Shooting the Moon

Oh crap I really need to blog about the past four days but I haven't had the chance to. We've been super busy! I hope i don't leave anything out :/

Sasaki Sadoko monument

On Wednesday we took a Shinkansen to Hiroshima. It was raining, which sucked, but at the same time it almost seemed appropriate. We took a streetcar to the giant government building that was right under the atomic bomb when it exploded. However it still withstood some of the blast and you can see the metal framework and crumbling cement. After a lot of controversy, the city decided to keep it as a monument to honor the memory of those who were killed. Then we went to the Hiroshima Peace Memorial Museum. The first part of the museum was mostly factual information, charts, and models. The rest of the museum was what really shook me up. There were letters written from first hand witnesses about what they saw happen to their families, torn clothing, bits of skin and fingernails, locks of hair, and mementos, all donated by people who've lost someone to the atomic bomb. Reading the letters was heartbreaking, and seeing the big pictures of burn victims sent chills throughout my whole body. It seemed to get worse with each new picture, but some kind of morbid curiosity rooted me to the spot. I can't understand how humans can bring themselves to do something so awful to other human beings. Every story was filled with so much pain and suffering, but one story stood out to me the most. A family of four is at their house when the flash of light happens. The mother is injured and the father is severely injured. They go into the backyard to look for their children and find that they are alive but stuck up to their torsos in mud. The fire was starting to close in and the mother couldn't pull her children out. Right before the fire was about the engulf all of them, the mother prayed to her children, apologized for being a coward and helped her husband limp to safety. I don't think there should ever be a time when a mother has to make such a decision. After we walked out of the museum, I was stuck is a weird non-communicative melancholic state. We quickly walked through the circular monument and took a quick spin through the park. We saw the giant mound where the ashes of thousands of people are buried, and the statue of Sasaki Sadoko.

Government building dome

A little boy's tricycle and helmet donated in his memory

Thousands upon thousands of origami cranes

Meatmeatmeatmeatmeat.

Then we took the Shinkansen and Lightning Mike taught us how to play Hearts and kicked our asses at it. He shot the moon twice in a row. When we arrived in Kyoto, one of the guys realized he left his passport, rail pass, and another girl's rail pass on the Shinkansen, so Mitchell spent a good hour trying to figure it all out. For dinner all of the seniors went out for yakiniku! There were a billion different kinds of meat, and although I'm usually really picky about what kind of meat I eat, I ate everything that was thrown at me, even cow tongue!! Ahh it was so weird having a tongue that wasn't mine in my mouth. But if you don't think about it, it was actually pretty goddamn good. I also somehow managed to polish off two bowls of rice and ice cream. That night we took a scenic walk back home, and I ended up staying outside of Mitchell's room until 1:30am to mooch off his wi-fi. Accompanied with a trusty can of peach water, I tried to blog, but I think I spent most of the time talking to Nicole or playing scramble. Also some tipsy sake drinkers came giggling out of a room at one point.

Playing hearts on the shinkansen !

Seniors at yakiniku with lightning mike!