Country Club

Day 4

Tim has lived in Tokyo for over a year now, which means he knows how to get around, the location of many great places to eat, and has friends in the ward. I benefit greatly from all of this knowledge, especially in the friends department.

I got to go to lunch with a friend from the ward and her three kids. We went to a Mexican restaurant, El Torito. It is an American chain that also exists in Tokyo. The funny thing is, in Tokyo, you get soup instead of chips and salsa. Like the egg soup you sometimes get with asian food in America. And they have three dishes with eggs on them... an egg burrito, and then two things with eggs just on top. This is one thing I am not sure I will get used to... the love of eggs. On everything. Literally. I am not exaggerating. My friend says she always says no eggs just to be sure an egg won't be thrown into what she orders.

Then we went to the Tokyo American Club to go swimming. We met another lady from the ward and her kids. Unfortunately it was raining, so we didn't really get to swim. The kids played pool, and we sat in the cafe and chatted. The Tokyo American Club is basically a club house, with a pool, and game rooms, and a cafe. This is the second time for both of these families in Japan. Everyone tells me once you have living in Japan, you spend the rest of your time trying to come back. For a moment, talking to these ladies, I believed them. I could see how it would be fun to live in this place for longer than a few months.

The adventure part of the day was the train. I got on at my station, Shinjuku, and took the Yamanote line up to the restaurant. Then to come home, I got on at a new station, I can't remember what it is called, but I figured out how to get on the right line, and made it home just fine. Next thing to master: Switching train lines.

Because it was raining all of the umbrella vendors were out selling plastic umbrellas. I saw a lady riding a bike holding an umbrella. I think in that scenario you would probably stay more dry with a rain coat or poncho.

Tim and I went to dinner at a restaurant, Xen, that has california rolls. It is located in Roppongi Hills, which is a really really really really huge mall. I cannot stress how massive this place is. Oh, and it has a Banana Republic, so I will be fine here :) Back to the california rolls. When I came to visit in March, Tim told me that rolls were American sushi, and that real japanese sushi was just raw fish over rice. However, the restaurant is an asian/western place, so they had rolls that were very tasty. Then we got coldstone ice cream. You have to order in engrish. I got a key-ara-me-ru ta-to-ru temu-ta-tion, and Tim got boso-ton ku-re-mu pie. In case you have no idea what those are, it was a caramel turtle temptation and a boston creme pie :) The funny thing is, Tim says they don't think of it as speaking english, these words really are now Japanese words.

I should also admit that part of my days this first week has been spent watching tv shows. I am claiming this is to get over the jet lag, by just laying on the couch. Let's be honest though, I am trying to get the full "country club wife" experience, so I imagine lounging on the couch watching tv is part of that :) Now.... where is my tennis racket?