First weekend

Saturday morning we got a tour of the Admirals ship the USS Blueridge of the 7th fleet, its the oldest ship in the fleet, deployed in 1967. We were lucky enough to get a private tour and we were allowed to take pictures, a privileged only given to those deserving the gratitude of the US NAVY haha.

With the first week finally to an end Marco, leo, an I went out into yokosuka and decided to roam the local mall and its different levels. On a journey to go to the arcade we ended up spending a couple hours on the 3rd floor of the mall checking out the Japanese grocery stores and all the goods it had to offer. Apparently there aren't too many Americans walking around in Japanese malls because everywhere we walked heads turned and looked up, confused as to why we were there. We ended up just walking around feeling like celebrities checking out all aisles and trying every free sample they gave out. We didn't know what 90% of the stuff was that we were eating but it all tasted good, and as a college student i have learned never to say no to free food...especially when traveling. After we made our way out of the grocery store we explored all 7 or 8 floors of the mall and checked out all the little shops. One which was a smaller arcade for kids, where we ere able to spend a couple dollars playing a game similar to guitar hero but with a giant japanese drum, needless to say we were not a good as the rest of the japanese adolescents walking around.

After we left the mall we walked over to Moor City park, the other mall located above the train station, and found our ways up to the 8th floor where there is an assortment of world restaurants. We ended up eating at a chinese restaurant where i got beef ramen, with some dumplings (potstickers), and a pork bun. The food was amazing, although it was kind of strange having Chinese food in japan. It wasn't too weird though considering there was a mexican restaurant right next to it.

Once we finished dinner we wondered down two floors and found ourselves at the big arcade where we layed some futuristic cop game, and a machine that was mario cart the arcade version. it was awesome because they have so many different games that were different then the one next to it. They had this one game where you play soccer but instead of using controllers or a joystick you played laying cards down on a virtual board that read them and placed them on the screen in front of you so it was kind of like playing a soccer card game.
After sweating a little, we finished our gaming we headed out to a local bar and watched the Japan soccer game, which they won. It was pretty funny though because we ended up at this little whole in the wall bar that we barely found because we ere just checking every open door. We were the only people in there besides the lady who runs the bar and she didnt speak a word of english. So we sat there trying to communicate with her and the only thing we could communicate is that we wanted some beer. She ended up sitting with us the whole time, not understanding a word we spoke, but as Marco said, "A smile goes along way." so everytime she talked we just smiled at her and tried to communicate with her. If only i had my phrase book...which like an idiot i left at home the day i left for the airport.

Sunday:

Sunday was the best travel day to date. We got a huge group together and we took the train to Yokohama and went to a Yokohama Bay Stars baseball game. Once we got off the train we walked a couple blocks and we were at the stadium, bleacher tickets cost us about 1800 yen which is around 18 dollars. We got up to our seats and they all said reserved but this group of locals gave us 8 of their seats to use. The game was amazing to start off, baseball is just as popular in Japan as it is in the US if not more. They have made a couple alterations that i say i have to love. for instance the baseball teams have cheerleaders, a band in the bleachers to play songs and chants, and every baseball player that comes to bat has their own song that the crowd roars in unison to gear them up for the game.
We left the game around the bottom of the 8th because the Bay stars were winning 14 to 3. They played the Osaka Tigers, now if you are not too familiar with professional Japanese baseball teams the Osaka Tigers are like the Boston Red Sox equivalent and the Bay Stars are similar to an Oakland Athletics (Or a San Francisco Giants). So the win was huge to say the least. I made sure to take plenty of pictures with the locals, i even managed to take a picture with some of the vending ladies, and some of the band players in the bleachers (specifically the guy who play the huge drum and yelled to tart the chants).
The guys who sat behind us were hilarious, once i came back from the shops with a Bay Stars jersey repping the pitcher Shimuzu they loved me and instantly included me with their chants and shenanigans. They were handing me all their regalia and memorabilia that they throw in the air and use to chant and go with the rhythm and beat of the yells. They took some pictures with me as well, and once again did not speak a word of english but were very friendly and had no problem giving me high fives eveytime the By Stars got a hit, run, or out. It was too bad we left early though...we probably could have had a good thing going there hahaha.
After we left the game we got some food at food court in the mall, and then took the train back to Yokosuka because on monday we had to be up bright and early for the first day of camp and some of us *cough* *cough* (me) still had to prep all the materials for the week.