Carp, Carp, Carp, Hiroshima!

 Last Friday Night, (we did not dance on table tops or get kicked out of the bars,) we went to a Japanese baseball game! And what a spectacle it was. The game itself was pretty fun, mostly because the crowd was so in to it, but also because it was interesting to see how another country puts on a professional sports game.

 We saw the Hiroshima Carp play against C.D. (don't know what that stands for or what city they were from) at Mazda Zoom-Zoom stadium in Hiroshima.

We noticed the first difference on the way to our seats: the food! Yes, there were a few places that sold hot dogs and french fries- but mostly everyone sold Japanese food! (Imagine that, huh?) It was so cool though! You could get ramen, udon noodles, and rice triangle/fish sushi-type things, among many other very typical Japanese foods that I can't even begin to describe. And they even had the wax food displays (pictured below with the floating forks) that you see outside of almost all the restaurants here. High class!

These were posted maps we found of all the different food options. As they say here, "Oishii!" (Delicious!) I loved (but didn't try) the item displayed in the 6 o'clock position, on the upper map- doughnuts in the shape of a 'C' for 'Carp!'

Another food vendor were Nick found his dinner. (I'm fairly certain that this reads "Herro Hero"- LOL!)

Nick the Daring got a philly cheese steak. I got me some Udon!

The field.

This was definitely a highlight and oh, so, Japanese. This here is a gym that butts right up to the stadium so you can workout on the treadmill or elliptical and watch the game!  Ha ha!!

The view from our seats. Not the greatest but still fun! Plus, there were a few fly balls that came out our direction.

That there is the Hiroshima Carp mascot, I believe- as a bouncy house! Sadly, for littl ekids only or I totally would have been there.

ou can't really see in the picture, but the stadium was right along the train tracks so you can watch the trains go by. (Which, really, is probably more for the people on the train than the people in the stadium because they would want the see the game and I am probably the only person who still finds trains so novel!)

Instead of having vendors walk up and down the stairs carrying tubs or Coors they have the Asahi girls who carry kegs on their backs and wear fluorescent hats and very short skirts.

There was also some girl selling these, which one of our friends bought. It's soda water with a popsicle in it. We couldn't decide if you were supposed to let the popsicle melt and then drink it or if the soda water was supposed to make the popsicle taste better...

This is a video of one of the cheers people would do. The best that we could make out that they were saying was "Imhotep, Imhotep!" (like the Egyptian Pharaoh)...

Near the end of the 7th inning everyone took out these balloons and inflated them...

And then when the inning was over, they sang the Hiroshima Team Song and released them! (This is worth a watch because about half way through, some very intoxicated Japanese guy noticed that I was filming and decided to jump in at 0:35- lol!)

They also had these seats out in center field- for total lounging!

This little boy fell asleep in the 8th inning and managed to sleep through the rest of the game- even though there was tons of commotion from....

A very intense final inning! The opponents had managed to come back in the 8th inning, making it a tie game going in to the bottom of the 9th. With the bases loaded, 1 out and 2 strikes... the Carp make a hit to get a run and win the game, 4-3!!!! By the way the crowd reacted, you'd think they'd just won the world series. Plus, I heard the Japanese rig the games this way so it's more entertaining.... Either way- it was definitely fun!

Nick had duty on Saturday so I just volunteered and worked around the house. Be sure to check back next week though because we have a trip planned to Tsuano!

Til then, keep it real.

Time warp...oops/Oshima Island

Whoa. Sorry for the blogging hiatus there, people! I am going to blame it on how boring Nick and I have been. Also, I had a brief jog back to the States for my sister's wedding and then as soon as I got back I started a new job (I got the school nurse position- woot, woot!) and man, that was a rough transition. I went from total and complete no-responsibility mode to having to actually use my brain again! The first 3 days I worked full time and I came home absolutely brain dead. When school started the following Monday, I went to half time but I was still getting used to actually having to care for others again.

Excuses, excuses right? But I'm back with tales of Labor Day weekend!

Last weekend was Labor day weekend and Nick and I went to Oshima Island, a smallish island like a 2 hour drive away. (It is the A on the map from Google.)

We rented a cabin at a resort there with 2 other couples (one of whom has a 7 year old kid) from Sunday-Monday. It was really fun! It was so interesting to stay at a Japanese style resort because you just expect it to have, like, American style cabins because that's what you're used to but nope! Japanese style! (Ours is the red roof farther up the hill.)

You can't really tell in the photo but it was teeny! It was 2 1/4 stories- (the top 1 1/4 being lofts). The first floor had a single open room about the size of a small living room, that had a kitchenette complete with a one-burner stove, sink, mini-fridge and some counter space; the TINIEST bathroom you have ever seen; a super small fireplace; and 2 couches and a coffee table (well what we think of as a coffee table but was really just a Japanese style dining room table). The bathroom was so ridiculously small that the toilet was at an angle so your legs would still fit between the wall and the toilet when you were sitting down, the shower faucet was just a hose that you hooked up to the bathroom sink, and the tub was only long enough to sit in with your knees bent up but still had enough of an edge so that you could probably fill it up passed your knees. They are very serious about their bathing I hear.

Half of the upstairs was just an 8-mat tatami loft and there was another loft about 2 feet over and 2 feet up to the side of that one with all the futon mattresses and bedding for 8 people. So it slept 8 people but if this was in America, they would probably only allow 4 people tops to sleep in it. (Fire codes? Pish- who needs those?) I wish I had taken more pictures to show you just how tiny and compact it all was. Very Japanese! But cozy and fun!

There was also a balcony/deck that was lovely to sit out at-until the giant bugs came out! (The view of the resort/beach from out balcony.)

Being an island resort, we spent the majority of the time swimming the Inland Sea and just hanging out on the beach. Since the Japanese obviously didn't have Labor Day Monday off the place was dead except one other cabin of about 6 japanese people. They went swimming too- but just in their clothes! Like jeans and everything haha! It was great weather and a beautiful sunset.

The next day we went to another beach and saw lots of jellyfish washing in! I guess August is when the current is just right so that jellyfish are always in the beaches. (Our friend with a mini jellyfish on a stick.)

(Nick with a giant jelly fish on a stick.)

 

Nick and I underwater- so blue!

And now Nick and I have the travel itch- we realized we really haven't done much since being here up until last weekend and how much time we have wasted! We are starting to plan lots more adventures so stay tuned!
(Although, we might have to wait quite a while to climb Mt. Fuji because I guess it's going to erupt again!! I read here that the pressure inside Fuji-san is rising and it's now 16 times more higher than the last time it erupted! It is so likely that it will erupt in the next 3 years that they are planning for evacuations in 2014!)

Also. there was an earthquake here today (4.6 on the richer scale) but Nick and I still didn't even notice! We really should have because we were talking to our (American) neighbor who lives just a few blocks away and he felt it but Nick and I missed for some reason making us 0/2 for feeling quakes here and making me 0/3 in my life.

What a place to live!