Hello all! This weekend was a busy one! On Saturday I went with my friend to watch a football match in Kobe. We went to see a Japan League (j-league) football match between Vissel Kobe and Urawa Reds. Urawa is close to Tokyo in the north and Kobe is about 30 minutes from Osaka by train. Kobe has a really nice Soccer specific stadium and I was quite impressed. The atmosphere was intense and fun! Here are some pictures of the match.
This mural is in the subway station.
The outside of the stadium.
The pitch
The end of the match. Vissel Kobe 3 Urawa Reds 2!! :)
Sunday I went to the Osaka Science Museum and Planetarium. The Museum was a bit rubbish, but the Planetarium was really cool! They showed the stars that were viewable that night in Osaka. They also showed a few constellations, galaxies and nebulas that were viewable that night. All this information was in Japanese. I wasn't able to understand everything but I knew what they were talking about! I hope to go back there soon!
I was at the market today. I found some little dried fish snacks! They were tasty, salty and sweet. They look crazy but they are really good! :) Want to try? :)
Tasty little lads, fish jerky?? You want some while watching a game dad? :)
It has been very hot here in Osaka lately. Humidity seems to have been kicked up as well. This weekend was nice. On Friday I wanted to check out a giant fireworks show, but I wasn't able to go. I was able to see some of it thought from my apartment. There were people climbing up to the roof of my apartment with beers. It was quite funny. Saturday, I just relaxed and I cooked dinner for me and eri. I made some Pepperoncino Pasta and Sirloin Steak. It was damn good! haha I had a bunch left over too. We enjoyed it! Sunday I had to go to Kyoto because I put together an English project with my Eiken English class. Actually only 5 students volunteered and only 3 showed up. Anyway, the point of the project was to interview foreign tourists in English. For example one of the questions was "How long will you be in Japan?". We went to 3 tourist areas in Kyoto and asked 3 groups of people in each area. At first the students were quite reluctant to talk, but after the first one, they became excited. Every time they saw some foreigners they stalked them down and asked them questions. We recorded it and took a photo with the victims. haha It was really fun, however it was really hot outside. So my students were practically dead by the end of the day. We had a great time. I did some sightseeing as well when I was there. I took some videos and loads of pictures. We took a taxi to one of the tourist areas and I took a video of that. We went to a conbini called "Family Mart" and I was quite sad that I didn't find a family on sale. I arrived home about 6pm, so it was a long day. Since I worked on a Sunday, they let me have a day off this week. So I picked this coming Friday.
By the way, I am moving to my new apartment this coming weekend. I decided to throw away my current shit bed and buy a futon for the mean time. The person that lived in my apartment before me left me a bunch of SHIT so I will have to throw away most of it. However, all I really need is my Xbox, TV and clothes, my desk and a futon. It's all good yo! I am planning on taking some videos of our ridiculous attempt at moving this coming weekend. Hey I was thinking about making a podcast for my blog. What do you think about that? I think I will ask my buddy Tom to join in. Just an idea I'm throwing out there. Let me know what you think. The podcast will probably be about Life in Japan, Video Games, Music, Movies and random things in life.
So last Thursday marked 1 full year in Japan for me. This year has gone by so fast. I experienced many ups and downs. I have met many people and great friends. I have even managed to meet an amazing mate. I never would have thought this would happen to me here in Japan. Well I'm looking forward to this year as well. I have no idea what will happen this coming year. All I can say is that I know that I will do my best. The rest will follow through.
peace
vince
me and the students at the Golden Pavilion in Kyoto
students and teacher!
hello!
the nice golden pavilion in kyoto
my students interviewing a german chick
i bet they were hot
widescreen view just for you!
cooling off in the heat of kyoto
last but not least here are some ridiculous videos that i made. REMEMBER after the video finishes press menu and my other videos will be on the right side. just click the little squares and you will see the video.
searching for a family at family mart...
p.s... RIP bennigans... i will miss your amazing Guinness glazed bacon cheeseburger...sad times...half off burger Wednesdays was the shit...
So today was absolutely smashing! Well everything except the fact that UTEP lost even though they were so dominant in the first half... anyway... I left the apartment at about 10:15am. I had to go to Kyobashi station to meet up the guys. Once there, we went to the soccer field. It was very far, about 1 hour away from my house. It was in the mountains and it was surrounded by green. It was really nice. There were 4 teams. The Osaka JET team, the one that I'm on. Then there was REAL Osaka, Jimmys/Murphys, and a Japanese team. We played a tournament. We played two 15 minute halfs, and it was great. I was really dead in the first game because I really didn't warm up. We had a draw on that game. We destroyed the Japanese team and then we lost to REAL Osaka because of silly penalty kick and lucky passes. All in all we played really good. I don't think I played very well, but I am still learning a lot. We started at about 12 and finished about 4:15PM. Afterwards we all took a taxi back to the station and parted ways. I had a great time, and the guys are really nice. Always helpful and supportive while playing. I was able to practice on my strikes and I was happy after everything. When I got home I had a shower and met up with my friend Fumiko. We went to this "Italian" place called Pomodoro in a mall with a ridiculous Sonic the Hedgehog type name.... "Diamond City". It was pretty good and then we went to the book store. I finally bought a Japanese study book. Damn I was happy to get that!! Then I helped Fumiko buy a English study book. Then we parted ways. I made record time coming home on my bike. I destroyed my past time of 15 mins and made it back in about 6 mins. Thanks to running red lights and various illegal bike maneuvers hahah. Basically today rocked and it made up for the crap day I had on Friday. I'm going to wake up at 4am because I want to watch USA vs. Brazil in soccer. I have to do this a lot now because all the games live are at such a strange time here. It's all good though. I'm looking forward to the week coming. I really don't know why I am but I am hahah. Well I posted some photos of us playing footy and our Pink Jerseys. haahah good times... Take care and leave some comments if you wish. See you :)
This mural is in the subway station.
The outside of the stadium.
The pitch
The end of the match. Vissel Kobe 3 Urawa Reds 2!! :)
Tasty little lads, fish jerky?? You want some while watching a game dad? :)
