So I am pretty thoroughly convinced that Fred is not a normal cactus. Far more likely is that Fred is possibly plastic. I can't really tell. Between extreme temperatures and being in my not so tender mercies for more than a month, beyond all odds the cactus is still alive and well. Still prickly as ever, but hey, he is a cactus.
Aaron heads back to the States day after tomorrow, and we got together at Asagaya to have some of the thickest ramen I've ever seen. I mean, I stopped eating and the oil and grease started to congeal into not so much a skin... rather more like rhinoceros hide.... Great for guys, but definitely clued me into why I was the only female in the place. Had some great music ensembles such as "It's Raining Men" and "Nine to Five". That second is especially ironic as my boss called from Singapore to ask me to call London to try to get this contract that I'm negotiating done. I is hard for me to bite my tongue and ask my help, but it is really at a point where I'm chasing the company all I can without annoying the absolute hell out of the guy I am dealing with. Makes me look somewhat incompetent, but I can only do so much at this point.
I admit, it was a bittersweet goodbye. I'm a little jealous that he gets to go back, but at the same time, I'm starting new here, so there are more adventures to be had. That is, if little Californian me doesn't freeze in the winter first. Next on the list of stuff to get is winter running gear. Summer just won't cut it.
Showing posts with label Foreign Friends. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Foreign Friends. Show all posts
Monday, November 30, 2009
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Speak Easy
Was planning on holing up and moping since I was still homesick. Things started looking about that way until my friend Leon gave me a call and pulled me out of my hole to go to "an event" out in Ootsuki.
Turns out it was an event where foreigners can meet each other and Japanese at a bar called "Speak Easy". The group, Talk in Tokyo, has been around for a few years now, and Leon was friends with the French lady, Belle, who organized this particular one. By the end of the night, we were playing batsugame Jenga with tequila shots for whomever made the tower fall. Thankfully, I did not. Much hilarity ensued though. We ended up with a Chinese-american, a few french, a french canadian (with a beautiful shade of strawberry blonde hair), a gent from england, a german guy, and a handful of Japanese people. Needless to say, all languages were spoken, though English seemed to be the main common denominator. It was very fun, and Leons plan to help me combat my homesickness worked to a point.
The Okonomiyaki restaurant we went to afterwards at the north exit was totally worth the trip. Completely crammed in, we ended up chatting with the couple sitting next to us, who gave us some of their takoyaki and gave us tips for cooking the okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and monjayaki that we had ordered and had to cook on the hotplate style table. You can imagine, much havok ensued between the 2 french, 1 english, 1 chinese raised in japan, and me the american... cooking Japanese food. I plan to go back there as it is the closest thing I have found to what I could get in Kyoto for a better price. Huzzah!
Turns out it was an event where foreigners can meet each other and Japanese at a bar called "Speak Easy". The group, Talk in Tokyo, has been around for a few years now, and Leon was friends with the French lady, Belle, who organized this particular one. By the end of the night, we were playing batsugame Jenga with tequila shots for whomever made the tower fall. Thankfully, I did not. Much hilarity ensued though. We ended up with a Chinese-american, a few french, a french canadian (with a beautiful shade of strawberry blonde hair), a gent from england, a german guy, and a handful of Japanese people. Needless to say, all languages were spoken, though English seemed to be the main common denominator. It was very fun, and Leons plan to help me combat my homesickness worked to a point.
The Okonomiyaki restaurant we went to afterwards at the north exit was totally worth the trip. Completely crammed in, we ended up chatting with the couple sitting next to us, who gave us some of their takoyaki and gave us tips for cooking the okonomiyaki, yakisoba, and monjayaki that we had ordered and had to cook on the hotplate style table. You can imagine, much havok ensued between the 2 french, 1 english, 1 chinese raised in japan, and me the american... cooking Japanese food. I plan to go back there as it is the closest thing I have found to what I could get in Kyoto for a better price. Huzzah!
