We had a lot going on this weekend. Friday night we met up after work to go to Costco and stock up on red wine, beer, and other goodies for the household. We bought some pre-cooked ribs and a Korean salad to bring home, and they were a big hit. The Korean salad was a first for us, and although it was a little salty, it did taste pretty authentic (and went well with the beer we were drinking).
Then on Saturday we met up in Kobe for some shopping and to see a concert by Kuniko’s students near Mosaic south of Kobe station. The usual suspects were there – lots of familiar faces among the teachers and parents that came. After the show we went back into Sannomiya to do a little more shopping and then had dinner at a “French” restaurant that had more Italian food on the menu than French. Dinner was fine, but the service was a little kooky. Wine was poured from our already opened bottle elsewhere and then delivered to us, food came up from a dumb waiter elevator from the ground floor, and even the salad took 30 minutes to prepare. A little strange, but the food itself was quite good.
Sunday we again met in Kobe in the afternoon, this time for a jazz concert by a guy named Ozone (pronounced Oh-Zo-Nay) and his band, No Name Horses. Kuniko had received a great price on the tickets at her school, and there were lots of school staff there, too. We sat near the back of the performance hall (it turned out row 5 on the ticket meant row 5 from the back) and enjoyed the two hour performance. The first half was quite good, showcasing most of the performers and changing styles between latin, blues and piano jazz. The drummer was the most impressive musician, and I think the band was very aware of that. He had plenty of solos.
As soon as the performance ended we rushed out the door, picked up a couple of presents at Kobe station, and then brought them back to Okubo to bring over to the Fukumi’s house for dinner. They had invited us over to look through pictures from our respective holidays, and enjoy some dinner. Sayaka had cooked shepherd’s pie, quiche, and they even surprised me with a birthday cake and candles. It was very nice of them – and a big surprise for me.
Their pictures of their trip to Italy were really well done. They had gotten a new camera, and they like to take pictures with lots of goofy poses, as well as the landscape and sights. You can tell they really enjoy their traveling holidays.
After four bottles of wine, dinner, and cake, we walked back home to get some rest, and kept on resting all the way through the Monday holiday. It was a good thing we had the holiday, because I think it would have been very hard to go to work after all the rushing around on the weekend.
