Udon and Fun!

The past few weekends have been semi-busy. The end of June, Michael went on a business trip to Germany and Italy. Although it sounds like fun, he actually had a pretty hectic schedule. I am sure he had some time for fun. The weekend of July 4th, we went to an udon making class in Gunma Prefecture. We went with a bunch of Japanese teachers and their families and Katie joined in on the fun because she loves udon. The udon making process was not too difficult, but it took time. We mixed the dough and then stepped on the dough a few times before rolling out the udon. Udon retracts very quickly when you roll it out, so it took a lot of effort and strength. We enjoyed lunch with the udon we made in the morning and it reminded us of how worth it is was. We had the udon cold, which was perfect for a warm, sunny day. That same day in the evening, we went to Oyama with some of Michael’s co-workers and attended a free Fuji climbing seminar by Mont Bell (kind of like North Face, Columbia). There was a store worker that went over the necessities for climbing Mount Fuji and tips. Michael is planning to climb in August and I am still deciding, it’s 3,776 meters high (12,388 feet). This past weekend, Amy had a going away nomikai. We began at her favorite yakiniku restaurant and then headed off to karaoke. This was the first time I went to karaoke in Japan and it was a blast. Of course, I did not sing. Saturday night, we went out with some of the other OAPs to welcome a new OAP, Garrett. We went to dinner at Universal Dining, then Iceman’s, then Birdland. Sorry, I’ve been lazy about updating pics! =(