. But she remembered me from then?! Amazing. Anyway, she really pushed me to go talk with FASE (although I was going to anyway...), and I think that's what helped me to remember her, because she had done the same thing the last time as well... And so, I had a nice chat with him, and he asked how ヨシダさん was doing (they're friends), and told me he really wanted to meet up with him and do a live together but hadn't been able to recently because they've both been busy. After talking about other things, I found out that FASE was going to be doing a live the following Sunday in Kobe, and he told me that if I had time, I should go.
On the 12th, we officially started our 2nd term at work, and so I had all of my normal students back in my class again, and got lots of hugs. Unfortunately, many of them forgot the rules and how they should behave, so it was kind of like starting the year over again, and I had to be a little bit strict with them, but by the end of the week they were much better.
Random story: one day on the way home from work, I had stopped to pick up some fruit from the market street, and on the way home from that, there was a young boy who kept jogging beside me, and kept looking at my face. I said hello to him, in the hopes that that would be sufficient enough to make him go away or say what he wanted. When we got near a crosswalk, he finally got his courage up, and this awkward conversation happened:
男の子：かわいいですね。 Boy: You're cute!
私：え？私？ Me: Me?
男の子：そうですよ。 Boy: Yes.
私：笑。ありがとう。 Me: *Laugh* Thanks. (in a really dry voice)
Anyway, he was just a little junior high kid, and after that he had all of the typical questions: where am I from, how long have I been in Japan, and so on. Actually that evening I had my Japanese class, and when I told my teacher about this story, her reaction was "Wow, he was really brave!"
On Saturday, it had been in the plans to go back to the fruit and flower park to do some apple picking, but after checking the website Friday night, I found out that apple season didn't start until Monday, so we decided to reschedule for that day, and decided we would go hiking instead.
However, Saturday morning, my unfortunate luck struck, and I popped my knee out of place, which hurts, but it's something that happens quite often, so I'm kind of used to it. But as that was happening, and I was looking for my tensor wrap, I was completely unaware of the drama unfolding on my phone, through a ridiculous amount of messages (although I did appreciate the concern afterwards, even if it was unnecessary.) And to put this in context, we were meant to meet up at 10:00....
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| Drama, drama, drama...(I'll delete it if you want though...) |
We did indeed go hiking, although because I have bad luck and was really slow, I ended up being about 20 minutes late, which I felt bad about...
Right, so the hike! This time we went up the mountain behind Shin-Kobe station, because we wanted to see the waterfall (which actually isn't that far at all)
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| If you've been keeping up with my blog, you may find these familiar. They are. I went here my first time in Kobe too.... |
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| Reservoir looking nice! |
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| Taken by my lovely friend |
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| Some of the prettiness at the top |
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| Going down on the ropeway |
As for Sunday, what I did during the day doesn't require mentioning as it wasn't particularly interesting, but in the evening I went to FASE's live. His theme for this live was stars (the night sky), and he wanted to give a really relaxed setting, like he was doing it from his house and so he set up the stage really nicely with a telescope, and various things that would make it look like his room at home. After the halfway point, he went to the back of the room and had all the lights off but one small one that changed colors and sang and played unplugged because he wanted the feeling of being at home, in a kind of intimate situation. It was a really fun night, and there were 10 of us who came to the live (which isn't a lot, true, but the space wasn't that big and considering the last time I went to his live, there was maybe 5 people, and in a much bigger space, it was probably better than that last time). Not to mention, I was able to talk with a lot of the other people who came (two I had met before, including that one lady who I was talking about before -- I finally found out her name!). One other lady recognized me from Yoshida's live a couple weeks ago (although I unfortunately didn't remember her...it was the first time to talk with her) and so we talked about that for a little bit. And then I met another girl who is the same age as I am. It was so nice!
We cancelled apple picking due to the extreme amounts of rain this weekend. Maybe next weekend? Hopefully soon! So that's it for now!
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