FRIDAY
Woke up and walked outside to this view...C-O-L-D.
After work on Friday, a few coworkers and I headed down to Makuhari (1.5 hrs away) to have dinner at Tamaoki's family restaurant. We feasted on legit Nepalese food all night. My favorites were the potato soup and spicy dumplings. So delicious. And it's even better when your friend owns the place!
SATURDAY
Saturday morning I woke up to a package from my sissy! She sent me a few new shirts and fun socks. This one says "LOVE ONE ANOTHER - JESUS" how perfect right? I headed to a local farmers market to watch some students from the light music club at school perform. This is the bus stop I stand at every single morning of my life haha...and let me just say how precious and stylish Japanese children are. Kills me every time.
The farmers market had a mochi making station, the old fashioned way. This man was the owner so he was pounding it like a pro.
And this tiny coffee stand serves as a reminder of how miniature Japanese cars are!! Surprisingly I withheld from eating anything at the market because I was preparing for what was coming Saturday night...
THANKSGIVING AT LIANES!!
I cannot even begin to express my gratitude to Liane for prepping this incredible feast every year. My highlights were the cranberry sauce from scratch and the most delicious corn bread with honey butter!
Carey brought his homemade ume (plum) wine and it was so good! Never thought i'd be a fan of this stuff but it is slowly growing on me. It tastes really good with soda!
Thanksgiving crew: Liane's family along with her friend's family, Cary, Kevin, Steph and myself!
Kevin's birthday was last week and mine is this week so they brought us cake! Mina is Liane's daughter and I love playing with her whenever I go to their house. And as the resident kid, she blew out our candles for us.
How amazing is this giant donut cake from Mr. Donut!?
The only way to end a Thanksgiving day.
SUNDAY
My friend Meg, from church, invited Miyoe (my other friend) and I over to her house for lunch! Meg is a teacher at an English Conversation School and has the most bubbly personality. On top of that she is a self proclaimed "health nut" and wonderful chef. Miyoe is a lady I sit next to every week at church and she is the owner of several retirement homes. She is a very successful business woman and is one of the most spirit filled people I have ever met. Spending an afternoon with these two was such a treat!
Meg cooked us this incredible feast...salad with tomatoes, broccoli, carrots, chicken, cheese and noodle casserole, and 12 veggie stew!! We chatted all afternoon and the main theme of our talk was how being obedient to God brings us the most joy. When Miyoe was 45 and her two kids were grown up, she heard clearly from the Lord to start a new business in helping the elderly. She had a lot of doubts and had trouble getting started, but she knew she had to obey the voice of God. 20 years later she has two wonderful retirement centers helping hundreds of people in her community and on top of that, she is so aligned with the voice of the heavenly Father. Obedience brings such joy and produces much fruit!
MONDAY - (back to work)
After a great weekend I woke up Monday thankful to get up and go to a job I love. After school, at English club, the 2A students who returned from Torrance last week shared a few of their favorite memories. Kurt and Avhishek shared a bit and had me cracking up the whole time talking about their failed attempt to make yakisoba, the slang they learned ("gas up"), and how they had the coolest host brother because they are "the coolest students" HAHA.
A good weekend in the books and an even busier weekend up ahead!