Umbrellaphobia
We’ve been back from Nagoya since Sunday. The Aichi EXPO was great except for the fact that it was a bit crowded and rained for half of the day. Actually, it probably seemed more crowded than it was because EVERY living soul in the park was holding a huge umbrella (including Elena and Cristina) except me. It was killing me because I had no umbrella of my own to battle off the other umbrella-holding monsters. They just zipped by poking an eye out here and an eye out there. I never realized how tall I was compared to many Japanese people until they almost tore me into bits with their colorful weapons. Needless to say, I will buy an umbrella, it being the rainy season and all, but I will not like it. I have grown deathly afraid.
As for the EXPO itself, we were not able to go to any of the huge corporate pavilions with rides. We got there when the park opened and all of the same-day reservations sold out immediately. However, we decided to make the best of it and go around the different country pavilions. Some of them were quite good at informing you about the culture and what the country can do to be environmentally friendly. Other country pavilions were just simply too abstract or just simply plain. Elena, Cristina and I discussed it and we think that the winners are probably India and Mexico. We thought the loser by far was Singapore. Just to give you an idea of why Singapore was so bad, let me paint you a picture: You are standing outside for over 20 minutes in the rain waiting anxiously to enter this very interesting looking pavilion with rubber duckies and pink flamingos on the outside. Then, as soon as you get into the dry space, they hand you an UMBRELLA! Suddenly, you are crowded into this room where everyone has to have an umbrella and it begins to storm and pour. Naturally, many people looked up which meant that the water just splashed off their umbrella and hit everyone else. We ended up being soaked. Then, the water ceded to fall and we continued to a gift shop. Yeah, we didn’t get it either.
Sunday, we went to Nagoya’s main shopping district, Sakae, where we had a mission: Find one of the three Outback Steakhouses in Japan and eat Aussie cheese fries and have a dessert. Before we could do that, we walked what seemed like the entire city looking for a free locker. It was really frustrating for all of us since we hadn’t eaten yet and were lugging around Elena’s big bags. We finally gave up and just took it with us. We found Outback pretty quickly, but had to wait an hour till it opened. So we walked for a bit and stumbled into a foreign food store. It was nice and we got ourselves a few things. Then, it was time to go to Outback. IT WAS FANTASTIC – a real nice piece of home! After Outback, we headed back to the airport to say goodbye to Elena who would continue to the States while we returned to Kagoshima. Nagoya’s Central Japan Airport is new. It opened in February. It’s great, except it also doubles as a shopping mall. It has a sky terrace that overlooks the runways, so there were tons of people there that didn’t have any flights with the sole purpose of perusing and shopping. It was crazy to see all those people walking back and forth. It was literally a highway with no automobiles. From there, we said our tearful goodbyes and everyone went on their way. (By the way, Juanpi had left on Friday from Kagoshima airport to Osaka, where he would go on to Miami.)
This week has been rally busy. I have booked schools for everyday. I don’t mind though, because that just means I have elementary school twice a week. This week I also read Memoirs of a Geisha. I enjoyed it since I had just been in Kyoto and will be going back there with my mom.
Last night I went to dinner at the Katos. It was so much fun. There were two little boys aged 2 that were playing guns for like 3 hours straight NONSTOP. This was so tiring, but a lot of fun at the same time. There was also the cutest 10-month old, Ui-chan. They are all the kids of the Katos’ cousins.
As for the EXPO itself, we were not able to go to any of the huge corporate pavilions with rides. We got there when the park opened and all of the same-day reservations sold out immediately. However, we decided to make the best of it and go around the different country pavilions. Some of them were quite good at informing you about the culture and what the country can do to be environmentally friendly. Other country pavilions were just simply too abstract or just simply plain. Elena, Cristina and I discussed it and we think that the winners are probably India and Mexico. We thought the loser by far was Singapore. Just to give you an idea of why Singapore was so bad, let me paint you a picture: You are standing outside for over 20 minutes in the rain waiting anxiously to enter this very interesting looking pavilion with rubber duckies and pink flamingos on the outside. Then, as soon as you get into the dry space, they hand you an UMBRELLA! Suddenly, you are crowded into this room where everyone has to have an umbrella and it begins to storm and pour. Naturally, many people looked up which meant that the water just splashed off their umbrella and hit everyone else. We ended up being soaked. Then, the water ceded to fall and we continued to a gift shop. Yeah, we didn’t get it either.
Sunday, we went to Nagoya’s main shopping district, Sakae, where we had a mission: Find one of the three Outback Steakhouses in Japan and eat Aussie cheese fries and have a dessert. Before we could do that, we walked what seemed like the entire city looking for a free locker. It was really frustrating for all of us since we hadn’t eaten yet and were lugging around Elena’s big bags. We finally gave up and just took it with us. We found Outback pretty quickly, but had to wait an hour till it opened. So we walked for a bit and stumbled into a foreign food store. It was nice and we got ourselves a few things. Then, it was time to go to Outback. IT WAS FANTASTIC – a real nice piece of home! After Outback, we headed back to the airport to say goodbye to Elena who would continue to the States while we returned to Kagoshima. Nagoya’s Central Japan Airport is new. It opened in February. It’s great, except it also doubles as a shopping mall. It has a sky terrace that overlooks the runways, so there were tons of people there that didn’t have any flights with the sole purpose of perusing and shopping. It was crazy to see all those people walking back and forth. It was literally a highway with no automobiles. From there, we said our tearful goodbyes and everyone went on their way. (By the way, Juanpi had left on Friday from Kagoshima airport to Osaka, where he would go on to Miami.)
This week has been rally busy. I have booked schools for everyday. I don’t mind though, because that just means I have elementary school twice a week. This week I also read Memoirs of a Geisha. I enjoyed it since I had just been in Kyoto and will be going back there with my mom.
Last night I went to dinner at the Katos. It was so much fun. There were two little boys aged 2 that were playing guns for like 3 hours straight NONSTOP. This was so tiring, but a lot of fun at the same time. There was also the cutest 10-month old, Ui-chan. They are all the kids of the Katos’ cousins.
posted by Jesse Montano at
9:19 AM
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