In which Canada comes to Japan

As July 1st was Canada! I showered Japan (or at least those in near vicinity of me) with red and white! I made these flag for the back of my jacket for school and spent fifteen minutes at the beginning of all of my classes talking about how it was Canada's birthday and playing some games. It was a lot of fun, although whether I was more genki than the students is up for debate! Regardless, all the teachers got right into it and asked me if I was having a party, which I was! If you recall, on my first trip to Fujiyoshida, Sheena took us to this lovely restaurant that served the most amazing burgers and had a Canadian theme! So I made the boys and Rhee and Sheena all come with me so we could have burgers and wanna-be poutine! It was pretty awesome. I drove so I couldn't drink but they even offered a selection of British Columbian beers which I made everyone drink, which they obliged. Then I proposed a toast, "to Rhee for her country giving me my country 144 years ago!" We all had a good laugh and had some delicious food!

Next up was parfaits of course. We can't go to Fujiyoshida and not have parfaits! I went with Tiramisu and it was fantastic! Then while the night was still young we decided to go do some karaoke because what is more Canadian than karaoke!? Okay, never mind that, but we were in Japan, so we had to do something Japanese. Had a total blast and this karaoke place even had a miny stage so my inner rockstar could really shine through. Because it was only 12:30 in the morning when we got home, we had to finish the evening with fireworks! (They sell them everywhere in Japan because it's a tradition for summer). And by that time it was actually July 1st in Canada! So we played with sparklers until we ran out and called it a day! It was great fun!

Our grand plan for the next day was to go to Kofu to see Transformers but it turn out we have to wait until the end of the month for it... So we did some shopping at Aeon mall to escape the heat and ate delicious pizza and drank watermelon juice until it was time to come home. In which I went out with Rhee and Tony for ramen but I had yakisoba and giyoza! Oishikatta! That night we didn't do much, just introduced Rhee to her first anime, Spirited Away.

On Sunday there was a birthday party for a guy from Rhee's town in Fujikawa which is just north of Minobu. So we drove there in the morning for a BBQ, kayak polo and a maze! It was a lot of fun and not too hot (when I say this I mean it was 32 not 38 degrees...) so we had a nice time eating fatty burgers, finding cool bugs and just flaking out! After by request of the birthday boy, a few of us hit the canoe pool for kayaking! We played this amazing game of water polo in our boats which was very much like water hockey! It was so much fun! And we had three Canadians so we got together and formed a team vs. the World (a Welshlander, a German and of course an American) and kicked ass! Of course, it was water hockey after all! It was crazy fun! Then we went and got ourselves lost in a hedge maze and finished the day by playing on an amazing playground.

And then inevitable it was July 4th, so in good spirit I celebrated Independence Day with the boys with more fireworks down by the river. It was a great ending to the weekend!

Another weekend gone and past... next up in a Tanbata festival in Kanagawa and then maybe a day at the beach! Ja ne!