SIX FLAGS

Whew. Awesome day yesterday. Oksama (which means "wife", and we call her that because she is the wife of the man the runs the church) took myself, the other American Mandy, and our friend Sotaro to the Japanese version of six flags. Now there are several cultural phenomena that I do not get particularly excited about: sports, shopping malls, theme parks - but this was really cool. We where only there for a short time, but I took a tone of pictures and did all the rides I could. Here are some shots...

"White Cyclone" was the first on the list. It is the standard rickety old wooden roller coaster, which is a must at all parks. As we approached something caught my eye: Interestingly enough their are two flags right before the first drop - yep the red, white, and blue baby. They must have knew I was coming. On another intersting note, if you look close you'll notice that it says, "DO NOT STAND UP" . . .
in English . . .
in Japan. . .
What's that tell you?
Yep. We're idiots.



Here is the same roller coaster from above (waaaaay above) while I am on the ferris wheel. I could make a pretty good argument that the ferris wheel was actually the scariest ride there. Very HIGH, very SLOW, very WINDY. Did I mention the park was built on the shore? The shore of the PACIFIC!



Here is said Ferris Wheel.



This was as we where walking out of the park. While I did not even think about jumping on this particular ride, I did enjoy all the screams that were coming from it. As well as their legs flailing about.

WII

This is for all you gamers out there (Brettster). I stopped in to my friends room the other day while he was playing Wii. He asked if I wanted to play bowling and even though I am not particularly coordinated at video games, I do enjoy knocking down some pins from time to time. However, this was not ordinary bowling. This was some Japanese version of Wii bowling with 100 pins on the lane!!! I couldn't believe it. No matter how hard a threw the ball right into the center pin, I could NOT knock them all down. It was pretty hilarious. And of course, leave it to me to come up with the dreaded 70 - 100 pin split. Oh well...

24 Hr. MCDONALDS

Just got back from a late night McDonalds run. Actually, it was a ride along for me (I stopped eating McDonalds years ago). Kyotaka (snare player) made a trip out in the crummy rainy weather to buy everyone some late night treats, so I asked if I could come with. He ordered for what seemed like a really long time, but I figured, hey it's in another language - I don't really know what is going on, it may just be that way... who knows. Well, when we came around the corner there was an electronic sign that said ¥5210. YIKES! That is about $60.00! We sat in the drive through so long that he shut the car off. Ha. Then they gave us two HUGE bags of food. I said, "Kyo, I thought you were getting a snack for three people?" Nope. Turns out they were gifts for a Japanese "Hallmark Holiday" called White Day where the boys give girls presents. He just happened to buy them for the whole church. Awesome. I love learning about things like this. I think it made my day - which is coming to an end - which means yours is just beginning. I hope that you have a great start to your week.

UP

Dad told me to remember to look up. Here is what I have seen...

RAIN

Well it's raining again - probably will for about a week. Just dreary and miserable out. It is amazing how much the weather affects our mood and sense of motivation. Like the motivation to type...

POWER UP

In the few hours that I do turn my computer on every few days I am discouraged by the fact that my internet connection is very slow. It has made it impossible for me to post pictures that I want people to see. I also cannot load YouTube videos, download files, or research interesting topics that I come across in my interaction with the world. Oh well. Two more Americans have arrived in the last month and since we all have computers, we are all furthering the problem. Fast internet is one thing I miss from the good 'ole USA.

Slept in today - last night was a stressful rehearsal. Today I went for a run and took many pictures along the way. Spent about an hour out and about. It was nice. Many things remind me of Michigan. I am really looking forward to getting back there.

I think that's it.

Hope you are well.

MATTS

I was able to Skype with the Matts today (roomates from college and all around awesome guys). I miss them, so it was good to catch up, tell stories, and laugh. See ya soon.

By the way, I'm using your image.