Day 11

My first day to sleep in since I've been here! So I woke up around 10:30, excited to adventure with my friends. I wanted to go out right away, but I had to wait for Mai to wake up. When Mai still wasn't awake at noon, I begrudgingly decided to leave without her. However, when I came back up to check one last time, she was awake and Carley was there too, so after they got ready we left the house at around 1:00, two hours later than I was gonna leave, but all together. :) All we did was walk to Yume Saito (the mall)(so Carley could get her blessed Starbucks) again, walk around Dejima wharf area again (same thing I did yesterday), and then we walked to Amu Plaza (another mall near the train station.) I am very pleased that we did this whole journey without using the tram at all. We got exercise and didn't spend any money. In fact, I didn't spend any money all day (as is the norm for me here.)



See that misshapen blob in the middle? That's a jellyfish! クラゲ (Kurage) in Japanese. Mai showed me that dozens of jellyfish were floating in the waters of the dock. But they were hard to take pictures of >:[

No pictures from Amu plaza because I feel weird randomly whipping out my camera and taking pictures inside a mall with all the personnel within eye- and ear-shot. (My camera goes "KCHHHIK!" annoucing how happy it is to take a picture, remember?!)

There were a lot of things I wanted today. =_= Baggy tweed pants with thin suspenders. Cropped tops over tank dresses. Sling bags made in Peru. (I'm already getting influenced by Japanese fashion--I like it! It's a bit more conservative, but more imaginative and creative than US fashion--rather than follow a particular style, you create your own style from many many different influences.) There was this cool store called "Malaika" that had "international-y" items, such as the aforementioned bags, different types of hippie-ish bracelets, necklaces, coin purses/rucksacks, clothing, incense, tribal-looking cutlery and house things, etc. It was better than Cost Plus World Market! I LOVE that kinda stuff but I know I could get it for cheaper anywhere else. I didn't spend any money today, even when I was hungry and very tempted by udon and gelato, we walked home to eat. And that's kinda my goal. Don't spend on the small stuff and stuff I don't need, and save my money for travel, where it matters way more. Every yen I don't spend here in Nagasaki is yen I can be using to buy my tickets to other cities, WHICH is, in my opinion, the best way I can spend my money to maximize my experience here in JP. My expenditures right now consist of: GROCERIES. Souvenirs and other stuff will come later. And I'll get gelato and eat out later, just not every time. :)



SO.
I happen to live in VOCAL CAT CENTRAL of the world.
Or it sure seems like it.
EVERY night there are cats HOWLING and screeching and meowing. I can't go a day without hearing a cat from out of my window. Why they are so vocal compared to the silent felines of the states, I do not know. It's not annoying; I kinda like it because I love cats and their idiosyncrasies (CAT PERSON RIGHT HERE.) I just think it's kinda funny. I wonder why there are so many strays. However, since I'm not out at night that much, I don't see very many traipsing around the streets. They must save their crazy adventures for the nighttime.


Tonight I showed Mai, who has never been to Disney/DCA, a video of World of Color and I definitely got serious Disneyland withdrawals. We were watching it in HD, volume up, fullscreen on the big monitor downstairs, and Mai was oo-ing and aw-ing, and I just missed it so much. WORLD OF COLOR. Disneyland. California Adventure. Joys of my life. I WILL COME BACK TO YOU, SOME DAY. <3 I don't think people can possibly understand how much joy having a pass can bring until they experience it themselves. GOD I love it, and I'm glad I got to share my love with Mai.




On the docket for later this week is the Nagasaki Penguin Aquarium and an onsen called Fuku No Yu. Hooray :)