Way Back To Home

Kyoto Station, around the stairs
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

I left Laura's place on Sunday afternoon. It was so sad and hard to say goodbye to her and I knew I'd mess things up at "Uji Yamada" station... I did, in fact. I really had a great time with her. The 9 days I spent with her was so wonderful and unforgetable. It was strange that I was on a train by myself. Well, I began to think about her just after I took a last look at her. I was looking at photos I took during the time we were together. I realized how many photos I took of her. In each photo, she wears a big smile. I like her smile and it makes me really happy. I miss that so much. But I'll get to see her soon... By then, I try to be less shy so that I could talk to her more and more. :-)

I took this photo at Kyoyo station. This is where I saw Laura for the first time. She wasn't there when I passed, but I'll see her standing there one day again.

Okage Yokocho

Me trying to lick this huge ice cream
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

On the 24th, we went to "Okage Yokocho", which leads you to Naiku. There are lots of interesting shops like "Akafuku"(rice cake), "Ise Udon"(noodles) and "Ise Ebi"(robster) places. We had a fish paste thing which has cheese inside. It was so good. :-P *drool* We dropped by some souvenir shops and bought some stuff. Laura was pulled by cute Hello Kitty temptation. LOL I bought Akahuku and a box of Green tea cookie. She bought a box of "manjyu" for my family. It was very kind of her to do that. :-) We walked around and saw people play Taiko drums and dance. After taking a bit of rest on a bench, we went to some more shops. I got an Akafuku keitai strap which you can't buy any other place than Ise!!! Cool, isn't it? My mum wants it so badly now. But I won't give her anyways. LOL

We left Okage Yokocho and headed for Jusco. There, we took a look at almost everywhere. :-P Laura bought a TV stand and a set of nice kotatsu. The kotatsu set is really nice!!! The price tag of the TV set said "Free Delivery", but the lady told me it was old tag that she couldn't give free delivery to us. But I insisted that as the price tag said so, it'd be reasonable to give it to us. It makes sense, doesn't it? And the lasy went to ask her boss or someone. And when she returned, she said me, "I'm sorry." So, I thought I couldn't get it. But in a split second, the situation turned 180 degrees. She added, "It was an old price tag and we forgot to throw it away, so it's our fault. So, we're willing to deliver them for free". At that moment, I was like "What is "THEM"?" Free delivery should be applied only for the TV set, but she said they would give us free delivery for both the TV set and kotatsu set!!! I WON!!! Hee hee. ;-)

After getting home, we watched a few DVDs "Goonies" and "School of Rock". Both of them were so good. :-) Well, it was the end of my trip to Ise. I left for home the next afternoon...

The 21st ans 22nd

Laura and me waiting for a taxi
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

Laura had a bad headahce, so she was absent from school on the 21st. It was a good idea to rest at home. Although I was just beside her, I couldn't do anything nice to her when she was sick. All I could do was going out to buy some ice cream and such... Well, at least I could be with her, so that's better than nothing. I mean better than being far away from her.

On the 22nd, she seemed to feel way better. Therefore, we went out for shopping, movie and having fun. :-) I was so glad that she seemed in better condition. Seeing her like that made me relieved. We went to Jusco in "Saiku". There, we had lunch first. I ate so much, but I still could eat huge ice cream. The size was...HUGE. I should've taken a photo of it. Laura was like "OMG, are you crazy?" I'm addicted to ice cream, but it was actually huge after big lunch. Hahaha. shopped around first. But my addction to it never fade away. I ate it. ;-) After that, we took print-club and shopped around. She bought presents for her brother Ian and sister Ellen. I bought...2006 schedule book and a snall bag for my digital camera. It was fun to shop with her. ;-D

We saw "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" together. It was the first movie we saw together. We got 700 yen discount called "Couple Day". Yay!!! The movie was fabulous. We laughed a lot. Oh, it was nice to hold her hand while seeing the movie. *blush* Ohhhh, we saw the trailor of "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire"!!! OMG, it was so great and unexpected that we were really excited. We'd already seen it on "Mugglenet", but still WOW. It's out here on November 26th. Not only I but also she are so looking forward to seeing the new movie. :-)

After the movie, we went to "Right on" to have a look at clothes. We bought a t-shirt. Hers is "Ohio Football" as she's from Ohio and mine is California as I'm from...oops...as I don't have green colored t-shirt. I had a really great day. Thanks Laura.

Ise-Jingu

People everywhere
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

On the 19th, we left for Ise, Laura's place. As she had work on 20th, I biked around Ise-shi by myeself. First, I went to "Geku"(the outer shrine). It was such a beautiful place that I felt relaxed and peaceful. I spent most of the time there that day. And I biked around more. I passed by "Kosei Shogakko", which is Laura's school, and got to a small shrine. I didn't stay there so long since there were lots of evil mosquitos there. :-< I hate them!!! When I tried to take a photo of the building, they annoyed me so much.

It took me ages to get to "Naiku"(the inner shrine). Although I followed a road sign to there, I couldn't get there easily. The road sign said "4km" to Naiku, but it was more than that!! Liar!!! :-< By the time I got there, I was so sweaty. Gross... Aww... Personally, I prefer Geku to Naiku. Naiku is lovely place with the river and wooden bridge, Geku has more peaceful atomsphere. At Naiku, I got a health charm for Mrs. Lay. I'll send it as soon as I can. Maybe tomorrow. ;-)

That evening, we met up Emily and had dinner together. She's Laura's best friend and she's very nice. :-) It was nice to see her.

