one step forward

Every day is a new day–that’s been my motto for years and today was proof 🙂

I almost always feel pretty good in the morning and yesterday was no exception.  Monday is Katie’s day off, so we met at her place at 11 a.m.  Although it was in the 60’s, it was raining.  I bundled up my laptop and sprinted to her apartment.  I researched AriBnb for my new home and found another  apartment for 10 days after this apartment is up.  It was a little too expensive, but after the day I had on Sunday, I booked it anyway.  In the back of my mind I was already planning the family and friends a couple stay with to correct my budget when I return, haha!

First, we had to stop at the phone store in Namba.  We took the train just one stop, frankly because I didn’t want to start the day with a long walk in the rain.  When we arrived in Namba, Katie puzzled over the subway map.  She said that if we didn’t take the right exit out of the station then it was not worth the time we saved on the train.  In full American naivete I said no big deal, we can find the store when we get upstairs.  With pity, Katie said, “Mom, there are 32 exits.”  Oh.

I bought additional data for my SIM card and Katie The Amazing uploaded it using this crazy website.  Honestly I didn’t even watch.  If I was here alone I probably would have just bought a new phone.  Or a plane ticket home.  But within minutes I was back on the grid–phew!

We had debated several fun things to do on her day off, but now that it was forecast to rain all day we decided to go to the aquarium, one of the largest in the world (no surprise).  This meant we took the train due west toward the water.  Again this area of the city looked entirely different.  We could see various stadiums and the Osaka Pool, a massive indoor swimming complex.  We walked with the many others with our clear umbrella–everyone has them and they are cheap and great because you can see all around you!  In fact, Katie explained that people leave them everywhere, so if you are at a restaurant and it starts raining, you can grab one of the clear umbrellas and go!

I finally saw the first person with hair my color, a white guy with his family in line at the aquarium.  He was wearing shorts and flip flops and was covered in tattoos–a normal sighting in the USA but not here.  His t-shirt said something about United State of Shred or something.  He was being really sweet with his daughter, but truthfully, he looked out of place and it made me want to apologize.

When Katie said aquarium this morning, I thought yeah that would be cool.  She had been wanting to go but had not had the chance.

Then we went inside.  Oh my goodnesssssss!!!!!!!!   It was just unbelieveable!  I thought I’d seen it all when it comes to aquariums, but the big different was:  we were on the other side of the world.    This meant all new fish, different dolphins, and animals I had never even heard of.  AND, two whale sharks, which I gotta tell you were mind-blowing. (I’m gonna need some new adjectives for Osaka if you have any suggestions.)  These guys were as big as trucks, swimming in a 3 story tank with the largest, most unusual rays I had ever seen.  The dolphins were black, white, and gray.  The jellyfish were the color of eggplant.  The design of the place itself was brilliant, with spiraling viewing points all the way down the main tanks, so you could view the fish/seals/otters/dolphins from many vantage points, including the bottom of the tank where these massive fossilized looking fish simply sat on the bottom and I know this is a run-on sentence but that’s just how it was–unbelievable on and on and on.

I’m not sure how long we were there–a couple hours anyway until once again I had that head spinning-holy cow feeling.  We sat in the food court which had a 2-story wall full of windows on the port where there was a huge Mitsubishi plant among many others.  The water was dark and choppy and moving fast, with the clouds so thick it looked ominous.  Then the clouds would blow and fly through the sky and there would be white light, then more clouds would move in and completely cover the area again.  I have never seen a sky like that anywhere.  A small tug boat attached itself to a small barge and pulled it around in the water with ease.  Just doin’ my job, ma’am–but I would not have wanted to be in either boat!  We could see a bridge in the distance, but it was nearly in the clouds with rain coming down.

We ate Subway, of all things.  While traveling in both Europe and Mexico we have noticed you can always get Subway and Pringles–go figure.  Then we had Baskin Robbins ice cream–just like home:)

For about $30 each, we had purchased tickets to the aquarium and giant ferris wheel.  We kinda figured the ferris wheel would be closed with the weather, but nope.  We loaded into our enclosed car and slowly moved up and up and up………until we were realllllly high and the wind was whistling right through the car as we rocked gently.  In the distance we could see crazy clouds moving around.  I’m not afraid of heights but I was very glad when we were near the ground 20 minutes later  Here are views east, west, and north from our stormy ferris wheel car:

One great thing about traveling with Katie is that we similarly just go and go and go!  As long as we can keep walking there is always more to do.  So when we survived the ferris wheel we peeked into a little like cat/dog petting area.  Through a slot in the wall, you could also see a kangaroo!  Katie just loves animals so for about $6 we went in.  First there were 10 of the cutest sweetest dogs and 4 adorable cats.  You could pet them, hold them, watch the employees interact with them.  It was a really great idea and great way to get your pet-on without owning on, I thought!  In the next room, the were 2 capybaras–the largest rodent in the world.  They look like a guinea pig but are the size of labradors.  And 3 small kangaroos.  And 3 beautiful owls, the likes of which I’ve never seen because………..we are on the other side of the world!  These owls were dark and had unusual dark brown and gold markings on their faces.  I thought about what a different world view it is, being here on a new continent, near a different ocean.

The rain brought back the cold  We hustled home and bought tickets to see Black Panther with another friend and fellow teacher.  We walked 20 minutes to the theatre in Namba.  The theatre lobby looked like an American theatre except………..it was 8 stories tall.  The movie was in English with Japanese subtitles.  It was great and most of the crowd stayed until the very end of the credits–a tradition in Japan.

By the time we got back it was midnight and I slept until 6:15 a.m.  It’s 45 degrees and sunny, with the high of 54–burr!  Time to get ready for another new day 🙂

Photo:  Whale shark at Kaiyukan Aquarium