Christmas day is no big deal here in Japan – just another Sunday. The real action tends to happen the night before. Usually couples go out or stay in and celebrate together by eating Christmas cake and/or Kentucky Fried Chicken. We decided to stay in. Kuniko provided the Christmas cake, but when I made a run over to KFC I was told they couldn’t get me four pieces of chicken until 8:30. I laughed at the lady and walked across the way to buy fried chicken at Lotteria.

We also had cheese fondue, and we would have had a salad but I forgot to buy one. So the meal was a little unbalanced, but it turned out great. We ate a lot. The cake was especially delicious – it was a chocolate cream cake with a layer of custard cream in there, too. So good!

We opened up presents from the family and got loads of great stuff – they were really nice to send us everything even though they were just here. Kuniko and I had agreed to skip gifts for each other this Christmas, but she ended up buying me a new digital camera that I’ve been lusting after for a while. Now I’m going to have to get on the ball and get something for her.

Now today is Christmas day, and we spent most of the day cleaning, organizing, doing laundry, and shopping for some return gifts for Kuniko’s coworkers. It’s kind of a pain to go out and buy gifts for people when they give you something – it’s a custom that I’m not sure I understand completely. Still, when in Rome…

We talked on the phone with the family gathered in San Diego since we’ll both be at work tomorrow and won’t be able to chat with them on their Christmas morning. It sounds like they are hanging in there in San Diego – my grandparents are going through a tough time right now and so my folks really have to help out a lot while they are there. It’s a tough situation any time of the year, but right at Christmas must make it that much more stressful.

Kuniko has cooked up some curry for dinner tonight, so we’ll stay in a huddle around a hot bowl of curry and rice. Tomorrow it is back to work – but I’m not sure exactly how much work they expect me to do. Should be interesting….

Yesterday was the best kind of Friday – a Friday where I didn’t have to go to work. It was a national holiday to celebrate the emperor’s birthday. As you might expect, Kuniko had to go to work. She actually only had to do two classes and then she could come home, so she wasn’t gone long.

I did two monstrous loads of laundry. I moved a laundry pole that I never use from the front balcony to the back, and then loaded them all up with towels. Most of the day I relaxed, watched TV, and did just a little bit of studying.

When Kuniko got home we did some shopping for dinner, and had a bowl of nabe. We tried a new flavor of sauce that turned out to be not nearly as exciting as the package led us to believe.

Now today is Christmas Eve, and Kuniko woke up feeling a little bit of a cold coming on. She’s in resting and we are going to take it easy today inside. We’ll go to Akashi to pick up our Christmas cake, and I’m going to try to get my hands on some Kentucky Fried Chicken to go with our fondue for dinner tonight. We’ll open presents and just stay inside and stay warm. The snow has mostly melted away, but it is still plenty cold outside.

Thursday was a weird day in a lot of ways. For one, the students had to come in today for a closing ceremony, and then they could go home. Because our gym is undergoing an earthquake retrofit, they decided to hold the ceremony out on the field. Since it has been cold, the powers that be said that the students could wear jackets out there. How nice.

I walked to school in the cold and wind, but there were no clouds in the sky and it seemed like just another cold day. About thirty minutes after I arrived, we looked out the window and could see drifting flakes. Suddenly, it started to dump snow. There was snow everywhere, and it was coming fast.

The students had already mostly arrived, so they huddled up in their classrooms and listened to the closing ceremony over the public address system. Then, they told all the students to get home as carefully as possible.

I walked around and took pictures, and I put some of them in the photo gallery. As usual you could tell that I was a California boy – taking pictures of snow… what a freak.

The snow was everywhere, not just in Takasago, and it was affecting trains and traffic. Cars were skidding all over the road, and my teachers were making arrangements to go buy chains for their cars to get out of there. Around noon I told the vice principal that I had better leave before they shut down the Sanyo train line, and he said no problem.

I walked out to the station, and they were only running local trains. They were coming and going on weird time frames, so luckily I wasn’t going too far. I had originally planned to see King Kong with Antoine in Kobe, and Kuniko was planning on attending a year end party for her school, but both events were cancelled and we ended up staying home, staying warm, and eating tacos.

Today was the last day of classes for my students for this term – there is a closing ceremony tomorrow, and then it is a fairly long vacation for the students. The teacher’s vacation isn’t quite as long, but things will be (even more) relaxed at my school.

