Day 5: Sakura Blooms And Food Wonderful Food

Today was a very busy day. Not in the usual way where I go see as many sights as possible or when I am busy with work and class. Today was busy because I was meeting both of my assigned Buddy’s that were from MGU (the univeristy in Japan that I’m studying). While I was really excited to meet them both I was also really nervous. I wanted to get along with them so badly, what if didn’t work out  or something went wrong? With all these thoughts running through my head I started to face the day. Now for the past few days I haven’t been able to eat much. On some level I think my body was still messed up due to jet lag and so food wasn’t always my faorite. But this morning I had my first proper breakfast in six days or so. And boy was it glorious to have. I bought it at a cafe that was founded in Kobe Japan in 1930 (Now a chain called Precious Moments). I had scrambled eggs, salad, ham/bacon?/ and toast. It was devine after so little food the past few days. After breakfast I was off to meet my first Buddy. Her name is Fuka she’s 19 and a International Studies Major. We went to a fancy cafe/restraint in a famous shopping section called Queens Plaza. Their specialty was fruit based dishes. I had this beautiful strawberry cake and she had a lovely mango ice cream dessert. Both with amazing and I learned that I have seriously been missing out on how wonderful mango is. The whole time we talked and got to know one another (with Jordan too). She was very nice and although we were only able to hang out for a little bit I’m extremely looking forward to being her Buddy this semester. After our breakfast dessert Fuka had to leave for an important meeting so Jordan and I decided to kill time by going to Yokohama Chinatown (the biggest in Japan). We didn’t do much there though because it was really crowded and we weren’t really that hungry for food. So we expired some more and discovered Yokohama’s Necklace Garden Bear the ocean. It was a beautiful massive garden filled with so many different kinds of plant life. The Sakura teees were the most popular of course but I really enjoyed seeing all the different types of flowers, they even had some Daffodils there! In one part of a garden was this fountain that lead to an amazing piece of garden and archtiure that was blended together. It reminded me a lot of Gaudi’a work in Barcelona. We had a lot fun walking through the different ins and outs of the park. After a while we grew tired and decided to go our aperate ways since I needed to go back to my hotel and we wouldn’t be meeting my buddy for a while. My other Buddy’s name is Mayuka she’s the same age and is also an International Studies Major. When I asked to meet up she decided to take me to see Sakura Blooms along a river in a different part of Yokohama and to take me to my first shrine in Japan. We accidentally went into the side entrance so I wasn’t able to do all the traditions properly, but she was very impressed that I knew as much as did about shrine rituals. We even made an offering to say prayers, and I bought a fortune. The man who sold me it said it says a lot about the person based on the fortune they buy. I’d like to think he said that because I stuck with the original fortune of the shrine. After that it was time to see the Sakura blooms. Although I’d seen many blooms already these were much different. It went on for miles just tree after tee along the river. Some were bright pink, some were white, some were light pink but all were so beautiful to look at. Mayu and I took lots of pictures of them. Along the trees were also these food stalls that you would normally only see during a festival. Each of them sold yummy Japanese food or offered games to play. After a while I decided to try Takoyaki and it was so delicious! I also got a candy strawberry from another stall and accidentally ate it whole. It was a lovely time of enjoying the Sakura and some really good street food. After it had gotten dark Mayu suggested we go try more Japanese food (called Okonomiyaki). She took me to the second floor of this building to a very cozy restaurant where for my crust time in Japan I had to eat sitting on the floor. In the middle of the table was a hot plate and the cooks (a lovely couple who ran the resurant) made the food right in front of you. It was superb and I can’t wait for the next time to go back! Mayu was extremely kind to me the whole time and we talked about so many different things. We basically agreed we are going to travel a lot together. After dinner we went our separate ways and I went back to my hotel where I tried the Sakura Mochi she had given me. It was very sweet with a  very odd texture. And that finally brings me to the end of my day. So much happened today and I’m so half it all happened. I can’t wait to see what adventures hold for me tomorrow. Tonight as I came into to hotel I randomly got shoe locker #19 (17 is my usual but it was taken). Funny how today is my last day being 19 and tomorrow started my adventure into “adulthood”. Here’s to the future then!