Monday, June 20, 2011

Japan: Day 5 Pt. 2 and Day 6 (written May 22nd)

For the rest of the 20th, we did a prayer walk around Sapporo for awhile; prayers for healing and light breaking through darkness and God to reveal Himself through His creation as promised in Romans 1:27 (?) and fulfillment of His promises. We also just sang some songs around the city: "God of This City," "Light of Your Face," "Here in Your Presence."

Then we rested awhile longer before the Snows came to pick us up. We ate at the onsen. Eliz and I split a meal with ramen and fried rice, and we ate at low tables where you sit on a big matted floor (no chairs).

There was a nine year old girl who kept trying to talk to us. She knew a few English words like "eye" and "ear," and Aunt Linda helped her speak to us. She has an English teacher at her school.

After the onsen, we re-entered the little restaurant and bought ice-cream cones.

Megan (Eliz's 15 year old cousin) came back to the church with us after for a sleepover. We were all too relaxed after the onsen to stay up late, so we ate some chocolate then went to sleep :P But, in the morning, we ate more chocolate--and breakfast (eggs w/cheese and buttered toast)--and did some Bible study. We did our minidevo and read Romans 6, since that's where Megan had been reading, and discussed it. Then I went upstairs and called Mom and talked to her for awhile, and she told me Dad had been sad because he was never at home when I called, so I called him at work and babbled about what's been going on, and he laughed and said how he was glad we were safe.

After I got off the phone, I returned to the main area of the church with Eliz and Megan, and we danced around to music, and Megan and Eliz tried to hook up the Ipod to bigger speakers without success.

Linda picked us up around noon to bring us to Ario, a mall a little further away from us than Postful.

After most everyone used the ladies' room, we went to the food court for lunch. We took awhile deciding on what to eat, but we finally settled on yaki soba--a fried noodle with beef and bean sprouts and cabbage (which isn't gross when cooked Japanese-style and tastes a bit like lettuce). Afterward, we tried green tea ice-cream, which has a unique taste, and *I* like it a LOT--although Eliz isn't a big fan--which was good for me because that meant I got to eat half of hers ;)

After we ate, we went with Aunt Linda to the bookstore, and I bought Christian and his parents gifts--a robot figure made of nuts and bolts, break-dancing, for Christian, and a fan for Karen and Kevin.

Then we looked around at several clothing stores. Lace is really popular in Japan. They have it on lots of shirts ("shots" in Japanese) and skirts and dresses and even shorts, haha. I may have seen lace on some slippers, too, but I'm not sure. And there was one store I particularly liked that smelled of incense and dust, played hippie/Indie music, and sold lots of Indian-style clothing and jewelry and various items (like handmade backpacks and stones and hemp). I really wanted a particular backpack, but it was $115, haha.

I tried on at least one hat in every clothing store, so Eliz took my picture in one of them. There was one store that sold a lot of different sunglasses (amidst other things), so Eliz and I tried on most pairs. Eliz really liked a pair with black frames and multicolor lenses, and *I* liked a pair with neon-clear purple frames, but Eliz said I looked good in some rectangular frames that had black as the primary color with white sides as an accent. Neither of us bought any, though, because they were $15+ and we still have some other things we want to buy.

And there was a Japanese version of a Claire's (I don't remember what it was called). They had a bunch of candy containers/scoopers in the middle where you could bag up different kinds, and they had ear piercings and posters and stuffed animals and clothes and a bunch of random stuff...like at Claire's :P

When we finally finished looking around, we went back to the food court for ice-cream. I got cookie cappuccino and Eliz got chocolate. Linda got Oreo and Megan got strawberry cheesecake (and offered me a bite =D).

Aunt Linda was determined to buy Eliz and I a present "to remember her by" so we could look at it and say "Oh, Aunt Linda loves me," haha :) She's thoughtful and kind.

So we went back to the bookstore and she bought me a 5-in-1 pen [psst...Aunt Linda, if you're reading this, it's already had much use, and sometimes I think to myself, "Oh, my Aunt Linda loves me!" :P hehe]with 5 inks to put in them; I chose: pencil, black, red, blue-black, and purple, and the pen itself is black with white polka dots. (I was going to write with that pen tonight in fondness of Aunt Linda, but I accidentally left it downstairs and am quite tired and looking forward to sleep after I finish journaling).

After the mall, we went back to the Snows' for dinner. We had chicken and cheese quesadillas. Megan was cracking me up, because she had shredded the cheddar cheese (which, by the way, was white--the color it is naturally--so I know it probably didn't have artificial coloring :-)), and noticed that it smelled funny, and asked Eliz and me if it smelled funny, and we agreed, but didn't appreciate that she made our concurment (haha...I made up a word :P)a public announcement, thereby dragging us into the discussion :P She and her parents argued allll the way through dinnertime, haha. It was really funny, though, that before dinner, several of the 7 kids (whose names I have learned now: Daniel, Megan, Andrew, Jake, Noah, Josiah, and Isaac)came up individually to the cheese, smelled it, and made a face. Haha.

Anyway, we finally ate our quesadillas (and I think mind had the smelly cheese, but it didn't taste bad, anyway) with two apple slices and two carrots (but I don't particularly like carrots, and I had a fat one, so, like the 5 year old I am, I traded mine with Eliz for a small, skinny carrot :P). After dinner, the Snows distributed some of the Reese's we brought for them (they don't have them--or peanut butter, for that matter--in Japan). Selflessly, they offered Eliz and I some, but we can buy as many as we want back in the States, so we declined.

We stayed for about an hour after, watching some kid show, and finally got back around 10:30 (which wasn't so late, but I was really wiped out). I didn't even brush my teeth or wash my face or pack up my stuff before church which would be the next morning. I just threw on my jammies and went to sleep.

No comments:

Post a Comment