Kobe Oji Zoo

Saturday afternoon, before Ty's first game, Drey & I went to the zoo in Kobe! It's right across the street from the stadium so we had plenty of time to bum around. When we got there it was raining, shocker! It's always raining here.. So we marched around with our umbrella's and poncho's for a bit until it cleared up. And seriously, if I'm not drenched from the rain running down my back, then it's sweat. You guys! I'm always sweating! It's so humid. I look like a hot mess after being outside for like 6 minutes. I make the effort to straighten my hair for a day on the town & I show up looking like I ran 2,489 miles and tripped 100 times along the way. You win, humidity! You. Fking. Win.

So despite being only $6 total to get in, the zoo was really nice! It was way bigger than I expected and there was like a little amusement park/carnival area in the middle of it. We walked around and saw flamingo's, cranes, porcupines, panda's, all types of brown/black/polar bears, felines, koala's, disgusting bats (gag!), giraffes, crocs.. tons of animals! You know what Dreydan was excited about the most? The horses. The sheep. The CHICKENS. I'm like Drey, literally all of these animals roam the roads at home, wouldn't you rather stare at the panda's or the animals not in our eco-system? He resisted for awhile but then decided I was right. But he was sooo happy when he saw those horses. Shiz balls, you'd think he had never seen one. It was cool though because they had this big area where they let the sheep, ducks, goats, geese & a few other animals roam freely.

By now we're both sweating like whores in church. Homeboy will not stop running & looks like he's going to pass out. So we head over to the amusement park area, get some tickets & find some rides. There was this one ride that I wasn't sure what it was or did, but it was a rocket so Drey wanted to go in. There was an old man sitting just inside, Dreydan gave him his tickets, he led him to the back and closed Drey in this little room. And then made me get out. There was a language barrier so I had no clue what was going to happen but I stood back and let it haha. When the doors opened Drey came running out with a big smile on his face and yelled "I WENT TO SPACE!"... He did a dragon coaster, train ride, & a couple others before we had a little time for a snack, gift shop (obvi), & then had to head over to Ty's game! Perfect afternoon with my boo.

My camera was on the wrong setting for like half the animals, including the panda's! Booo!

So that's why there aren't any pica's of them. And don't you just want to squeeze that koala?? 

Stay tuned for Tyler's game post, holla holla!

That street life view.

Waiting for a bus. NBD.. 

My favorite store haha.. no seriously. It's a $1 store. Holler.

Jumping off the "pig whale" as Dreydan calls it.

This is our neighborhood park. 

Late night walk.. view from the cross walk bridge. 

Vending machines everywhere. Every corner, every kind.

These are the most common. 

Shameless selfie. Hello. 

No rubbish, guys. 

 We walk around a lot.. it's the cheapest form of transportation unless you're going a far distance.

A bike would be a little more convenient but you need to have your bike licensed, just like a car.

Fun fact: gas prices are about $8/gallon. so next time you want to complain, think of that.

Ikushima-Jinja.

Ty found this shrine on our Google maps search & it was only a few blocks away from us, so we

decided to make an afternoon of it with a visit & then lunch on the way home!

Obviously we couldn't read the signs so we didn't know what each section was or why it was there etc..

and nobody was there to guide us. Literally. There was nobody. It was a little eerie.

You'd think being a Saturday afternoon there would be more peeps around. It honestly could have been 

closed for all we know. Haven't figured that out yet.

So we walked around for a little bit, snapped some pictures, Dreydan prayed & then Ty rang the bell, 

and we also may or may not have walked on sacred gravel... Haven't figured that out yet, either.

For lunch we found a little place that served udon noodles, one of Ty's favorites.

It's a self serve noodle bowl shop thing with tempura veggies & meat.
Not totally my flavor, but the tempura onions were on point. Yum!

When we got home I tried to Google this shrine so I could read about the history of it and

I couldn't find anything! I don't know if I have the name wrong or I'm spelling it wrong or 

maybe it just really isn't that cool to post up on the web..? I don't know. There were lots & lots of 

other shrines, but not this particular one. 

I've also thought that maybe the .jp is different from .com and you'd come up with better results in America?

Seriously, I don't know why the hell I couldn't find info or what I'm even talking about. I'm mentally challenged.

Someone help! If you care to search & happen to find something, send me the link, please.

ps.

the pictures aren't the greatest because i had only my iphone

and it's super humid so my lens gets randomly foggy...

Welcome to Japan!

Well, we're here. 

We left Tuesday morning at 8am & got here Wednesday afternoon around 3ish. It sounds terrible but it wasn't that bad. Okay.. actually the first flight was from Utah to San Francisco, we boarded this little tiny plane and it was so bad you guys. I sat down in our seat and knew I was going to be sick. I get motion sickness very easily.. so by the smells on the plane (that were not bad, just muggy) & the temperature of the inside, I knew. Long story short, I was dry heaving into a paper bag for about the last 30 minutes. Dreydan was trying to talk to me & I ignored him because if I looked down, I would puke. After we got off our teeny tiny plane, Drey told me about 14 times how much he does not like riding in planes anymore haha ..

Our flight from San Fran to Osaka was much  better. Huge plane, big seats, lots of room, personal TV's, unlimited food, drink, snacks.. it was perfect. Dreydan loved it. Actually, I'm looking forward to that long plane ride again!

 He drug around his own luggage, for the most part

How he felt after our first plane ride, he was not impressed haha

Oh and do not even get me started on time adjustment. My body is so weird right now! I've been taking naps throughout the day (never happens) & waking up around 5-6am (never happens). Dreydan has adjusted perfectly. Although.. he was awake for like 20 straight hours & was running around in circles screaming "we're in Japan!" Not sure what happened there ...

The morning after we arrived, we all ventured out into our neighborhood to find some household things & hangers so I could start unpacking. We walked past a cute little park, a 7-11 & found our new go-to spot .. 100 yen store ! Haha seriously it's awesome. $ 80 later and 5 bags full of stuff, we were set. My mom has requested a picture of it so the next time we go, I'll put it up!

I've been a couple times asked if I miss America yet. Not yet, however, I miss what I'm used to. The lifestyle to which I've become accustomed to is very different to the lifestyles here. It's not bad, it's just different.

Our little yellow home away from home .. 

 The left side street in front of our house ...

... and the right .

 Still unpacking.

Is this not the most complicated toilet you've ever seen?

View from the car window.

Anything you'd like to know? Curious about? Pictures you'd like to see more of?
Let me know!