My Weekend

Shoko and her family gave me an awesome weekend to remember! On Saturday, her mother, Koko, her oldest sister, Shizu, and her son, Azuri, took me to the Pacific Ocean. It was a beautiful day at the coast and we walked along the stone-filled beach for a little bit, collecting shells and sea stones before heading back. There was quite a bit of trash washed up on the sand and when I asked Shoko where it came from, she laughed and said, "I don't know - maybe China, maybe U.S.?" After leaving the beach we had lunch at a sushi shop where the food traveled around the table on a conveyer belt. We just picked off what we wanted or ordered by the item. Each type of plate was a different price and when we were the done, the waiter scanned the plates for the price and gave us the bill based on the number and type of plates we had. It was very interesting! We also had to take off our shoes before going to our table. I, of course, had forgotten to wear socks, so I ate in my bare feet! Just in case you're wondering, I had a California roll and tuna salad sushi which was very good! After lunch, we went to a beautiful rose garden that had roses growing and blooming from around the world. Shoko read to me the nameplates under each rose and this garden had roses from England, China, Italy, and the US just to name a few countries. I was amazed at how there were so few restrictions about where we could step and go to see and smell the roses. No chains for fences kept us (or Azuri) away from the flowers, yet everyone was respectful of the garden. It was very interesting to see. Later, we stopped for ice cream at a flower nursery.

When we got home, Shoko told me we were going to her sister's condo in a town next to Sendai so that we could sleep in and not need to get up so early on Sunday morning. I packed my carry-on bag and off we went. Shizu, Shoko, Azuri, and I traveled about 45 minutes to an hour and met up with Akiko after stopping at Moso Burger for dinner. No drive-throughs, but we ordered our burgers to go and waited in the restaurant while they made them. The french fries were just like American fries, but the burgers were different. You could add fish and other toppings to the meat, but you couldn't get mustard! I had mine with cheese, ketchup and lots of onions!

On Sunday, the sisters took me shopping at a couple of different malls in Sendai which was a lot of fun. I picked up some gifts and souvenirs and then we ate lunch at a pasta place in the mall. They served a family-style meal and we had Ceasar salad, lasagna, spaghetti with meat sauce, pizza, and dessert of ice cream, cake, and cheese cake - wow! After shopping and lunch, we met Shoko's parents and family friends at the Cirque du Soleil show in Sendai. The show was spectacular! I have never seen people bend in so many ways! This particular tour of the show has been in Sendai since May and won't leave until the end of July. It's also been in Tokyo and will travel to other cities in Japan before leaving.

As you can tell, I had an incredibly busy weekend and I was quite tired when we got back to Kakuda last night. I went to bed around 9:00 PM and slept until about 5:30 this morning. At least that part of my schedule hasn't changed!

I'll see the rest of the Sister City crew this morning before we split up and go to different school visits. I can't wait to hear what they did with their host families this weekend. More later!