A Day on the Water

We've been trying to schedule a day out on the boat for a few weeks now and we finally got our chance on Saturday. The weather was perfect- plenty of sunshine, but not too hot and humid, as it's been for the past month and a half. Mike was the captain, and I was his lookout guy...as in "Look out for that ship!" or "Look out for that oncoming boat!" Actually, he was a very good driver. I just get really nervous whenever I'm out in the open water. But there were times when we'd be going fast and hit a wave and the boat would go up, and then inevitably down again, which would make me scream and consequently get nasty harbor water in my mouth from the resulting splash. Still...it was good times...

Here's the boating guy helping us out because our motor wouldn't start at first. He also had to teach Mike how to start the boat because of all the things they taught him in the boating class, they failed to teach him how to do that...

Lynn and I enjoying the ride. Check out Colin's coffee in the background! Boating on a summer day with a cup of hot coffee- that's a combination I wouldn't have thought of...

Some of the sights... A fishing boat and a really big scary-looking ship.









Monkey Island- not sure why it's called that, but I'm pretty sure there aren't any monkeys roaming around...

Mike's Birthday Bash

To celebrate Mike's birthday, we invited a few friends over for dinner. On the menu was bruschetta with garlic bread and lumpia for appetizers, and chicken tetrazzini for the main course. It's Filipino tradition that you serve somthing with noodles for birthdays and I had a hard time coming up with something that Mike liked since he doesn't care for spaghetti and I'm a little tired of making pancit for all our get togethers. I wanted something special. Little did I realize that the menu I planned would leave me in the kitchen for hours!

I also made his birthday cake. We don't have very many choices here in Japan if you want something other than a plain sheet cake from the commissary bakery, so I scoured the internet for any ice cream cake recipes. Thank goodness for the internet! I decided on a butter pecan ice cream/yellow cake/vanilla frosting combination- Mike's favorites. The making of the cake was surprisingly easy, but the decorating- that's another story. I had a little trouble with that part, but I figured, it's the thought that counts...





After cake time was present time! Yuki and Kazuho got Mike his very own Yukata (summer kimono-like wear for guys). Mike was so excited because I had found my Yukata last week, but we haven't had a chance to go shopping for his. The girls got him a really nice one that even came with the traditional sandals.





Now that Mike and I have our very own yukatas, we still have no clue how to put them on. It was pretty comedic last week when we were trying to figure out how to put on my yukata. The directions that came with it were written in Japanese, so we googled directions. But even with an English translation, we were hopeless. So while we had our Japanese friends here, they helped us to put them on.























With the help of our friends, we looked great in our yukatas, but I'm not sure we could re-create what they did if we had to do it by ourselves.







Mike's birthday was an evening filled with food, ice cream cake, and even a little dress up. Good times...

Fireworks and Fried Potato

Friday was a night filled with unexpected fun and amusement. We were invited to a fireworks festival at Kamakura beach, and it was amazing how many people were there. The main street leading to the beach was closed down in order to accommodate the crowd. A majority of the people were in their yukadas (summer kimonos), and because of all the beautiful patterns I saw that night, I am now in search of one of my very own. Next time we get invited to a festival, Mike and I want to try to look just as good as Kazuho and Rich in their outfits.

The first thing we did when we got to the festival was taste some of the food from the various food vendors that were lining the sidewalk. Our favorite, hands down, was the fried potato. First they took a jumbo-sized potato and dunked it in some batter. Then it was fried in a big vat of oil. Finally, it was cut into more manageable pieces and for the finishing touch... about half a stick of butter (or so it seemed) was placed on top. We all had to share this one- there was no way one person could've eaten this whole thing...unless they were looking for a heart attack.









After carbo-loading on the potato, we headed for the sand and took a walk on the beach. We saw some interesting things while on the beach, but the highlight for the night had to be the naked Japanese guy who was dared by his friends to dive into the ocean in his birthday suit. We do have a picture of that, thanks to Mike, but I'm a bit wary of putting that on the blog. Instead, these pictures of us hanging out will have to do...

The girls









The guys









Swept off my feet with a little peek-a-boo hello from Kazuho.





After all that fun, we're determined to try to find all the fireworks festivals that are left before summer's end. Too bad we didn't discover these fireworks festivals until now when summer's almost over. Oh well, there's always next summer...

Odds and Ends...and a Teary Goodbye

For anyone wondering how my search for the perfect parasol is going- the search has come to an end....I FOUND ONE! I just love it. I use it without fail. Carl made fun of me because the first day I got it, it was a very overcast day, but I didn't care- I still used it. We were walking around town and it was just me and this little old lady using our parasols. Who knew that some fabric edged with lace in an umbrella shape could bring me such joy? The simple pleasures...

