Week 19

This past week was much more relaxed than the one previous, like a nice vacation after my vacation. The two or three notable events this week were a trip to the zoo, a concert, and an anniversary.

Last Tuesday I went to the Tennoji Zoo (in downtown Osaka) with my girlfriend. We had a great time, to be sure, but there were two unforeseen snafus in out visit. First, I didn't count on the fact that it was a nation holiday and that everyone and all their kids would be at the zoo at the same time. Secondly, that some of the animals were away for some reason and couldn't be seen (notably the rhino and the hyenas) also, going mid-day, a lot of the cool animals (lions, tigers) were asleep. Still, we had fun and my girlfriend made a delicious lunch-box for us which we enjoyed while people-watching (which turned out to be easier than animal watching that day.)

Wednesday I lounged around in the morning and headed off to Kyoto in the evening to see one of my favorite Japanese bands play. The event was in a really cool live-house that was actually a re-purposed Japanese-style store-house. I met up with some friends at the concert and we went out for drinks afterwords in North Osaka. Unfortunately a few of us who live in the south missed the last train and had to taxi home (which wasn't as expensive as I thought it would be.)

The last "event" of the week was yesterday (Sunday, May 8th) which was my Japan-iversary. I've been in Japan (with ECC) for three years now. My how time flies.