大阪にいる

今日は真有ちゃんに久しぶりに会った。すごく可愛くてピンクなハイヒールをはいていたけど、よく歩いてたから足が早く痛くなってしまった。それで、僕たち男の人３人が「運んでくれるよ」っていったけど、なんか断られた（笑）。ま、今日はとっても楽しかったから大丈夫です！

We went to lots of places with Mayu, like Osaka Castle, which we didn't enter because we didn't want to pay the entrance fee. The hostel we're staying in now, the Osaka Youth Hostel, is amazing. It's better than most Canadian hotels, I would think. Families and couples can also stay here, it seems, and unlike the Nagoya or Kyoto hostels I wouldn't mind bringing my family here.

Yesterday we were in Nara, which was great. We took lots of pictures (of course), of the Daibutsu in Toudaiji, and the surrounding shrines. We also went as far up the mountain as we could, and found ourselves in the deer park at the summit. We looked for a way to get out, eventually finding the trail and coming to the park exit, which we jumped over and calmly walked away from.

We also stayed in a very nice hostel yesterday in Nara. The assistant manager, who runs the place during the day, was so friendly to us because she said we reminded her of her children. We are going to make a book of leaves and give them to her in the fall, to thank her for her kindness.

We've gone out of our way to be kind to the older Japanese people we've met - and there are many of them. Today we found a group of women who were caught in the rain in Osaka Castle Gardens, so we gave them our umbrellas and walked with them to the station. Fortunately, when it came time to split up, as we were going in different directions, the rain stopped and we were able to retrieve our umbrellas. If it hadn't stopped, I'm sure we would have all just given them our umbrellas and happily continued on our way without them.

Tomorrow we're meeting Mayu at 11 and going out to Umeda, where there should be a camera/electronics shop. Marc wants to buy a better camera, and Chris wants to buy a dictionary. Instead, of course, he's blowing his dictionary money on a schoolgirl uniform for his girlfriend. Talk about stupid. He should have gotten the miko outfit.