One of the interesting holidays they have here in Japan is Golden Week, which is essentially spring break for adults. But since shutting down the world for an entire week is somewhat troublesome they split it into two half weeks. As my teaser suggests I went horseback riding this weekend, which was really fun. It was just lessons this time, next time we can take them out, I'm looking forward to it! Since I'm fortunate enough to be off tomorrow I decided to take a day of leave yesterday so I'd essentially have the whole week off and be able to hang with my girlfriend for a few days, 24 on 24 off schedules have their perks. Golden Week is a little bit more insane than usual too because EVERYONE is travelling, the trains where especially packed and all the hotels where booked full up. So we just stayed near base and hung out, which was nice after running all over the last few weekends.
Last saturday we kicked things off going to my base's rec area that's about an hour away via train/foot. I haven't gotten a car yet but likely will soon, there's no real good option for getting around and the base is large enough it's needed. For some reason we don't have a regular taxi service on base, which we typically do, so I will get a car the left hand driving thing is still really weird to me though lol. Anyway, the rec area is really nice and also open to the locals. They've got lots to do, I opted for mini golf and the horses, which they just added. My girlfriend was riding on a TX horse named Sunshine and I got to ride Chick from CA. Then we had awesome conveyor belt style sushi, I took her to the place I went with the guys, after taking the scenic route since we where on foot and we drove the time before. I know where it is now! lol.
riding bareback!
After the horses it was on to mini golf and shenanigans! There where caterpillars dangling down from the trees all over the place, so couldn't pass it up = )
The expression on this bear is really funny
This butterfly flew in right in front of us on our way out, so I got a few close ups
Sushi was really awesome and I had some Natto, which tasted just fine to me. So next time I'm getting the real stuff lol
I discovered mini me's secret Japanese lab escape pod!
I saw this huge wasp on monday, it's as big as my thumb! Last time I saw something close to this size was in Iraq. Creep factor aside, it's coloring is pretty kewl.
So my weekend was super fun! Monday I woke up to an earthquake around 530ish, had no idea that's what woke me up til my gf asked me if I felt it, apparently we had a 4 something and they're really common here! = X I also realized it was May 4th/5th in the states/here and since my gf hadn't seen Star Wars it was clear to me I needed to correct this (she's Japanese so that's forgivable). I embarked on a search for Star Wars as I don't own my own copy, never really needed to as my family and friends always had it. I was somewhat shocked the BX (base exchange) didn't have it...they had plenty of star trek though. Undaunted I tried the library and found it! So we watched the original three and she brought her Wii so we played lots of Mario Kart in between! Next time we'll do the first three. It was really good to just chill at home, nerd out and watch movies. I cooked, she did the dishes. So next time I'll be cleaning lol.
Everything turned out really good, I made my mom's tuna fish casserole cause she really wanted to try it after I made it at work and shared the pics. The recipe is super easy and done man style. Meaning it's one can of the noodles, two cans of creme of mushroom, two cans of tuna fish, and a bunch of celery chopped into small pieces. You just eyeball the celery and want enough that its spread around pretty evenly. Add more if you want more crunch less if not, haha. Then you just bake at 400* for 45 minutes (I'll put it up again with pictures later). When I got the recipe from my mom it had all the proper measurements but I don't have it anymore so the above gets the job done. I made omelettes for breakfast. I forgot to buy a flipper thing so I just used the backside of a fork, it didn't mess them up too bad and they came out only slightly crispy lol. Still good though.
Tuesday we watched the Return of the Jedi and Tangled, she is now a Star Wars girl and Disney fan. We went bowling on base and had a lot of fun, I was doing better than usual and even got a turkey! I told her a bit about suicide girls too, which I wanted to bring up so she doesn't find out much later and freak out. It went over really good. I just may end up keeping her, only time will tell but so far quite promising. = ) I don't often talk about such things but for reference she's only the second gal I've dated that I've said that about.
So that's been it for me. The rest of my week I'm gunna take advantage of being off duty to get caught up on some work stuff I've been too busy to do and join the guys at jujitsu since so many of them do it. Plus I figure I'm in Japan, of all the places to say you learned a martial art this is definitely it. Thank you Karate Kid lol.
I've been enjoying everyone's pets/advice blogs, as well as all the fun photos ya'll been sharing from Portugal! Looks like a real blast = ) I always want to welcome my new followers, I got 5 more of ya'll in the last week or so, glad to have ya ; ) I only have a few shout outs for the ladies this week.
@dutch_ went Pink!!!! Yay, go congratulate her if ya haven't, she's awesome!!! Now I'm feeling extra lucky after these last few days and @ecco also going pink last week...so I wonder who will be next! = )
A big grats to @jessicalou and @gemmaedwardsuk for taking over the front page with their work again! Keep making awesome for us!
@marajade made a special set just for us in her may 4th blog, definitely take a look!
and @maud did a fun little mini set for us I don't want to get ready for bed that's really fun.
Ya'll have a great week! = )
