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Thursday, January 11, 2007
I just got back from Japan and Hawaii - and it’s SO HARD to be at work!
The last time i posted, i was in Yokkaichi and was heading to Daryl and Yuko’s place in Tokyo. It was so nice to see them! Their apartment is so CUTE! And they’re a really cute couple too. 
They’re such great hosts. I got to see my cousin Tsutomu and his family too. Their three kids are SO CUTE! I wish that i could live closer and get to know them, but distance and language are pretty big barriers. 
I even got to see the Numatas in Yokohama. They’re my *other* family that adopted me while i was out there for my student missionary tour of duty. Numata-san fed us SO MUCH! Round after round of entres, fruit, dessert, etc. She is such a good cook! We all caught up and talked endlessly. But seriously, my entire trip can be summed up in, “We ate a LOT.”
In fact, one thing that i absolutely HAD to do was go to this ramen shop called Nantsutte (or something like that). I saw it on this show called “Dotchi Cooking Show” where these 3 ramen chefs competed for the title of Best Ramen Cook Ever (well that’s *my* translation). They showed every aspect of making the noodles. It looked SOOOOO GOOOOD! So we made a stop in Kawasaki to eat yummy noodles. I even took a video of me eating these noodles. Am i a nut? Oh well, i’ll own that.
After having a chill and relaxing weekend, it was off to the airport again. I was going to meet my mom at Narita airport, but then she called me with bad news. Her flight from Nagoya to Narita Airport was cancelled due to a blizzard that was passing through. I felt so bad for her. She had to find her own transportation dragging my huge piece of luggage in addition to her own! She went from bus to train to bullet train to bus to airport. But we finally made it to the airport! We even got to see Mustumi, who came to meet us there just to say hi and bye as we took off for Hawaii. Phew!
Hawaii was BEAUTIFUL! Be sure that pics will follow. It was such a nice but strange transition to go from layers and layers of clothing to jumping into a swim suit to go swimming! 80+ degree and sitting on the beach: you can’t get much better than that. FINALLY! I get to go to the beach in Hawaii! For those of you who don’t know my rant, I went to Hawaii when i was 16 but was not allowed to go anywhere by myself and my parents aren’t beach people. So i never touched the beach the entire week that i was there. Boooo. I made up for it this time by spending the entire first day on the sand and in the water.
There i realized that to everyone else, i just look like a Japanese tourist. Maybe it was the gigantic camera at my hip. Maybe it’s because i was fresh off the plane from Japan. Hmmm...For whatever reason, I was offered menus in Japanese, picked up on by random icky guys who are used to preying upon helpless foreigners, and approached by old Japanese women making small talk in Japanese. Fascinating.
After two days, we headed back home again. We were greeted at LAX by...commuter traffic. 
So now i’m back at work again, trying to get over jetlag and get back in the swing of things. It’s hard to adjust, but I’m so happy to have been out for a bit!