This evening Kuniko and I hosted a small get-together at my place for Yuri and Antoine. Yuri brought a friend of hers, Madoka, and Antoine brought his girlfriend Miwako. Since the weather has been warming up, I thought it would be great to throw some steaks on the BBQ and just hang out.
Of course, my BBQ is small… tiny, actually. I was able to cook the steaks two at a time, and then I did a package of bratwurst sausages. Kuniko brought some delicious salads on her way back from work, and everything turned out great. We had lots of food – there was leftover guacamole from the night before, chips, salsa, sauteed mushrooms and garlic, fresh spring rolls, and ice cream for dessert, thanks to Antoine and Miwako.
We spent the evening chatting and talking about all kinds of things. Miwako and Antoine are dealing with their cultural and language barriers, which seem to become bigger after the initial excitement of a new relationship. They are doing well, but Kuniko and Miwako exchanged email addresses, and I hope that maybe Kuniko can lend some good advice on having a relationship with a foreigner. We’re very different from just about everyone else here, so it does take some getting used to.
I opened up a bottle of wine from our recent trip – a bottle of Kunde that went well with the steak and sausage. The cameras came out and everyone was taking pictures. I’m hoping that I can convince some people to send me some.
Finally around 11 the party broke up and people went home. I fear that Antoine and Miwako might have had to take a taxi home from the train station – it was pretty late for the last train to Takarazuka.
