I'm going to.....

Cooking school. Yes, you read that correctly. You may crack all the jokes you want because I can't hear them, but I am going to cooking school to learn how to make some Japanese food! I am excited and it gives me something else to do. I am hopeful it will not be a repeat of my junior year in college when I was learning how to perfect Mexican rice. Libby is still alive after many tastings, so I think we are good here. I will be attending the ABC International cooking school.

On Friday afternoon, I went to the place to check it out and see if I could sign up for a class. Turns out, I arrived just in time because a 1 day lesson was going to start. I was excited as I was talking to the teacher and I even used some of the Japanese I had learned. This class was great, as it was only 500 yen and we were making chocolate cupcakes and I got to take 4 of them home. Yum. So I attended the class with this teacher, Azusa-san b/c she spoke English. Here is a right out of the oven and then ready to go in my tummy picture.


Anywho, she gave me all the information about the school. You have to pay a 1 time membership fee and then you can take either the cooking, baking, or bread courses. I would definitely like to take the bread course b/c bread is good, but then I would get fat and we can't have that. So I may just take a couple of those. I won't be taking the baking class because Mike doesn't eat sweets, so again, I would get fat. I really wanted to learn how to make Japanese, so that is the class I am taking. They offer 3 menus per month. I just have to show up, learn, possibly it after we are done, and then I get the recipes. Azusa-san speaks good English and said many of her clients are international, so that is good. Funny thing, she asked me if I had any friends and I was like "no, I don't have any friends" However, that statement just rolled off my tongue naturally and I continued talking. She told me I would be able to make some friends in this class since they will also speak English. My first class is on Thursday at 11:15. I'll let you know how it goes. The great part about this place is that when I get back to the states, the first dinner party I will be throwing will be Japanese cuisine, with the pizza guy on back up in case I mess it all up.

On another note, I walking home after this lesson around 5:30ish and I heard some loud screams. As I am walking, someone is being arrested across the street and there were like 4 officers trying to control the person even though they already had the person in the back. I thought about continuing to walk by and not stop to look, but said nay. So I stopped and of course I had to get a picture of it, which made me think again "am I that American, who is taking a picture of this." Yes, I was, but didn't feel so bad b/c some Japanese man across the street and up close, was video-taping with his camera, so yeah, I don't feel bad. It would have been a normal arrest except for the yelling of this person, 4 officers trying to control them and then, the use of the restraints. As I was watching, one police guy opened the trunk and got out a very long, what looked like a belt or restraint and proceeded to go back to the back seat. Not sure what this person did, but must not have been good if they needed to be held down. The picture isn't great b/c of traffic, but at least you know I am not lying. I was quite excited and then continued on my way home.

Kochira DOES NOT = Cochina, Audrey

After my lesson today, I was talking to my sister, Audrey, on the phone, about many things. She called me right as my lesson started, but I had to call her back. Funny thing, my teacher asked if it was my friend and I said it was my sister. She then asked if Audrey would be visiting and I said probably not b/c of my nephew and I showed her pictures of Little Gabe from the calendar Audrey made for us. My Japanese teacher is great. She looked through the pictures and said "oh he is healthy baby," "that your sister, she look older and you look young (haha), and "he (pointing to my b-i-l Gabe) look like a nice man." I had to stop myself from laughing at that last point because yeah, I could beg to differ on that one.

Anywho, so we are talking and I start to tell Audrey about what I am learning and how the counting system here is dumb. Numbers change based on what your are counting. I begin to read her a dialogue that I practiced today about being at a coffee shop. After the first 3 lines, I said

"Hai. Kochira de omeshiagaridesuka?"

My sister heard "cochina," right after I said "kochira," which is something totally different and a spanish word. I couldn't even finish my sentence because she bursts out with "COCHINA (caps = loud and laughing)." For those of you who don't know, "cochina" means like "dirty girl." I said in Japanese "Ok for here," which translates to my sister hearing "Ok, dirty girl." Needless to say, I had to explain that one and say it again. Now, I don't feel so bad for mistaking clerk for crack, but at least I am not yelling out dirty girl, dirty girl, in spanish!

