This Weekend.. Goin All Right

Hey there everyone, yet another update from JapanLand. I had quite the busy day yesterday. First off, it was a beautiful day and I felt restless. I wanted to go to Viva City, which is the mall in Minami Hikone (South Hikone). I gathered a group of 7 people, got to the bikes, and we decided to take the long way. What is that, you ask? Well, we could have just ridden down to the train station, gone one stop south, and we would have been there. Ten to fifteen minute bike ride, sitting on a train for about three minutes. Easy. We opted to ride our bikes all the way there. It takes about 35-45 minutes going there that way. I was up to it even though my directions came from three years ago, they were still really accurate. Go figure, I have a sense of direction here. So we head out, passing the castle, going through Old New Town, then heading down what turns into Bell Road, with lots of cool restaurants, like McDonalds, Mos Burger, KFC, a 24-Hour Beefbowl place, a CoCo Curry House, used book store, and all sorts of other places. Flashy lights abound. We turned too early, and ended up taking the 'back way' to get there. With the assistance of two very helpful Japanese women who gave us directions once, clarified the directions at a stoplight, and then came and told us we were on the wrong side of the bridge another time. I felt like I should have a gift to give them. Anyways, we got to Viva City okay, and had a great lunch. I had a Mini Unadon Teishoku, which is a Mini Broiled Eel bowl (over rice) and some nice fat udon noodles in broth. Eel is surprisingly delicious when prepared correctly. Here in Japan, it's never been messed up like it was the one time I had it at Yotsuba in Ypsilanti. Then we went shopping, and wandering. We found things like Hello Kitty appliances, such as the HK toaster, HK fan, HK griddle, HK mini-tv...... It's craziness. I ended up searching around for Jimbe, which look like pyjamas to us Americans, but are actually summer clothes. They're traditional Japanese clothing, so it looks kind of like a yukata or kimono, but it has a shirt and shorts. They are exceedingly comfortable, as I am wearing them now. I am a happy monkey. After wandering Viva City for hours, we head back the right way, and stopped at Yuu Store to procure some cheap Melon Soda. There are only three of us together when we head back to the center from there, so I led them through the rice paddies, my favorite way to come back. I'm going to try it as a way to get places next time. Oh, the madcap adventures I will have. Last night, I cooked up a little bit of stir fry. It was pork, peppers, green onions, black sesame seeds, and some yakiniku sauce, served over rice. It was good, but I had my meat to rice ration reversed. I should have had twice the rice and half the meat. Oh well, live and learn. I woke up this morning and it was grey skied and rainy. I can deal with that, the rain has since stopped and the sun is trying to burn off the cloud cover, but I have homework to do today. That's my main goal. And therefore, I'm off to study... kinda.