It's A Big Blue Watery Road: Today!

This morning when we went up for breakfast we were chugging into the harbor in Yokohama, Japan! People were walking by and taking pictures of us on the deck of the ship. There was a lot of waving. I've never felt so exotic :)

It took ages for them to finally let us all off the ship and that was before customs, but then we stepped on dry land for the first time in almost two weeks!

The money here kills me. Everything costs hundreds or thousands of yen and it sounds like sooo much. The exchange rate is roughly 90:1, so it's not too bad, but things always sound super expensive.f

We explored with our friend Sheila today and she happened to have a friend from Tokyo who helped us get around. Her name is Mayu and she's the most patient/coolest girl in the entire world. She met us at the ship with her boyfriend and they took us all over Yokohama. Her boyfriend plays rugby and he's never met a girl who plays before haha. We had a nice conversation. Luckily for us, the subway system here is pretty similar to Chicago, so it wasn't too hard to figure out.

After a delicious lunch (it was a pointing ordeal... I think I ordered dumplings) we broke off into smaller groups and explored Chinatown. I didn't know that they had Chinatown in Japan, but it was super cool. The Chinese new year is coming up in a week or so and there were gorgeous lights everywhere. We wandered and bought steamed dumplings from street vendors when it was time for dinner. I had pork. It was pretty good. Helen made the best tasting dumpling purchase.

Anyways, we're currently heading back the ship to shower/pack/get dressed to go out tonight. The drinking age in Japan is 20. I'm legal. Baller :)

We're waking up super duper early tomorrow to catch a train to Tokyo and go to the fish market for the freshest sushi we've ever eaten. I'm beyond stoked!

Here are some pictures and as long as I can find free Internet, I'll try to keep the updates coming.

Love,

Molly