Friday and Saturday

On Friday, sent my things back by ship. Very expensive to do so! It's 4900 for a 8kg box. *shrugs* But, I shan't bother with the cost. After all, if I took it to the airport, I think I'd be charged extra too. So, I shan't worry too much about the cost.

Also bought tickets to KIX so that I can send Daryn off. She insisted on paying for a bit of my ticket, cos she feels guilty that she's the reason I'm spending so much money [the haruka limited express is not cheap, at all]. But, I think it's fine =) I'm willing to spend a bit of money to send my good friend back to America, so it's not a very huge expenditure lah...

Tried to go to the Costume Museum on Friday. We got lost halfway (cos my map didn't have the Costume Museum printed on it) but found it by accident because I recognised the kanji for museum, and Daryn saw the words, "C...tume". Unfortunately, despite our elation, we shortly realised that it was closed for renovation. We saw pictures of it from outside and it looked so cool! My guidebook says that (if it were open) we could try the clothes inside (all the kimonos, yukatas... sighs. What a total waste).

And, we ate at an izakaya at Shijo, FINALLY =) haha. We kept saying that we'd go to one, but we keep forgetting. Plus, because I'm miserly, we seldom go out to eat. So, this time, we actually ate dinner at an Izakaya. This izakaya we went, we found by accident! I'd lost my/our map. Haha, OOPS. Daryn was a bit exasperated with me (just like Darren would be, had he been with me). So, we sat down and Daryn packed my bag for me. Haha, it was so funny. It's like I'm a little girl getting scolding from her elder sister for being overly messy. But anyways, so we randomly wandered into this small, quaint street and guided by our noses, found this yakiniku izakaya.

The selection was a little strange (I should have taken a picture of it). Reminds me of what Chinese people eat: Tongue, heart, liver, intestines (big and small), pork, squid, SPECIAL beef (whatever that meant), vegetables. Daryn and I ordered a plate of vegetables, a plate of squid (she loves squid, I'm not a big fan of it, I can eat it and if it's good, like it. but, i won't actively seek it out), 2 plates of pork (it was good!), a bowl of rice each. Plus, a bottle of hot/warm sake. Daryn didn't really like it, but I liked it. It was sweet and had a vanilla tinge to it that she said she couldn't taste. But whatever it is, it made me a little light-headed. Just a little bit lah. By the time we went out into the cold again, I was completely fine (at least the wind woke me up completely).

It seems that the two of us have an obsession with crepes. We went and got crepes along the way back to Sanjo Station. Haha. One strawberry, banana, peaches and custard cream crepe that we shared. It was really good! Haha, after eating, we were randomly bursting into songs. It's very strange, we keep singing songs from "Sound of Music". Haha. Even while hunting for the Costume Museum, we were also singing random songs "I will survive!"

And we of course, ended up at, Sanjo's Bookoff. Haha, where neither of us bought anything, but still, it was fun to read all those books. :)

***

Today was spent in Osaka. We went to Momodani and I got 5 pairs of socks, 2 pairs of leggings, 1 thing for Teddy's birthday that I missed these past 2 years (i'd initially promised to get him a toy piano haha, but I forgot all about it), one blue engineer-artsy shirt (daryn calls it that anyways) that's missing a button, one white erm, pullover thingie (?), one skirt with pants. And why do I bother buying so much when I'm returning? Don't ask me! I was just... seized by the need to buy the leggings and socks! They are very important to my future dress sense, you know. I needed to get Teddy something anyways, and the souvenir I got him initially isn't enough for the past few years of missing his birthday (though it's technically his own fault for being in UK!) , the tops just because they were cute and cheap, and the skirt because Daryn got one and we now have matching earrings, matching puffballs, matching clips, matching... just matching stuff! haha.

I spent a helluva lot of money today... But then, I'm leaving for Tokyo already, so it'd likely be one of those few last times in Kyoto/Osaka that I'd spend that amount of money.

Then we went to Korean Town and ate our lunch at a Korean restaurant. Don't ask me what I'm doing in Japan eating Korean food. Haha, but lunch was really good and I had fun. =)

The best part however, was the night.

We went to Osaka City Hall, where they had the Hikari Renaissance. They lit up the entire path in front of the Osaka City Hall. It was so pretty! And the lights flickered according to the music. Later on, while wandering about, we found this place that allowed us to draw pictures on wood (and it was free!) It's limited to 200 pieces per day, and Daryn and I each drew one. I got hers, and she got mine :) Hehe, for remembrance!

THEN, GUESS WHAT.

We took the train, went to Hirakatashi and went to...

BOOKOFF.

Hahahahahahahahaahah.

I swear, we can't get enough of the place.

I was looking for... ヤンキーくんとメガネちゃん by 吉河美希 (which is at book 10! I only have till book 5), but couldn't find it :'(

I was also looking at Full Metal Alchemist and telling Daryn the bits and pieces that I can remember. So tempted to get Full Metal Alchemist lah. It's damned good a series... *sighs* TOO BAD, I'm not. I'll wait till the entire series is complete, and then only buy it. But still... it's a really fantastic series. I love it so much!

Also looked through some comics by the publisher, Gangan Comics, and I think I like quite a bit of their stuff... Haha, shoujo manga, byebye! Shounen manga, hello! [except, I'd never read naruto, prince of tennis, bleach etc, cos it's just... well, long. Haha]

SIGHS.

2 days to Daryn's leaving.

It's so near, so near, so near...

There're so many things we haven't done yet! :( Like going to Arashiyama (though it'd be too cold for me to handle), like exploring more of Osaka (though I never seem to want to, because Kyoto's just better), like finishing the entire sections of manga in the bookoff (we never seem to get enough of the manga! I swear!), like eating parfait at some random nice looking restaurant with delicious looking parfait... like she has to teach me all the conjugations she knows so I can actually properly read manga in its native language (I can't yet :( I buy them to practise reading my japanese), there're so many things we haven't finished doing together yet... How can time pass so quickly?!

HOW CAN IT.

At least, we've done things together... I'm glad it was with her I went to Hikari Renaissance... I don't know how on earth to explain this... I would go to Hikari Renaissance myself, if no one wanted to go with me. But, if I were to pick someone to share the experience with, it'd definitely be her.

OK. Should go to sleep now. I shouldn't think so much. We'll still remain friends even after we go back to our respective countries. Haha, and our plan to come back to Japan in Spring 2014 (or isit Spring 2013) will be put in action then.