Clerk = Crack

I had my 3rd Japanese lesson today and my teacher is very impressed with me actually doing my homework and learning the hiragana characters. I showed her how i re-arranged them and she didn't like that b/c it is not the way the Japanese learn them. But it did help me learn them and remember the sound b/c the sound of the vowels is just like spanish vowels. They read them "a" "i" "u" "e" "o", but it was easier for me to learn it "a" "e" "i" "o" "u". She said at least 3 times to learn it the correct way. Oh well, whatever I can do to help myself.

So, I am learning how to ask for things while shopping and there is dialogue that we recite, so I can practice. She tells me which character I will be reciting and which one she is. Today she was "ten'in," a new word I did not know and she tried to say it in english, so I could understand. She said "clerk" but I heard "crack" and I repeated this. She was like yes "clerk" with me hearing "crack." I finally looked down at my book and realized it was clerk and said oh, clerk. She proceeded to ask me what "crack" was and I was like, I shouldn't tell you. In my head, I was like 1.) if i told you, you wouldn't get it, 2.) I shouldn't be thinking this way. I did say, not a good meaning, but then she tried to look it up on her dictionary. I assume she will get the correct meaning of crack, as in a crack in the wall, and not the meaning I was thinking, which is crack, the kind you get from a dealer. Oh the joys of learning Japanese. Here is the count:

Japanese language - 5 (it gets 2 points today for having random ass rules for changing numbers when saying them)
Amanda - 3 (1 for doing my hw, and a freebie for thinking clerk = crack)

Mexican Food....in Japan

Saturday night we had reservations to eat at a Mexican food restaurant with some of the people that Mike works with. Seeing as how I have little contact with people that speak English, I was excited to go, but not so excited to eat at a Mexican food place. Yes, I fully admit, I am a snob when it comes to Mexican food, but that is my mom's fault since she made things from scratch. Plus, mexican food in Japan just doesn't make sense. So we went to "Junk-a-delic," the great name someone choose for the restaurant. It's a chain here, there are 2 or 3 other ones around.

So the decor, was at least trying to make it like a Mexican restaurant. As you can see from above, they put up Christmas lights and they leave them on all year long, just like Mexicans! Inside, they had one of those hanging things that has triangles coming down from it, most often they have corona pictures on them. Well, this one was just different colored triangles and not really colors you would see in a typical Mexican restaurant. They were also playing Mexican music and in true fashion, they had a stature of the Virgin Mary....(enough said). However, the cooks were a guy who looks Jamaican and 2 Japanese ladies. In true Amanda fashion, I looked for the only 3 things I will order at a Mexican restaurant, tacos, flautas, or fajitas. I picked the tacos and they were good, I ate them all. There wasn't enough meat or cheese, but whatever. I also had 2 margaritas, so things were good.

After dinner we went to a great bar that has the best prices we have found yet, in Japan for drinks. All drinks were 500 yen = $5, and the happy hour price is 300 yen. Everywhere else hh is 500 yen and regular is like 800-1000 yen. Good place. It's name is "Joe" literally and it's a standing only bar except for the few seats and tables upstairs. So we stayed and had more drinks... I ordered some sake and it was good. I don't think this place buys my 500 yen green bottle of potion. They served it hot and it went down smoothly. It was good night and we even made some new friends! Here is a group shot and then a shot of Mike and I because it came out really good.


We left shortly after this picture and came home. We proceeded to play some video games where Mike kept picking up my guy and throwing him off a cliff. It was time for bed at that point.

