Exploring: Part 2!

I didn't have class until 8pm today, and the weather was super nice today, so I decided to take the opportunity to do some more exploring in Tsu.  Enjoy my ~journey in pictures~.

Hey look, it's a Japanese 7-11!  You can't really see it, but apparently the girl group AKB48 is advertising something or other for them these days.

So I was walking around, and as I was walking, I made an incredible discovery.  It was a dream I had almost given up on, but then...

If you're not quite getting what I was so excited about here, let me make it obvious for you...

I FOUND MOUNTAIN DEW TODAY.  dka;jdlakdjsd  SO MUCH EXCITEMENT.  It's not exactly the closest vending machine ever, but it just might be worth the walk every now and then.  If that machine ever stops carrying it, I might be heartbroken.

But anyway.  So I was drinking my Mountain Dew with great happiness and joy in my heart, and I decided to take some pictures of the stuff I was walking by.  So here's the back of the movie theater:

Harry Potter better be showing here.  Just saying.

A picture of the ground I took accidentally because I was holding too much stuff, what with the Mountain Dew and all.

Saty, the department store, where we also buy groceries and stuff.  The one with the food court I mentioned the other day.

And then, as I was walking along, the road curved around and I ended up in a very dangerous place.

It's a clothing store, known for selling good clothes for reasonable prices.  I may or may not have made my first Japanese clothing purchase today...

So after that, I checked out the toys/electronics store and the drug store that are in the same strip mall.  And then, as I walked around some more, I saw something familiar.

Haha oh Kumon.  It seems so long ago now that I worked there...  I didn't even know it was a Japanese company when I was first hired.

Anyway, I don't quite know how the directions-impaired me managed it, but I actually ended up at Tsu Station, which has a Daiso (a hundred yen store, basically a dollar store), which is kind of what I went out to go find in the first place.  (There's a closer Daiso, but I didn't find that one of course, lol.)  Daiso was pretty exciting!  There's so much awesome stuff there.  I really had to control myself.  I did get a couple of things I needed though, including a water bottle that says "Always take the drink!"  Along those lines:

The Christmas one says, "In a very cold town of winter, it becomes full of warm feelings while you are by the side."  By the side of what, I wonder?  I'm sure you can read the other one.  I plan a valuable time and everyday for my life quite well, thank you.

And also:

In case you can't read it, the one on the left says, "I'll show you everything.  Just for you, the real..."  The real what?  What's what I'd like to know.  And on the right: "You are my ideal and a star brightening up in the sky."  Um...thanks?

Um...well, in their defense, they were only one letter off?

And one more.  This one is kinda awkward, but worth it for the lulz, I think.

...yeah.  I personally thought it was hilarious.

This is the kind of stuff blogs were made for.

Anyway, after that I totally went to Baskin-Robbins and spent 400 yen on a one-scoop sundae.  And I thought it was expensive in America...  But!  It was Chocolate Mont Blanc, and it was super delicious.  <3  I approve of Mont Blanc being the flavor of the season, I think.

And, since I wouldn't want to end the food blog trend, Carol, Becky and I ate at Casa Mia today.

Delicious salad!

Salmon and mushroom cream pasta.  So good!

These last two are Becky and Carol's, so I'm not totally sure what's in them, but don't they look good?

After that was Carol's class with three high school girls.  One of the girls had a birthday, so we had cake and played games and such.  They're a really fun group.  And after class, we ended up chatting with Aki-san, who's in Becky's class.  We're planning to go see Illumination (basically Christmas lights, I guess?) later this month with him and his wife.  He's a really nice guy who I've met once before.  He said he has a present for me: a copy of an Ikimono Gakari cd, haha.  He also informed me that he likes the Backstreet Boys.  Awesome.

Anyway, I'm just getting over a cold, so I should probably sleep.  Until next time~!