Japanese Arcade

We got to ride one of these:

It looks cooler than it actually is, but it was still fun.

View from the top
Um, I guess the Japanese really like their quarter-slot machines...
...and their horse, I mean, panda bear rides!
Luckily they like their massage chairs...
and foot massagers also!
This made me VERY happy! What was no bueno was that they get to smoke in the arcade=stinky stinky yuck. Too bad we didn't take more pictures of their arcades because they had some really different ones including a huge tv with a animated horse race going on and the people playing sat in their chairs with computer screens in front of them betting. Hope you got that.
We got away from most of the smoke and decided to enjoy a crepe:
Don't worry, we didn't get tuna or chicken.
And we had to take a picture of this Coca Cola vintage style table and chairs set

The Flower Show

Last week I got to go to a Flower Expo Event. I got to see tons of flowers and took lots of pictures. How nice of Koreans to print signs in English for us non-Korean speakers.

Pretty Flowers

Yes, if you ever need a head in the middle of your garden, come to Korea, they have lots of garden heads!!! (???)
Better yet, we can find you a jean replica flower pot, complete with a keychain, keys, and gloves
Or you can have a permanent guest on your backyard swing.
If you just can't wait until you get outside for fun flower pots, you can get these flower pot gloves. Yes, they have glitter on them! And you thought this post was just going to be about pretty flowers... Do you notice that the glove pots all have their fingers in different positions? Someone was getting really technical with these pots.

We Love Packages

Imagine our surprise when we got a package. Hmmm, I honestly could not figure it out when Rick called to tell me that there was a package at his office. We get mail a little slow here sometimes, if we're lucky to get it at all (stop stealing my mail, or burning it or whatever you do so you don't have to deliver it!). I digress, sorry.

Rick's birthday was LAST week so that didn't occur to me when he told me at whatever time it was in the middle of the night that he got a package. Yup, middle of the night--you heard me. He had to go to the office to catch up on some things, no 9-5 business going on here AND it was a Saturday night. Wow, I cannot focus tonight. As a was saying we got all this in the mail!!! Happy surprise to him/us!
Did he (we) score or what! And I got a cute little tee-shirt to go with it--go Sooners! We are extremely lucky that we have an Aunt and Cousin who love to show us they love us, especially while overseas :) I think we'll have to just stay overseas for a few more years... Thank you Rose & Jade for showing us you care. We were super excited and surprised and we love the yummy goodies and card.

Rick's mom also sent a package super early for his birthday. In fact, he even opened it early, opps. He (but I really say me) got a ward cookbook from his home town, a cool microwavable Tupperware dish, and some yummy chocolate. Rick loved the cookbook because it had historic facts about his hometown but I don't think he'll ever actually use it. Well, at least not on his own, he might if I was there to coach (read: force) him. Thank you Sharon & Calvin for being so great about sending care packages, we sure know you care about us!

Soldier First, Dentist Second

This is a bummer week and will be a bummer few weeks. Rick is in the field and will be there forever! I mean, for a few weeks. Besides his normal field training, he will be doing additional field training for something I will mention later if possible (top secret stuff okay :) I took a picture of him one day before he left for other training and this isn't even all his gear!

The kevlar (spelling?) they have to wear is so heavy I don't even like lifting it, let alone imagining wearing that around. So for all you who think that being a dentist in the Army is just being a dentist, think again. When you're in the Army, you're a soldier first. There are dentists in Iraq and other scary places. Please remember the troops in your prayers. Amen.

Toyota Tour

While in Japan, we went to Odaiba Island, which is a man-made island from what I understood. All the buildings on it look really new and I think they've made an Olympic stadium of sorts (I guess South Korea is bidding for the Olympics?). We got to ride around on a mechanically operated tram (nobody was manning the wheel) and see the sights. We spent lots of time in the Toyota model building. They have ride simulators which is like you're playing a video game but you feel the vibrations and movement. They had a car ride for kids, a race car ride and lots more. Here are some pictures we thought were worth taking. Unfortunately, I think we forgot to get one of me a my new Lexus, darn!
Car for one, please!
I'm pretty sure these are personal cars, or people movers or something cool.
Above is the video game-like simulator.
Most of the cars we were allowed to sit in and play with all the equipment, but not these. We never really thought about that at the time but I wonder if these are super top notch secret Toyota jewels.