Friday night

It was suppose to a German food night, but there was an event at the restaurant and they didn't let us in. So we walked around my favorite named area "Shimbashi" to locate another food establishment. It was like 8:00pm and I was hungry, so we needed to find a place quick. We picked Bierre 86 (i think that's its name) and had some dinner. It was definitely traditional Japanese food. The menu was not in English and they sent over the only guy who spoke some English to help us out. We ordered a variety of things: sausages, fried eggplant, rice, and fried fish, and of course beer. When I ordered the fish, I thought it would be filleted and just a piece, but turns out it wasn't.

They gave me the whole fish, head, eyes, body, tails, and gills. Definitely not what I expected and was a bit hesitant to eat it. Turns out I had to take all the bones out as well. Again, didn't think I had to work to eat my food, but I had some help from Mike's work colleague, Wayne, who took out the spine and most of the bones. He also ate the head and part of the spine. Here is what my fish looked like after we were done. And it was very good.

We also had some sashimi, which is another entree that is growing on me. It did look pretty and I ate some, so kudos for me.
After dinner we went to karaoke, which was fun. Here is Miguel and Wayne singing to a song, but I can't remember which one.

Funny thing about the karaoke is that the tv background or video that is playing has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the song that is being sung. For instance, we picked Friends in Low Places, such a great song to sing, but the background, which is a bit hazy was of a motorcycle.

Even when Mike was doing his rendition of Ice Ice Baby, the background did not match. Yes you read that correctly. His picture is blurry because he was trying to move to it as he sang.


The only song that remotely had a video that matched, was one of the songs that I picked. The dancing wasn't exact, but at least they were dancing. Good job to me. Mike hates this song for some reason and I'm not really sure why, but I love it. If you can't read it, it says "digging the Dancing Queen"

Roppongi (Roo-pong-ee)

Today I spent mid-morning to mid-afternoon in Roppongi. It is the area next to where we live in Akasaka. Roppongi is best described as a very Westernized area, with American restaurants such as TGI Friday's, Outback, and Hard Rock. For those of you who know Houston, it can also be described as driving down Richmond outside the loop, where there are nice apartments/restaurants on one corner and a strip club across the street. This place is literally like night and day and different depending on when you go. During the day, it looks like any other area, but at night all the lights get turned on and people are trying to harass you into going into their club. I'll post some pictures of it later.

I just walked around trying to find my way and see what I could find. I went into Tokyo Midtown, which is like a mini shopping area with different restaurants, an art museum and music hall. I found a great place to have lunch, Chowders. I had their special soup of the week, Asiago cheese soup with tomato rice. The soup was amazing and the tomato rice is exactly like Mexican rice without the flavor, but it was good. I finished my bowl. I left to see what else I could find and stopped for some Tokyo Ice Ocha (tea) or what looked like ice cream. I got the little cup which allows you to pick 3 flavors. I picked green tea, an orange one, and a vanilla one that had what looked like nuts. Turns out, the green tea was not as good as I remember and quite bitter, which means I think they forgot the sugar. The orange one tasted like mango/lemon and was yummy. The other one was definitely vanilla with some dried fruit?, definitely not nuts, but yummy as well.


After this, I started my trek home and stopped by Don Quixote, a 6 story building that has everything you can imagine. The 2nd floor is all liquor, 6th floor is clothes, and the 5th floor is home appliances, which is where I was headed. I needed to find new vacuum bags since ours is full. I looked around and found the vacuum cleaners, but also found 5 different options of the same bag that I could buy. Once again I couldn't read what they said, so I picked the bag that was yellow and on the back had alot of style numbers (I assumed that is what they were and our vacuum would fall into that category). I continued around the floor and found pre-paid phone cards, which is something I have been trying to find. Got one of those as well. In the back corner near the phones, was a side of an aisle that looked like it had female creams and lotions and what not. So I start to look and turn around to find a glass case full of vibrators. Yes, vibrators. Not what I expected, so I turned around and didn't go down the full aisle. As I turned around, some man was trying to get past me into the aisle and on the other side, a man was coming out. Don't want to know what they have in store for tonight or this weekend. I bought my items and left. this is a good store and apparently you can get everything here, from liquor, to clothes, to appliances, to porn. What's not to like!
My tally continues:
Japanese language - 3
Amanda - 1

