What happens when you drop a gaijin in a lake?

Sounds like the beginning of a joke, doesn't it?  Well, what happens?  Does she sink?  Float?  Swim?  Who knows how many times people have attempted to toss a gaijin in a lake?

Today was a day of firsts.  Normally my blog is pretty boring because most days I sit on my butt and watch TV since I've spent the bulk of my cash traveling. 

Sunday (today) my husband invited me to go wakeboarding on Lake Yamanaka with a couple of doctors.  Sure, I said.  I've waterskied before (although last time I did that I was in my teens I think).  It's what you do in Arizona.  You gas up the boat and go to the lake.  I couldn't even tell you how many times I've been to the lake.  No biggie, right?  Here's some caveats you should know.  I've never been in a lake in Japan.  (I've walked around one and been on a lake cruise.)  Additionally, I've never been wakeboarding before.  Also, before today I had never met a brain surgeon.  Yeah, the doctor who invited us was literally a brain surgeon.  No joke.

Anyway, they took the boards out of the car.  It looks like a snowboard (which I've never been on either).  I took one look at that thing and I said, "Oh yeah, I can't get up on that."  I said that out loud. 

Once on the boat the doctor proclaimed I'd go third.  After the other doctor aka super wakeboarder (I was expecting this guy to do flips but he didn't), and my husband who kindly reassured me that he didn't get up right away the first time he went either.  Okay, so how bad can it be?  I received two mini wakeboarding lessons or a wakeboarding crash course.

When it was my turn, I was standing on the wooden platform strapping the board on and my husband accidentally pushed me into the water.  They tried to hoist me back up to standing, and I was just like forget it and put the board on in the water.  When they tried to run the boat nothing happened because prior to me getting in the water they had run over a buoy and the propeller was stuck and rope was wrapped around it. 

"Oh yes!" I thought.  I don't have to embarrass myself after all.  We'll all go home because the boat is broken.  Well, some Good Samaritan from a nearby boat strapped on his goggles and dug the buoy out.  Crap. 

Okay, so five time I tried to get up.  The fourth and fifth time I came close to standing.  I received some helpful advice (all in Japanese). 
 
"Relax!"
"Don't try to stand up so soon!"
"Bend your knees!  Bend!"

Sigh.  On the fifth fail as the boat circled back around, I heard "last chance" so if I didn't get up I failed miserably and could suffer embarrassment for the rest of the day.

Try six.  By some miracle I got up.  Seriously, it was a miracle.  When I got up to standing, of course, everyone on our boat cheered (maybe mostly from relief), and I heard the whoops and shouts of a nearby boat which was huge for my ego.  I kindly replied back "YEAH BITCHES!"  It was glorious.  Now, I don't know if they were cheering because they witnessed the whole embarrassing debacle or if it was because I was a girl (the lake was almost entirely devoid of female wakeboarders) or if it was because I am a(n out of shape gaijin).  Either way it was nice to have fans.  They pointed and waved at me later.  "Look it's the gaijin!"  I flashed them a peace sign.

Here's a picture of me being awesome:

You'll notice the boats in the background which stopped to watch me.  Like really?  Water celebrity.

And here's the gorgeous Mt. Fuji which only appeared for about ten minutes:

This was like unbelievably fun.  (However, I guarantee you that I'd be singing a different tune had I not gotten up on the water.)  Here's the bottom line: wakeboarding is like super hard.  Especially, if you're a(n out of shape) gaijin like me.

Lipton Tea...

Hi all!  We are knee deep in summer here.  It's HOT and humid which makes it feel more hot, so how about some teas to try to cool things down!

First is Green Fruits Tea:

I assume from the box that there's pear, mint, and limes in there.  I can't be sure as no one flavor stuck out.  Regardless, it's a light and refreshing tea.  Not bad.

Next is Wanashi tea:

In English "wanashi" is Asian pear or apple pear.  This tea was okay.  Not my favorite.

The list:

1. Milk Tea
2. Maple Milk Tea
3. Lemon Tea
4. Peach Tea
5. Earl Grey Milk Tea
6. Green Apple Tea
7. 50/50 Tea & Lemonade
8. Tropical Fruit Tea
9. Chamomile Citrus Tea
10. Roast Milk Tea
11. Jasmine Lemon Peel
12. Grape Tea
13. Straight Tea
14. Apple Tea
15. 50/50 Tea & Fruit Punch
16. Matcha Milk
17. Tea Cappuccino
18. Mikan Tea
19. 50/50 Tea & Nectar
20. Luxurious Milk Tea
21. Muscat Tea
22. Plum Honey
23. Cream Milk Tea 
24. Grapefruit Tea
25. Orange Marmalade Tea 
26. Royal Milk Tea
27. Golden Pineapple Tea
28. Italian Fruit Punch Tea
29. Honey Milk Tea
30. Green Apple with Honey
31. Thailand Lychee Tea
32. Sweetened Condensed Milk Tea 
33. Turkey Apricot Tea
34. Milk Caramel Tea
35. Navel Orange Tea
36. French Pear & Apple Tea
37. Creamy Milk Tea
38. American Tea Lemonade
39. Hojicha Latte
40. Gold Kiwi Tea
41. Bitter Caramel Tea Latte
42. Green Tea & Muscat
43. Green Tea & Peach
44. Extra Black Tea Latte 
45. Green Tea & Citrus:
46. Caramel Tea Latte
47. Peach & Mango
48. Mixed Berries Milk Tea 
49. Lychee Tea
50. Winter Tea Punch
51. Winter Tea Latte
52. Earl Grey Orange Tea 
53. White Tea Latte
54. Hyuganatsu Tea
55. Lychee Mix Tea
56. Royal Tea Latte
57. Green Fruits Tea
58. Wanashi Tea

The Top Five:

1. OG Milk Tea
2. Green Tea & Peach
3. 50/50 Tea Lemonade
4. 50/50 Tea & Fruit Punch
5. Peach & Mango

Summer's end...

