Ecstastic!

It has been an incredibly fun day!!
For the last two nights I've managed to get a MINIMUM of 9 hours (the night before last I slept for 11 actually!) because I'm not getting much sleep during the week, haha! So I decided to go into the city by myself today to do some poking around! (Keep in mind that figuring out the buses took a little bit of ingenuity on my part as nothing is in Romanji [our alphabet] and the city isn't laid out in simple "block" pattern, but rather a bunch of swaying, intersecting streets!) So I get into the city and track down the Duty Free shop where the employees speak Japanese, Portuguese, Spanish, and English! Good times!! I made buddies with the woman working (who was Japanese but insisted that her Japanese wasn't very good, LOL!) and bought a few souvenirs for my dear ones!

So I decide to wander around the malls and stumble across Tiffany & Co., Louis Vuitton (sp?), and Burberry (HEAVEN!!)! Knowing I couldn't possibly afford anything, and really don't want or need anything, I still decide to kill time browsing. I found out this way that Burberry scarfs (as in kerchiefs) are only $15 each and come in a huge variety! I was very good and didn't buy a single thing for myself but I'm thinking that would be a nice, cheap, easily portable treat when my first paycheck comes in at the end of this month! I mean, $15 for Burberry anything is pretty fabulous!

I was trying to search for Christmas gifts but came up with zilch because everything here is WESTERNIZED! I even went to the Disney Store and Toys R'US today, LOL! I almost went to McD's but then saw a Denny's and thought "OMG! I WANT BREAKFAST FOR DINNER!!" Yes, it's the chain of Denny's that we know and love in the U.S., but here's what they don't tell you: the only breakfast item is two pieces of french toast; no bacon or sausage or eggs! Everything else was Japanese except for a BLT which I tried and actually LOVED because they put parmesan cheese on it! (Mom, this is a tip I recommend! It was SO YUMMY!!)

I was approached by a Brazilian who wanted me to come to his church on Sundays, but the service was in Portuguese. I explained that I actually lived in Ichino and it was about a 30 minute bus ride from my house and he acted like "soooo???" so I just kind of said 'thank you anyways!' and moved on. It felt like I was back home again at that moment!

I even had a cute moment on the street passing another Gaijin (foreigner) who smiled and bowed a little when he saw me. That tells me that he wasn't Brazilian, but probably American or English. It was a really cute thing!

So I come home and meander through our mall while I wait for Ai to get out of work. We have plans to go to the karaoke across the street from our house. She's had a great night at work and so we're both in happy-go-lucky moods! After three hours of karaoke (which is HELLA-CHEAP and includes a free drink [possibly unlimited... I'm not sure because I only needed one melon slushie at that moment, LOL]) I found out that we also had access to the massage chairs for FREE (included in the karaoke price!)!

Now, you're probably thinking that no massage chair could be strong enough to do any good, right?? WRONG! This shiatsu chair had several settings and was SO POWERFUL! It worked my shoulders, back, arms, legs, ankles, and neck in a flash and I was in HEAVEN! We only had a few minutes left before our time was up so tomorrow night I've begged Ai to come back with me (and she said yes!!)! Sooo... TOMORROW I'M GETTING A MASSAGE!!!! And it will only be $6.00 for one hour! (A huge difference from the $75 per hour you'd pay a masseuse!) This is going to be MAGICAL! I can't wait to go to work just so I can go here afterwards!!

And the BEST part?? It's open 24 hours a day and has comics, pool, darts, private karaoke rooms, massage chairs, INSANE chairs for kicking back and using the internet (Drew would be in HEAVEN!) and SO MUCH MORE!! Anyone who comes to visit, be prepared to spend a good deal of time there, LOL!

I'll try to post pictures of everything next time I go there!
Oh, and the playlist for English karaoke songs was an entire BOOK and had some REALLY obscure stuff which I LOVED!!! It was a very good day!

I hope everyone else's day is going just as well!!
LOVE YOU!! MISS YOU!!!