1st Japanese lesson

Today I had my very 1st Japanese lesson. I am such a nerd/school girl. I had Mike print my syllabus, got all my pencils/pens ready and had my books out on the table ready to start. I will be taking lessons every Wednesday and Friday from 10-12, which in my opinion is alot of Japanese. We shall see how it goes. The school coordinator came by with my teacher, her name is Fumi-san. She is a nice lady and will definitely help me learn some Japanese. She is a bit older, but not sure how old b/c all the Japanese people look younger (I need to figure out their secrets). Funny enough, she also that I was pretty young and guessed early 20s. So, sadly I had to correct her and mention my real age of 27.

We started our lesson and got through the first part in "Expressions for survival," which I didn't have a problem. Then we went into the next book, "First steps in Japanese," which was good until the very end. After 1.45 hours of Japanese, I was starting to get frustrated because she was talking too fast and while I was still processing, she was expecting me to answer. So I finally said, we have to stop because I am getting frustrated with this. She understood and was like you will need a break and I was like "YES." After this we chatted for the rest of the lesson to get to know each other. I found out her hobbies are "tea ceremonies and kimono," which are 2 things I soooo want to learn about and said that. She was surprised I wanted to learn about tea ceremonies, but I really do. She said she would do a formal one for me one day, later on, if I really wanted to learn.

Anywho this is what I have learned from the day's lesson:
- important words: "sumimasen" "_____, onegaishimasu" "hajimemashite" "Doo itashimashite" & "o-kuni" = "excuse" "____, please" "how do you do" "you are welcome" & "my country"
- 2 hours of straight Japanese is a bit much, so breaks will be needed
- don't understand the use grammar in this language or how 1 word translates into 4 english words
- my spanish speaking abilities are/are not helping me with pronunciation
- my teacher is a certified tea ceremony teacher and is willing to show me traditional Japanese food and formal tea ceremony
- my teacher is a bit scary and will probably get mad if I don't do my homework, which is nicely assigned for my lesson on Friday

Out and About / Jeff & Kirsten would be proud

First off, HAPPY BIRTHDAY SHANA. It is your birthday in MN and in Japan, yay!!

I have to learn my way around the area we live in, so that when people come visit, I know where I am and where I am going. Venturing out is fun and I stumbled upon some things. I found "the man," even in Japan. Guess I should like him a bit, since he did put Mike and I here. Then a great Irish bar with a "cool" name, so here it is. I would definitely have a drink there.


Then a random temple in Akasaka (area where we live), so I decided to go look at it. Yes, it is true, once you have seen one temple, you have seen them all, but I still went up to see it. There were many stairs, but I made it. I do think its funny that there was an escalator taking you up to the shrine. There is a picture of the "torii" or gate to the shrine and then the actual shrine. It was cool.


I continued my adventures around the area to find funny names to clubs, another liquor store that will help me on my quest to learn about sake, and the golf bar that Mike hates. "Club Bachelor" what a great name and I wonder what it looks like at night, when the bachelors come out to play! Then there was the "Seven Luck Casino," where my first thought was, would I get lucky 7 times, maybe?


I also found this great bar with a great name, "Hobglobin." I couldn't resist not going in and seeing what "Hobglobin" was all about. This place is an Irish bar that features Wynchcraft beer. This is where my friends Jeff and Kirsten would appreciate this outing. They are good friends, who know about various types of beer and they would like this place. I had to order the house special, "Hobglobin, their ruby red brew." They also had the "Goliath," which was a beer to stay the mighty thirst, "Wynchcraft," the blonde beer, and of course, Hobglobin dark and English Ale. They all come in cool bottles with their own distinct label.



The description on the bottle stated "full bodied & well balanced, with chocolate toffee malt flavour, moderate bitterness and a distinctive fruity character & ruby red glow." I did not find it bitter or glowing, but it was good as you can see! My first drink was dedicated to Mike as he could not be with me, but I was thinking of him. Kompai.