I went in really early to school today – around 7 a.m. For the first time I was the first staff member there, right after the janitor came to open the doors and start the heaters. The janitor was really surprised, as were all the teachers that came in afterwards to see me already there working hard at my studies.

I did a lot of reading today, focusing on a couple of different sources. I also memorized some vocabulary, and fought an uphill battle to remember words that I have forgotten. It’s getting tough to keep everything that I’ve learned in my head. I’m just going to have to continue reading – it’s the best way to revisit all the vocabulary that I’ve encountered over the last few years.

Tonight we went over to Ito Yokado to have our New Year’s cards printed. It’s a big deal here in Japan, and this will be the first year I’ve done it. We’re running a little behind, though – we’ll be addressing cards the night before – yikes!

I had my lesson with the third year students, and that went pretty well. We chatted and looked at pictures of the wedding, and I got a few of them talking. I think they might have been a little nervous since Kuniko was in the next room, and since she is an English teacher – well, they might have been afraid to make mistakes. I’m not sure, though – maybe they are just tired from their exams – they seemed quiet tonight.

The bath is heating up now, and outside the cold wind is really blowing. I’ve heard a rumor of snow in Kobe tomorrow – yikes! The weather service is saying that this year’s winter will be the coldest winter in a long time.

It was one of those strange days with very little responsibility. I went into work and sat around for most of the day studying. I finished up the English version of the school brochure, and turned that into the vice-principal for the final rubber stamp approval. I had lunch in the cafeteria, a place were they hadn’t seen me in months. They rewarded me with an extra meaty gyuudonburi. Thanks, ladies!

Kuniko wanted to head into Umeda to look in the Hankyu department store. We heard from Tomomi-chan that they had an exhibition going of Kuniko’s favorite characters right now. So, I asked to go home early today at work and they said – no problem. I met Kuniko on the platform in Sanomiya, and then we took the train on into Osaka.

When we got to the Hankyu department store the front was decorated with her characters in different Christmas poses. We looked at them all, and then found out that the exhibition area was on the seventh floor. We went up to the top and only then looked at the brochure and realized that the exhibition had ended a couple of weeks ago. Nooooooooooooooooo!

Luckily we got a few things for Kuniko’s coworkers, and they bagged up our gifts with special bags featuring the characters that Kuniko loves. So in a way, we got souvenirs.

From there we looked around a little bit, Yodobashi camera, the giant bookstore under the Hankyu line, and when we were starting to get hungry we went off to find Outback steakhouse. We had been to Outback in Osaka several years ago with Antoine, and so it had been a long time. They have really good prices with full sized portions, and it’s amazing to go there now and remember how in America I used to eat everything and still want more.

Tonight Kuniko ordered up a plate of pasta and I had a medium sized cut of prime rib. I haven’t had prime rib since I’ve been to Japan, so it must have been at least three years since I’ve had a bite of it. It was delicious – so juicy and a really good sized cut.

The restaurant was pretty quiet. There was another foreign guy chatting with the waitress in English. The waitress was eager to talk to someone in English and the customer seemed like a guy on business in Japan and probably a little lonely for someone to talk to. We could easily overhear the conversation and we couldn’t help wondering about everyone’s motives.

We got out of there with full stomachs and walked back towards Umeda. We made an ill-advised stop for coffee at a place called either “Happy Muffin Café” or “Happy Muffins Café”, not sure which it was – and the staff weren’t too sure either. Everything was marked differently, a real branding nightmare. I thought maybe the coffee would settle all the food in our stomachs, but it ended up weighing us down even more.

Kuniko and I decided that we had enough energy to hit Kobe and check out the Luminaries. This was the third time that I’ve seen them, the second time with Kuniko. Even though it was getting late on Tuesday there were still crowds of people. The line up approach to the correct street said that it would be about an hour. We decided to be clever and we walked to the end of the procession and saw them backwards. It saved a lot of time.

From there we made our way back home, and tucked ourselves into bed. Kuniko has the day off tomorrow, but I have to go to work. I’m going to have one class and also an evening class with Miyake sensei’s students. That should be something to look forward to.

We had a party after school with some of the ESS students. At first they just wanted a party, and so I steered them into the idea of throwing a party for the other teacher responsible for ESS, Matsubara sensei.

