July 11; a day with miyazaki

Day 4

I have had a great fascination with Japan since early childhood. It started with an early exposure to animes like Sailor Moon and then gaming with Pokemon. Miyazaki movies definitely had its impact on me too. Today, I was lucky enough to visit the Studio Ghibli Museum in Mikata, a cute little suburban town in Tokyo. I could have died of happiness when we arrived there.

tickets!

The tickets were timed and we had more than an hour to spare. We wandered around the cute little town for a bit to find some wonderful things. In one store, there was an assortment of items from kitchen ware to cosmetics. Thought: when I get a house, I will buy my furnishings from Japan. We went into Japan's version of (the now bankrupt) Blockbusters.

True Blood!

Wandering the residential area

so pretty.

With the purchase of a ticket, we were not only granted admission to the musuem, but also we were given a ticket to watch a short film in the Saturn theater at the museum and also a little piece of film as a keepsake

(I got 3 frames from Spirited Away).

All the films that play in the Saturn Theatre are museum exclusives.  The short film that was showing for that day was called "The Day I Harvested a Star." Although it was a short, it did not lack the elements of a good Miyazaki movie. The mix of fantasy with a hint of steam punk is always a win with me.

Unfortunately, you could not take pictures in the museum so you'll just have to go there to see it for yourself. For a very brief rundown of what to expect, there were three floors of amazingness and even the washrooms were lovely! There was a special exhibit from someone outside of the Ghibli family, the Saturn theatre, real work from miyazaki, his inspiration, models, a gift shop, and a cute outdoor restaurant.

indoor elevator

Robot from Laputa

 Outdoors menu and restaurant 

The bus stop.

Totoro the receptionist

An afternoon of awing made me hungry for some wacky Japanese snack. I chose the takoyaki flavoured chips for some adventure. Note: takoyaki is octopus balls but these chips were just seasoned with takoyaki seasoning.

I returned back to the dorm with dinner: and a new umbrella Ella Ella eh eh eh (finally got an umbrella from Japan).

hostel dining

my tofu wrapped rice. yumm.

Companies often hand out packets of tissue on the street advertising their business. Handy. 

Ah.  I hope this honeymoon stage never ends.

June 8; we own the night

Day 124
Already June and I haven't finished souvenir shopping... So after class, Tanjin and I headed to the Silk Market and Pearl Market to finish that never ending list of souvenirs.

***

Some Chinese teachers invited us for dinner at a local Chinese restaurant. I haven't had Chinese food outside of cafe food for a while actually. Somehow we always end up in western food places. It was really sweet of them to treat us and it was nice to see the teachers out of their natural habitat. Remember when you were a kid and thought teachers lived at the school and have no lives out of it? Well, it's partly true for us - we live in the teacher's building on campus but we go out a lot. In the case of Chinese teachers, I have never seen any of the Chinese teachers outside of school. Not saying that they don't ever leave the school, but saying that it's nice to see them in a different setting.

ohmygosh sofa.  (I was missing sofas in my last entry)

Fact: you can bring your own drinks to many Chinese restaurants.

chuan'r (meat on stick), closest thing to wonton noodles soup, cornbread

It was too early to call it a night so we met up with the gang for some patio drinking in the summer heat where we met two French dudes named...waitforit..................................................................... Antoine.
How awesome is that? After we(referring to the boys) had their fair share of drinks, we ended up doing our fair share of dancing at Propaganda. The night was full of dance floor dancing, stage dancing,  twirling, imaginary sword fighting, top 40 music singing, talking to white guy who made his move in Chinese, dancing until 5:00 am until we were the only ones on the dance floor. By 5:45, we found the door and saw the light. How long were we in there? I guess it doesn't matter as long as I was with my girlies. Also I'm so glad I met so many awesome people on this trip. Also, I'm so glad I don't have to teach.

SLEEEP TIMEEEEE.

May 26; Angel in Heaven

Day 111
Cat and I left early to go to The Temple of Heaven, another one of Beijing's must sees. It was a pretty big park and definitely worth the money. There were quite a few things to see, and in the end I thought it was one of the better tourist attractions in Beijing.

