Death by Cashews

It's been a while, ne?

I seriously can't believe it will be June in a few days... time is going by too fast, and I'm not liking that. In fact its going so fast that in just two months I will have been in Japan for a year! What?!?!?

So... what have I been up to recently? To be honest that's kind of a difficult question to answer. In fact I know that I've officially become accustomed to life here because I'm sitting here and struggling to write this blog. At first these blogs were easy as pie to write... everything was so fresh and so new that I knew instantly what would be interesting to readers (with most of you living outside of Japan). But now I've ...habituated, if you will.

The first thing that comes to mind in terms of what I've been up to recently - which also happens to relate to the title of this post - is that I've been eating boatloads of cashews. In fact, I was eating so many that my local grocery store ran out for a while there. There were riots in the streets.

And by streets I mean my house.

Luckily the stock has since been replenished, and the checkout clerks are once again commenting on my unnatural obsession with these fine delicacies. At this rate the mostly likely cause of death, were I to die in Japan, would be death by cashews (not earthquakes, difficult language barriers, or the encroaching brutality of Japanese summer).

Let's see... what else?? I had a great weekend a little while back in Nagoya. I went bowling, saw a movie in theaters (The Descendants), went to a game center, and had REAL Mexican food. Oh, did I mention it was good? It was good. To be honest, the food I miss the most from home is actually Mexican food. I miss burritos, enchiladas, tacos, chips & salsa, chimichangas... okay tears are falling on the keyboard... better change the subject

lol... seriously though. its not funny. you're probably eating chips and salse whilst laughing at me. rude.

Recently I've been hanging out a lot with a teacher I used to work with. It's been great! It honestly feels like the first true friendship I have with a Japanese person other than my friends in Tokyo. But it's a bit confusing, because I would honestly like to be more than just friends... but I also don't want to ruin the friendship either. Dilemmas. I have no idea how a Japanese person would act in such a situation or what I should do according to "modern Japanese norms"... but at the end of the day I'll probably just go about it the same way I would back home. In Japan, this could very easily turn into an epic fail. But that's alright I suppose. At least I will have tried and hopefully I will have learned something in the process.

Oh! I also finally made it to the AMAZING beach in my town. It's stunning. I was lucky enough to have gone on a day with perfect weather (not too hot and not too cold) and yet there was almost nobody there. It was so relaxing and just what I needed. I'm going to try to go at least 1 or 2 times every month.

This weekend I'll head north, and depending on the weather I'll either be heading to an amusement park and riding roller coasters or visiting a jail-themed restaurant.

I'll say that again: a jail-themed restaurant.
Its exactly what it sounds like.

If I don't go there this weekend, I'm definitely going to go there some other time. It's a must. Details once I've done it.

Well.... I guess that's it.... I don't really know what else to say. Sorry that this has been a short one. I just wanted to update everyone back home. I'm sorry these aren't more regular.

Have a good morning/day/night in whatever corner of the world you live!