As I took this picture(above), they were playing "Oh Mandy" by Barry Manlow on the radio, which was funny! Yes you are viewing this correctly. There is no one in the bar except me, but I was ok with that. And yes, mom & dad, I was drinking alone in the bar and it was 3:30pm, but I am not an alcoholic! Jeff and Kirsten would love this place and hopefully, if they come visit (hint, hint), I shall take them there and we can enjoy the beer. I only stayed for one drink, but I did finish it.



Off to catch a train, to meet Mike for dinner.

I have the bestest friends/Bad Sake

I woke up this morning to another great email from my friends and it just made my day. I start my day off with either tea or coffe, check email, facebook, maybe make some calls, and then decide what I am going to do for the day. But today, my day is even better because of the funny story I read that Kara told me. Last week, my friend Devon, also sent me an email, which made me laugh and made the rest of the day that much better. So thank you friends for thinking of me and all of you keep those funny emails coming.

On another note, I realized that I forgot to write about the lotus root and sake. Well, I didn't make the lotus root that night, but I did cut it up into pieces and saute it with olive oil. It made it into our salad yesterday evening and it was good. Here's a tip for sauting it: don't forget to stir because then it starts to carmelize and it is like breakfast potatoes! In a comment below, Libby stated lotus root is not good, but it really is. However, she is the only person I know that has spent waaaayyyy too much time in Asia than the States and probably has had lotus root in a variety of ways and based her opinion on that. Guess you all will have to try it to make your own decision. As for the green bottle of sake, NEVER buy that when you are here. It was AWFUL and really did look like potion when I poured it into my sake cup. It was a creamy color and looked/tasted like milk water (see below). Definitely not what sake is suppose to look or taste like. Needless to say, I will not be buying that bottle again or finishing it. Good thing it was only 500 yen and probably the reason for it looking/tasting so badly!

Saturday night

After the long day of Mike putting together that large piece of equipment and me avoiding our bedroom, we went out to dinner with some of the people he works with. We went to this nice Thai restaurant on the 13th floor of a building. The view was amazing and you could see all of Roppongi. Apparently, this Thai place use to be the old Playboy Club, but there were no signs of it anywhere. The gentlemen were eagerly waiting throughout dinner for ladies to magically appear. It did not happen and they were disappointed. However, I had a great time and enjoyed dinner. Pictued below is the spicy papaya salad that I could not finish because my mouth was on fire...Also there is a picture of the variety of mini desserts I had. Yay for dessert. There is ice cream with a red wine sauce, a mini chocolate cake, fried banana with coconut milk sauce, and sticky rice with fresh mango and coconut milk. The sticky rice and mango I was not going to get, but there was a great sign that said "Please have some sticky rice and fresh mango with coconut milk." How could I resist. It was all yummy in my tummy, MMMMM.

After dinner we went out to "The First Bar" and had some drinks. There is picture of Rob, a guy who works with Mike, and his gf, Yoko, who went with us.

And of course, we, well I, wanted to take a picture, so we did. However, we had to take like 5 pictures to get a good one because I looked drunk in every single one of them or my eyes were really slanted and almost closed. Trust me, I wasn't drunk, I only had 2 beers, so I think it was the flash! This is the best one out of the five, but we also caught the couple behind us dancing and doing all kinds of other things (insert own images). It was a fun night and I'm looking forward to many more.

Bowflex

Saturday was a productive day for me. In my efforts to help clean up the apartment after our stuff arrived, I decided to go ahead and put up the Bowflex. Here's what it looked like at the start.



We decided to put it in the bedroom, so I can wake up early and work out before going in to the office. Wasn't really sure how much room it would take up, but one hour into it, it didn't look so bad.



5 hours, 2 arguments and 7 episodes of "Scrubs" later it was completed. It's on "Amanda's side" of the bedroom, and takes up a bit more space than I thought. She'll thank me in a few months once I have my rock hard abs. Until then she just needs to practice her dodging skills.