Map of the grounds

The long corridor

The Temple of Good Harvest

model of the main temple

Cat pointing out familiar Chinese characters

Echo wall where Cat was spilling out her Beijing sorrows.

On that little plateau lies once was believed to be the centre of the world

line up to stand in the centre. 

ribbon 

Wedding photos!

Pretty fountains

rose petals
Photo Cred: Cat

flower garden

artist at work

After the park, we went to the Pearl Market where I continued to buy the last of my souvenirs. Cat lead the way to a secret rooftop where you could get a great view of the park.

Angel on a rooftop for her birthday. Could it get any better?
Photo Cred: Cat

My plan was to head back home to shower, nap, and then prep for the events for the evening: Bitteapitta for dinner then Kokomo's for some rooftop dancing then Mix for some more dancing. Cat wanted some passion fruit drank at Xidan, so we went to get the drank and then headed back. We were walking back to the dorm when we ran into Tom, who came back from doing some grocery shopping. On our way back to the dorm, we saw Tanjin and Heys walking towards the station who said they were going to get some McDonald's for themselves and Kristie. Back at the dorm, Hayley visited our room asking about what time we were meeting tonight. Jac visited our room a little after Hayley asking about the itinerary as well. Just before meeting with the gang in the lobby, Cat wanted to pick up some resumes. We exited the elevator and headed towards the meeting room.  I expected to see a tiny stack of papers but what I saw was a gazillion times better. In that little room, EVERYONE was there for a surprise party the girlies put together for my half birthday! I was greeted with a very special surprise and speechless was what I was when the door opened.

Putting it all together, Cat had the difficult job to put up with me for the whole day and keep me distracted while everyone was at the dorm prepping for the evening. On top of that, she gave me a sweet I <3 BJ shirt, as Tanjin and Kristie were modelling.  Tom actually went out to buy some snacks for the party and my half birthday present. Tanjin and Heys didn't actually go to McDonald's to get food for themselves nor Kristie. They asked for Kristie's number to warn her and they were walking towards the subway station to pick up our friends who weren't familiar with the area. Hayley and Jack visited our room to actually get information, but the information they got from me wasn't the most accurate actually haha. Lastly, picking up resumes was just get to me the room. 

The BEST. 

some of the pretty ladies in attendance

Cam teaching Kristie tai chi

aaah, you guys <3

Photo Cred: Tom

Decoration!
Paper chains that went all around the room, Alice in Wonderland pictures drawn by Sig, cute little notes everywhere.
Wicked job!

snaacks!

Papa John was in charge of the music =)

Presents! Pocket watch from Heys+Mona, Half a bottle of Heinz from  Tom, Tabasco saaauce from Sig,  1/2 beer from Jack (he had 2 cans), flowers from Berney.
Oh you guys know me too well.

Poor Papa John cooling his face.

the cafeteria sure can cook.

Heys and Mona getting more beers from a hole in the wall

They even got my birthday cake! Too spoiled.

looks like I got a fresh tan...
Photo Cred: Cat

My dysfunctional family and friends <3

packing up.

So we packed up the place and then headed to Sanlitun for some partying. First stop: Kokomo! It was a rooftop bar which was like the extra, extra cherry on top of EVERYTHING. When it got a little crowded, we went one floor down to Kai Bar, which was a gay bar with cheap dranks (Papa John recommended), we left that place and then TanG and I heard "what makes you beautiful" at a dead club on floor down from Kai Bar and that horrid song was an automatic draw in. While everyone wondered where we went, we went in one club and then out after the song was done. We lost some people on the way to the final club but still had a strong number.

Kokomo's

At first, Mix was going to charge the "non foreign looking" (or was the foreign looking ones.... can't remember one or the other... that's what I get for writing my blog few months late) ones an entrance fee.  After some commotion, we all got in for free.

Mix, expensive draanks

I am certainly one hell of a lucky girl to be surrounded by people who care that much for you.

Thank you all for helping and coming out. 

Special thank you to the sisters who organized this all. 

xoxo