turkey hunting!

happy thanksgiving 2006! i hope everyone stuffed themselves last week, and ate your share of turkey for me too!! i'm glad i got to talk to most of the family (sue, jess, lauri, rains...funny enough i didn't get to talk to my own sister because she was busy getting lost in hawaii kai) haha!

thanksgiving day was coincidentally a national holiday in japan too...my students tried to explain that it was like give thanks to your elders/thanks for your hard work day...i'm still not sure but i guess it's like how we have labor day. i spent the entire day doing absolutely nothing. i went running early in the morning along the river and then it was too cold to do anything else so i stayed home. that night chris and i were going to head to KFC for some chicken and mashed potatoes but it was an hour bike ride away so we decided that denny's would be fine.



denny's was actually awesome...i was so full! i want to go back already hehe.

oh yeah! i almost forgot...last week monday i took a cooking class that was put on by iwaki's international association (aka the IIA) The IIA is where i go for my japanese lessons every tuesday... My tutor told me to take the class with her, and guess what, I was on Fukushima news that night...they were filming and interviewing during the class. We made age-dashi tofu, clam miso soup, chicken and mushroom oyakodon buri, and spicy konyaku. it was so good! but don't ask me to make it again hahaha.


don't i look so domesticated!!?





looks good ah?

on sunday i went into tokyo again to margarets for thanksgiving dinner! i met michelle first in saitama and then it was off to rendezvous in shin-matsudo around 5:30pm...there was no turkey but eric made smoked chicken it was good!


we had chili, chicken, salad, fried rice, sweet potatoes, mashed potatoes, pumpkin soup, shoyu-sugar pumpkin, and lots of wine!






there were like 20 people there...i love this picture because there's so much going on...tons of fun, random conversations.


2 liter can of asahi...crazy business.

yum...cakes!

that good eh?

thanks margaret for an awesome time! ok so michelle and I thought we were being smart by trying to catch the last train back to omiya, saitama to sleep at her apartment...but when we were switching trains at akabane we made the mistake of following the running crowd. we did get on the right line, but we ended up going in the opposite direction and got stranded in ikebukuro. the next train wasn't until 4:30am and it was only 1 am or so. it was pouring rain, so it wasn't like we could just walk around. we found this restaurant, and we both were so full from dinner but we decided to just order anything so that we could sit inside.


this guy was hilarious...i've never seen anyone THIS tired before...he was sprawled out on the bench, kicking the guy next to him, his bag is just hanging from his back, it was CRAZY...otsukaresamadeshita man!



we got back to michelle's apartment at like 6 in the morning and we both totally crashed! we didn't get up until 1pm that day and we just went shopping around her train station. there were soo many department stores! most places are super expensive.


xmas lights!


our usual stop at starbucks! here i am waiting for michelle...she bought a mug for herself and i guess somehow she said yes she wanted it gift wrapped so they went all out and made it pretty! but it took so long and she felt bad but i thought it was hilarious.



even though it was a very short trip it was well worth it to see everyone again! hopefully we'll be together again for new years...meiji shrine?? maybe...this one guy aaron lives in nagano so we might TRY to go snowboarding..we'll see. no plans this weekend i have to clean and decorate my apartment with xmas stuff! aubri, megan, and masa will be here in 3 weeks!! holy moly! happy holidays! i wish everyone could come visit :)

love everyone and i'm so thankful for all my friends and family...i am nothing without your support!
-andie