My workout plan begins tomorrow, with the goal of a less round body by the time our honeymoon hits in late April. I would post the Before Picture here, but our viewers seem to be mostly women, and I wouldn't want them to get jealous.

Busy day

Today was a good day. I had an interview regarding Japanese lessons. I never realized you had to be interviewed before starting lessons, but with this company you do. Don't really think they would tell me I failed and can't take lessons from them especially since Mike is taking lessons from them and well, that just wouldn't be nice. I apparently passed and am scheduled to start my lessons next week. Every Wednesday and Friday from 10-12, I will be learning Japanese. The lesson coordinator, who will not be my instructor, already told me that my teacher will be mainly speaking Japanese so that I can learn. I was like wait a minute, what if I don't understand and she clarified at first speaking English is ok, but will not happen all the time. I am kind of scared (not really). She did leave me some books, "First steps in Japanese" and "situational expressions for survival" I will be speaking Japanese in no time.
I also went to the Minato-ku City Hall to apply for my alien registration card. There was hardly anyone there, maybe b/c it was Friday afternoon at 4:30pm. Anyway, the process was simple and I can pick up my official card in 2 weeks. They gave me an important papaer and a time frame as to when I should return. Look for a goofy picture of me when I become official.

Now to the picture above. I figure while in Japan I should learn about sake because that is what they drink along with beer. Today I bought my first sake bottle, pictured above. I liked the green bottle and when you invert back and forth, the sake looks like potion, or what I think potion looks like!!! Not really sure if it tastes good or not, but I am going to find out. Since sake is served cold and warm and since I can't read the bottle to tell me which way I should have it, I will try it both ways. Wish me luck.
In my adventurous state, I will be cooking lotus root or "renkon (in Japanese)" tonight, pictured below. What is lotus root, you may be asking and is what I asked when Mike said he likes it. Lotus root is the rhizome of the lotus plant. Apparently it is full of fiber, vitamins, and nutrients. Think of it as similar to a potato, with starchy qualities. I like it because it has holes in it and looks cool. There are various ways to cook it and the most popular I have found through my google search is boiling it in hot vinegar water. I will not be doing that today. I will be sauting it in some oil olive with garlic because yeah. Apparently, the way you cook lotus root also changes its texture from crunchy to sticky to starchy. I'll let you know which one we have.
Now time for some sake and the start of the weekend. Sayonara

Arrival of our Air Shipment

Today our shipment of Houston is scheduled for delivery at 9am. The Japanese are very prompt here, so naturally they showed up a few minutes early. My goal is to understand what they are telling me, so let's see how that goes. In anticipation of the arrival of all my stuff, I woke up early to be prepared for the long day of unpacking. However, today is actually a nice day in Japan with the sun shining and no wind. So of course I would be stuck inside doing things. Maybe the weather and I will sync up soon.





I can hear the truck outside, making loud noises. Let's hope nothing is broken, but if it is, good ole Exxon is paying for the replacements, so I don't feel so bad!



Well all the stuff is inside and out of boxes. nothing is broken, so that is good thing. However, I did manage to bring too much stuff with me. I refuse to say that Mike (insert 2 words Mike likes to hear) __ ___ about bringing so much stuff, so I'll let you say it!

At the end of the day, here is the score

Japanese language - 2

Amanda - 1

Delivery man - 1
Here are the boxes of our stuff. Some of the boxes you can't even see. YIKES

Arrival in Japan

Mike and I arrived in Japan on Wednesday after a very long flight, where I proceeded to get feel worse than when we left. Mike went back to work on Thursday and I spent the next 3 days in bed trying to get rid of this cold. I did manage to get out of bed to shower and then moved to the couch! We haven't done much since we got here, but we do have some time to venture out. This week, we are waiting the arrival of our shipment from Houston, assuming nothing is broken and it will clear customs.