Day 40.

Today was a WOW-day. Really positive, pretty active and quite interesting. I woke up and had a really nice surprise just right next to me... Well, in the room i’m staying there are two more girls that arrived yesterday. So, there i am, waking up, looking to the right and there’s this almost naked girl with tiny undies and sexy tattoos all over her hot area. I couldn’t stop looking, even felt perverse at some point. Was a nice morning start!

After i left the house i spent basically all day out, came back just in the early evening and then left again pretty soon and came back for good late in the evening.

I went to the zoo, cause it was pretty cheap. It wasn't the best zoo ever, but it sure wasn't as bad as some people say. But how they keep animals didn't make me too happy... The cages aren't too big and some of the turtles are kept just in a simple aquarium... But it's pretty big and it takes you couple of hours there, so it's nice, but be ready for it - i didn't have anything edible with me, but didn't wanna spend money on food in the zoo, because they charge you also for the location, so the last 30 minutes i was hungry as hell and just ran towards the exit!

The fun started actually afterwards. Probably i have to mention, that i stuffed myself full with nice delicious stuff (sweets and ice cream), even though i have to take care of what i eat, but what the heck - i have to enjoy Japan! I took a long long walk and actually it wasn't that nice, the places i was. But it was somehow interesting... The Tennouji district isn't the best one, it's pretty poor and kinda dirty. I found an area where homeless people stay and it's not just a park with couple of blue tents, which is so common in Japan it was a huge area with hundreds of them! But the good part in a poor district is that they have pretty cheap super markets - i bought some fruits, cause it was reasonable. I didn't dare taking pictures around those places, so i ended up in just walking around. It was i guess the first time in Japan, where i felt i kinda wanna get out of that place - never had that before.

It was getting too hot, so i just spent maybe an hour in the JR Loop train. It goes in a circle all the time, so if you bought a cheapest ticket and just didn't get off and went round and round - they wouldn't charge you anything, as long as you're getting off in the end at the right station. It's cool in the train, so it's a good place to rest and sleep a little bit.

So when i cooled off, i went to Nanba! Kinda shopping/amusement district. It is basically Osaka's version of both Shinjuku and Harajuku fused into one. It's quite an interesting district, nice to just walk around. I tried to make some japanese-street-fashion shots, but i kinda failed, maybe it was too hot, maybe i wasn't in the right mood or maybe it's just bad timing, which happens so often in this kinda photography i guess. I ended up in buying a backpack and adidas shoes today... I'm really happy about the purchases, even though shoes were kinda expensive! But it was on sale and it was the last pair (and believe me, finding your size in Japan is already worth stopping and thinking about buying it), so i couldn't resist. I wanted to buy sneakers in Japan, but i was kinda looking for cheap ones, but these are just too good to be left there on the shelf! And it's adidas, and it's comfy, and and and... I'm sorry... I'm really happy about it though and there's one thing we should never forget: never regret something that once made you smile!

In the evening me and other couch surfers went to a nice sushi place and i again stuffed myself completely! I ate 8 plates which is A LOT for me... But it again made me happy. And also, i deserve it maybe, because i've been eating really simply, so it's nice to spoil yourself every once in a while. Besides, i'm leaving Osaka tomorrow, so i won't have a chance to go there any time soon!

Today i spent lots of time just exploring and i realized the difference between Tokyo and Osaka - Osaka is light and bright, it often feels like a resort, since it's so sunny and has way more friendly coloured buildings than Tokyo. It also has more space, even the trains and streets are more spacious. It has places in the middle of the city basically where you have lots of green parks! Prices are similar and i guess there are lots of similarities between those two cities, but the feeling you get differs a lot. Tokyo is one big pile of dark concrete, which sometimes might frustrate people. It seems, that Osaka is more easy going city... But i couldn't tell which one i prefer. Too difficult to decide... But it might be Osaka. It might be...

Tennouji Zoo:

A little bit more of Osaka:

Day 3.

Today we went to Nogeyama Zoo, which i highly recommend to the visitors of Yokohama. I cannot say that it's the best zoo i've ever seen, or that it's really good (because of its lack of space for most of the animals), but if you ignore that, then it's lots of fun there. First of all, it's for free, so you could just come whenever you want, second of all, it's not too big and has lots of benches, so you could just walk around like in some kinda park and sit down and just enjoy the greenery around you (which you cannot do in most of the places in big cities...). It also has an adorable mirror in the toilet, well, at least girls' toilet. It has a small snout and ears, so when you bend down a little bit for washing your hands, you become a cute animal. Nice idea, isn't it?

When it comes to me, there are two things that got stuck in my mind. Those made me totally happy and those are the reason, why i would come again.

Just at the beginning of the zoo you have Red Pandas without any fences!!! It was really hot, so they mostly were inside though, resting from the sun and heat, but every once in a while one of them came outside, walked around a little bit and made me happy with its fluffiness! Red pandas are one of my favorite animals, so i'm always happy to at least glance at them. Perhaps it's mean to say, but i have to admit, i would gladly become an owner of one of those cuties. I guess it's really difficult to fulfill all the requirements to be able to have these animals as pets at home, but when you try, there's nothing impossible. Maybe one day, maybe...

