Yokohama National University had alot of white buildings.


Mmmm... nothing like tabehoudai

So today I went to Yokohama National University. Azusa came to pick me up at around 11, and she has some hay fever problems, so she had a mask on. The University is maybe a little over a hundred feet away from the church door, so it's really close. The campus is actually really huge, and very nice. It has alot of trees and open space, and was really quiet. Well most of the students were away on spring vacation, so I'm guessing it's a bit more active regularly. There were a few clubs recruiting students, but that's about all that was happening outdoors. Clubs are really big at Japanese colleges. They range from sports to music, to pretty much anything you can get a bunch of people to do. When I went to Hokkaido we actually visited all the clubs, and its just a really different experience than the colleges in America. Almost every student is in a club or circle, and those are usually the people you hang out with all the time.
In the University there were also several places to eat. I think maybe I'll go and eat there sometime just for fun. There's also a convenience store there, and I think it might be closer than the Lawsons by the church. So maybe I'll try and go there if I need to pick up some small things, and even if it's not closer it's a bit safer since you don't need to cross any streets. Also I can check books out from the library. I need to fill out some forms and things, but maybe if I really want to borrow books I'll get someone to help me with that.
We also went to few parts of campus that Azusa hasn't seen before. It was way in the back and to the side, so totally not where her buildings are. They had some really cool schools of study, like boat engineering and aeronautics. In the end though I didn't end up taking many pictures. As pretty and clean as the campus was, all the buildings look the same. They're all white and tall. If it wasn't for the kanji in the front, you would never be able to find your building. They did have this cool amphitheater type thing, though it looks like it hasn't been maintained very well. In the end I think I would go there if I went back to school, and they seem to have a pretty good sized international population. After the university Azusa had to go home to pack, because she was going back home to Nagano for some relaxation. So I went back to church to wait for her to finish. When she was done we headed down to Yokohama station to drop off her bag, and then to China town to eat lunch. When we got there the restaurant we were going to already finished lunch, so we were kinda bummed. So we walked across the street, and found another restaurant to eat at. Both the restaurants were tabehoudai which is all you can eat, so that was good. We both skipped breakfast, so we were quite hungry. Well I think she skipped breakfast, and I just haven't been eating any. Anyway, the food was really good, and we started off with duck. Duck is actually like my favorite thing to eat at chinese restaurants. I'm not sure why, but I could eat it everyday and not get tired for a long time, but it it quite oily, so I'd probably have a heart attack first. We also ordered corn shrimp shumai, squid in chili sauce, pork hash, shrimp lookfun roll, shrimp shumai, shrimp with mayonaise, chowmein with chicken and shrimp, mochi rice, shrimp in chili sauce, mango jello thing and those sesame ball things with the the beans inside. I'm sure Japanese people have different names for all this stuff, and I probably even misspelled most of it anyway, but who cares it was good, and I was so full afterwards. Although I was a little sad the pecking duck never came. We ordered it near the end and it just never arrived, so we left. One embarrassing thing did happen. I was eating the pork hash thing that's in my picture, and I guess the steaming made liquid build up inside. So when I went to bite it in half, all this liquid flew out. I was so embarrassed, but was happy none went far enough to hit Azusa. It all just went on my plate, and a little after it. So yeah I just ate them whole after that.
When lunch was finished we walked around China Town for a bit, and then headed back to Yokohama station. She still had to do some shopping for her brother before she catches the train home, so I walked back to church. It was getting kinda late, and even though I wasn't hungry at all, I thought it prudent to buy dinner on the way home. So I stopped by Daiei, and picked up a pan dinner. I got curry pan, chicken karaage pan and choco melon pan.
Also on the way home I saw this car with a sticker on it, and immediately thought of everyone at church, so I took a picture of it. Even though it's specifically about terriers, and only one family has a terrier, I think everyone can relate.
After an energizing carbohydrate filled dinner, I felt ambitious and cleaned up my room. There's still a good amount to do like vacuum, and clean the bathroom, but it's like way way way way better than how it was. I also finally unlocked and put stuff in my desk drawers that I've had since my first week here. It's still not clean enough to take pictures, but I'm thinking sometime before I leave Japan it'll be ready for public viewing. Oh also there's a picture with a giant santa. It belongs to a chinese restaurant that serves like a chinese risotto. I just thought it was funny to see a giant wooden santa in the middle of china town on a restaurant that serves rice porridge.


Posted: Mon - March 14, 2005 at 11:26 PM          

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