Tag Archives: helen ubinas

Buddhist monks in the morning, sacred deer and Monroe, Oregon, by night

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By Will

Today we woke up to the sound of a REALLY LOUD gong. It was 5:30 in the morning and we were going to a monk-chanting thing. (Buddhist ceremony) We got dressed and went down the stairs in our cold slippers that kept on falling off. We went to this cold temple area and the monks started chanting. (For those of you who think monks go “ummmmmmm” they actually do  go”ummmmmmm!!”). It’s cool. That went on for about a hour. After that we went to a VERY traditional breakfast. We had unidentified tofu stuff, pickled something or rather, rice and…uh…what is that! But it was good.

Went to a bus then got in a cable car before getting on a train. Then the next train and on the next train there was some weird guy staring at us then he sat next to us and then he (thankfully) left.

We checked into our hotel in Nara and went to lunch at a curry restaurant. It was pretty good. In Nara they let deer just roam free all over town because they think they are sacred or something. So the first deer you see it is like: “OMG A DEER JUST SITTING THERE IN THE ROAD” After you have seen fifty deer you act more normal when you see them.

We went to see some temples and shrines. After that we went back to the hotel and watched this show where these two guys with helmets and padding tried to whack each other with wooden swords. That was REALLY entertaining.

We went to dinner at this place that was sort of a bar with food. My mom met this guy who made T-shirts for this SUPER small place my mom’s family was from called Monroe, Oregon. Small world. It was cool. After that we went home and went to bed.

Boating and bicycling through Japan

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By Will

Today we woke up to have a good breakfast at a random coffee bar in the fancy district of Karashiki. The person there served us really good fresh-squeezed orange juice. Then we had eggs followed by toast, bacon and tea.

We walked along the canal when we saw a bunch of guys with rice hats next to boats. They were offering rides. We did it and got to wear rice hats like them. It turns out those hats were REALLY uncomfortable. But I wore it anyway because they looked cool. Our boat driver talked to us about baseball. It was really cool.

We wandered around for a while before getting on a train to go biking. We rented some old rickety bikes from the little old lady who worked at the shop. She told us to follow the little bike signs and we will be fine (yeah right!). The last time I rode a bike was like…uh… two years ago. So I bet you can guess how THAT started. Of course we had no helmets so It was a little different. We followed the signs for a while before getting lost my mom and dad argued for a while before Helen said “Uh guys?” She pointed out where to go and we finished the next three miles smoothly (Trust me three miles are not hard on a bike.) We stopped at a little temple and Helen got a good luck charm. We were almost to the end when Helen fell into a rice paddy while taking a picture. She got up fast and said, “Is there straw on my back?” We returned our bikes and went to dinner at a pizza restaurant (I know in Japan? Ha!). It had really good pizza. After that we went back to the hotel.

THE END

Rolling With The Octopus Balls

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By Will

This was a much easier day than yesterday. We woke up at like… uh five a.m., and went to the evil train station of central Tokyo. We made our way through the crowd and went to a coffee shop. Helen and I got a doughy thing with (what we thought was) raspberry filling. We took them to the train stop and ate them. It was actually bean paste inside. I liked it but Helen hated it. You should have seen her face when I asked her if she wanted another.

We got on this really big train and set off on the four-hour ride to Karashikii. My mom was so FUSSY about were we sat. She was like:”Oh Will, we’re going too flip the seat over”, “Now Will sit in the middle”, Will we are going flip the seat over AGIAN”. AAAAAAAAARRRRRRGGGGG. right?

Mike works in insurance, and I started talking to him about insurance ads and all the great jingles that Geico and State Farm have. He works for Penn Mutual. They’ve don’t have a catchy jingle.

Four hours later we were in Karashiki. We were wandering around when we found a soba place. We had lunch there, It was really good. By then It was four o’clock. We wandered around this pretty canal with lots of shops, then went to the hotel for a break. Then we went  out to dinner at chicken restraunt. BAD IDEA. We got there and ordered little pieces of Octopus. They came out and mom said, “Yum! Octopus balls!” Nobody touched them after that. We had pretty good yakatori. But then our main course came out It was egg and chicken with rice underneath. I suddenly exclaimed, “LOOKS LIKE BARF!” After that we went home.

 But now I have my own set meal: Pancake flabbergast, Octopus balls and barf. 

THE END