Matsubara sensei is going to leave our school in a couple of days to have her baby early next year. She’s going to take two years off on maternity leave, and then come back. I was a little surprised that you can do that. She gets paid for the first year, but the second year is on her dime. At least she’ll have a job to come back to when she’s ready. Very interesting.

We gave her a card and joked around with her for a while, but the classroom was so cold that we couldn’t party too long. I got the students out of there after about an hour, and in that time they had consumed an incredible amount of food. Those girls can eat!

Now I’m home getting ready to cook up a pot of nabe. Kuniko took her car in to work today so that she could drop off the vegetables that we got from her father yesterday. I’m not sure when she’ll be back, so I’ve got the house warmed up and dinner at the ready.

These days life has been pretty good to me. I was thinking of the harder times after I left the winery and took off to join the internet revolution down in Silicon Valley. From that point until I walked off the job at RealCapitalMarkets in Carlsbad in 2002 things were pretty tough – financially, emotionally, you name it.

Soon after leaving RealCapitalMarkets I took a who-cares part time job at Barnes & Noble to try to make ends meet as long as I could. At one point I interviewed for a web job at an auto parts place, got the job, and then told them that I would need three weeks to travel across the country with my good friend Brian Haven. They told me that I couldn’t have the job after all, so I ended up spending a month with Brian Haven on the road – driving all over the map from the Pacific Ocean to the Atlantic That trip was a defining point for me and somehow really opened up my ideas of what I could and couldn’t do with my life.

My aunt and uncle helped me by putting me up at their place for most of a year while I sweated the interview for a job in Japan, and plugged away at my part time job. In my off hours I hiked like a maniac – covering all the major mountains in San Diego and east towards the desert. Each night we would eat big dinners and drink lots of excellent wine, tequila and beer. Once I found out I got the job in Japan I spent time getting ready tying up loose ends for what I expected to be just one year in Japan.

Since I arrived here, it has been non-stop adventure and I always feel like I’ve got the best job in the world. No stress, but definitely a challenge. I’m constantly working my brain over studying Japanese.

I was thinking the other day that someday I might look back at these three years on the JET program as the best of my life. Then I wondered to myself – why does it have to end once my JET contract ends? Maybe this is just the beginning.

Saturday was a nice relaxing day for me – I didn’t have to work (unlike Kuniko), and so I spent the day studying, relaxing, and not doing much productive. When Kuniko came back around 2 o’clock we started getting things together for a couple of her friends who were coming over.

Our visitors tonight were Matsuo and Tomomi-chan. They came over just as I was putting the finishing touches on the tacos, and we all sat down and had a shot of tequila to get started. They downed the shots all at once, and then dug into some chips and salsa while they looked at our wedding pictures.

We had red wine with dinner, and I think the tacos were a hit, too. Something about the tacos tonight – they tasted especially great. It might have been the Mexican cheese, or maybe it was the meat… I’m not sure.

We joked about the pictures and even watched a little bit of Team America while eating. They seemed up for anything. Tomomi-chan is planning on getting married next year, so she’s excited about that. I haven’t met her fiance yet, but Kuniko describes him as “skinny”.

We walked them back to the station pretty early, and then did just a little bit of shopping before coming home to clean up all the dishes. I think we used every dish we had during dinner and dessert. Amazing.

Sunday we got to sleep in just a little bit before Kuniko was off to work again to supervise her club activities. I spent the day watching two movies and doing nothing meaningful – it was a nice break. Once Kuniko got home we went out to her father’s farm to pick up some vegetables for her class. Some of the students at her school will be cooking oden, and so they wanted some cheap vegetables to put in there. Kuniko’s dad was happy to supply them. It’s always cold out on the farm, though – we were in and out of there pretty fast.

We went over to her parent’s place afterwards for dinner and some relaxation. My folks had sent letters and presents for Christmas, so we gave them those and Kuniko translated the letter for them. They looked very happy and a little overwhelmed.

Now we are back home and heating up the bathtub for a nice hot soak. This week is going to be nabe week for us at home in an effort to simplify the menu and fill up on hot soup. I can’t wait – it’s been a while since we’ve had nabe.

We had a weird schedule at school today – the students didn’t have to come today at all, they were just supposed to meet us at the local exhibition hall for a musical performance. The teachers came in at the regular time and got prepared for meeting within their school year groups to talk about grades for this term.

Since I’m not attached to a school year I had the staffroom pretty much to myself for most of the morning. Every once in a while somebody would come in that had forgotten an important paper, but that’s about it. I really enjoyed the peace and quiet.

