So, here we go (pro tip: if you want to see just the pictures without any commentary/captions, just click one picture and it will enlarge it and then you can skim through them using the arrow key on your keyboard)...
First night in Osaka, after we checked into our hotel.
I had been looking forward to a "noodle sandwich" for months! Joe promised that would be the first thing we got for me to eat in Japan.
Trying takoyaki... I wasn't a big fan.
Arrival in Fukuyama - these next pictures are from the castle and grounds.
(Except this one that sneaked in here. It's from the festival.)
Fast forward to two weekends ago in Tomonoura/Sensui island. I actually tried eating this because some nice Japanese fisherman shoved it at me to give it to me and were laughing at me trying it.
But THIS. This is the mother of all Japanese food: okonomiyaki. I LOVE OKONOMIYAKI.
Tomonoura
This weekend we decided to take a weekend trip to Okayama, which is about an hour away by train. We stayed over night in a hotel. On Saturday, we toured the Kirin brewing factory (it's a big beer company here). It was fun!
After that, we checked in at our hotel an then went to the GREATEST MALL EVER. It is seven massive stories and the top two are restaurant floors with a movie theater and a giant arcade. We spent about five hours at the mall and weren't even slightly bored. We hardly saw any stores except the Gap, H&M and Uniqlo because I wanted to do a little shopping in stores that I knew since I don't get that opportunity much. We can't wait to go back and shop and see stores that we aren't familiar with. We played in the arcade, ate a delicious dinner at a Japanese restaurant and got some awesome dessert and drinks at a Hawaiian restaurant.
The next day, we ventured 40 minutes south of Okayama to a town called Tamano. We went to the beach and hiked up a small mountain. It was a wonderful, relaxing, fun day - exactly what my soul needed to refresh.
This is the mountain we hiked. The next pictures are all from our hike.
This lovely statue is right off the train in Tamano. I joked that they made a statue of me because of the big booty.
That night, we got some amazing ramen for dinner before heading back to Fukuyama.
YOU GUYS. I am in this state way too often. Case in point, this picture is from our honeymoon and it is THE EXACT SAME PICTURE except for the face. I discovered this when uploading these pictures when I thought "Ha, that looks like our honeymoon picture that we hung in our ktichen." Except I did realize it was the exact same picture.
Italian noodle Brittany on honeymoon vs. Japanese noodle Brittany
Anyway, the ramen was delicious and Joe took this "after" shot.
The next photos are from my phone from the past two weeks, plus a couple videos that never got uploaded:
We found the stuff to make tacos!
Festival food: fun fact, we were trying NOT to go to the festival and to go to a restaurant instead, but we were enticed by the smell once again.
Best gyoza evahhhhh
In Japan, preschool teachers all wear these cute aprons so I finally bought one.
Video from the very beginning of the typhoon
We braved the typhoon with our friend Kento, who took us to get some American food. It was much needed and delicious.
Still, before the typhoon REALLY started.
More photos from this past weekend:
Joe was unimpressed.
We like STL craft beers MUCH better.
Guys, the dollar stores here are AMAZING.
We played this quarter game too long.
Joe's dinner
My dinner
I won the claw machine!
This was fruit punch juice and it was delicious.
Awesome sculpture at the train station in Tamano
We have probably never sweat so much as on that hike.
Hilarious store at the mall with lots of American themed stuff. Thanks, Japan.
View from the train
Short video of riding the shinkansen
The next photos are from Joe's phone:
We had a wonderful weekend, overall! It was so great to get out and do some really fun things together and get to explore some more areas of Japan. I had a holiday today so we stayed home and cleaned and went grocery shopping and we are both feeling so refreshed and ready for the next week. :) We also met some new people for coffee today who have a Christian church group here in Fukuyama - something we did NOT expect to find. We stumbled across the name of the church randomly last weekend and contacted them. There are many English speakers in the group of 25 people, as well as Japanese natives. Like I said, we met one couple today and we will be attending the church for the first time next week, so we are very excited about that, both because it will be great to have a group of Christians to talk to, but also because we are eager to meet some new friends!
In other news:
Joe got a job this week! He starts next month and he is very excited. He will be an Assistant Language Teacher (ALT) in a public school in Okayama, so he will have a long commute, but it is exactly the type of job he was hoping to find and he is very excited! We will also have similar hours with the same days off, so that is a relief.
I met my Japanese tutor last Wednesday and will officially start weekly lessons with her starting this Wednesday, so I am also excited about that.
Thanks for your encouragement and prayers over the last week! It has been a great, encouraging week overall and we are starting to feel really optimistic and happy about our time here.
