Arima Grand Hotel Kobe

... a quick look around the electronics district but didnt see much more than that. Having slept pretty much the rest of the day we were all ready for a big session of karaoke later that night with everyone else!<br><br>We managed to work out a deal with the karaoke bar to have a booth for two hours with unlimited drinks and Jon took it upon himself to order pretty much everything on the drinks menu for all of us. To be honest, there was no way i was going to sing ...

Seconds please. I had to go back to Osaka, one way or another (my return flight was leaving from here). Ate just as well if not better than the first go around. Went to the Takoyaki museum at Universal city walk but it was more tako vendors than museum, not such a bad thing. Had simply amazing Kobe ...

... most of the floor space. It was a "cozy" little dinner party:)<br><br>I made my now old Miyamoto Musashi chopstick joke (catching a fly in mid flight) and got a laugh out of a new, unsuspecting audience, then dug in and snatched some kimchi from my bowl&#8230; not bad, I thought.<br><br>Kimchi is to Korea what rice is to Japan: you eat it with every meal! Hyana had recently arrived from Korea and had brought a supply of authentic Korean kimchi, because let's ...

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... I felt entirely safe and worry-free as I have here. And that feeling comes even with my inability to speak the native language--I can't communicate with most retail or restaurant personnel, taxi drivers, I can't read the signs--but it's been completely and utterly wonderful nonetheless. I've had some interesting food that I never would have experienced otherwise, learned some new customs, and hopefully continued to expand my mind to new cultures and ways of thinking.

... the coldest day we had in Japan this year, and the students huddled together with their friends, slurping down the delicious warm soup. After lunch we also had a small memorial in our gym, but I wasn't able to attend or take pictures because I was busy helping the PTA clean up from lunch and before I knew it, the short ceremony was already over. Think I should recontract on the program, just so I can see it next year??? Hmm.....

... before dusk, and were able to get to the top of a municipal building to enjoy daylight views of the harbor (wow, looks like Seattle!), the city skyline surrounded by green hills in the distance. We walked around the harbor front and did some window shopping. Before getting on the train for Kyoto we stopped and enjoyed green tea mousse cake at a super yummy bakery!

... Since I am a Kobe City JET and not an Inaka (country) JET- I will be changing schools at the end of the year. This means that from April I will be in a new school. However I will not move. As it is now, I commute from my apartment to my school. My current commute is about 30 minutes (a five minute train ride and a 25 minute walk) but my new commute could be up to an hour. While Kobe ...

... and we were able to sit outside next to the water. With a cold beer in our hands we soon forgot our woes and concentrated on the quite painful scene which was unfolding behind us. There was an American man on a first date with a Japanese girl and to say it was going badly was an understatement. He'd picked the restaurant (we weren't sure she was too keen on the food) and had then turned up late (on roller-blades?!). The conversation was extremely stilted (we think he may have ...

... by medium-size office buildings, but no one was going in and out. The streets had nary a car on them. Where the hell were we? And what the hell day was it anyway? Was this Sunday? Hell if I knew. There were signs to lead us to our destination, and as we approached the massive complex that housed the aquarium, life reasserted itself once again, and we found ourselves amid small groups of kids and families out for the afternoon. Being a nerd, I was looking forward to the aquarium. Not ...