Today was finally my rest day. Woke up late, and everyone already left the house. I got to hang out, watch a few tv shows, and chat with some friends back home. Definitely helped. It also gave me a chance to upload those photos. I had hoped to maybe hang out with some oregon friends today, but it was so windy and rainy I just didn't want to leave the house. I watched a few japanese television programs, but didn't really know what was going on… There was one that was a childrens english channel, which was interesting to watch. I also watched a strange, prank-playing show? It was kind of like improveverywhere, where they do random things in a large way, but a little more mean hearted. For instance, they staged a large crowd in a park, then when someone walked by, had someone shout "everyone to get down, it's dangerous!", then have another person shout "run away!" and have the entire park population run away. It was hilarious, but I couldn't help but feel a little bad for the person they played the prank on. They were so confused, and sometimes more than a little frightened.
Rio was home a little later, so we sat and had tea and talked for some time. Mama came home at about 8, and we decided that since it was so late, Mama, Rio, Yuri, and I went out for dinner. Yuri is also living with me here with mama, and is a cousin, I think. They say things so fast that I kind of forget… Both she and Rio speak very good english, so if they're reading this, I'm sorry if I get your names wrong! We went to a fancy italian restaurant and ordered a bunch of stuff. I was only able to take a few pictures 'cause my battery was dying, but there was a lot more food. We started off with escargot, and it was my first time eating it. They brought the dish out sizzling hot!
Next was a sweet, crunchy bread to dip in the garlic-butter sauce. Then came salad, which was delicious, and I wish I had taken a picture, because it was beautiful. Next was pasta. Two huge dishes of pasta that the four of us shared. One was in a cream sauce, and had ham, and the other a marinara sauce with seafood. Soooooo good. Sorry, but I didn't take a picture of those either. Guess I'll just have to go back. ┐(‘～`；)┌ We were all pretty full after that, but had ordered pizza, too. Japanese Italian pizza is pretty interesting:
I don't know if it's just because I've never had real Italian pizza, but the eggplant, raw meat, and cubes of tomatoes threw me a little. Still, it was delicious.
We got back home, and watched some more tv. There was some sort of domestic dispute outside. It seems a neighbor was doing renovations and making their roof bigger, but another neighbor called the city council on them because they weren't building to code, or didn't have a permit or something. It was way more interesting listening to them than the tv, so I don't even remember what was on. That settled down eventually and I had tea with the family, and tried something new called Monaka (最中), which was almost like a cookie wafer, with anko inside.
Really tasty
We watched a figure skating competition. I guess it's pretty big here, and in asia in general. I had no idea, since we don't really show it in the states unless it's the olympics. There's a pretty famous skater from Japan that Rio was rooting for, Yuzuru Hanyu, who's only 17 and lives in Sendai, where the earthquake and tsunami happened last year. He place third in the competition, much to Rio's delight.
Tomorrow I finally get to buy my own teiki, a sort of bus/train/subway pass that you can also use in some convenience stores. I was that the US could have things so interconnected, it's so convenient! I've been borrowing a teiki from Mama for the past couple of days. The one I'll be getting is more specific, with certain train lines and exits, while this one is more general. After getting those, a couple people from the OUS group hope to head over to a festival tomorrow as well. I'm suuuuper excited!
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