Kobe - Time to Try Something New

Watashi wa Nihon ni korarete totemo ureshii desu.
Roughly translated – “I am so happy to be in Japan!”

My time in Japan has come to an end and I could not have asked for anything better. The weather was wonderful every day; we didn’t get rained on once. It was cold but as long as you dressed appropriately it was fine. I saw and experienced everything that I wanted to and can honestly say that I have seen the ins and outs of Japanese culture, daily life, and tourist destinations…all in 4 days.

The picture I have included is a group of us riding a cable car up to the top of Mount Rokko. As we were about to board a group of Japanese men who were taking a picture asked us to jump in the picture with them. I gave someone my camera cause we all wanted pictures with the locals too! From left to right it goes Natalie, Japanese man 1, Alyssa (Zoomba teacher), Abby, Amy, Japanese man 2 & 3, and then me on the end! The guys were really cool and very nice…they were sightseeing as well.

Shout-out time! JT – heck yeah we have the same hoodie! Great minds think alike!! Green is my sea’s color for the Sea Olympics so I got green for that reason lol. Esther – Hahaha I thought you guys would like the “Big Booty” comment, glad I could entertain! Shaun White is awesome! Can’t wait to see what he does. And thanks for missing me haha…miss you guys too! Dad and Mom – That is awesome about the volcano! Guess we both had really great luck with seeing mountains/volcanoes! As far as Kobe beef…we looked for it at one point but couldn’t find any good places to get it. I wasn’t too disappointed though because I did a pretty good job budgeting in Japan so it was nice not having to pay for it. Chris – yeah I really like Tao’s milk tea but I had to try the Japanese kind while I was here. Guess the Americanized version is more to my liking haha. Bro that is SAWEET about South Africa…God has amazing things in store for you brotha…you have a once in a lifetime opportunity and I am ecstatic for you!! Love you brother and praying for you continually!! Can’t wait to come home and eat some good ole fashioned American food with ya! B.T. – Girl you totally should have come to Hawaii!! You would have had such a good time with us!!!!! Yeah I bet you are glad to be done with all the greenery and Christmas decorations, you and Morgan are brave souls lol. Hahaha all I can say is “I told you so” about Dear John…and I don’t see myself reading that one…sorry sis. 3 tests! Yikes!! Hate it when that happens! Yeah I did OU’s version of VR last year so I’ve been there! Yeah I have no doubt you would wear the right foot gear…you are definitely an experienced traveler. Haha no I don’t have a Valentine. Didn’t even realize it was that time yet honestly. Wehunt – Dude congrats!! Hoooorrrraaaayyyyyy!!!!!! You’re a father!!!!!!!!!!!!!! And don’t you worry! I will be crashing your house ASAP when I get back to come say high to the little man! Miss all you guys and can’t wait to see the 3 of you!! Sara – yeah money belts are a life saver and a great investment when traveling abroad! There is nothing to worry about as far as losing important stuff or getting pick-pocketed. Haha you are playing powder puff? That’s tight but I also kinda feel bad for you because my sister is on the other team and last time she played as a sophomore she dominated the other team!! Good luck with Quartz, I’m sure you will do great. Yeah you mentioned choreographing the dance…good luck with that! That is the most popular assembly (or it was when I was there) so no pressure haha. No promises on the safe part but I will do my best!

I mentioned briefly at the end of my Yokohama blog that it took a day to sail from Yokohama to Kobe. The way this works is that all the SAS students have the option of traveling independently from Yokohama to Kobe or sailing with the ship. I chose to sail with the ship instead of paying for a hotel and train ride. Japan was a country where I chose not to spend as much because 1) it is super expensive and 2) I am spending my money in other countries where I want to travel more. Out of 606 students less than 150 sailed with the ship from Yokohama to Kobe. Including faculty and life-long learners we had around 200 people. Okay it was so nice traveling on the ship for that day. We all got to sleep in, then all day everyone was just chilling around the ship. They had movies playing all day in the union on the big projector and various movies playing continually on the tv’s in our rooms. We all just chilled in our pajamas and sweats and watched movies and played cards. Okay but the best part was dinner. With fewer people on the ship they scheduled a fancy sit-down dinner for all of us. We all ate on the 5th deck dining room and received a 5 course meal. We got to choose between fried calamari or fruit, then we all got soup and a salad, our choice of 3 entrees, and cherries jubilee for desert. By far the best food I have had on the ship yet!! It was actually good meat, the salad was fresh and crisp (I don’t even like salad but I cleaned my late, I know you all don’t believe me but it’s true), and the desert was outstanding!! But…the best part…no dress code!! That’s right, we ate a five course meal in sweats. Sooooooo awesome!! So in whole, a nice relaxed day to just recuperate and eat some delicious food before spending 2 more days in Kobe.