Well, as of today summer is officially over (for me anyway).  No more vacation.  It's back to work.  It's still really hot though.  I can't wait until fall when the humidity won't kill you.

Anyway, here's the rest of my summer wear.

August 6th:

Not my favorite outfit but hey it's cool (temperature wise).  Shirt Treasure Factory Style, shorts Wal-Mart, shoes Chiyoda.

August 9th:

Tank Uniqlo, shorts Wal-Mart, shoes Chiyoda.

August 13th:

Jacket Uniqlo, tank Forever 21, shorts Goodwill, shoes Chiyoda.

August 17th:

Dress & sweater Uniqlo, shoes Fiorucci.

I hope you had a lovely summer and that it wasn't too short.

夏の花火。。。

Summertime in Japan means humidity, bug catching and fireworks or 花火。

I attended two fantastical firework displays in Tokyo, Adachi-ku (I also went last year) and Edogawa-ku (first time).

Here are some of my favorite photos from the events.

Adachi-ku:

 

Edogawa-ku:

(Note: All photos unedited.)  I hope you're enjoying some fireworks somewhere.  It certainly makes summer just a little bit better.

Tales from the LG 12th Floor Garden...

Hi all,

I've been gardening.  Well, it's kind of a garden.  It's a container garden...on my balcony.  

The story starts with onions or maybe radishes.  Red radishes are really easy to grow.  They grow quickly.  They were the first thing I ever grew and harvested.  The onions, however, were not successful.  I got a sprout but nothing more developed.  (Perhaps another trial is in order?)

Then I learned you could regrow Romaine lettuce.  I had success with several cores until the heat molded more recent attempts.

At the end of May this year after a difficult trip to Mos Burger (that's another story), I walked away with a free gift from them, a packet of tomato seeds.  I sat on them (not literally) until one day I decided to plant them.  Lo and behold they sprouted, and then they grew.  I had to buy stakes to keep them upright.  They grew and grew until they grew flowers.  Those flowers turned into green tomatoes which turned into red tomatoes which I harvested:

And then again:

I used to think cherry tomatoes were just not so great until I grew my own.  These beat anything I've ever bought at the store.  They are so delicious!

Capitalizing on the success of the tomatoes, I decided to go all out.  Go big or go home.  I added to my garden, a cranberry plant.  Not much has changed since I acquired it, but it hasn't died yet which is good news, I guess.  Last week, I planted some more radishes, some snap peas and basil all of which have sprouted.  I also bought a strawberry plant and orange mint (just today).  It's hot and humid but the garden is in full swing!

Why is all this important to me?  For a great many years I thought I was a ruthless plant killer.  I tried in my desert home to grow not only house plants but also basil.  Maybe I thought plants hated me because I feasted on them.  I decided I could never be like my DC idol, Poison Ivy.  Perhaps it was the climate, perhaps it was the timing.   So now I grow and grow and I feel great!

Anyway, here's a look at the LG 12th Floor Garden:

My tomato plant plus a tomato plant I'm babysitting.

Freshly sprouted snap peas.

Mt. Fuji mint (mama mint I am babysitting) plus my newly planted baby mint.

Radish babies.

Baby basil (bottom left and right) plus one reclaimed basil plant (which is finally growing).

Here's the whole garden:

Bottom left cranberry, lemon basil (in recovery stage, live dammit live!), rosemary.
Bottom right snap peas.
Right center mint (mine), mint (not mine), orange mint (best smelling plant ever).
Center strawberry, radishes.
Left center my tomato and basil.
Left top tomatoes, eggplant, and peppers (not mine).

I promised to watch some plants for a friend and she promised me whatever fruits the plants produced.  A fair deal if you ask me.

I hope you enjoyed this tour of the garden.

Happy summer everyone and happy gardening!

Summer slump...

I really want to get out and do things but I am so hot and tired after work that I just want to take an icy shower and lie in my bed blasting the fan and AC.  I'm working on getting caught up on my last season shows.  I've already started my summer shows like "Breaking Bad," "Burn Notice," and "Damages."  I still haven't started "True Blood" yet but I finally finished Season 2 of "The Walking Dead" and almost finished Season 3 of "Justified."

In Japan news, the heat is stifling.  You can really try to look your best but the make-up melts or fades and your hair is wet and most times you just look like you ran a marathon when you simply walked 10 minutes to the station.  Welcome to Tokyo summer.  I keep asking myself "How do they stand it?"  The AC at my work is subpar and we're all sweating before lunchtime. 

Summer in Japan means fireworks and we decided to go to the Sumida fireworks which is the largest in Tokyo and boasts 1 million visitors.  We got there late and were corralled down a road to nowhere.  We ended up sitting on a street with hundreds of other people.

It looked like this:

In the end, it was okay, I guess.  We only got to see the tops of the fireworks which is better than nothing.

Self portrait:

Many yukatas to be seen in every color of the rainbow:

There were lots of people drinking beer and eating various foods.  Some people had set up little tables to sell easy to eat foods like meat on a stick and the like.  We wisely had a sort of tapas meal before we left.

I wish we could have had a better view of the fireworks and I wish it wasn't so awfully hot.

How is your summer shaping up?

Deep summer part 2...

Here are some more July looks I love:

I don't know about you but I am now convinced I NEED some black and white polka dot shorts and it just so happens I have everything to make them so off I go!