The Hendersons in Himeji: Costco and Osaka

Another wonderful weekend come and gone. On Friday night we had the pleasure of going to our pastors house for dinner with his family. We had a wonderful time filled with laughter, spiritual conversations and delicious food. They are truly the sweetest people we have ever met and they constantly remind us that they want to act as a surrogate family for us while we are over here. Not even knowing it, Mrs. Haruta fixed many of Audrey's favorite foods for dinner that night. We started with a macaroni and cheese and salad, which was followed by soup, then chicken Parmesan, and finished off with cheese cake and Reece's peanut butter cups. It was easily one of the best nights we have had since we have arrived. We feel truly blessed to be a part of their church and family. The next morning we got up and got ready for a day of traveling. It was our friend Taube's birthday and she wanted Mexican food for her birthday dinner. Unfortunately, the closest Mexican food restaurant is an hour and fifteen minutes away in Osaka. When we heard Mexican food we jumped at the opportunity as that was a staple of our diet in Arizona and we were going through withdrawals since we have been here. To go from eating Chipotle on a weekly basis for 3 years straight to not being able to find a Mexican food restaurant or even a single flour tortilla in the grocery store can cause a man to break out into cold sweats! We have been able to find many of our favorite foods here in Japan, but Mexican food is not one of them. We figured that since we were going to Osaka we might as well leave early and stop at Costco in Amagasaki on the way. I know what you are thinking... Costco... in Japan?! Ohh yes... its true folks and its only about an hour away! Our Australian friends told us that there is a free shuttle from the train station in Amagasaki to a mall that is right next to Costco. The only catch was that you have to buy something at the mall and show the driver your receipt or you cant get on the shuttle back to the train station. It has something to do with the shuttle being paid for by the mall and they didn't want people just taking it to Costco. So when I heard the word FREE I was all about this shuttle. So we had it all planned out... take the train to Amagasaki, walk through the mall, then to Costco, do our shopping at Costco and then stop in at the mall for a cup of coffee or something and then hop back on the shuttle to the station and then to Osaka. Sounds easy enough right?! So we had an enjoyable train ride to Amagasaki, caught the shuttle walked through the mall out the side exit and straight into Costco. When we got in I almost turned around and walked back out. I seriously felt like I was at Walmart on black Friday... there were people everywhere! It took about 5 minutes just to get from the front door to the electronics section... it was pure madness. And after living here for 3 months I had come to the conclusion that Japanese people are the most considerate people in the planet... well not at Costco... it was every man for himself. So after about 2 hours of weaving this giant cart though the masses and being battered and bruised from elbows and carts slamming into us we had enough. We got the necessities to last us for a couple of months and we were ready to sit down for a giant slice of pizza and drink. Standing in line for food took another 20 minutes and staring at the sign, with all of the same foods, just written in Japanese kind of makes you feel like you are in a strange alternate reality. I mean the Costco was set up exactly the same at it is in the states, just filled with shorter people and some other random Asian foods... it kind of plays tricks with your mind. You constantly find yourself thinking "where am I." After finishing our lunch it was back to the mall for our coffee and then back on the shuttle. Well instead of coffee we found a Baskin Robbins that sells crapes... and my wife's love for crapes always trumps coffee. So we had our treat and headed for the shuttle. After waiting in line we flashed our receipt and hopped on the shuttle back to the station. For some reason I had a strange feeling about it and when we made a left out of the mall instead of a right. At first I thought we were taking a different way back, but when we continued driving north when the train station was south I knew we were in trouble. About 20 minutes later we stoped at a train station... unfortunately we were at a completely different train station. I proceeded to try to explain to the driver that we needed to go to the JR station in Amagaski and he very quickly and forcefully told us "NO" and then pointed to get off the shuttle. I then tried to ask if he could take us back to the mall and got an even more forceful answer and he pointed out the door. So I motioned for Audrey and we headed off the shuttle in hopes of finding our way. As we approached the station we realized