Magic Sunscreen

It's been a day or two since I've blogged and I'm doing this in the dark because it's the first time I've had free from a very busy little boy. Alexander is FINALLY asleep, I hope. He's snoring anyway but I'm afraid to hope he's actually succumbed to sleep only to have him hop up and start toddling around again. The boy has been delirious since he refused to take an afternoon nap.

Anyway back onto the topic at hand. I walked to Kevin's school to have lunch with him on Thursday only to find he was out for the rest of the day. It was a fantastic surprise, especially after the long hot walk which was made even longer when I got lost and a little sunburned. I got to meet a lot of his classmates, two girls from Sydney Australia, a boy from Mexico, and one from Spain. I talked the most with these four and they were all so down to earth and so much fun, oh and a boy from the Netherlands. I enjoyed the accents and everyone was speaking either English or Japanese.

After we all went to lunch and chatted for a bit, Kevin and I went out in search of phones. Because of  it being high tourist time here in Japan most places are sold out of Prepaid phones but we were determined to hunt some down. We went to a HUGE multi-level shopping center near Kyoto Station and Kyoto Tower. The picture above is of Kyoto Station. I've mentioned it before but what I didn't mention is that it's architecturally awesome.

We were successful in our quest for phones and they have made our life so much easier. Can I just say how grateful I am for modern technology? Especially the stuff that allows us to communicate. Speaking of which, mom, I'm good to go with skype. We just have to coordinate a time.

To remedy the whole getting burned by the sun issue we decided to pick up some sun screen and the only stuff we could find was 1200 yen, a little over $12 for about 2 oz. Am I crazy to think this must be magic sunscreen? Maybe it's a bottomless bottle and two oz. will last forever or it absorbs into the skin and protects for days... no WEEKS without end! I think I'll be sticking to Amazon to order my bulk sunscreen since we're a pasty family and will definitely be using plenty and often.

We had a great day of exploring, running errands and meandering around Kyoto and got ready to head to the train that takes us home. The picture below is the photo I took of us at the station during rush hour...

Actually, I didn't even want to reach for my camera out of fear that someone might think I was groping them. It was tight, and uncomfortable and I had no idea I have people issues but I do. I wanted to cry and run and never be confined in a small space again. I guess I'm claustrophobic. Really though it was horrendous and there was lots of being moved around and jostled by the shear force of the people wave. 

In other news we're going to the monkey park tomorrow! I think... we haven't quite decided but hey we're here for another 4-ish months so it's not like we have to be in a rush to see it all and monkeys are always a good idea. Speaking of which there is a little white hairless monkey staring at me right now, instead of sleeping.

Two, no three more things I wanted to say.

1. The buses here and trains for that matter are so clean and plush. The seats are covered in a cushy velvety material. No trashed plastic seats here!

2. This morning on our way to a cafe' there was a brigade of business people walking down the street with garbage sacks cleaning up their neighborhood. I see this everyday in the park behind us. People clean up the park we live around and everyone just takes pride in their neighborhood, I love it!

3. The cafe' was a big ol disappointment. We went in and then we promptly went right back out. People were sitting in the restaurant... smoking. This just seems so barbaric to me. The McDonalds down the way from us has a smoking room inside of it, and there's really not a lot here that's totally smoke free. Not a fan but at least for the most part they try to keep it contained.

That's it for now! Have a great weekend, or Friday or whatever day it is where you are.