old friends reunite...new adventures...appreciation...

Mari came to America in 1989 because of Honda. Her dad was sent to the states for 5 years and we became friends. After 5 years in America, her family moved back to Japan. It's been about 14 years since we last talked and through some crazy miracle we reconnected through facebook. Ah, yes, the power of facebook. I met up with Mari in Tokyo Tuesday and she was just as beautiful as I remembered. We had lunch by Tokyo station and caught up on the last 14 years. It's still mind boggling that this happened. What a small world! After lunch she recommended that we take a Skybus tour of Tokyo on a double decker bus. We drove around to more historic parts of Tokyo including the Imperial Palace. We stopped by Ginza and I definitely need to go do some shopping there. It's like the Beverly Hills of Japan. We spent half the day together as I wanted to be home to meet Michael for dinner. I am still amazed that this has happened. The rest of the week remained mellow. Wednesday, the most eventful part was getting our second cell phone. Oh my goodness, can the plans be more complicated! The round to the 30 second, not minute. We spent about 2 hours at Softbank (cell phone provider), but thankfully Eiko-san was there with us. I feel so bad that she has to go through all the chaos with us, yet she is unbelievably patient!!! Thursday, Dinorah, Heather, Eiko-san and I went to ABC Cooking Studio in Lala Square to take a cake roll baking class. It was so much fun. Eiko-san was our translator and miraculously we all ended up with a cake roll. I still don't know what I have put in it to create such delicious-ness, but I must find out. It was very fun and I am so thankful because Eiko-san wants to do a cooking series with me. We still need to work out the details, but I am overly excited. Have I told you how awesome my sensei is. I am so fortunate to have a good sensei before Japan and now in Japan. I do miss Mariana (Sensei in America) and wish she could visit Japan, we would have so much fun. Friday was again another mellow day, but we met up with the gang for some beer and chit-chat at Gastronomy. Michael and I ate prior, but I want to go back to try the food. It's like a small plates place, plus it's super close to our apartment. Saturday, we went to Hayashi-san's (Michael's old TE from America) house in Takanazawa. We chatted for hours and they were super nice. I never met his family in America, but they were wonderful. This was our first visit to a Japanese familys' home. They had a beautiful home. I had a really good time getting to know them better. Hopefully this will be the first of many meetings. Saturday, we also ventured to Fukudaya (FKD) shopping plaza. Michael and I have grown very fond of mall food courts. The food is delicious and cheap! Haha, it doesn't take much to amuse us. Sunday, Michael had his JLPT 4 test in Oyama, so that was basically the morning and in the afternoon we went to the Riggsby's to celebrate Joe's birthday. It was a surprise birthday and I think that he was definitely surprised. It was a good time chatting up with everyone.