"This is Mere, she's from the UK"

Saturday night, Ken and Heather came down from Nagoya! We went to dinner, then to Trinity to listen to Gordon's band. We danced our faces off. THEN we went to sing karaoke. Heather and I sang Britney Spears and felt very American. We finally got home at 4am. Needless to say, we were all very super tired on Sunday.

Sunday, there was a belated 4th of July BBQ near Akashi. Of course I didn't bring my camera, because that would've made too much sense. It was a long ass ride to get there, taking the subway to Shin-Nagata, then the JR to Kobe station, then the JR Special Rapid back to Akashi, then the Sanyo line down two stops. Phew. Took an hour.

When we got there, Gordon grilled up some pork and veggies with yakiniku sauce. Delicious. I also didn't wear a bathing suit, because I'm smart like that. I did go out in the water though, because it was really shallow for a long time. Lots of our friends were there, Oli and Aaron and his friend Essie. Aaron got a little two rowdy in the water, and ripped his bathing suit haha. We also threw around a football, and got all kinds of fun stares.

The best part about the whole day was this Fillipino woman, Julie, who stopped by the chat. Aaron introduceds us all, and totally switched our nationalities for fun. Hence, I was "Mere, from the UK". Since I have a horrible British accent, I didn't speak much :)

Julie came back later with a Brazilian friend, who opened her magic purse and pulled out bread and Brazilian sausages hahaha. There was a contrainer in her purse, but it was pretty visually stunning to watch this meat appear out of a Coach bag.

All in all, it was a great day, and I hate I didn't bring my camera. Ken had to go back to Nagoya, he had to work Monday. Heather and I stayed in on Sunday night and watched Twilight (it was awful, campy and cheezy and just as brainless as the books and I loved it) and Up, which Heather said, "should have been called Down", because it was pretty depressing for both of us. It's a Disney Pixar movie, but it starts out with 20 minutes that touches on soulmates, love, and death. Bummer. Great movie, but we bawled our eyes out.

I'm alive!

Sorry no posts for the past few weeks. Nothing incredibly interesting has happened lately. Good classes, and just hanging around after work. Heather and Ken are coming on Saturday!!! I need to clean my apartment (seriously, it's gross), but I'm going to eat something first :)

Lots of photos and updates soon, PROMISE!

Love you miss you allllllllllll.

"Dolphins love techno"

Saturday after work I hauled ass to Osaka, and caught an express train to Nagoya, Japan to hang out with Ken and Heather! The train ride was about two and a half hours, and then a 30 minute train to Inuyama, where Ken lives. We went to the Nagoya Port Aquarium.

The weather was rainy and cloudy all weekend. And it was 90 degrees. Muggy and humid. We headed straight to the Antarctica area.

Heather and I posing with a penguin mail box outside the aquarium.

Dolphins!

Kid on a leash. WITH angel wings. Awesome.

I'm not sure if you can tell, but this Beluga Whale had what looked like a tattoo. It must have been scarring, but it was almost too perfect to be an accident. I still have no idea what it was. And one of the whales was pregnant. It. Was. HUGE.

Heather's gangster face at the dolphin show.

Playing catch!

This dolphin not only jumped super high to hit the ball with its nose, it did it again with it's fin!

HH and I with a penguin.

Random little urinal inside the women's restroom. We decided it was for small boys with their mothers.

In the Nagoya TV Tower.

Central Park from the East.

Central Park from the West.

Americans!

I ran into this store, Heather took a quick photo, and then we left. We did get some strange looks.

Heather's gangster face, again.

Me attempting to be artsy-fartsy on the boring train ride home.

Cough Drops & Chest X-Rays

Today I went to the doctor's office at the Kobe Medical Center.

Don't let that fool you, it looked like a regular house in the middle of a neighborhood to me. Inside, it was like stepping into 1979. I was scared.

But, the nurses were nice and knowledgeable, and the doctor was smart, if young. I had a chest x-ray taken, and by the time I walked back into the doctor's room, he had it displayed on his huge computer monitor. He prescribed 6 (yes, SIX) medications for my wheezy lungs. An inhaler, some pills, and a patch to put on my chest "to help you breathe easier". He told my assistant manager (who came along as a translator) that he was nervous to see me. Because I'm American. He was afraid of screwing up. How sweet.

So I do feel better, and I am not as short of breath anymore. I think the grape Hall's I bought have helped a lot too. Tomorrow morning, I'm going to get up early and head to Sannomiya to try to buy a shinkansen ticket to Nagoya to visit Ken and Heather this weekend!

Nishinomia Expedition

Today Jen and I went to Nishinomiya to eat a burger at this awesome place she read about, and also go shopping at Nishinomiya Gardens, a huge mall. The burgers were out of this world, it was a tiny shack on a side street. Amazing. There was a one hour wait for onion rings, though. Bummer. The whole vibe was very SoCal. Jack Johnson was playing. I drank a Longboard beer, from Hawaii. The whole thing reminded me of Joshua Wallace. If Joshua was a building, he could have been this burger joint.

Jen had a Coke.

I had a beer.

Burger arrived after a pretty fair wait.

Jen digs in!

Mmmmmmm......

These things were pretty big, and messy. I dropped a caramelized onion on my freshly washed jeans. Damnit.

Wish this was in focus.

And I'm full. This is the outside of the place. Tiny. Totally unremarkable from the outside. Delicious inside.

Jen thought this wall was straight out of Jurassic Park.

A wall of elevators in Nishinomiya Gardens that were advertisements for Father's Day. This one was Clark Kent / Superman. It was AWESOME! And for some reason, all the mannequins had moustaches? I dunno.

And finally, random cell phone shots from a foreign goods market:
Texas Select? Really? 0.05% alcohol by volume? You've got to be kidding me...

... unless you're Kirin FREE! ALCOHOL FREE! WEEEEE I love the taste of beer but hate it when I am in a better mood!


At least the Sprite is sexier than water.

And finally, 800 yen if you can tell me what's wrong with this picture. I can't quite put my finger on it.....

Silly

I'm relaxing at home, watching DVDs (seasons 2 and 3 of The Office), and I had an epiphany:

My mom should totally Netflix season 4, and mail it to me.

Yea, I know, ridiculous.... it was a good try though...



.... unless you want to do that for me, Mom :)

Achoo

So, I have a cold. It came up all of a sudden, and I'm not dying but it is slightly annoying. Sneezing, runny nose, cough, etc. I know it's a cold. Everyone thinks it's H1N1. I have never been so happy to wear a mask.

My coworkers are so nice, they let me take a nap most of yesterday, and then leave work early. I only have four classes today, so I'm going to tough it out. We tired going to the hospital yesterday, but it was closed when I didn't have class. The hospital over here is like going to the doctor's office, apparently.

Also, I bit my tongue recently, and now it's a huge sore spot. I'm just a walking complaint! I had a couple of plans for the weekend, but now it looks as if I'm going to sit at home, eat soup, and watch all the DVDs that everyone has sent me.