Saturday, October 31, 2009
Halloween Gakuensai at ICU
So it dawned a warm and BEAUTIFUL day today. It really smelled like fall, complete with the smell of woodsmoke even with no fires anywhere in sight.
Lazed around in the morning and cleaned a little. Met up with Aaron in the afternoon and we headed to ICU *International Christian University* out in Musashisakai. Aaron is an exchange student there until... well technically next week. But they had a school festival there and he brought me along. The campus is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of UCI's Alderich Park, only much much bigger (are we still in Japan??). Found Japanese style S'Mores there at a random booth and have resolved to replicate them next summer come firecracker season.
We got accosted by a myriad of booth vendors, Japanese and foreign alike. It is actually the first college where I have seen the foreigners and Japanese interacting so closely. Feelings about being back on a college campus after 4.5 years as an office grunt...were strangely mixed. On the plus side, it renewed my conviction to go to grad school only after I make a decision on what I want to do after (and in what).
We went to a lame haunted room where we got blindfolded and found our way around via a rope, and then watched some pretty crazy "modern dancers" and some kind of incredible south east asian dance troupe (LAMBS they are called in ICU. I have no idea the country the dance and instruments are based in).
We headed out to Akihabara after getting churros at the gakuensai, and walked around randomly. Dinner was a nice way to get out of the cold too. Also hit bookoff down there... which is a 6 story monstrosity of love. Not an incredibly traditional halloween, but hey, it's japan.
Lazed around in the morning and cleaned a little. Met up with Aaron in the afternoon and we headed to ICU *International Christian University* out in Musashisakai. Aaron is an exchange student there until... well technically next week. But they had a school festival there and he brought me along. The campus is beautiful. It reminded me a lot of UCI's Alderich Park, only much much bigger (are we still in Japan??). Found Japanese style S'Mores there at a random booth and have resolved to replicate them next summer come firecracker season.
We got accosted by a myriad of booth vendors, Japanese and foreign alike. It is actually the first college where I have seen the foreigners and Japanese interacting so closely. Feelings about being back on a college campus after 4.5 years as an office grunt...were strangely mixed. On the plus side, it renewed my conviction to go to grad school only after I make a decision on what I want to do after (and in what).
We went to a lame haunted room where we got blindfolded and found our way around via a rope, and then watched some pretty crazy "modern dancers" and some kind of incredible south east asian dance troupe (LAMBS they are called in ICU. I have no idea the country the dance and instruments are based in).
We headed out to Akihabara after getting churros at the gakuensai, and walked around randomly. Dinner was a nice way to get out of the cold too. Also hit bookoff down there... which is a 6 story monstrosity of love. Not an incredibly traditional halloween, but hey, it's japan.
Saturday, October 17, 2009
Maid Cafe Adventures
Had a hard time getting there, but I finally met up with Rebecca (from the US), Kuri, and Yoko in Akihabara. Had a nice lunch and wandered around for a while introducing them to Game Centers and the overly addictive Taiko game. Even saw some random guy play the Taiko game on a level harder than hard. I didn't even know the "Oni" level existed in that game!
We went to go check out one of the closer maid cafes and I was introduced to Don Kihote (yes they spell it like that)... which I have no words for except... awesome. The maid cafe was too conveyor belt, come in and get out style for us so we headed to one of the ones Kuri had in mind, Mai-lish. Once again, had a little trouble relaxing with being pampered at the maid cafe, but it was fun and everyone else seemed to really enjoy themselves. I can't help it. Cosplay is fun, but I'm not sure how much I like being called "Ojosama" and being curtseyed at. Was still a nice experience... and they had this amazing brick toast! Not as good as Guppies Peanut Butter Brick Toast (Issei stop with the motions!) but still really damn good.
Headed to Kappabashi after that in search of the stores that sell the plastic food the shops here use in their displays. Some of the food is incredibly detailed and realistic! Walked to Kaminarimon in Asakusa along the marathon route (wince) and found this amazing yakitori stand on the way. Really amazing. I mean I typically am not wild about liver and this was incredibly good. Had a really good picture taken by some random old guy too.
