I Once Was Lost...

We have had some great adventures since I last wrote... we have also had some crazy things happen that made us a little nervous! Here's what we've done so far...

Tokyo
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Our flights to Tokyo were uneventful which was good. When we landed in Tokyo(July 30), we found it was hotter than hot! We set off after getting our train passes and rental phone to find our hotel. The hotel said it was only 10 or 15 minutes from the airport away... this is a LIE! It took us an hour on the express train!!! Finding the hotel was another challange. The directions they gave us were really weird (should have know after the major time descripancies from the station to the hotel, but NO I didn't!) Right off the bat, I have to start speaking Japanese to get help. I havn't used it in two years, before that 4 years has passed since I was in Obihiro. A little rusty... a LOT rusty. But, I manged to ask and we got luck. A nice guy who I asked was also going to that hotel, so we could follow him. Good thing, as it was dark out and we would have been lost for a while.
The next day (July 31) we got up nice and early ( no jet lag!!! YEAH!!!!!!) to go to Asakusa shirne. It's really old and we took a lot of pictures there. This is hubby's frist time in Tokyo so I want him to see a lot of cool stuff!!! He could enjoy the shirne and the shopping we did there! They have a lot of little shops that have tradational stuf there, so he was fasniated with all the fun stuff! From there, we went to Akihabura (eletric city). We walked around and saw all the cool gadgits, but Hubby said if we have this kind of place in the States that we would be broke becasue we would want the latest techno stuff!!! I hate to say it, but he is right!
After that, we did a tour of Tokyo tower. When I was a home stay student, I wanted to see Tokyo tower more than anything, because Godzilla is always there! It was my image of Japan (yeah, I know it's not accurat at all!) So, we went there so Hubby could get a good view of the city. It was so clear you could see for miles... but, Mt. Fuji had clouds around it so we couldn't see it from there! After seeing levels of observation, we went to meet my former student for dinner.
Dinner was great! Hubby tried a lot of new foods and found he really enjoys a lot of them. We ate at this izakaya (like a bar & grill) for yakitori (chicken on a stick, ha ha!). We saw talking for a long time! It's funny how everyone we have seen so far feels like no time has past and we can pick up where we left off. Hubby is finding it easy to talk with my friends that he hasn't met before because it feels like he knows them from me talking about them so much.
Our final full day in Tokyo (Aug. 1) we were going to go to Kamakura, but I feel we haven't even strached the surface of Tokyo. So, we went to Yokohama's Chinatown (yes, it is outside Tokyo city, but we were going back soon). We ate lunch at a Chinese restruant and enjoyed walking around and seeing everything there. Then we went back to Tokyo to go to Giza.
Ginza is DEADLY for us....Mikimoto pearls for me, Sony Center (techno stuff) for him. Of course we stopped at both. We did leave Ginza with a lot less than we started with, since Hubby bought me a necklace, earrings, and braclet set at Mikimoto for our five year anniversery!!!! OMG, I was crying in the store... they thought we were crazy tourist who would only look... WRONG! I have worn my necklace everyday! The earrings and bracelet are wrapped up so cute that I can't open the box yet. At Sony Center, Hubby really wanted an Mp3 Player that totally was cooler than my ipod (I feel really bad saying that as I LOVE my ipod!!) However the softwear for the computer was only in Japanese so that stopped that idea. After Ginza we went to Harajuku! I LOVE this place!! They dress all funky and have really cool clothes shops. We have almost no $$ so I found a cheap pair of shoes that I coudl get and we planed to come back here quick before our flight to Hokkiado the next day. We didn't have enough $ with us get dinner, so we had to wait until we got back to our hotel to get $$ and food!!
Aug. 2 we got up, skipped the hotle breakfast and started to pack everything that we had bought and gifts and clothes back into our suitcases. We checked out and went to the same curry shop that we found the night before for brunch. It was so good! Hubby foudn he really loves Japanese curry!! From there, we went to Harajuku to get my cute clothes and then dashed to the airport.

Sapporo
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We were greeted in Sapporo by crappy cold rainy weather (Tokyo was 34C and humid!!! YUCK!). The bride picked us up and off we went to her house. Her mom was there to welcome us and after a short rest, we were off to Shirokiya for dinner. I LOVE this place. It's really cheap izakaya and before their menu was so good!! Now it's changed a little bit, but still we could enjoy it!
Aug.3- We spent the whole day with the bride! She took us around Sapporo and Hubby was able to try ramen for lunch! YUMMMMMMMMM!!!!!!! We don't have anything like this at home and now he is addicted!!! This is a problem now, because we can't get it!!! WWWWWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
After lunch, we met the groom and went to a multi floor arcade to play DDR (ha ha, of course!) and driving games, and air hockey. It was a great time! After that, we went back to the bride's house and watche her mom fall all over her husband to be!!! I think her family really likes her boyfriend and we really liked him too!! After that we went to "circle sushi". The sushi is on a moving belt and you just take off the ones you want and then after you pay by the number of plates that you eat.
Aug 4.- We had to get up early so that we could drive to Furano to see the lavander fields. It was a lot of fun! We went with the bride's mom and dad (who only speak Japanese...ha ha!) and then they drove us all the way to Obihrio were we met up with another former student. We enjoyed dinner all together and then went to my student's house. Before bed, just us girls went to onsen for relaxing!
Aug. 5- We spent the whole day seeing the sights around Tokachi. We went to Love and Happiness stations. They use to be working train stations, but now they are just a tourist attracion. My student has never been there, and she thought we were kind of funny to want to see this! After that, we went to the Art village to see the famous art. After that, we met my former coworkers for dinner and they helped me write my wedding speech.
Aug. 6- Today we are going to tea cermony and then we will go back to Sapporo to get ready for the wedding. The wedding is on Saturday and so, we will try to get out of the way by going out with some of my friends.
That's all my updates for now... I'll try to do another one soon so it's not so long!!!!