The second thing who impressed me, was almost at the very ending of the zoo. They had a facility for small pets like guinea pigs, rats and chickens. And you can play with all of them!!!

The guinea pigs were pretty lazy and fat, or maybe i didn't know that they supposed to be that big, but they were so soft!!! You could broom them and stroke them and carry around a little bit, that's just so nice! It was pretty odd for us to play with those small animals, because we were surrounded all the time by small children which kinda let us understand that we're way out of the age limits here, but i just didn't care too much. I've never had a guinea pig, but now i definitely would like to keep one! Although the rats brought more memories, since i had one in the past... I was so much enjoying them, that i will consider again the possibility of keeping them as pets at home.

In that facility there were maybe 50 rats or so... And they were extremely friendly. It's enough for you to put down your finger at the side of their cage and they would just crawl all over you and tickle in the process. My mom would just freak out in a place like this, cause she just hates rats! But i was happy like a kid to be able to play with those small fluffs!

The bad thing in the zoo was, that they had really high fences all over, so i couldn't take pictures of most of the animals, nor could i see them properly. Animals, like zebras, giraffes, bears, lions and so on were kept behind those fences.

The sad part also is the space. For example, they have a lion couple and probably 10 square meters for them, so it was a little bit painful to see them there, suffering from the heat and not being able to walk around or go into water, because they didn't have any pool or something. Or, that beautiful turtle which was living in aquarium like i had at home for fishes!!! Well, maybe that aquarium was slightly bigger, but still... It was too small for a turtle. Well, you get my point. But i guess space in Japan is a difficult topic...

After visiting Nogeyama Zoo we went for a brief walk around that part of Yokohama and visited Naritasan shrine (it's also called Iseyama shrine). It was a pretty big shrine, but what struck me most was the location. It was literally in-between all the buildings. For example, if you lived in that block house right next to it, you could almost touch it through the window, so it was really weird. But then again, we come back to the topic "space in Japan". They are saving up every single inch on the ground, so it shouldn't surprise me too much. I remember one temple in Tokyo, which was really squeezed between the buildings. The first time i was looking for it, i didn't even notice it. My brain probably couldn't believe it's possible, but then during one festival, we had to go to that shrine and just then i forced myself to believe it's a temple there.

Today i tried something that i've never eaten before and it was SO DELICIOUS! In english it's called Lady's fingers and it's originally coming from Egypt and Ethiopia. It's like a small fluffy long peppers, but it's not spicy. We had them in miso soup and i had to go for additional bowl of soup, because it was so damn delicious, i just couldn't resist it! It's a pity that i've never seen them in Germany... Anyway, if you happen to see them, buy them and cook something. You won't regret that!

Enjoy some more pictures of Nogeyama-Zoo:

Zoo and more...

Today it is somehow difficult to write, even though i have so many things i could write about. And i don't know why it's blocked inside of my head. Maybe because it's the last day before my exam and even though i look pretty calm i'm panicking like shit inside. Even though i had a great day i feel some kinda strange heaviness coming and landing on me and it doesn't feel nice. I cannot get back my smile even with cookies and nice cup of cold milk... Anyway, i guess today's post is more about pictures than my writing after all.

When i was going to the zoo today i overheard a conversation in the tram, coz first of all they did talk loud, second of all, they've been siting right next to me and i forgot my iPod or my book at home, so i didn't have any choice but to listen. It was nice and sunny outside, just how it's supposed to be in summer, but those old grandmas kept on talking about how hot it is and how terrible this heat is and that they cannot sleep nor can they do anything else and so on. Is it everything what people are capable of? Complaining about something that we wanted a week ago? When it's summer, we want it to be cold, when it gets cold, we're cursing at the weather, because it is summer and it should be hot, when it rains, we want sun, when it sunny, we complain that our plants are withering, when we live in the first floor, we complain that we don't have nice view and when we move to the 5th floor we complain that there's too much climbing we have to do, but we shouldn't go for the middle in this case, because if we move to the 3rd floor we still have to do the climbing and still we don't have that nice view we want, when we are on diet we are sad that we cannot eat sweets and when we're eating sweets we're complaining about our weight, i guess i could give many more examples but i'm pretty sure you got my point. Isn't it just tiresome? I mean, it is our own choice how to look to life and if we decide to do it like that, we're not gonna be happy at all, or just very rarely, so what's the use of it? Shouldn't we just try being happy with what we have? I'm not saying i'm perfect and never complain, but i did learn how to be happy about small things and it's really helpful, because complaints will just make you miserable. My next step is to learn how to take life as it comes and stop worrying about things we cannot influence or change, because there will be always things, incidents and situations where we'll be helpless and we won't be able to shape it anyhow no matter how much efforts we'll put in.

Anyway, changing the heavy topic into something lighter i'm moving on to a nicer subject! Today i've been trying not to think about my exam at all and it kinda worked... I went to the zoo with Miyuki, so i did have an opportunity to speak some japanese and practice indirectly and that's something i like - indirect learning or learning by doing something...