Headed to Alcatraz ER in Shibuya for dinner after that. Rebecca seemed to enjoy it and hit it off really well with Hiro, a gent who joined us along with Kuri's boyfriend. Some of the things they served beer and food in were really... not kosher. I'll post pictures tomorrow. All in all, a good day.
We went to go check out one of the closer maid cafes and I was introduced to Don Kihote (yes they spell it like that)... which I have no words for except... awesome. The maid cafe was too conveyor belt, come in and get out style for us so we headed to one of the ones Kuri had in mind, Mai-lish. Once again, had a little trouble relaxing with being pampered at the maid cafe, but it was fun and everyone else seemed to really enjoy themselves. I can't help it. Cosplay is fun, but I'm not sure how much I like being called "Ojosama" and being curtseyed at. Was still a nice experience... and they had this amazing brick toast! Not as good as Guppies Peanut Butter Brick Toast (Issei stop with the motions!) but still really damn good.
Headed to Kappabashi after that in search of the stores that sell the plastic food the shops here use in their displays. Some of the food is incredibly detailed and realistic! Walked to Kaminarimon in Asakusa along the marathon route (wince) and found this amazing yakitori stand on the way. Really amazing. I mean I typically am not wild about liver and this was incredibly good. Had a really good picture taken by some random old guy too.
Headed to Alcatraz ER in Shibuya for dinner after that. Rebecca seemed to enjoy it and hit it off really well with Hiro, a gent who joined us along with Kuri's boyfriend. Some of the things they served beer and food in were really... not kosher. I'll post pictures tomorrow. All in all, a good day.
Wednesday, October 14, 2009
Those Crazy Co-workers
So if I needed any proof that my coworkers are absolutely insane, today just about does it. So I got a message from one coworker at about 330A this morning claiming that she was out with two other coworkers drinking. Given what (Y) looked like when he came in around 10:30, I'm inclined to believe it. Ironically, the two women he was supposedly with seemed to be fine, though I now know why he claimed one of them to be "とんでもない". Y was so hung over, he actually went home after an hour or two to sleep it off. And he isn't a small guy. Needless to say, the two women are considerably smaller, so secretly I'm a little impressed.
SLOW work day which consisted of me finally finding something substantial to do inadvertently around 5. Apparently it was for the other 10 of us that happened to be at work today, and so someone hatched a plot to make takoyaki (octopus dumplings) at work. Yes, I said AT work, During work hours. It was like 230 so I don't even know if that qualifies as lunch break. But like 6 of us were happily making the damn things with the blessing of the Exec. Producer (who is in charge when the boss is out of office). So needless to say it was a somewhat surreal experience, though fun. And as it was explained to me, the office is small and has, as the Japanese put it, a "my home" atmosphere, so something like that is more common than I may guess. Maybe I'll bring in Taco makings next time....
Met up with Rebecca who is out visiting from the states. We met across from Pioneer in Meguro with FuruKa and Steve, also old pioneer co-workers. Wajin, the sushi place we went to was really good, though my budget won't be able to handle that again for a bit.
SLOW work day which consisted of me finally finding something substantial to do inadvertently around 5. Apparently it was for the other 10 of us that happened to be at work today, and so someone hatched a plot to make takoyaki (octopus dumplings) at work. Yes, I said AT work, During work hours. It was like 230 so I don't even know if that qualifies as lunch break. But like 6 of us were happily making the damn things with the blessing of the Exec. Producer (who is in charge when the boss is out of office). So needless to say it was a somewhat surreal experience, though fun. And as it was explained to me, the office is small and has, as the Japanese put it, a "my home" atmosphere, so something like that is more common than I may guess. Maybe I'll bring in Taco makings next time....
Met up with Rebecca who is out visiting from the states. We met across from Pioneer in Meguro with FuruKa and Steve, also old pioneer co-workers. Wajin, the sushi place we went to was really good, though my budget won't be able to handle that again for a bit.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)