that we were no longer in Amagasaki but in a neighboring city and at a completely different rail line. As we stared at the destinations on the railway map above the ticket machine we quickly found out that this train line doesn't go to Osaka... or back to Himeji. Well Crap! So Audrey found a cute little man that works for the station and asked him about Osaka... he proceeded to take our money and buy us a ticket for the train we needed to be on. It turns out that this station has a stop in Umeda... which is in essence part of Osaka station. As we stood on the platform waiting for a train that we were not sure about and jabbering back and forth about what to do next a sweet young Japanese girl comes over and in perfect English say "can I help you with something?" Thank you JESUS! We explained what happened and she laughed at us but then explained that we needed to take this next train to the 5th stop and then explained where to go from there to get to the Osaka JR station. So we ended up taking a little detour, but found our way to Osaka. When we got there it was 5:30 in the evening and dinner wasn't until 7:30 so we walked around downtown Osaka for a couple of hours. It was incredible, huge building after huge building, bright lights and people everywhere! Audrey said it reminded her of New York. We went from store to store window shopping and found our way to the restaurant around 7:15. We had actually had to order our food a week in advance because we had a party of 30 people so when we got seated we sat around and chatted with friends at our table. Around 8:30 Audrey got her chicken burrito and I had some chips and salsa to munch on while I waited patiently for mine. I figured it would be out soon since we had ordered it a week ago you would think the least they could do was have it partially ready for us when we got there. Well that wasn't quite the case and needless to say when my food came out at 9:30 I was pretty annoyed. Then I took a bite of my taco and it was COLD! One of my biggest pet peeves is cold food that is supposed to hot... or at this point I would have been okay with it being warm... but of course it was cold. So I went for the enchilada... cold too! Now I was not happy. I'm not sure how they even called it an enchilada because it tasted more like a giant piece of ravioli. It was a flour tortilla with cheese in the middle and tomato sauce on top. But seeing how it was already 9:30 and I figured I would just be grateful that I had food to eat. Also I knew if I wanted to complain I wouldn't be able too because they wouldn't be able to understand a word I said. Which may have been a good thing! After I finished up my dinner we hung out until about 10:30 and we figured that we should head home because we had a hour and 15 minute train ride ahead of us. So we said our goodbyes, took the subway to the JR station and hoped on a train back to Himeji. For those of you who have not ridden a train in Japan there are many different types of trains and many different stations (as we learned first hand). One thing that is good to know is the speed of the train. For instance we took a "super rapid" train from Himeji to Amagasaki which took about 50 minutes, and that same train to Osaka takes about an hour and 15 minutes. It is called a super rapid because it only stops at the major cities and not all of the smaller cities in between so you get there quicker than a "local train". So to Osaka its only about 5 stops on the super rapid. So we get on the "super rapid" to come home and find a seat and get out a book for our trip home. So we are cruising along with only a couple of stops and we are making pretty good time when all of the sudden we stop at a station, people get on and people get off and then we take off again only to stop at the next station... and the next... and the next. So I'm a bit confused because we had already stopped way more than we stopped on our way to Amagasaki and I couldn't figure out why. Then I saw a sign that was flashing and scrolling where our next stop would be and it said " you are riding a local train bound for Himeji" WHAT!!! When we got on it said "super rapid" not local. It turns out that our train turned into a "local train" after Kobe so we stopped about 30 times on our way home. Which is understandable if people are getting on and off but by this time it was already 12:30 and no one was getting on, and no one was getting off! I was ticked... really... every stop... you have got to be kidding me. So long story short we got home that night at 1:00 after our 1 hour train ride turned into a 2 and a half hour train ride. Followed by a 20 minute bike ride from the station to our apartment. All in all it was a great experience and we can look back and laugh about our adventures that day. I guess we can chalk it up to living in a foreign country! Sorry for such a long blog this weekend. We hope all is going well in your neck of the woods. We love and miss you all!