Okay small story for all you SMU alumni that are reading this. I was talking to one of my friends (I’m not gunna say her name cause this story is pretty embarrassing and she would kill me lol) and she told me a story about a little trip she took to SMU a little while ago. Her brother goes to SMU and she was visiting him one weekend. One night they were out, (use your imagination) and she said that she really had to go pee. So she decided to go pee on the SMU pony statue. Haha small world huh? What are the odds that I would meet a girl that has done that?!?! I told her that like me mom’s whole side of the family went to SMU and we had a good laugh! So thought you all might enjoy that…whether you approve or not lol.

Day 1 in Kobe was a cultural experience for me. I attended an all day trip to Nara with Semester at Sea. I wasn’t originally scheduled on the ship but my buddy didn’t want to go and sold me his ticket for 75% off the original price. So I had a jam-packed day for super cheap. Nara used to be the capital of Japan way back in the day and is FULL of history. We hop scotched around the city and visited numerous Buddhist temples and Shinto Shrines. The biggest Buddhist temple we built was centered around a 49 foot tall Buddha made entirely of gold. It was crazy big. In the building with the Buddha there was this pillar holding up the building that had a hole in the base of it. Legend has it that if you can squeeze through the hole you “get a free ride to Paradise.” I’m not Buddhist and I don’t believe that at all but to me it was a challenge…can I make it through the hole or not?? And we are talking a small hole…like maybe 1.5 ft by 1.5 ft (I have pictures). So my friend Jeff was like “I’m doing it” so I was like “Alright I’ll do it too.” Jeff made it through successfully and I was able to conquer it as well!! Boom Baby!! And yes I have pictures to prove that I made it through for all you doubters back home. So that was probably the biggest/most cultural Buddhist place we visited. Oh and we got to see a group of Buddhist monks walking around in their traditional garb which was pretty cool. The highlight of Nara is the famous Nara deer park. When I say deer park that is literally what I mean…a park full of deer. The park contains numerous Buddhist temples and Shinto shrines but the main attraction is the hundreds of tame deer that call the park home. There are over 1200 deer currently in the park, and they just walk around and live in the middle of this tourist destination. There are places where you can buy crackers to feed the deer but you have to be careful cause the deer are smart. They hang around the cracker ladies and as soon as someone walks up they swarm the person. I have a hilarious video of one of our life-long learners trying to feed the deer and they are nipping at her clothes and jostling for position to get the crackers. So funny!! Then as you walk through the park there are just deer standing in the middle of path and sleeping on the sides…they are even deer up on the steps under shrines and stuff. It was a very unique place and I have never experienced anything like this at all. By the end of the day the temperature had dropped to I would say around 30 degrees Fahrenheit and some people on our trip were not happy at all. Kind of like the mountain adventure I told you guys about last time, people started complaining and I am just like “What are you all talking about? You’re in stinking Japan, people would kill to be here and experience this!” Ahhhh people just frustrate me sometimes haha. Oh well! Their loss and my gain!