Another update from way back. We've been living in our little place for almost 5 months now, and we were promised a new fridge before we moved in. That was an empty promise though because until a few days ago, we were stuck with an ancient and dirty fridge (despite my best efforts to scrub away the weird markings on the outside). Here's how we ended up with a new one...

So one morning, I open the fridge and I notice that the fridge doesn't seem very cold and there's condensation around the seal. I call Mike and tell him that I think the fridge has finally died. So he calls the maintenance guys and they come over to take a look. After inspecting it, they tell me that the condensation was caused by this bowl of marinating chicken I had at the bottom of the fridge--it was a big bowl and it prevented the fridge from completely closing. Although they were probably right, it was too embarassing to admit, so I adamently told them that I made sure the fridge was closed and that couldn't possibly be the cause of the problem. After discussing the issue in Japanese, the only solution they could come up with was, "You want new fridge?"

And that's how our new fridge came to be. Now Mike and I are discussing ways to accidentally on purpose break our stove and dishwasher....just kidding (sort of).

Now for the teary goodbye- Carl left us for Hawaii! I'm completely depressed that he's gone, happy he gets to experience Hawaii, and slightly jealous that I can't go too. While Carl was here, it was like having a piece of home for a while. Even on the days when it was too hot out to do anything but have a movie marathon on the sofa, it was so nice because it was just like old times. His leaving has left me despondent. When we had to say our final goodbyes at the airport, I waited until he was just a tiny dot before turning around to leave, and that's when my breakdown began. Mike was left to console me with promises of puppies and ice cream. I truly hope Carl enjoys Hawaii, but oh, how he will be missed...

Carl's Last Hurrah in Roppongi

For Carl's last weekend in Japan, we decided to take him to Tokyo's Roppongi, popular for it's nightlife fun. Mike was miraculously able to book a room for us at the New Sanno, a military hotel in Tokyo. It's really hard to get a room because it's always booked up--and with this being a last minute trip, I thought we had no hope. I was expecting a Navy Lodge-ish type of place, but I was pleasantly surprised. It was nicer than the Westin we stayed at in Kyoto!

We took a train over and arrived in the early afternoon. Since the rest of our party wasn't arriving until evening, we decided to do some exploring and check out Tokyo Tower.


Here's the view from the top of the tower, but in order to get this view, we had to endure an incredibly long line for an impossibly packed elevator.


The elevator was tiny, but they shoved as many people into it as humanly possible. It was literally like sardines in a tin can. Then as we were headed up, there was an announcement about not to worry if we hear cracking sounds on the ride up because that's normal! There was also a long wait for the elevator down, but I made the guys play the picnic game with me to pass the time. You know, the one that starts out "I'm going on a picnic and I'm bringing..." and you go through the alphabet with your list of supplies. Carl and I were all about it because it's an old childhood game of ours, but Mike had supposedly never even heard of the game and played very, very begrudgingly. Despite all of his grumbling about playing, it did make the time go by quickly.

Once the rest of our party arrived, we met up at the English pub-like bar at the bottom of the hotel to work out our plan for the night. The guys contemplated just staying in the bar all night long because of the unusually cheap (as in inexpensive) beer they offered. But the ladies were having none of that...we were here for some dancing! So after an all-you-can-eat buffet at the hotel restaurant we headed out for the night.



Here we are hanging out at the bar before we went out for the night.












Here I am with Yuki and Kazuho, who work at FISC with the guys.


Finally, we head out in search of our first destination. Here's Carl enjoying the comedy of our search because we couldn't seem to get our bearings straight. Sometimes he would end up leading the group- the guy who's never been here before.



Our first stop- Hobgoblin. It was a quiet little place, and considering how crowded the other places we would try turned out to be, in retrospect, we should've just stayed there all night.




Here are the guys and the girls...



And then there's Rich...Ladies- he's single and ready to mingle!



The rest of the night was spent in search of a good dancing spot for the girls, but alas, it was not meant to be. We tried GasPanic, but only succeeded in giving me flashbacks of the elevator scene from earlier in the day. The dance floor was so crowded, dancing was pretty much impossible. The next place was a slightly less crowded, but they played techno... I'm sorry, but I still haven't figured out how to dance to that type of music. I need my 50 Cent and Sean Paul to get my groove on.

Despite the failed dancing attempt, it was still a good time, and I can't wait to do it again.