Around lunchtime I walked out to the exhibition hall. The students were arriving by bike and on foot, and everyone gathered up in front of the big gates. I chatted with a few students, and for the most part everyone seemed pretty excited about the show.

We went inside and sat down for the show. It was billed as a Taiko drumming performance, but they did play a lot of other instruments, often at the same time, making for a much more interesting show. They played the ocarina, the marimba, and also several different flutes. They were really in sync, and most of the students were awake throughout the two hour performance.

The more I listen to Taiko drums to more I like them. They play a big part in a lot of movie soundtracks, so I often find the sound familiar. When they play the vibrations run through your whole body – there really is a physical connection with the music.

After the show I split for the train and met up with Antoine in Sannomiya. We eschewed the normal meeting place because of the temperature and instead met inside the Belgian beer place. I took the last two seats at the bar and was stuck sitting next to two foreign English teachers who were busy complaining bitterly about their living conditions. At least one was a NOVA teacher, and she sounded especially unhappy. Her companion, another woman who sounded like she was from Australia, didn’t so much complain as listen. She was an older lady and seemed a little more composed. When her friend left for the bathroom she talked to me a little bit and seemed nice enough.

They left soon after that and finally Antoine made his appearance. We sat and had a beer at the bar and then headed to a Chilean restaurant that Kuniko and I had spotted a couple of weeks ago.

We went inside and were seated by the owner, and old Chilean guy that speaks pretty good English and Japanese, as well as his native Spanish. I never know what language to use in those situations. My Spanish has rusted away and if I try to think of a word it usually comes out in Japanese. I ended up using English and that worked out just fine. The waiter was Japanese, but he wanted to use some English, and so we really had a confusing blend of two languages going on there, too.

As for the food, it was delicious. We had empanadas for appetizers and then I had the steak while Antoine had chicken on skewers. My steak was reasonably priced and much larger than most Japanese steaks. It came with an octopus salad on the side and fried potatoes and a salad. There was some spicy sauce imported from Chile too – yum!

During dinner we were talking about all kinds of things and comparing notes about life in Japan. Suddenly while were talking the old Chilean guy pulled out a guitar and started to walk back and forth through the restaurant singing folk songs. We laughed at that, and our conversation had to pause every time he walked by us, singing at the top of his lungs.

Despite the music, everything else was great, and I think that Kuniko and I will have to go back sometime. We paid the bill and then headed toward the station. Antoine was still hungry, though, so we stopped in at a tiny hole-in-the-wall izakaya. The people there were really surprised to see us. At first they said that there was no room, but some of the customers were about ready to leave anyway, and they made room for us by splitting.

We sat down and ordered some food and drinks. The owners seemed pretty impressed that we were in their place – I get the feeling they don’t get too many foreign customers there. We found the place only by walking through some dark backstreets, which is the best way to find interesting restaurants and bars in Japan.

We stayed only for a little while, when we left the owner and the wife followed us out onto the street to say goodbye. They were really nice.

From there I split up with Antoine and took the train to Akashi. At Akashi I met up with Kuniko who was coming home from a little party of her own. We took the train back from Akashi together and then got home and crashed out. It was a pretty busy day, but we should get the chance to relax a little this weekend.

Today I had no classes and spent the day studying at my desk. I could end the entry right here, but that’s not so interesting. Let’s see if I can dredge up some details.

After school ended I met up with some of the ESS members who had come to the wedding and some that hadn’t, and I showed them the pictures and handed out some souvenir pictures for them to take home. They gave me a wedding present – a photo album. It was really nice of them. The photo album is actually for a new baby – there’s a little area to put in their birth certificate and vital information, so either they made a mistake or they want us to get busy.

A very rare thing happened when I got home today – Kuniko was already there waiting for me. She was cooking up a delicious (healthy) dinner – miso soup, tofu, and some gyoza. We had some magical kanten in our soup, and then snacked on a little dessert before going out on our mission.

The mission was to get a new hard drive for the computer (mine is the one I brought over from America almost three years ago, and I’m getting nervous that something might crash). We also went shopping at Carrefour for a taco party that we’ll be having on Saturday.

On our way to Carrefour we stopped at the gas station to fill up our plastic drum with kerosene. The gas station was packed! It looked like those old photos from the 70’s… cars were lined up into the street. Other gas stations weren’t so busy, but when you see that many cars lined up you’ve got to start thinking a little bit. What is going on here?