After returning to Kobe from my Nara adventure I met up with Mem and Lettie who had been on a separate SAS trip and we headed into Kobe in search of a traditional Japanese dinner. Random Info - Taking the subway in Japan is a cake-walk. It is formatted just like most European subways and even if you can’t read any of the Japanese characters, all the stops have a corresponding color and number. Some people I traveled with throughout Japan couldn’t understand how I knew where I was going and I was like, you just have to get the hang of it and I showed them little short-cuts for getting around foreign cities. Anyways so we headed off to find dinner and found this underground strip mall area that had like 20 some odd restaurants. The first restaurant we tried didn’t have picture menus (which are very common in Japan) so we had to awkwardly leave because we couldn’t communicate what we wanted to order. Very awkward but also kinda comical looking back on it haha. We were more careful in choosing another restaurant to try. We made sure they had picture menus and were able to simply point and order. The Japanese people are amazingly friendly and very easy to interact with. As long as you say “Aragato” (thank-you) and smile, they understand that you are trying and will help you as best they can. It was a very traditional Japanese meal; I ordered some sort of chicken dish that came with sticky rice, some sort of thin salad, a type of seaweed soup (which was actually delicious, I ate all of mine and Lettie’s), a cup of green tea, and something closely resembling potato salad. The chicken was absolutely fantastic and I can honestly say that I ate/drank everything I just mentioned except for some random onions and sprouts I was given. Lettie ordered the exact same thing as me and then Mem ordered some sort of battered shrimp that she said was really good. After dinner we chose to explore around the city and see what we could find. We ended up stopping at a Baskin Robbins later in the evening cause Mem REALLY wanted ice cream. It tasted just like American ice cream so I wasn’t too impressed but it was still a fun experience! After wandering around some more we took the subway back to the ship and called it a night before starting early the next morning for our last day in Japan!!

Before I tell you about my last day in Japan I wanna tell you some more about the various foods I tried because some of it was stuff that I would never try at home; and I told you about the food I tried in Yokohama so here is what I tried in Kobe. I already mentioned my Japanese dinner where I ate seaweed soup and LOVED it! Ok I tried a chocolate Japanese doughnut, it was interesting and I liked it but nothing compared to an American doughnut. This one none of you all will believe. Vending machines are everywhere in Japan and they aren’t like vending machines in the States. You can get your traditional cold drink but they also server hot beverages like coffee and hot chocolate that come in cans and are super warm! There are these type of coffees called Café Au Late…I kept hearing people talk about them and Jeff finally convinced me to get one in Nara. Okay it was awesome! I ended up buying another one the next day because they were so good! I tried Coca-Cola brand hot chocolate cause I thought it was interesting and it was really good. Okay Chris…I tried Sushi just for you bro! I went into it with an open mind and I can honestly say I didn’t care for it. Maybe it just wasn’t a good type but whatever I had was not a good one. But I did it just for you brotha! Then Austin and Adam got these egg based dishes with like squid and shrimp and vegetables and spices on top that were very similar to pizzas. Austin didn’t eat all of his so I cleaned his plate for him and whatever I ate was SO bomb!! WE were told by one of the Japanese girls on the ship to “Eat first and ask questions later.” Best advice I was given in Japan. It was a time for trying new things and I don’t regret any of it, even the stuff I didn’t like.

The last day in Japan was spent traveling totally independently. I left the ship at 8 a.m. with Alyssa, Amy, Natalie, and Abby and we headed towards Mount Rokko. After a subway ride, transferring to another subway, and then a bus, we arrived at the base of the Mount Rokko cable car station. It was a 10 minute ride straight up the mountain on this cable car and it was full of Japanese tourists and their families who were headed up the mountain for the day. At the top of Mount Rokko we enjoyed a scenic view of Kobe, Osaka, and the port area. It was georgeous!! We hiked around the mountain for a couple hours and explored on our own. Natalie and I hiked down into this miniature gorge type thing just cause and had some fun hiking off the beaten path. The other girls didn’t want to get dirty. We headed back down the mountain around noon and trekked back into the center of Kobe to find somewhere to grab some lunch. Abby really wanted McDonalds so we decided to try the Japanese version of McDonalds. I didn’t want to spend that much so I stuck with the 100 yen menu (about $1.10 US) and just got a basic hamburger just to compare it to an American burger. Definitely doesn’t touch a home-grilled backyard burger with cheese! Oh and the best part was the music playing in McDonalds…as we walked in they were playing Lady Antebellum…in English! Country Music in McDonalds in Japan! Hahaha classic…good to know they have good taste in music! After lunch we walked around and who did we run into?!? Adam, Austin, James, Abby, Theresa, and Nicci! They were shopping in the huge mall that we happened to be walking through. The girls were looking for boots and Adam and Austin were hungry so we separated and went to go eat with the boys. Even though we had already eaten we sat down the Adam and Austin and I am glad we did cause I got to finish off their meals for them…that’s right I’m a mooch…but hey, I’m on a budget lol. After lunch we walked around Kobe a little more and headed to the port area to walk around before betting back on the ship before On-Ship Time. None of us wanted to risk dock-time so we made sure we were back to the ship with time to spare. In the terminal there was a money-changer so we were all able to trade in our extra Yen for American Dollars which was very convenient so that we didn’t have to go to the airport or anything to change our money. And that was the end of my last day in Japan!

