My busy week of eating

The best way to say farewell in Japan is over a meal, so I had many lunches and dinners with friends and co-workers this week. 

(I am still full from all of the eating and drinking!)

KG with some young ladies from the office. 

We ordered a "pizza lunch" in rather than going out to a restaurant.  Pizza on left is Margherita.  I'm not sure what the middle was, but it included a lot of olives.  Pizza on the right had giant chunks of eggplant!

Small dinner with the Credit Dept. 

They hosted 4 "training sessions" for me throughout the year and were glad to have an excuse to practice their English!

Dinner with Ema and her friends, Takeshi and Kishi. 

We have taken a lot of road trips together throughout my 12 months in Japan!!

The meal was Korean yaki-niki, where you cook the meat on the sunken grill in the middle of the table.  I find that Japanese people really like "working" for their food!

One of my lunch buddies in front of my favorite kara age (fried chicken) places!

Another one of my favorite lunch places: tantanmen, which is spicy ramen soup.

I am very messy, so I need a bib for this meal.  But eating noodles with chopsticks is quite an accomplishment!!

KG and the owner of the restaurant.  He will miss seeing me each week!

Dinner with some ladies from work. 

I am eating a chicken wing stuffed with gyoza (wonton) and she has fish tempura.

I love anything on a stick!!

Our waitress is loading up the "chanko nabe", which is a giant pot of boiling soup, and traditional food for sumo wrestlers!!

We are waiting for our chanko nabe to cook.  That thing sure kicked off some heat!!

The group next to the sumo pictures. 

Sumo wrestlers hand prints.

I will miss my weekend travel buddies and lunch buddies from work!

I went to a Belgian bar where the type of beer you order dictates which glass you use. 

Instead, we decided to choose our glass from the wall (and ceiling--there were hundreds of choices), and take our chances with what beer came with it!

The beer glass, bottle, and special coaster.

Dinner of green salad and European cheese. 

(Yuck--give me American, cheddar, or colby cheese any day!)

My beer came in a wine glass. 

Can you believe that entire bottle fits in the glass in one pour?!  Talk about an optical illusion...

The bartender heard me mention that my favorite American singer was Michael Jackson,

so he had to show me his "version" of Michael Jackson...

He had a Beer of Belgium book written by a Michael Jackson. 

But based on the picture, we are definitely not talking about the same guy!!

KG and Nobue enjoy their Belgium beers. 

(She the one who owns the kimono shop, hence she's wearing a kimono!)

Notice Nobue's glass is rounded at the bottom and has no stem!

It sits on a wooden slab instead of a paper coaster!!

Beer Party

Kerri's ready to hit the town in her Japanese evening wear... 

If anyone had told me I would start wearing leggings when I turned 30, I'd never have believed them!

(These ones are so sexy they are even laced-trimmed!)

I was invited by a co-worker (Okada) to a Beer Party with her class from English school.  She probably gets bonus points if she finds a native English speaker in Nagoya, so I didn't want to disappoint her. 

I was sure her classmates would be eager to practice their new vocab on me, but at least there would be beer flowing so I could possibly find humor in answering the same 6 or 7 questions over and over again. 

Here's the script:

1. How long have you been in Japan?
2. When do you leave Japan?
3. Where are you from? ... Cue the next question ... 3.5 As in Kentucky Fried Chicken?
4. How do you like Nagoya?
5. What's your favorite Japanese food?
6. Are you a strong drinker?  (aka: Can you handle more than 1 beer per night?)
7. Do you like going to the movies?  (So do I!!  We have something in common!!)

It's not all torture, though.  I do enjoy myself at these crazy events.

View of the Nagoya Station towers from our 14th floor rooftop bar next door.

One of the classmates.  I asked him what his t-shirt meant, and he said he had no idea!  He said he bought it and wears it just because it's in English.  I told him it didn't make a lot of sense, so I wanted a picture of it so I could make fun of it later.  He just laughed, and I think everyone was a little jealous I wasn't going to make fun of them later, too.

Kerri, Okada, and the group of rowdy English classmates.  The other oddball on the right is from New Zealand and is a teacher at the school. 

Apparently, the only thing better than actually talking with a native English-speaker is listening to a normal conversation between 2 native English-speakers!!  They brought him over, introduced us, and then listened in rapt attention...  LOL