you can eat raw food?

so..

--- last week---

3 ppl from the National University of Taiwan came over to help us out with the computer sci side of the lab. Two of them are married PhDs Juan san and I-can't-remember-i-think-it's-Yuki san - and they brought along their kid Momo kun (10 yr old w/ way too much energy, very funny). The other one is a grad student doing his masters in bioinformatics - very smart guy (26). The couple speaks english very well, but the grad student has a little trouble (still pretty good english) - but only Yukisan can speak japanese as well (sharp woman)

we went with them to that same sushi bar I love so much... had lots o raw food, but because we had a 10yr old.. we got a lot of tempura!!! (it's a hit w/ the younger generations) hah!! we even had fried chicken!!! it was so funny to me.. me, eat fried chicken in japan... when it's like staple food in the south.. lol.. so i took a picture.. and it tasted WAY the hell better than any fried chicken i've ever had.

and Oguchi san and I tasted two different types of sake - one w/potato and one w/ a different part of the rice... and damn... we got buzzed as all hell.. somehow we got onto the subject of wehther or not the grad guy from taiwan (he goes by Chaos *shrug*) Chaos had a gf... and that he should take hints from the married guy... and that how long has he been alone (this is a PhD from the Comp Sci department) and whether or not he came to japan to find a gf... and then whether or not he'd like to take one of us (pointing at oguchisan and i) and we laughed sooo hard that even the little kid got the joke and started laughing and pounding his fists on the table LOL!!!

the one weird thing i didn't have the last time i was there were these like whole crawfish-look-a-likes... and you were supposed to eat them whole!!! like eyes and tail and legs and aaagh!!!...... so like any good linet... of course i ate it.. and it was GREAT!!! it wasn't gross at all b/c somehow they were like dried or something so it was all crunchy and easy to crunch too! i likem!!

----this last friday----

other than getting asked for the nth time... "you ok with raw food?" and then a repeat b/c they never believe my "hai!" ... I met this great guy Yuichi when I went out with my friend Akira (also great guy) for food.

They are both really funny, and fortunately enough, find me "omoshiroi" aka amusing/funny/interesting.. lol we went to a burger joint.. which they don't say "hamburger" it's pronounced "hamburg" ...

and it's called Big Boy - and it's a family restaurant - which doesn't mean what it does in the US - this means "chain restaurant"

oh and if you order a hamburger... you only get the patty.... which IS the hamburger... and it's great!!! although i kinda missed the ketchup... oh and the salad bar is AWESOME.. i love having more than 4 vegetables to choose from :)


I think Akira was trying to thank me for offering and starting to revise his manuscript - aka article for science mag- which was in english. His english is really good, but the problem is all that hard stuff that you just learn from having read so many books/listened to english most your life/ writing etc.... so his paper is gonna kick ass once we're done with it... It's great, cuz even though I'm not the best most amazingest writer, I'm pretty good, above average even - but every correction/insight i make i get "sugoi!!!**scribble scribble what i just said**" (great!!!) lol.. so i feel so smart :D


--- on saturday----
I went to osaka with Yukosan. Yuko is my aunt's best friend from when they met in the US some 15 years ago or so. Yuko was awesome.. she was really a very funny guide, because she was so worried about taking me to the right places, etc... i was just enjoying gawking at everything... We visited Osaka Castle - a must see if you're ever in the area, and Namba - just sheer craziness of population and shop density and tall buildings and crazy signs and omg!!! just so overwhelming!!!! And we went to the Electronic City... ipods were 30% off!!!! but they ran out!!! aRGH!.. and there were... well shops for anything electronic you could even dream of.. and parts for all that stuff too... lots o fun.. i just wish i weren't trying to restrict my buying so that I don't run out of sightseeing money.. or well... food money either..

Oh and sabrina.. i had octopus again (ina cool little ball of dough!!)

it was really great, but she kept on insisting to pay for everything, which by the time it was dinner time i felt really bad even though I had politely refused each time... and so when i really tried to fight her for the dinner tab she stated the undisputable " this is my country, whenever I go to your country..." .... awww.. she is such a sweetie.. :)

also, when we said goodbye and i was on the train.. she took this bag that totally popped out of nowhere and said it had presents for me!!!! i got a japanese food cookbook, origami book, and that curtain/door type thing with very pretty sea/taifun/mountain picture on it - yeah that lady.. man i don't know what to do with all this generosity that so many of my japanese friends seem to have.. wth can i give them back??? ... i guess i should update those pictures eh?? hehe

---yesterday--
walked all the way to the nearest station........ killer uphill deal... but good work out.. and went to the japanese classes' japanese cooking day!!! it was awesome to say the least

I learned to make soba noodles...... very hard actually.. kind of easy to screw up.... but they tasted pretty good.. i'm about to go reheat some of them and put tomato sauce w/ mushrooms as if they were reg spaghettis.. we'll see how that goes.

on the way back i went to the nearest food store (still most of the wayup the hill) and learned the hard way that when they post prices for bananas.. it's not like in the US.. you buy the whole damn bunch or "set-o" as they say (i have klike 8 bananas in the fridge..... :( ) ... yay???


i was so exhausted when i got home from walking so far and eating so much .. that i collapsed for like 4 hours.. and then just stayed up for the game.....
... i saw the first two goals.. passed out through the rest... and awoke to the nasty result.... sigh..
oh well, but italy hasn't won in a while... which i guess it's alright in my book.. except i don't appreciate expulsion of Zizou... he's like the shit man... that's a bad way to go.. :(

--- later today---

I GOT A YUKATA!!! whoooo!!! Tomokosan's mom sent me one of her yukata's that she doesn't wear anymore... (in pristine condition) it's a gorgeous dark blue with trippy butterfly outlines everywhere.. soooo pretty... i'm sure it costs like $300 at bargain price.. (cheap ugly ones are like $100). AND tomokosan gave me the shoes that go with it as a present...!!!! (soooo wearing these to school, and buying myself another pair to match other colors) AND she's lending me her expensive yukata (hand dyed and hand painted)... i have no idea how much that costs, but if mine wasn't mentioned as expensive.. i can only imagine $600 as a low price..

yeah.. that is sooo the shit!!

and i joined the singing club... lol the advertisement said that they sing in Russian, German, Japanese and Italy ... lol.. i love english mistakes... It was kind of fun.. although I suck at sight reading like a mofo.. i really love to ... just... sing!!! (stop that stop that!!) Seriously, it's been 4 years since i've been in anything like a choir, and when I was in one.. i only learned sight-reading for like one year really...

AND i went down to the gym to exercise... for the first time I actually exercised downstairs.. and ON purpose... lol... I mean i have done some simple exercises in my room, but i've been too chicken to go downstairs... it's like the size of our living room in college station..... and i really didn't want ppl to stare.. or me to feel awkward trying my best to figure out what the odd symbols for instructions say... or how/when the hell am i supposed to "change into slippers" before steppinginto the thing... while at the same time .. errrrr.. yeah but i was brave.. not too brave tho.. i only did the walking/running thing.. b/c there were like 6 guys in the room all knowing what to do with the machines.. and i reallly didn't want to kill something by accident..

sigh.. ok lots o typing..

oh later this week i'll have to present my results!!! eeep!!! i've never had to do that be4, b/c i always work one-on-one w/Dr.Summer and everyone else's projects have nothing to do with mine... well we'll see..