Now we’re back home, and I’m about ready to go in and take a hot bath. I got the hard drive up and running in two minutes, and I have 250 more gigabytes of space. I’m moving over my pictures and other irreplacable things to have some backups.

Tomorrow I’m meeting Antoine in Sannomiya to catch up, and then Saturday is the taco party. Another action-packed weekend…

Today I had a new set of students come over with Miyake sensei for an English conversation lesson. These are also students of hers, and they heard from the other students that it was fun, and so now I’ve got six different students dropping by once a month.

Again, it was very easy, and we introduced ourselves, and looked at wedding pictures. The students are second year high school students, so their level isn’t as high as the other ones. They were also a little more scared than the other ones, but in the end they did OK. The first lesson is just to get them a little more comfortable with me and the learning environment (my living room).

As usual Miyake sensei brought loads of omiyage, and we had some to give back to her, so that went smoothly. After they left I went down to the yakitori to catch some dinner, since Kuniko was stuck at school to attend a concert by her students.

The place was empty except for one other guy – he’s a regular but he’s in a different crowd than the other guys. We chatted a little bit and he seemed like a really nice guy. We spoke about 99% Japanese, but he’s interested in learning more English. As the yakitori got busy around us we chatted and watched TV and compared notes about different cultures.

We exchanged email addresses and then took off – the master was getting really busy and his part time help was late. By the time I got home Kuniko was just getting home. Perfect timing!

Once again it was up early this morning, take a nice hot bath and then head outside into the cold winds. Now that we have a heater I can’t imagine how I survived without one. For a while there I was living without an electric blanket, too. What was I, nuts?

I showed the pictures from the wedding to various people who were dying to see them. Tsutsumi sensei, Miyake sensei, the school nurses, and various other people really enjoyed looking through the book. It was fun the first few times, but after a while I got a little tired of seeing and explaining the same pictures. There’s no end in sight, though. It is fun to give people a taste of what the wedding is like. Everyone comments on how happy we look. Naturally!

I put in lots of study time today and even though I spent more than eight hours studying I still felt at the end like I could have spent the time better. Isn’t that weird? I enjoy studying so much I’m almost bummed out when it is over.

Tonight for dinner I served up cheese that my family had brought over from America. We had three different cheeses with Ritz crackers and some other little toasted breads. I served it with raw ham and roast beef, and then some vegetables. We also split a bowl of chili beans, and opened up a Nouveau Beaujolais. Success!

Kuniko is in the bath now and I’m waiting my turn. It’ll be early to bed tonight, and then off to the cold winds again tomorrow morning. We did buy some new warmer underclothes today – maybe that will help a little bit.

If I’m avoiding all television, newspapers, and web pages it must be because Survivor is wrapping up it’s season. Even in Japan I got nailed last year when I was checking the weather and inadvertently found out who won. I’m determined to avoid that fate this year. I’m downloading the episode now and have only opened a browser to write this entry.

Today it was cold and windy around Futami. The wind seems to be blowing even more this year, and it just pushes all that cold air in your face. Once I got to school everything was fine, though. My routine is pretty set, and so I made myself at home. Since I had no classes I did some revisions on the English language school brochure based on the vice principal’s input. I’m an old hand at doing that stuff from my time at Synapta making web pages according to the client’s wildest desires.

I also had time to go to the bank and do some shopping during the work day. I got some money from my account and then walked over to Seiyu to get some choice goods for Christmas.

Around 4:30 I left school and came home, and the wind was still blowing. I bought a couple of groceries for dinner (takoyaki), and also took a look at a new digital camera that I’ve been dreaming of. There’s a lot of electronics on our wishlist – all expensive things. I need a backup hard drive for all my files and pictures, so I had better get that first. We’re also looking for a DVD player that will play American DVDs on a regular TV, and eventually we want to get a new TV. The one we have now is about the size of a cat’s forehead.

Hey look over there on the right! I put a link to the photo gallery so you can browse through the latest photos over there. I’ll probably end up putting most of my pictures over there from now on, but since the wedding I’ve been a bit averse to photography.

This morning Kuniko and I put on our best clothes and drove out to her uncle’s house to hold a ceremony to remember her grandfather, who passed away two years ago.

Kuniko’s dad invited us to come along, and I thought it might be a good way to see a ceremony that most foreigners don’t get a chance to observe. Better yet, I could see it as a member of the family.

