WE HAVE A FRIEND!!!!!!!!!!

Yes you heard right we made a friend. Finally. Aren't we sad! Living in such a small town there are a very very limited number of people who can speak English well enough to have a meaningful conversation. We have found a couple but of course we can't just go up to everyone with good English and say "please be our friend, take us places, we're lonely." Which is what we want to do but we don't want to scare them away. The truth is we don't care where they take us either we'll go anywhere. We're desperate. Well a couple of weeks ago a girl named Nozomi asked if we wanted to go out. I practically screamed yes. Then played it cool with a casual "you know whatever" hee hee. Coordinating our schedules took some work but we went out on Sunday.

Nozomi is 23 and her name is pronounced No - Zoom - EE she has great English she lived in New Jersey for a year and then in Australia for a while so we can even use slang which is really nice. She picked us up at 11 and we drove to a town called Kanabe. She found us an English CD for the car ride that she had bought when she lived in the states NOW 99 Backstreet Boys, N'Sync, Britney Spears. Her and I sang along. I was loving it and Cam was so happy to be out of the house he didn't even object to the music choice. We went to the mall where we ate at McDonalds. YAY!!
I think Nozomi may be my soul mate she also eats at a McDonalds in every country she visits "it's a must" HeeHee Then we went to the movies, Nozomi is also a movie junkie like us. We saw "Black Dahlia" which was questionable but it was still nice to see a movie. The theatre's have assigned seating, and free blankets in case you get cold. Very Cool.

Next we went shopping we bought a whole bunch of DVD's (including The Untouchables which Cam was appalled to learn I hadn't seen) Nozomi got a whole outfit, and I got this awesome new hat.

There are a few stores decorating for HALLOWEEN

but it feels a little HOLLOW.
We picked up some imported food like guacamole and nachos (yum). It came with a free tiny bottle of Baileys that Cam was very excited about.

Then we headed home. Nozomi's car is called a Lapin and there are little bunny symbols in it. So we named it the Playboy. Awesome.

On the way home Nozomi asked us if we wanted to go with her to Osaka over night on Nov 18 to visit her University friends. She said they all have really good English so we should fit right in. Right now we're trying to arrange it with work, if we can we'll definitely go. So we have a friend and she's totally awesome. We gave her a Canada baseball hat as a souvineer.

Holy Random, Batman!

I just got back from the supermarket and Karleen is working, so I'd thought I'd go Random on all of ya! I'm sitting here, eating my Okonomiyaki (it’s like a pancake/Pizza, but with noodles and awesome sauce on it) listenin to music, and realizing that we have a CRAP load of pictures and little stories that need to be told, or else forgotten.

First thing first, our new mascot!

We haven’t named him yet, but we’re still thinking about it. I got him from a 2 pack of new Asahi beer that just came out. You can collect all 8! WOO!

So now we come to a favorite topic of mine…money

In Japan, they have yen coins 1, 5, 10, 50 (not pictured), 100, and 500.

And the bills are 1000, 5000, and 10000 ($10, $50, and $100 Canadian)

After using the Japanese 500 yen coins ($5 CAN) I can honestly say that I wouldn’t mind the Government changing to the $5 coin that’s been in talks for years. At first I was opposed, but it’s actually not that bad. It’ll only suck if they don’t change over the snack dispensers to accept the coin…I guess we’ll see.

You all know how I enjoy a good cup o coffee (I’m SO nickin’ for Tims right now) so I’ve been on the prowl for OTHER measures of java intake. Well, I’ve found a new method!

Meet the jelly version of coffee! It’s all the goodness of coffee…but like Jello! It even comes with cream that you can add!! REDONKULUS!

Some action shots of me devouring the victim:

The Coffello (I’m still working on a name) put up a good fight…but was no match for the champ.

One last thing before I go, we bought a puzzle while we were in Fukuyama the other day. Well…we finished it in 2 nights.

The sad thing is that we took it apart and are now starting it again…sad.

I’m going to try and start adding more random stories and pictures when I get time. So, until then, I’ll leave you with the last images a Coffello ever sees:

why…hello there, gorgeous.

GET IN MY MOUTH!!!

Hey! Fuk-u-yama!

On Tues, we took a road trip to the lovely city of Fukuyama. It's was only a 45 min bus trip, so nice and fast.

We started the day by searching out the McDonalds, one of the main reasons we traveled there. OH, and we found it! But we didn't actually eat there because the only items that were being sold that day were the Fillet o Fish, the McShrimp Burger (or whatever it's called) and the salads. We said a big BOO ERNS, and headed for KFC. Sweet. I had the Wa-Fu Chicken Burger. It really didn't have a taste, so I really can't comment on it...yah. Karleen had a twister, but it had weird red hot sauce in it.

Our next stop was the Fukuyama Castle Museum. It had a great courtyard for pictures.

A side note, we are doing a report for the kid of one of Karleen's Brother's Friends. It's this little cut out of a dude, named Flat Stanley, and we are taking him around. So needless to say, we grabbed a few pics with him as well. We would have gone inside the castle, but it was all locked up.

Next, we decided to go SHOPPING! There is a 9 floor department store not far from the train station, called Lotz. We bought a puzzle for us to do and 4 English books. We then proceeded to a 4 floor store called Giga. The 2nd floor had books, the 3rd was movies/cds/video games, and the 4th was an arcade. We bought 3 movies while we were there, The Fugitive, A Few Good Men, and 4 Weddings and a Funeral (obviously Karleen's...actually, she picked all 3). After, we took a cab to an electronics store called, Applied, and bought ourselves a wireless router that's also an access point, so that we may actually get out of the closet...literally.

We took a cab back to the train station and went back to Lotz, to the 8th floor. We ate at a restaurant called Resort. Fantastic.

Sure...we really didn't have "JAPANESE" food, but what the hell...we've been having it for the last 2 months...we needed something that wasn't rice!

It was a great day all around. We were both really happy that we got out of the house and spent some money. I'll have to take another trip there in the next little bit, because it turns out that the wireless card that came with the router is not compatable with our laptop, it's a PCI card while we have an Express Card slot...figures.