And zoo is a good place for learning, because you can speak about relatively simple things (like animals...) but at the same time learn many words, because i didn't have any idea what a shark or aquarium in japanese is. Well, until now! Every day we learn something, right?

Today was an overall great day, not just because of the zoo, but also because i managed to do many other things that had to be taken care of and i'm always proud when i can do many things.

We didn't spend too much time in zoo, but i always enjoy being there... I think Leipzig's zoo is a nice place to visit, it's big, it has a lot of animals and they have really well made habitats, so they can feel more or less at home, of course if they manage to ignore those walls and fences. Anyway, because of the heat lots of animals were hiding somewhere in the shadows, sleeping or just barely moving. Red Pandas were pretty unfriendly: one of them was all the time facing the tree and turned its head just for a second (but i managed to take a picture of it! Woohoo!!) and the other one was all the time sleeping on a branch of the tree, then opened its eyes, started eating leaves and i was expecting it to wake up completely, but after that small snack it went back to sleep. Sucha disappointment. Okapis also weren't there and

giraffes were closed in a special area - no idea why, but we could

just see their heads a little bit, so it wasn't that convenient for me since i was supposed to try out my new camera. Well, i did, but i wanted to take more pictures of some exotic animals. Monkeys were also sleeping, so basically it was just a nice afternoon - we took a nice walk, went to eat afterwards, chatted and just had some nice time. You can see more pictures at the end of this post!

I met Miyuki over another japanese girl, who was looking for a tandem partner, but then on the last moment she cancelled it, but gave my number to Miyuki, who still needed someone to talk to... So i thought it's gonna be official afternoons, just exchanging things and trying to polish our languages, but it's turning out to be a nice friendship. She's a real nice person and i like her... Meeting her doesn't just mean i'm gonna get to speak my beloved to japanese, but that also means i'm gonna have nice time and just relax....

Today is a strange day after all, if i keep on thinking about it. I stumbled on the band called Radiohead today in my iTunes which made me think of a great guy Kevin which i met in Amsterdam and how badly i wanted to keep in touch with him, because i really enjoyed the evening with him (as a friend for those who are grinning already), but it just didn't work out somehow... He's not as big facebook addict, as i am, and i never write him on e-mail, so today i've kinda been busy the whole day with the thought, whether i should write him and ask how he's doing or just let it go. I guess i'm gonna leave this decision for tomorrow, because i don't want to make any additional burden on my mind until exam. I even didn't pay my bills!!!

Today i really spoiled myself, i bought cookies and chocolate for tomorrow's exam, i bought fruits. I even bought two nice books for myself, because even though i can resist sales at clothing shops, book sales is something i cannot just pass by. So i picked just one recipe book"Asian Basics", but as i was walking to the register i saw this cute book i just HAD to take, it's called "Warum Pandas Handstand machen" (why pandas do the handstand - german) and it has sucha cute cover you just cannot ignore it.... So i treated myself with two new books today. Unfortunately i don't have much time now, i'm gonna work until i leave to Japan and in Japan i won't be cooking, nor reading too much, so you can wait for review just in late october or later...

On my way back home i also bought myself a nice ice cream, so today was a really delicious day! My last but not least stop before reaching home was this cozy alternative jewelry shop, where i gave myself yet one more gift. You have to totally agree it is a cute mushroom! So after this week of preparations i might not have achieved amazing levels of my japanese, but i definitely gained maybe 2 kg, because of that nutritious eating (nuts, sweets, lots of fruits, pasta and stuff for fast dose of calories, so my brain could be working constantly), got two new books and a cute "necklace" as a gift for good work and had lots of fun, since i was skipping lectures and concentrating purely on japanese. Today everything i have to do is just repeating things and i'm gonna do that right before going to sleep, so i could fall asleep with all that information in my head.

Probably out of modesty i kept one more thing just for the end... So girls and boys, today i bought my ticket to Japan. Unfortunately, i'm leaving just on 20th of July, but i'm staying until 28th of September, so it's anyway more than 2 months and i'm totally overjoyed! I already have dreamt about it. Well, i miss Japan constantly so i'm dreaming bout it every once in a while, but normally it's past and memories, but this time i dreamt about something in the future. I'm really grateful to my mom who provided me with the money for the ticket, which was actually pretty expensive, since i'm buying it just now and leaving in less than a month. I'm gonna try saving up some money until i leave so i can buy a new lens there and some books for learning. I'm mostly gonna work there, but i'm gonna try doing couch surfing in Kyoto or Nara or anywhere in Kansai, so i can take my time making some pictures. I'm opening my first big exhibition in October, so i have to make some strong shots, because i'm not feeling too confident about those pictures i have so far from the last time. But we'll see how it goes. I wish myself lots of luck!

I guess, it's enough for today... Tomorrow i'm having one of the most important exams, i hope i can calm myself down and not fuck up. If i'm not updating my blog for more than a week, probably i didn't pass and killed myself. Just joking... I wouldn't do anything like that because of a stupid exam, but i guess you can understand how important this is.

There's some more pics of zoo: