Genius-Crazy

Here are some pictures I took:
I don’t have much control over the order they post…so I will describe them and you can figure it out! Fun!
First is an awesome bar/restaurant we went to for our weekend celebration. Awesome place, every table has a little tablet computer for ordering, and everything on the menu 270 yen, or about 3 dollars. You put your order in the computer (in English!) and they bring it out in about 2 minutes. We ordered some fatty salmon, pizza, French fries, different bowls of fried rice with toppings (always with a raw egg on top that you stir in, delicious), cabbage salads, little omelets with roe on top, and fried manta ray wing….I kid you not, I saw it on the menu and had to try it. It was pretty awful…taste kind of like turkey but with the consistency of a leathery shoe. I will never order it again. Everybody shares, everything is 270 yen. Perfect.
We met some nice dudes there and talked for a few hours.
We went to an English style pub after and watched the soccer game. I finally drank a Guinness…it had been a long time, 900 yen for a pint was well worth it. I ended up sitting with 2 other Jewish dudes, one from south Africa and one that is in my training group from London, never did I think I would meet so many Jews in Japan. We must all think alike about this country….
After the night of partying, I was craving some greasy American style breakfast, we found a place called Johnathan’s (think Japanese Denny’s) and I ordered me some pancakes. I was craving biscuits and gravy…alas, pancakes and a club sandwich sufficed. I tried to order some eggs over easy…utterly impossible in this country.
My first cup of black coffee since I’ve been here…oh how I’ve missed you, black coffee.

The rest of the pictures are just parts of Omiya nearby to the train station. Beautiful tree lined walk ways in the middle of the bustling streets are common here, quite a nice idea.

The gentleman leaning on the railing is my awesome room mate, using what we call the internet café. (Sorry for stealing your wifi if you are reading this.) Yes, I have to lug my computer out to an alley to post to this blog. Its always a gamble whether the battery on my computer will last long enough to upload the photos.

The photo of the dog might not seem very interesting (that dog is very cute though), but look at the contraption on the back of the moped…a lot them have that same device here. It’s this swinging basket thing with shock absorbers, basically like a truck bed for your motorbike. Genius and crazy at the same time. Kind of the impression I get from this country as a whole. I love it.

5 days of training left, starting tomorrow.

Well, off to the internet café to post this…