The Weekend Review - Swedish City Bus

Last weekend was a doosy. (warning: long-ish post to follow)

Friday was a huge Sayonara party for departing expats in the area. We held the party (along with a charity clothing drive... great idea for an event for people who are moving!) at the SOGO Department Store Beer Garden in central Kobe. Beer Gardening is a really popular summer activity in Japan, basically just rooftop patio areas with an all-you-can-eat-or-drink special (for several hours) in busy areas. A lot of Japanese people also go to them, although things can get a little out-of-control with the open beer machines (and this time theyhad the option of mixing your own chuhai!). After several hours and a lot of socializing at the party, we tried to go to Soul Blood, another pub in Kobe, but it was closed for a private party. It was amusing watching huge groups of foreigners walk around Kobe - sort of a rare site. A lot of people got frusterated and settled at a restaraunt or just went home, but I ended up at Trinity, another small foreigner hangout in Kobe, to just talk over a drink, dance a bit and hang out on the roof. Was a fun night.

Sidenote: With all the foreigners in Kobe, I had visions of trying to do this. So bad, but really funny. Next time...

On Saturday, I got up a litte later and headed into Osaka to meet Shannon for lunch. We met in Umeda and took the subway to the Namba area to track down Slices, an American-style pizza place (with bubble tea!!!) we had both heard about but not yet been to. Shannon had plans with a friend that lives in Osaka later in the day, but I had to leave earlier on for another engagement, so we just decided to park at the place and just relax and chat for a while. Slices was cute and the pizza was good. I still prefer Dominos (mostly because I'm not a huge fan of thin crust), but Slices was cute, had a nice atmosphere (very open, modern, clean & the staff spoke perfect English) and was really easy to find, so I'm sure I'll be back. The chai masala bubble tea (drink with tapioca balls, popular trend in Asia & now picking up in America) and peanut butter, honey & banana desert pizza were great.

In the evening, I hung out with the Amagaski (Osaka suburbs) crew for a "dress like your parents looked when you were born"-themed party. One woman's parents were visiting, so she threw the party in honor of them being here as well as celebrating their 35th wedding anniversary (party wasn't a surprise, but the theme was). I bought a few 80s accessories at the 100yen store on Friday for my costume, but ended up bypassing the leggwarmers (sparkly pink!) and even the t-shirt T (yes... I found one!) for some big, red glasses, a headband and high-wasted jeans. I got a few Sally Jesse Rafael comments about the glasses (hmmm... not sure if that is flattering...), but I swear my mom actually had a pair like them. Silly, but we never took any pictures or I would post them :-P

A group of us all ended up slumber partying later that night, but I was so wiped that I think I was pretty out of it most of the night. All of these events are a lot of fun, but I've been really busy lately and think my body decided that I was just done.

Sunday equalled low-key. I was originally going to spend the weekend at a cabin in Okayama prefecture, but most people couldn't go and we had booked out the whole place, so we cancelled it. Sneaky Robyn got us out of the deposit fee for the cancellation (so proud), but I would still like to get back to those cabins someday, especially the island one!

Despite the change of plans, I still sort of wanted to be outside during the day, but when it came down to it, rainy weather and, well, laziness (or not feeling well) put a squash on the plans. Some people were hanging out in Amagasaki still, but I ended up heading back to my side of Kobe after a very filling & delicious pasta lunch with friends.

Ok, so I swear I had full intention to go home and get to bed so i felt better but, as Madonna put it, the road to hell is paved with good intentions... didn't exactly head straight home. I was heading through Sannomiya, so I decided to stop and run some errands, which turned into an 7-hour jaunt all around time. Had a fabulous time and really enjoyed the solitude, but I might has well have just hung out with people in Amagasaki since I didn't get the rest time in.

It all started when I realized I finally had an open day and the chance to stop by the new IKEA* as I was on the train ride home. Just as in other cities, there is a free bus.. but imagine when I got on and realized - gasp - the free bus is actually a CITY BUS straight outta Sweden/Norway on the inside! Everything was basically the same, right down to the apolstery. I probably didn't notice anything special about the buses while I was in Norway (the only other place I have taken the ikea bus) because it was just a normal bus, but riding it on Sunday was definitely a bit of a trip.

Once I actually got to the store, there was a 25-minute wait to get in and then the place was stock full of wide-eyed, slow-moving, Japanese shoppers, but it was strange to see so many items that I have previously owned in other places/lives (and probably still do, just packed away in some box in America). I definitely can't afford the space to buy anything more (nor do I need it) from Ikea while i am living here, but I was a little annoyed while walking through to realize how CONVENIENT it would have been to have gone shopping there when I first moved here. Granted, assembling my current apartment peice-by-piece was a fun project and gave me the opportunity to get to know where to go for a lot of different things in my area, but it was also extremely expensive and time-consuming. Having the same water glasses that I had in both Minneapolis and Oslo or a ￥200 wall clock (vs. the ￥2,500 one I searched for all over town and finally biked an hour to get) wouldn't have been such a bad thing.

In the end, I didn't walk out of the store empty-handed, as planned, but the damage wasn't bad. I ended up with one vanilla candle (half gone already... love it!), some so-so salmon pate, Wasa crackers, lignon berries, salt black licorice candy... and a few other food things. I was pretty happy. Anyways, the rest of the time on Sunday was spent running around to buy tickets to a huge music festival in August and hit up some other stores, but making it to Ikea (especially alone, where I could just take my time) was a highlight. I was so tired by the time I hit home that I just crashed. Maybe a little too hard considering I took a sick day on Monday (breathing was funny again...grr), but I finally got more rest, so I think it is a good thing.

The week has otherwise been going well. I had my last Japanese class in Kobe for a while on Tuesday, met some people for Happy Hour and dinner in Kobe last night and have otherwise just been hanging out.

For dinner last night, I decided to use the discount ticket shop in Takasago again (not sure if I posted about them selling me a used ticket and the drama I went through to get it refunded?) & I have spent a bit of time on the phone this week, catching up with old cadres. I don't really get homesick, but I am definitely getting very, very excited about spending some time in MN soon. I miss people and things from home and am about (read: really) ready for a vacation anyways. It's just tests at school right now, but I've still been busy and just want a breather...

Alright, I'm going to try to bust out of here a bit earlier to go for a run before dinner (Nepalese...yum...) so I should go, but hope all of you are having a wonderful week and I'll try to post Monday. Tomorrow we are doing fireworks to celebrate the 4th (American independance day) and I have a few people staying over for other festivities in the area this weekend, too... should probably get home to figure out exactly where/how they are going to fit!

TGIF tomorrow & Happy 4th of July, America :)

*Ikea. Yes, the Swedish furniture retailer. I know it sounds superficial, or just stupid, to have a longing desire to check out the mega-store, but I have been awaiting this visit so eagerly. Before Ikea had really begun expanding outside of Europe and people knew about it in America, I used to go to to the one in Oslo for lunch and to look around (buy plants, flowers...wooden frames to paint). I remember lugging a huge bag of those cherished, Swedish goods back to Minneapolis with me one year... funny how fast things change... now they are everywhere (um, and I have somewhat learned my lesson about trying to cart so much silly stuff around with me on such extreme relocations,...somewhat).