Iwate Park and Yanagi Ramen = awesome people

During my first month in Morioka, it's been kinda rough. Not really having a social circle really can take its toll. Sure, work does keep me busy. And yes, I have co-workers, but at least with the Japanese co-workers they wanna get back to their families after work. So usually on the weekends I would end up feeling stuck/bored/alone. I have had 2 good instances though!!

During my first weekend here (not with the onsen trip I had), I decided I needed to explore the city. With it being Hanami season, I thought I had to see the Ishi wari Zakura, so I was able to make it, but it hadn't bloomed yet!! TT-TT I still got a picture in though :D At Iwate Park (where there used to be a castle), there were some flowers blooming :D I was taking a picture, and two ladies walking through the town stopped to say hello to me. You wouldn't believe how surprised I was! LOL. They were soo nice, and one of them even gave me a present! It was a local snack, like mochi. Pretty tasty (but not super sweet).

My second ecounter of awesomeness was really recently (last nite!). I just finished shopping at the train station, and decided to walk home. I realized I was pretty hungry, so I deided to go to a ramenya that my student said was #1 in town. I had been there once before, but I got kimchi ramen, which turned out okay... but I wanted to give it another chance. Well I get there, and its right when they were about to close. The chef told me I could stay though. We ended up talking a lot because I was the only one there, and we had a great convo! Turns out he wants to learn English and visit America, because he is really passionate about English. After dinner, I gave him my contact info, and told him he needs to help tour me around Morioka XD. Really awesome guy. I wanna find the kick-ass bars here :D Bad thing though is... in loud places, I can't hear shitt... and my Japanese listening comprehension just sucks more and more... DOH!

I've been able to find more gaijin people here through Facebook and Yahoo groups, so I hope I can meet them all soon! There was a hanami party today, but because of the weather it was canceled. DOH! All in due time I suppose!!!