The Long Overdue Thanksgiving Post

I spent the holiday weekend (Thursday-Sunday) in Hiroshima. Michelle and I took the shinkansen (high speed train) from our respective cities. I am so in love with the shinkansen and Hiroshima!!! First of all it took me the same amount of time to get half way across the country as it usually does for me to get to the nearest major city from my house. As for Hiroshima, I love the feel of cities near water. Rivers run through the city and the ocean is nearby. We were unable to find a hotel for Saturday night because the entire city seemed to be booked. We searched for hostels on a website and ended up staying at what seemed more like a business hotel but it was just listed on the hostel website. Hotel Flex, appropriately named because the room was tiny and you indeed had to be quite flexible to stay there! It was nice though. The only thing that was bothersome the entire time we were there was the way that people rode their bikes so fast all over the sidewalks! So, you had too look around all corners in order to not get run over...Even then you risk losing your head.
Thursday was rainy and a bit chilly but we ventured out anyway. No point in wasting time because of a little cold air and water. The city was covered in some of the most beautiful trees ever. Gingko trees are some of my new favorites, right up there with Willows, Magnolias, and Bamboo which I guess is more a grass than a tree but whatever. We visited Carp Castle and the peace park on the first day. For lunch we stopped at a GREAT Italian restaurant across from the A-Bomb museum. Each course was De-Li-Cious!!! On the way back to the hotel, we ran into the Volleyball teams from Cuba and Brazil (and some other teams too but they weren't much to look at...hehehe). There's a major tournament going on here so the country is full of 6-7ft fine, brown, athletic men, roaming around cities in groups, causing Black women to stop, stare, and giggle...Or maybe that was just Michelle and I staring. Oh, and there are some female players somewhere around here somewhere too. Thanx to Michelle's impeccable Spanish skills we were able to get this photo.

On Friday, the sky magically cleared up which was perfect because we made plans to visit Miyajima, and island dedicated to the goddesses (us, hehe). It's a World Heritage site, a National Park, and it's famous for the floating Tori gate. We took a ferry to the island and walked around when we got there. There were deer EVERYWHERE! Vendors sold wafers to feed them but I refused to even touch the deer. That didn't stop the photo ops though! i.e. Michelle chasing me after she'd pet a deer...ew! HAHAHA! As it the case on any trip, It was imperative that we snack on every goody in sight so we had fresh grilled oysters, squid, and corn. The man making the oysters had hot shards of shell popping off the grill and flying everywhere but never even flinched. Gangasta! For lunch we chowed down on the famous Hiroshima okonomiyaki known as Hiroshimayaki...It was SOOOO GOOD! From bottom to top: a crepe, shredded cabbage, noodles, thin slices of pork, egg, okonomiyaki sauce (tastes a little like bbq sauce..yay), and some seaweed flakes. That night we met up with Bernard for dinner. He's a teacher too and the organizer of the Thanksgiving dinner that we came to Hiroshima for. We went to an American restaurant called Kemby's and I had RIBS (with real bbq sauce)!!!!
Saturday we met up with Monique, another teacher who had also come for the dinner. I was always under the impression that the A-Bomb Dome was on some remote, grassy cliff overlooking the ocean somewhere. Not at all! Since there aren't any zoning laws concerning building around historic sites, it's smack dab in the middle of the city. While we were roaming around the park again, we were approached by a man named Kosei Mito. He asked if we spoke English, where we came from, and explained that he was one of the youngest A-Bomb survivors and that he felt it was his duty to offer volunteer tours of the Peace Park. Now in any other country I would have promptly said no thank you and kept walking. The tour was amazing! He gave thorough explanations of just about all of the monuments in the park. After the tour we went to the museum. For all the human rights atrocities that the U.S. condemns others for, our country should be ashamed for the destruction caused in Hiroshima. And to think it was done twice.
That night, we all went back to Kemby's for Thanksgiving dinner. Bernard and another teacher showed the staff how to make the dishes about a month ago and they pulled it off. It was fun. I had turkey, mac & cheese, stuffing, baked potatoes/apples, salad, mashed potatoes, corn bread, pumpkin pie, and chocolate cake. Since we didn't have a room for Saturday night, Michelle and I crashed at Bernard's. Here's a photo of the ferry ride away from the island where he lives.
Oh no, I almost forgot the most important part of this post! On Thursday night, Michelle and I went to a salsa club. And just like in Shibuya during orientation, we turned it out. We seem to have the power to make Japanese people get up and dance!!! The whole dance in a circle tactic works wonders!!!TIFFANY AND MICHELLE, GETTING JAPANESE PEOPLE LOOSE SINCE 2006!!!