I mentioned some overall opinions I had about Japan in my previous Japan blog so I won’t be repetitive for those of you that read both. Leaving Japan I feel like I have seen everything that I needed too. I had priorities going into Japan and I made sure that I saw/accomplished those things. Mt. Fuji was the highlight of my Japanese adventure and something I am so glad I decided to do. I hung out with a different group of people every day in Japan and made numerous new friends. I traveled with professors and life-long learners who provided different viewpoints in certain areas that added to the experience in irreplaceable ways. I cannot begin to describe all I have learned in 5 short days. The out of classroom experiences in these countries are filled with knowledge that I couldn’t get from a textbook or classroom lecture. I will greatly miss the people in Japan and I highly recommend travelling to Japan.

I have constantly been talking about nature and seeing God’s hand evident in so many ways throughout my travels. In his book, My Utmost for His Highest, Oswald Chambers talks about using your imagination to fully experience nature. The problem is that we rarely use our imagination in the way God intended it to be used, something he refers to as a “starved imagination.” He writes “In every wind that blows, in every night and day of the year, in every sign in the sky, in every blossoming and in every withering of the earth, there is a real coming of God to us if we will simply use our starved imagination to realize it.” Wow….think about what he said for just a second. It is so easy to see God at work but how often do we simply go through life without taking time to realize it? Think about just a simple tree and imagine God creating that individual tree, from a seed, from another tree, from a seed, from another tree…etc. It is crazy!! Something as simply as a tree shows God’s grand design if you will just take your time to think about it! The trick is to deliberately turn our imaginations to God…is that so hard? Not at all!! Then why don’t we do it more?!? Chambers was on to something…by doing this we are recognizing what God has done and experiencing his creation in a new and humbling way. In Isaiah 40:26 it says “Lift up your eyes on high, and behold who hath created these things.” Pretty powerful stuff huh?

As you are reading this we are sailing from Kobe, Japan to Shanghai, China. The coolest part…we are only at sea for two days!! Two days and then we will be in China?!?! That is crazy!! It’s like the exact opposite of school back home…instead of 5 days of class and 2 days of freedom, we had 5 days of freedom in Japan…then 2 days of class (1 A day and 1 B day)…then we get 8 days of freedom in China!! Ahhhhhhh that is so awesome!! Okay so as far as my upcoming blogs, I am taking a 6 day/5 night trip in China through SAS so I will actually be spending all 8 days in China. Due to this I will not have a break in the middle to blog because I will not be taking my computer on my trip with me (need to take more important things). So…I won’t be posting for a little while and then I will try and post ASAP once back on the ship. I will definitely be splitting the blog up because blogging about 8 days in China will take awhile lol…so just a heads up for you guys on the time frame.

As always I have thoroughly enjoyed hearing from you all and reading you comments. You all make me smile and laugh every time! It’s a nice taste of back home and great getting an update on all you guys!! Thank you all so much for your prayers, they are constantly felt and greatly appreciated! I am blessed to have you all in my lives; you guys are so stinkin awesome!! Hope you all enjoyed the reading. Love you guys!!

T