Week 13: What are you thinking about? Naan

This week we had splits and it was so much fun! We split with sisters in the neighboring area, and they were full Japanese so it was a really fun challenge to communicate with them! i.e. It was really fun not knowing what was going on the whole day!

Us in their apartment!

(If you look really close you can see in my left hand I am holding a mostly-eaten Black Thunder, the best chocolate bar-cookie confectionery in all of Japan. Yum.)

I did not want to leave their apartment because their futons (Japanese style floor-beds, yeah, that's right, I sleep on the floor) were like at least 2.5 times comfier than our futons... Oh well.

One day we were in our area, and the next we went to theirs and stayed in their apartment. Their area was less of a city, and much more rural, so I got a LOT more "Gaijin Stares" than I am accustomed to... Oh, I should probably explain! "Gaijin" (pronounced guy-Jean) is the word for foreigner in Japanese, and a so-called "Gaijin Stare" is when people look at you like you're a mythical creature because they've never seen a foreigner in the wild before, only on TV.

It's fun! But a little embarrassing... We passed by like three schools as they were getting out, and kids and teenagers stare the most. I'm surprised some of them didn't get in bike accidents, because they were looking at me instead of where they were going!

Since this place was more rural, it was CRAZY BEAUTIFUL!! This is a picture of when we got lost and started riding into open fields. I love Japan.

This week we finally went to the restaurant that my trainer has been talking about NON STOP. It's called Bistare Bistare, and it's Nepalese food, so that means curry and NAAN, NAAN, NAAN!

If you have not tried naan, I encourage you to take that step, because after that you will want to eat naan NAANSTOP!! Haha, get it.

Look!

Look at the cool plate too!  And they served us this weird but delicious yogurt drink. Basically I was in heaven.

Now it's time to learn a little bit about Japan!

In Japan, they have coins up the wazoo. Like coins everywhere. There's a coin that's worth the equivalent of 5USD!

And I do not know how to use them yet...

So I just pay in ＄10/1000¥ bills........

As a result, my coin purse, when tipped out, looks like this

That mess of change is worth 2591¥ / ~＄25.91

Crazy.

You can buy a lot of naan with that dough.

Hehehe.

But anyway, more about naan later. When trying to be a master chef and make... I don't even remember what I was cooking, eggs?? Anyway, our pan is a little sketchy, and it started smoking really bad, but I hadn't noticed until my companion comes up to me and asks "Is it a little smoky in here?" I look up. Our whole apartment is hazy. "Oh no, what if the smoke alarm--" BEEP BEEP BEEP! Yeah, I set the smoke alarm off...... Sorry neighbors!

There's a lot of shirtless statues in my area. Don't know why, but it's great.

Here's how doofy I look when riding around Japan!

This is the free bike I got from my trainer's previous companion who had just gone home when I got to Japan. I'm gonna make it last so I don't have to drop 5 hundo on a new bikeroni. Can she do it?!?!!

(Probs not I already broke both of the petals in half with my feet somehow.)

This week we had a cool coincidence--AKA, MIRACLE! We were biking somewhere, and we saw a church member on the street so we stopped to chat. Afterward, my companion looks up at the building right where we had stopped, and says, "Oh my gosh, I think this is it!"

She had been trying to find the house of a not active member who she had visited once, a long time ago, but she hadn't been able to find it for a long time. If it weren't for the member randomly walking on the street at the exact moment we were riding by in the exact place we needed to be, we would have never found it! We would have rode right on by!

We stopped and knocked on the door. No one was home, but we slipped cookies and a note in the mailbox. We'll probably visit again this week! 

Anyway, the fun times are probably coming to a close!

You'll have to wait another week to here more about my adventures in Japan!

Alright, until next week then!

SAYONARA

(Haha I've only heard one person say that once as a joke.)

BYE-BYE!