Takeno-Hama

Laura and her work
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

On the 18th, we slept in again. LOL We like it. :-P After having quick lunch at home, we headed for Toyooka for shopping and stuff. We got there through "Kinosaki", which has lots of hot springs. I tried to find a parking lot to take her to the footbath, but everywhere was so crowded that we just passed by the building. It was a shame. Anyway, we went to Hello Kitty and Gibri shops and bought some stuff. When she was looking at Hello Kitty, she looks so excited and happy, which makes me happy, too. :-) After shopping, we had a parfait. Oh, we love ice cream. But my addiction to them is way higer and stronger than hers. You know that Laura, don't you? LOL

We went to a game arcade to take Print-Club. That turned out to be pretty cool. And then we headed for Takeno-Hama(beach). By the time we arrived there, the sun had already begun to sink into the horizen. So it was a bit chilly out there. But I went into the water. My pants got wet again. LOL Let me say, "I LOVE WATER". Laura was drawing on sand while I was taking photos of her. You can see her work on the sand. It's really lovely. *blush*

Waterfalls called "Shiraito no Taki"

Laura and me
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

Thanks to Laura's good sense of direction, we got to the waterfalls safely. As we walked up the path, the sound of rushing water became bigger and clearer. When we got to the main waterfalls(there are two small ones on the way), our efforts were paid off. The view was really amazing. We were like "Wow". LOL It took my breath away...

We were not allowed to step over the fence, but... we found many footprints, so we couldn't resist!!! You have to understand us, cos' how nice it'd be to put feet into the cool water and chill out there. :-) See? We had a really peaceful time there. She loves water just I do. We got soaked wet trying to touch the water directly. LOL It was so much fun. It was one of the best places I've ever been to. And it was nice to be able to go there with Laura.

In Izushi

Torii Gate
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

Laura and I went to "Izushi", which is famous for soba noodles and potery, on the 17th. We slept in until...the noon or so, by the way. I like it, so that was fine. Hahaha. First of all, we walked up to the catsle and saw these vermillion torii there. There are 37 of them and 107 stairs up to the top. When we were climbing down, Laura was counting numbers in Japanese, which was so cute and put a smile on my face. :-)

Then we ate ice cream down the stairs. And decided to walk around the town. We went to a temple, but we didn't go in as we had to walk more and there were heaps of mosquitos were definitely gonna suck us blood. The latter one is more serious than the first one. ;-) Instead of that, we decided to go back and have a look at some pottery shops. We saw some beautiful ones, but pretty expensive!!! By the time we got to our car, we found there're waterfalls near where we were, so we decided to go there next.

My New Friend From The USA

Me and Chu, the mouse
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

His name is "Chu" as mouse cries like "chu chu". LOL I just named him this morning. He's from the USA with Laura. He has cute tiny eyes, big nose and fluffy tail. He's damn cute.

Day Of Becoming A Chef

pancake01
Originally uploaded by seriouscookiemuncher.

As I had free time this afternoon, I cooked pancakes. It was real easy. Just mix 200 g of pancake powder, an egg and 150ml of milk and stir them together. Pretty much that's it. You know, it's easy. :-) Then heat the pan, and cool it down on the wet towel once. That's the point as for the back package of the powder. LOL I followed that direction. I made 4 pancakes, and my grandparents ate one each. I ate one with vanilla ice cream. OMG, the combination is the best!!! :-P Mum liked that. My uncle will eat the last half when he gets home. I hope he likes it.

Good thing to say

My host mother's operation went smoothly and she's okay. :-) She should be in the hospital up to 10 days, but then she'll be able to go back to home. YES!!! I'm so happy for her. Now that she's okay, she might need some books or magagines to read. She likes gossip, so Women's Week would be nice. I hope her recovery from the bottom of my heart. I hope to go and see you one day.

Typhoon and stuff

Typhoon 14 seems to have passed the main land of Japan, seems to have passed here during the night before. It's heading for Hokkaido at the moment. There are no serious damages here, around my hometown. However, it left terrible scars in Kyushu and Shikoku areas. More than 10 people were killed in flood or landslides. The worst thing is that it's very strong and moves really slowly. The news has been on the TV all the time. As they found the dead's name, I felt something incredibly sad thing. I hope the typhoon has gone soon without leaving any scars behind.

Yesterday Laura sent me some photos of her and her sister's wedding. These are so nice that I look at them again and again. :-) I wish I could've been there... Hahaha. But I heard from my mum that I did the stupidest thing ever at a wedding when I was... little. Oh God, I was relieved to hear "when I was little", cos' I don't have any piece of memories of that. :-P According to her, when a man was giving his speech for newly weds, I got so impatient(I guess it was such a long and boring speech, hee hee) and yelled at him, "Oi, shut up, be quiet!!!". I'm sorry for my mum now. She must've been really upset, eh? I bet she was. She said that she took me out of the hall and gave me an apple juice, which was my favorite. :-P Now I have common sense, so I can go to wedding parties, ceremonies. So... if you get married, invite me. I promise I won't do anything stuid. Oh well... who knows? Oh, another wedding topic. I watched some episodes of "FRIENDS" concerning to wedding. The episodes in which Chandler proposed Monica, which always makes me well up at least twice in 20 mins. And the episodes of their wedding. I really like what Chandler says. :-) I don't know if I have a chance to stand at an altar, but if I do, I promise I'll make the one happy ever... well, make her the happiest person in the world. :-)

While I was talking to Laura, I showed her what I got for her... I suck at keeping happy things secret. I do suck at that, yo. Hahahaha. :-P Well, I got a photo frame made or cork and big photos of us in Kyoto. I should prepare one more surprise so that I'll be able to make her surprised, eh? Hafta think about it. I have 8 days... Hmm....... Zzzzz....... Hee hee, kidding. I'm not sleeping yet. My nap friend is Harry Potter books. Always.