Saturday & Work Free ....

Oh it's Saturday!

I slept in, although only until 9. So unlike me. I begin unpacking (still haven't done that completely) and moving around furniture in my mini apartment. I swear I will post lots of pictures once I have it how I like it & I am settled. Right now it looks disastrous. My new friend Clo calls and asks if I want to meet her friend and have lunch in Okayama Station (a huge train station and downtown area one stop down). Why not? I get ready and we venture on. We take the train (surprise, surprise) to Okayama Station and meet Clo's friend Kitsie. She's from Ohio.

Okayama Station:Fountain outside Okayama Station:


Outside the station we run into some sort of dance performance/competition. It was very interesting. Everyone was in kimonos and/or had fancy face painting and was dancing and singing and cheering. It was fun.

We watch and listen and enjoy. Then we head to Mister Donut for some ice cream, donuts, coke, air conditioning, what have you. It is so hot out today. We ventured around the city and shopped. We went to a ton of stores. A lot of malls or shopping centers with 7, 8, 9 floors of shopping. I feel so at home. I know how to shop. :)

Various stores and buildings outside the station:

We go to a 300 Yen store. Like an 'everything is $3' store. I bought some things for my apartment. We went to the Gap!! I love the Gap. The sizes in Japan are so small. Shoes, clothes, everything is small. We shopped at small stores, we look at cheap jewelry, eccentric shoes, huge handbags, and xxs clothes. We shop for hours and finally make it back to the train station to pick up Amanda. But do not be fooled. This train station is huge with a whole mall inside & tons of stores. Expensive stores, cheap stores, a food terrace, the whole nine yards. We get Amanda and go eat ramen (and not 10 cent cheap ramen everyone eats in college). Actual ramen noodles that are delicious. I had hot noodles while everyone else had cold noodles. We drank tea which I never liked before, but I'm acquiring the taste. Next we went to get dessert. I had a crepe with ice cream and strawberries and Amanda had an ice cream cone (despite the sign). :)

Clo and Kitsie leave to take the train to do more shopping and Amanda and I stay behind to continue with our shopping extravaganza. What happens next is amazing. Amanda knows of this place 'right around the corner'. We venture to Takashimaya shopping center and what I find there puts a huge smile on my face. So huge my cheeks hurt.

I LOVE Louis Vuitton. I had never dreamed I would love so close to one. Can I afford it? Absolutely not, but the urge might take over one payday :) We go inside the shopping center and there is a Coach store (yet another favorite), a Loewe, and a Hermes. Hermes?!? Are you kidding me? I am in heaven. Absolute heaven. Definitely the highlight of my day. To get to Louis Vuitton back home I would fly out to LA. Here, I go one train stop. Amazing.

We stop again at Mister Donut for some cokes and to cool off and sit (we are all tired) and then we decide to try a movie. We find the movie theater & they are playing Ocean's 13, Ratatouille, Transformers, and Harry Potter! We are too late to see a movie, but I learned that the movies are all in English with Japanese subtitles. I'm so excited to go. It's expensive though. Close to $20 a ticket, but apparently they have a ladies day or night or something of the sorts. Ladies tickets are cheaper? I'll definitely be looking into that.

We head back to the station. Everything is so lit up at night. The buildings are pretty. The one building (on the right) has a boat lit up on the side. Interesting.

Two women from the festival:

Now I'm home. My blogs are all caught up, I'm making progress on unpacking and tomorrow will be a new day. I hope to get my phone tomorrow. I'll keep you posted :)

sayonara

-tara-

xoxo