mou hachi gatsu... schon August!

Omg so lacking behind with blogging ?! I've done a few things/trips in July but haven’t found any time to blog because ...yes....you already know why: my two part-time jobs keeping me buuusy.

On one random day in the first half of July I went to explore my neighboring district called Shin-Nagata. Shin-Nagata is not really nice, but they have some random huge anime figure-monument called tetsujin http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tetsujin_28-go :

there are also some historic museums but I didn’t bother too look them up (access, fees, etc.). Originally I went to Shin-Nagata because I wanted to check out their Shoes-Plaza. Yes, a mall dedicated to shoes only. There was some special outlet sale going on at that time. Unfortunately, when I arrived at this mall, I found myself in front of CLOSED DOORS. It was closed on a normal Wednesday. Well as far as I could see some of the shoes inside, it was mainly sports/outdoor shoes, comfort shoes and shoes for older generations. But I still wanna check it out one day.

I also went to Kyoto with Lisa. I've met up with her in Osaka and then we rode the JR to Kyoto together. Once there, we purchased the Day-Ticket for the City Bus and went to Gion and other places including the famous Kinkakuji. There, I bought my very first mobile phone strap! Unbelievable, right? Somehow, I never bought one.

We also found some great place for dinner, a small shop specialized in Uni/Ika/sashimi – don ( (rice and different sorts of raw fish, sea urchin, etc as a topping). My bowl of „Sakaidon“ was so damn good. I kept repeating how tasty it was !!

mine

Lisa's

In July (on the 27^th) I participated in another survey! This time it took place in Kobe and took only 5 minutes! The pay was good and the only condition were to be a foreign/european woman and have hair in your natural color. I also told Lisa about it and she got her appointment on the 26^th. So Lisa visited Kobe her first time that day and we met up after she completed the survey. I had to work that day (of course!), therefore our time was very limited. We met up at about 14:40 in Sannomiya and I brought Naoko with me. We walked through Sannomiya/Motomachi/Nankinmachi (China Town) as fast as we could to Meriken-Area, where we headed to the Maritime Museum ! We got the combined ticket for the Museum and Kobe Port Tower (=800 Yen).

thats the Maritime Museum. Shot from top of the Kobe Port Tower

The Museum was nice and fun. Lisa and me got quite excited about the possibility to get on some real Kawasaki Machines :D The Museum is kind of dominated by the „Kawasaki (Good Time) World“ exhibition, which resembles more a promotion fair than a museum.

a jetski :D

After the museum we hurried over to the Port Tower and went up. The tower doesn’t offer anything special, but it was still nice to see Kobe from the top. I also got another mobile phone strap there :D A red leather band with „Nostalgia of Kobe“ written on it.

The tower might be nice for dating though: on one level of the tower you can sit on sofas to enjoy the view. Most of these sofas were occupied by couples.

some more pics spamming... sorry :

On the 30^th July I got a random day off from work. I was supposed to work, but someone at work returned from his break (he took off some weeks for training and a big boxing – match) and now we're not that short on staff anymore. Maybe I have more days off in August?!

Anyway, gladly Alyse from http://welovekansai.blogspot.jp/ had some time too and we met up at HEP Five. We did window-shopping, purikura and sat down in HEP Five's „and be“ ( http://tabelog.com/osaka/A2701/A270101/27019024/ )! A cafe specialized in Yoghurt/Ice desserts. I had some blueberry sherbet /ice cream thingy. It was delicious but too small. 

 

Later on her boyfriend joined us and we walked around some more in Chayamachi and had some drinks. I had tasty Ume (plum) highball.

Before I met up with Alyse I walked around in Semba/Honmachi and tried to find some cheap summer clothing... but for some reason I wasn’t happy with what I saw and I only bought two ethnic/boho-looking maxi-skirts. I actually need some simple shirts to combine them with! So I haven't worn them yet, coz they don’t match my current clothes.

Man I could write five times more than this but I am running out of time again..

other than that.... it's hot in japan and my boyfriend is really really being a pussy about it. Our air-con is now running non-stop. Personally, I would prefer to keep it off for most of the time but when I turn it off Daijiro starts whining.

I also had mold on my tatami ! GASP! I used the vacuum cleaner to get rid of it and then rubbed with some alcohol-hygiene-sheets over it. So far it hasn’t returned. At least not on the surface :D I don't dare to look underneath the tatami :P

At the hotel restaurant we introduced a nomihoudai (all you can drink – beer/longdrinks/wine) option..... which results in getting more reservations especially for bigger groups. I feel like working in an Izakaya now... 

ok see you guys! Next time I'll update will probably be after my trip to Hiroshima ! On the 10th-11th-12th I'll be on a short weekendtrip with Daijiro in Hiroshima. Feel free to leave me some recommendations what to do/see/eat there (except for the obvious/obligatory  A-Bomb Dome, okonomiyaki, etc) !!