Hotter than Hades

I do love summer, but holy crap can we get a break from this humidity? It's like walking around in a sauna.

Last night, spur of the moment, I went into Osaka to watch the England-Germany World Cup match with some of my mates (can I mention how much I love British English?). The game started at 11:00, so we were committed to staying out all night. Tim just moved to Juso, which is just over the bridge from Osaka. Peggy and I stayed with him in his baller new apartment. However, he has no furniture yet. Which was kinda funny when he apologized for us having to sleep on the floor.... but we always sleep on the floor. Finally dragged my ass back to Kobe, to find my bike had a flat tire. I sure do love pushing a bike uphill in blazing sunshine without glasses.

Tonight, I'm going to Tsukaguchi to see my friend Aaron whose leaving tomorrow due to a family illness. I hate that he's leaving, he was a good friend. I wish him and his family the best.

So now I only have four doki left (people that trained together).

Like a Deer in Headlights

I Love Tortillas

I woke up Sunday to heavy rain. Of course it's raining, it's my day off! I really wanted Mexican food, so I decided to make tortillas from scratch and buy a box of hard taco shells and seasoning. I grabbed an umbrella and rode my bike down to JR Kobe station where they have a fairly decent import section in the grocery store. It took me about 20 minutes, and my jeans were soaked by the time I got there.

Having secured my purchases in the bike basket, I got one hell of a workout biking back uphill, one hand holding an umbrella, with a heavy basket. Le sign. I miss cars.

Once home, I started making flour tortillas. Amazingly enough, they came out pretty well, considering I didn't have proper measuring spoons and my measuring cup was in milliliters. Damn metric system.... Also, once I had made the dough, let it rest, and formed it into small balls, and let it rest again, I realized I didn't have a rolling pin. And since necessity is the mother of invention, I used a tall boy Kirin beer. Worked like a charm.

I ate a few tacos, and then went to Port Island with Tim, because he wanted to visit IKEA. It was the first time I've been inside an IKEA. Meh. Not a huge fan.

When I got back home, I watched "Hot Tub Time Machine". It was pretty funny.

Now it's Monday, and I ate two egg and veggie burritos for breakfast. Delicious. Hooray for the weekend!

Also, happy anniversary to Mom and Dad, and Andrew and Amber!

I'm an Aunt!!!!

My brother's son was born this week! Chad Timothy Mock weighs a whopping 9 lbs. 11 oz. That's over 4.3 kg!!! I really hate that I can't be there to hold him, but my mom sends pictures of everyone else holding him, so that makes me feel better.

My parents called me around 10:00 am my time, or 9:00 pm EST. So that means it was already the next day here. I feel bad, because I will forever think this kid's birthday is June 10.


Special Lesson week went by fairly quickly, and it was eerily quiet at our school without a thousand children running around. I taught a movie lesson and a telephone English lesson. They went pretty well. One of my favorite students took both lessons on Saturday, and we talked about such great movies as Pulp Fiction ("What ain't no country I ever heard of!"), The Godfather, and The Blues Brothers ("We're on a mission from God."). I had the good fortune to explain a few key scenes and dialogue, including correcting misheard lines.

"Actually, he isn't saying 'boosh sheet' (whatever that is), he is saying 'bullshit'."
"Oh. Like dog shit?"
"Yea, sorta...."

Highly entertaining. So now it's my day off, and it's been beautiful and sunny and hot all week.... so today, of course it's raining.

In good news, I got two days off work at the end of July, and now I'm thinking of taking a short trip! Should I go to Okinawa, Hokkaido, or South Korea?

SOGO Rooftop Beer Garden and the Worst. Movie. Ever.

Bought this Pepsi Baobab today. Japan loves crazy flavors. This one tastes like flat nasty ginger ale.


Farron got a big group together, and we went to SOGO Department Store to the Rooftop Beer Garden. We thought it was ¥3000 for two hours, but apparently there was no time limit!

Gordon and Tak, who is back from Ireland for three weeks while he works out his artist visa and moves to LA.

Fumie, Farron, and I.

Song, a Korean student of Anne's, and Gord.

Tak and Gordon just loooove purses!

Fumie! Seriously, one of the sweetest girls I've ever met.


And then, the worst thing possible happened.....


Song was taking a picture, and dropped my camera, and the lens cracked off. It's broken.


NOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!
*Drops to knees and shakes fists in the air*

Luckily for me, Song is a decent human being, and she is going to buy me a new one. That really sucks though. Anne assured me that her family is really well to do though, so I don't think it will be a huge financial burden.

Monday, Miho came back to Kansai!!!! She really wanted to see Sex and the City 2, and being a good friend, I said sure! So Miho, Asami and I went to Mint Kobe and watched it.


Worst. 2 1/2 hours. Of. My. Life.

Now I'm home, and I have to finish planning two special lessons that I'm teaching all this week since we don't have group lessons. I'm ready to be home. Le sigh.

Summer's here, so it's getting hotter and more humid every day. Why did I decide to grow my hair out? It's like a guaranteed scarf. Perfect for summer!

(I know it's been stated before on the internet, but there really does need to be a sarcasm font.)


So I'm trying to plan out a trip to Korea, Okinawa, and Hokkaido before September. I have a week off work in August for Obon, but Curt might be coming to visit.

In September, I'm planning to spend a few days in Shanghai with Jessica's brother, JD. Also, I just found out I could take a ferry from Osaka to Shanghai for pretty cheap. However, I think I'll be in Tokyo before I leave Japan.

My parents and I were going to meet up in Spain, but they've since decided they want to go to Beijing, which is pretty sweet. I mentioned it to Jen, and now we're researching the Trans-Siberian Railway. We might take the train from Beijing, through Mongolia, to Moscow. I could continue and take the train all the way to London, too. I think in total, that would be like, 21 days or something.

Just some thoughts...