Amagasaki Getaway, Part 2

As some of you may know, my homestay family doesn't clean the house as thoroughly as my dust allergies would like. So recently, I’ve developed what strongly resembles a cold. It’s too much of a pain to explain to everyone who asks that I have allergies and such and such, so for the time being, I’m “sick”.

Anyway, I was sniffling and blowing my nose pretty much the whole way from Kyoto to Osaka. Just before we got into Umeda, the lady next to me turns and asks if I have allergies. Surprised, I told her that I did, and that they’ve been bad recently since my house is really dusty. It turns out she has the exact same problem, and handed me a pack of tissues, telling me to use them if I need them (and boy, I did). It was like something out of the movie “Hankyu Densha”. Well, except that it didn’t change my life in any major way or anything, but still, it was really nice to have a stranger show concern for a random seatmate, especially when that seatmate is a foreigner. 

I had to change trains at this point, but of course I had forgotten where the platform was. Luckily, a kind young lady asked if I needed help, and so she pointed me on my way. It turns out that she was going to Mukonoso too, and we talked for a bit at the station. Compared to Kyoto, I think people from Osaka tend to be more willing to talk to strangers. That isn’t to say that folks from Kyoto aren’t friendly, just that that don’t like to make the first move. At least from what I’ve observed.

Since I knew the way, I walked over to Haruhi’s place, running into her mother just in front of the house. Over the course of the evening, I caught up with everyone. It had been a while since I visited, so there was a lot to talk about.

Now, this is a shame, but in the interest of time, I’m going to compress most of what I did this weekend. The most notable events were:

1. Xiaolongbao – Chinese soup dumplings. I went to eat these with Hide after seeing a live a capella group performance on Culture Day. The restaurant was a decently famous one, and the dumplings were fantastic. I totally gaijin smashed and got the biggest table in the restaurant, even though there were only two of us.

2. Yakiniku – I went with the entire Fujiwara family (plus the grandfather) to eat yakiniku. Although I said I was on a diet, I still wound up eating way too much meat. Which leads me to…

3. Muscle Training – Yep, I’ve started working out. Hide and I ran through a harsh routine for 2 hours after we got back from the restaurant. I’m planning to continue this as often as possible, so that I can get a little tone on my muscles.

There was, of course, a lot more that happened that weekend, but I feel that it’s more or less unimportant to write about now. All I can tell you for sure is that I’m so glad to have some place to go when I need some time off, where I can feel like I’m really home. It’s a nice feeling, that’s for sure.