Kobe Conquered

The better side of the Kobe trip: the bureacratic and the social.

The bureacratic?! you cry? How can that be good? Easy- I finally got my reentry visa. Aaaand it was super easy. I got up early the 19th, followed the walking directions provided by the Hyogo AJET, and was at the building 15 minutes before opening. It took all of 5 minutes to get the visa. I also ran into a fave acquaintance Colleen. We went out and celebrated with a pastry-filled breakfeakfast. Hooray for jet-setting!

The social is pretty obvious- since nearly every ALT in Hyogo was there, I got to see a lot of people who live pretty far away. I shacked up with Diana, in a business-style love hotel. I can just imagine what the desk clerk thought of the two gaijin ladies sharing a room. Diana and I met up with Julius and went to a fantastic Italian place for dinner. Great tiramisu. Then we wandered around, found a foot-bath onsen on a side street. Had a lot of fun watching the double-takes as passing people gawped at the foreigners soaking their feet. Also went to an English style pub and had some non-lager beer [lager being the preferred style of Japanese beer].

After the conference, Diana and I met up with Joy and went searching for an import food store. I knew the area, but got us a bit lost. On the way we discovered Kobe's mosque, a Middle Eastern import store, an Indian import store, and the Korean consulate. Very interesting. Then we finally found the import store, so I stocked up on peanut butter.

Yep, I survived Kobe, site of two major disasters [lost keitai and car fiasco], and returned victorious! Hurrah for the weakening of curses!