When we got there, we walked in and sat down in the room that was somewhat dedicated to a memorial shrine. We had pillows to sit on, and we watched as a priest that looked remarkably like Marlon Brando in “Apocalypse Now” smoked cigarettes and chatted amiably with the older folks around him.

He started the ceremony by explaining what was going to happen, and as he was doing that his cell phone rang. He hurried to grab it and even looked briefly at who it was before closing it again. Not two minutes later it rang again. Come on man – you are performing a sacred memorial ritual – turn off the phone.

From there he sat in front of the shrine and started reading a sutra. They passed out little books for us to follow along – and it even had little cheater characters to help kids and Americans figure it out.

After almost thirty (30!) minutes of chanting we passed along a small burning incense container. Everyone prayed, took a pinch of incense and burned it, and then prayed again. I had some borrowed prayer beads from Kuniko’s dad, and I think it went pretty smoothly. One thing that I thought was interesting was the financial offering that everyone had brought. The money was to offset the cost of the priest, the food, the bus to take them to lunch, etc. The priest read each name to the altar, as if letting the deceased know who had paid (and who didn’t!). That was an intersection of money and religion that creeped me out a little.

From there we had a cup of tea and some snacks, and then walked out to the family gravesite. It was my second visit, and we lit more incense and washed the gravestone. Then, we were done. I chatted a little bit with the priest. He was a nice enough guy, and he spoke in clear, easy Japanese so it was easy for me to understand.

I got a chance to meet some of Kuniko’s other relatives – uncles, aunts, etc. There were a lot of older people at the ceremony – not many young folks. It was nice to meet them and they seemed like nice enough people. They are not really close to Kuniko and her sister, so we don’t often have a chance to say hello.

After getting back from the gravesite, everyone else was going to lunch. We were heading back, but before we left they gave us a portion of the offerings that everyone had left on the altar. We brought home a big set of bath soaps, lots of fruits and little cakes, and several boxes of rice crackers.

In the afternoon we did some Christmas shopping at Ito Yokado, and then took a nice long nap. Now we’re getting ready to have some udon noodles for dinner and do some last minute cleaning before the week starts.

I’ve got an easy couple of weeks ahead. These are the classes that don’t matter – and rather than doing lessons for my first years the teachers want them to work on their winter vacation homework in their classrooms. That frees up my schedule – a lot. I have only two classes over the next two weeks. Nice!

It was kind of a last minute invitation, but Carrie was throwing a year end party of her own in Himeji at a Persian restaurant that she likes, and she invited Kuniko and me to attend. Kuniko and I met up in Himeji a little bit before and did a little bit of shopping, and then headed to the restaurant. As it happened we walked by a nice sized grocery, and so I ducked in there and scored some foreign foods – Knott’s Berry Farm jam, and bottles of Bass Ale for only 198 yen each.

I had been to the Caspian restaurant before with Carrie – the guy that runs it is really nice and the food is delicious. Since then he has changed locations, but the food was still great.

We introduced ourselves to the group, mainly comprised of people that I didn’t know. Some of them looked pretty hardcore. Carrie is a member of a soccer team, so most of the people there that night were also members. Kuniko and I ordered up Guinness, and Carrie’s boyfriend seemed impressed. Carrie and her sister ordered pink Chu-hai drinks.

They started bringing out food slowly, and we ate quick a bit. There were lots of tasty curries, rice and different meats. There were also some good salads with chicken and sauces on top. Of course he had naan bread, and some tortilla-like things that were good to stuff meat into.

Kuniko moved from Guinness to tequila, and we kept everyone entertained on our side of the table by talking about the pitfalls of Japanese for learners, and telling some not-so-amusing stories. When we finally ran out of stomach room. There was a little bit of food left on the table, and it still looked really good. Because we had arranged an all-you-can-eat thing, we couldn’t take it home. It was such a waste. We moaned and gnashed our teeth as the owner picked up the foods and squished it all together into an uneatable mess. I swear he looked happy to do it, too.

We caught a train back home with an ALT that I vaguely know from Perth, Australia. Her side of the conversation was punctuated with an abnormal amount of “Yeah, yeaaaa-h”‘s. Afterwards I was doing little impressions of her for most of the walk home.

We did just a bit of shopping and then headed home to crash out. Once again we went to bed with loads of food in our stomach.