Well, it's official, I'm old :) I had a fab weekend with friends to celebrate. On Friday, Nicole, a new but quickly becoming good friend came up to stay with me. I made fajitas while she was driving up and we had some amazing chocolate brownie ice cream for dessert! We watched movies and some episodes of Grey's Anatomy before I talked to some people from home! I got more than one midnight phone call on the eve of my birthday!
The next morning we slept in, and then proceeded to make breakfast omelets with peppers, onions, ham and cheese, croissants and "fruits" granola. I got made fun of more than once this weekend for my new Japan-ism, calling things fruits mix and fruits granola instead of fruit mix and fruit granola. I didn't even realize it wasn't English until people started mocking me! Gonna be a long road back to good vocabulary in July!!
After a leisurely morning and early afternoon, Nicole and I went shopping in Fujinomiya, which really only has a few good stores! We hit up the Uniqlo, which we had an interesting conversation about a few weeks ago during our hike. Uniqlo is short for unique clothes which in turn is interesting because it's a store of basics. Basically everything is solid colors and very few frills. Then we got to talking about how in Japan, that actually is a bit unique because everyone wears such crazy things sometimes! Nicole used to work in retail, so she was my personal shopping assistant! I ended up buying a new outfit for the evening and a few other goodies for the near future (including one work shirt, so I'm justifying the trip)!
Nicole, Me, Kari, and Dion
A few of us headed for the Indian restaurant in Fuji called Namaskar. It's sort of an ALT local favorite. The restaurant is really small, so I was nervous we weren't going to be able to get in (there are no reservations), but it was wide open when we arrived around 7pm!
Above is some of the food you can get there, though the pic is actually from Wednesday when I went out with two girls from my adult conversation class! The bread cut like a pizza is cheese naan, my fave! Many people get the sets when they go there so they can try two different kinds of curry, but I usually just go for one big bowl of curry and my usual cheese naan (sorry, I've realized this has turned into a food entry!)
The other side of the table:
On Sunday, I spent all day at the onsen with a few friends and even got a massage! It was a fabulous and relaxing way to end the weekend. I tried to not get too hung up on the fact that I turned 25 despite the comments that I'm halfway to 50! I was a little stressed in general recently about the milestone, but I think that was mostly stress in making the official decision to leave Japan and ultimately probably return home for awhile. Those kind of life decisions at the same time as turning 25, and well, you get an emotional wreck! But by the time my birthday rolled around, I realized it really isn't such a big deal. I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the last 5 years and will continue my daily effort to move my life in a positive direction.
I sometimes get caught up in the fact that I'm on a different track than most all of my high school and college friends, as most of them are married and/or have children and in fleeting moments I want what they have too. But as the grass is always greener on the other side, I'm sure they all have a moment here or there in the opposite direction as well that they had taken time to travel and explore the world while they were young. I guess we all want it all, and it just doesn't work that way! So in the meantime, I'm gonna pose as a young, single and successful woman until I actually figure life out!
The next morning we slept in, and then proceeded to make breakfast omelets with peppers, onions, ham and cheese, croissants and "fruits" granola. I got made fun of more than once this weekend for my new Japan-ism, calling things fruits mix and fruits granola instead of fruit mix and fruit granola. I didn't even realize it wasn't English until people started mocking me! Gonna be a long road back to good vocabulary in July!!
After a leisurely morning and early afternoon, Nicole and I went shopping in Fujinomiya, which really only has a few good stores! We hit up the Uniqlo, which we had an interesting conversation about a few weeks ago during our hike. Uniqlo is short for unique clothes which in turn is interesting because it's a store of basics. Basically everything is solid colors and very few frills. Then we got to talking about how in Japan, that actually is a bit unique because everyone wears such crazy things sometimes! Nicole used to work in retail, so she was my personal shopping assistant! I ended up buying a new outfit for the evening and a few other goodies for the near future (including one work shirt, so I'm justifying the trip)!Nicole, Me, Kari, and DionA few of us headed for the Indian restaurant in Fuji called Namaskar. It's sort of an ALT local favorite. The restaurant is really small, so I was nervous we weren't going to be able to get in (there are no reservations), but it was wide open when we arrived around 7pm!
Above is some of the food you can get there, though the pic is actually from Wednesday when I went out with two girls from my adult conversation class! The bread cut like a pizza is cheese naan, my fave! Many people get the sets when they go there so they can try two different kinds of curry, but I usually just go for one big bowl of curry and my usual cheese naan (sorry, I've realized this has turned into a food entry!)The other side of the table:John, Kory, Kelly, Amanda
After dinner we meant to go take purikura (the photo sticker booth things), but for some reason the arcade was closed, so I had to pose in my kitchen later (below)!! After discovering the arcade was closed, we went to a few of the bars around the station. We're starting to discover some new nice places and it's kind of exciting!
On Sunday, I spent all day at the onsen with a few friends and even got a massage! It was a fabulous and relaxing way to end the weekend. I tried to not get too hung up on the fact that I turned 25 despite the comments that I'm halfway to 50! I was a little stressed in general recently about the milestone, but I think that was mostly stress in making the official decision to leave Japan and ultimately probably return home for awhile. Those kind of life decisions at the same time as turning 25, and well, you get an emotional wreck! But by the time my birthday rolled around, I realized it really isn't such a big deal. I feel like I've accomplished a lot in the last 5 years and will continue my daily effort to move my life in a positive direction.
I sometimes get caught up in the fact that I'm on a different track than most all of my high school and college friends, as most of them are married and/or have children and in fleeting moments I want what they have too. But as the grass is always greener on the other side, I'm sure they all have a moment here or there in the opposite direction as well that they had taken time to travel and explore the world while they were young. I guess we all want it all, and it just doesn't work that way! So in the meantime, I'm gonna pose as a young, single and successful woman until I actually figure life out!
2 comments:
Love your bday outfit!!! My little butterfly has wings of her own... she doesn't need me :(
Trust me, still need help! And will need it when I come back to Americaland!
Post a Comment