Susan, Cake, and ESPN2

Me and Susan at her hotel

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Some of the Sweets at the Cake Shop

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Some of us outside the shop

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Me playing pool

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Bowling screen, I am the one in the middle

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Pie!

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone! I hope you all ate a lot of turkey!

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Well, last week was busy busy busy for me in Japan!

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An Alaskan family friend came to Japan for a conference and I was able to hang out with her on Friday! We had a tough time finding a good meeting time and played a lot of phone tag, but it all worked out in the end! I met her at her conference center in Odaiba and from there we made our way to Asasuka to meet the rest of her group. It was funny because you could tottally tell they were all Alaskan just but the way they all dressed! First of all, they were sweltering hot on a day that was kind of cold for most Japanese people. They also all had little hiking day packs that you dont usually see here (most people use shoulder bags). It was nice to see them all!

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It was also cool because Susan was able to bring stuff from america that I cannot get here....like a whole box of fruit leather from my Dad! Delicious.....

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I was only able to see Susan that one day because they were all moving on to Kyoto, but it was a really fun day!

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The next day I went to a Cake Tabehodai with some Oregon kids and some Japanese students. (Tabehodai=all you can eat!) The shop we went to in Shibuya was packed and we had to wait about an hour to get in, but it was worth it. For about 15 dollars, you could eat as much cake and snacks you wanted for 90 minutes. This may sound expensive, but it is very cheap, considering it was the only meal I required the whole day and I at way more than 15 dollars worth. It was very fun! The shops theme was really funky and modern as well, which made it extra fun!

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After cake, a few of us went to this entertainment center by our school and played pool and went bowling. Pool was a pretty good deal (9 bucks for 2 hours) but bowling was a bit expensive (9 bucks for one game!) But we had a good time!

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The next day I tried to make a Grandma Apple pie for my host family. I had a couple of problems, however....First of all, the container I had to cook the pie in was metal, and I usually use a glass one. This made me not sure what temperature to cook it at....not that I could really understand the temperature, since everything was in celcius! Also, the "oven" we have in our house is not an ordinary oven....maybe a glorified easy bake oven. (and also a microwave!) So, the heat comes from the top of the oven and not the bottom....causing the top part to be way more cooked than the bottom part!

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All in all it was OK....My host mom seemed pretty excited about it, and even taped the whole pie making process! Tsuki-chan and the little girl next door helped out a bit, but they mostly just ate apples as I peeled them. They really enjoyed the little biscuit snacks you make with the extra dough.

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On Monday after class, I hung out with Asuka a bit, which was really fun! We ate at a cafe, and them did Karaoke! It was a blast, I just wish I could sing a bit better! We are going to hang out again tomorrow as well, which should be fun!!!!

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Yesterday, I went as finally saw Resident Evil 3! For those of you who dont know, it is basically a zombie movie, and I love zombies! Overall I thought it was good! Movie theatres here are so serious though! When you buy your ticket, you can choose you seats! Also, they had little pampering areas like a "powder room" and a posh little cafe. very strange! Today I go out with my group for thanksgiving dinner at an American Restaurant called "The Pink Cow." I am super excited, for I really crave good old american food!!!!