For once we had a full schedule this weekend. For starters, I met up with Antoine in Sannomiya to catch up – it had been a couple of months since we had met up and talked. He recommended a Cuban restaurant, and since I’ve never really eaten Cuban food we went over there with more than a little excitement. The place, called “Caliente” was decorated with Cuban posters as well as period art from the 1960’s. We sat at the table, and the waiter brought over a menu written on a chalkboard. Unfortunately, there was nothing but your normal Sannomiya French food. I asked about Cuban food, and he apologized and said there were no Cuban dishes available. What?
He felt bad and went to ask the chef, and he cooked up a chicken dish with a spicy sauce that perhaps was Cuban, but other than that we had pretty normal stuff – cheese melted on pita bread, and a couple of venison filets that were a little dry. One good point was that we were able to try Cuban beer for the first time, and it wasn’t bad.
Reeling from that experience, we decided to go another place for drinks. Antoine had heard that an old gaijin bar that used to be in Kobe years and years ago had re-opened. The place, called “Bar Isn’t It” was a popular mini-chain, and we have been to the one in Osaka once years ago. So we tried to search for the location, but all the power of two iphones and an internet connection could get us zero results. The only thing we could find was a blog post from 12 years ago with a tiny map of the area. We decided to try to find it based on the idea that if they reopened, they might have opened in the same place.
So about 30 minutes later we found the place, and we also figured out why we couldn’t find it by searching the web – the name was now “Izn’t It” with a Z – so our searches for Isn’t It came up empty. We went inside and ordered a couple of drinks, hung out for a while. The place was mainly full of foreigners, but once in a while a couple of Japanese folks came through. I’m not a big fan of gaijin bars, however, and it wasn’t long before we made our exit. Kuniko met us on our way back to the station, and we were able to go home together – a bonus!
It was good to catch up with Antoine, and talk about his experiences with his son, who is now up and walking around the house. Antoine is busy with his web stuff as well as his regular job these days, but it sounds like he is enjoying what he’s doing.
Saturday night we had the Tojos over for dinner. I baked hamburger buns during the day and then we grilled some monster burgers out on the patio. The sheer size of the burger was incredible, and after we put the toppings on the whole things started to slide around making it pretty hard to eat. I passed out the steak knives, and we managed OK. The Tojos are fun to talk to, and so we stayed pretty late trading stories and talking about the neighborhood. Really nice people!
Finally yesterday we did an all-day hike, starting from Kuniko’s school and going all the way to Hankyu Rokko station. Four other people joined the hike, some of them Kuniko’s coworkers. They were younger coworkers, so Kuniko was the boss of the trip and took the lead. It was an interesting dynamic to watch. Until recently Kuniko was the young teacher, now she is doing more guidance these days. There are benefits and drawbacks to this role, but I think it is good for her to have the chance to tell some people what they should do and lead by example.
The total hiking time was about six hours, and most of the hike was through ice and snow at the top of the mountain. Luckily everybody dressed warmly, and there were no fingers lost to frostbite. Our bodies were pretty tired by the time we got back to Sannomiya, and after drinking some beers at Brugge we went over to Mikaen to eat some authentic Chinese food. As usual the food there was great, and it was fun to introduce the restaurant to the other teachers.
Now it is back to work – we’ve got a regular work week, but I may have a couple of after-work parties Tuesday and Friday. I hope my liver is up to the challenge.
