Birthday Gift

Last weekend was my birthday and Mako treated me to a weekend at a Resort in Mie prefecture, a three hour drive from Osaka. Along the way we were able to go to two aquariums. The first was a fairly small one but had very cute penguins as well as doctor fish, fish that feed off of dead human skin. I've included a picture of the doctor fish feasting on Mako's hand. The other aquarium was quite massive and I had the opportunity to see sea life I had never seen before (say that 10 times fast) including penguins, walruses, and sea otters. The resort itself was amazing. Themed as a French resort our weekend included two decadent meals featuring Matsuzaka beef, a beef even more succulent than its cousin in Kobe, and a hot spring utlizing the nearby ocean water. All in all a great weekend.

First Blog Attempt

I have been in Japan now for 2 weeks and every day has been very exciting. It is absolutely great to be with Mako again and she has been a huge help in helping me get acquainted with Osaka. Yesterday I began a language course offered by the local YMCA. In my class there was 1 Canadian, 1 American, and 1 Filipino student. We all spoke English so the class was fairly smootht. I am hoping to improve my Japanese, especially reading and listening. I've already had several experiences where someone was talking to me in Japanese and all I could do was nod my head or keep saying hai even though I had no idea what they were talking about. My next task is now to find some work...