I think it moves up and down depending on how fast you want to go or wind resistence or something.
We thought this was cool but I can't remember why. I think it's a hybrid engine...ahh, I forget. We wanted Rick's dad to see this picture and any other mechanics who might think it's interesting..
Up close and personal

Driving on The Left Side of The Road

Did you know they drive on the left side of the road in Japan? We took a picture so you'd believe us.

Speaking of driving, Japanese people drive nice cars. We saw a couple Bentleys, lots of Mercedes, BMWs, and other expensive cars while in Japan.

Not only did we see expensive cars, but we saw expensive laundry detergent-- 23 American Dollars worth! It's about 100 yen for every dollar.
I think we're nearing the end of our Japan pictures. We'll see. I've been a little slacker lately on blogging--I've been adding to the Korea pictures we'll be posting sometime here

Right in the Middle of Tokyo

When you gotta go, you gotta go
If you can't see the doors, it's because there aren't any!
View from the other side.

Have you seen anything like this in the States?

The 70s meets the 00s

Walk it out Fosse!!!
Ready to dance? {Click on this link}

The Wall Rick Couldn't Get Enough Of

While in Japan, we visited the Emperor's Palace, Rick immediately fell for this wall

Lucky for us the Emperor secured his palace with this wall everywhere
A huge flat wall and a moat--try conquering that!
The happy couple and the wall!

We thought these little men were so cute telling us all to go home when the palace was closing. Too bad they are too fast for me to take a picture of their faces, I only got their behinds.

I got a picture of this guy but only because he was stalling to make sure we were leaving. I can't see many older people in the States riding around on bicycles--Japanese people seem so in shape--even if they do smoke a pack a day!

Cherry Blossoms

We got to be in Japan for Cherry Blossom Time! I don't know exactly how long it is but it is really short. I guess I should say instead that I don't know exactly how short it is because the blossoms were already starting to fall off!

We should have got a picture of the line of the people waiting to see the cherry blossom trees lit up later that night. It was a LONG line. We wondered what everyone was waiting for and finally found someone that spoke English. He found out for us what they were waiting for and we were surprised--seriously you would have thought people were lining up for free homes or something. I guess there are 12 million people who live in Tokyo!!! The people below were crowding around this tree to get a picture.

We enjoyed watching them while munching on some roasted yams or sweet potato. We don't know, but whatever it was, it was yummy.

More Cherry Blossom Trees

Basic Chocolate Chip Cookies--Help!

If you think these look good you're wrong! Help!

I don't know what it is but lately I haven't been able to make a chewy chocolate chip cookie! I've tried not warming up the butter at all and just setting it out for a while before baking, refrigerating the dough before baking, Rick even tried lining the cookie sheet differently to see if the results were different (don't worry, I told him you don't coat cookie sheets, but he wanted to try anyway). Lately my cookies turn out like this:

I don't know if this looks good to you but the above pictured cookie is cakey not chewy. Do you know the trick to making cookies chewy? Is there a difference if I hand mix the dough instead of using an electric mixer (cuz I don't have one right now)? Seriously, I need cookie help! Do you have a good chocolate chip cookie recipe? If so, please send it to me and send me the do's and don'ts of cookie baking. Thank you

A Couple Fasinations with Japan

We like seeing the differences between two countries and funny things about being in a different country. Here are a couple things we got a kick out of:

They have toilets that are in the ground (this is the women's restroom)

And then they have toilets that are so complicated, you need instructions on how to use them. This particular toilet was heated :), included a bidet, and and air blower thingy. This might have also included a complimentary "flushing noise" to cover any real noise you might be making.

You want to buy cigarrets, no problem! You can buy them on just about any street corner.

But you can also buy yummy drinks on almost any street corner or at some random spot. The Japanese sure do like their green tea.

If they sell a soft drink, it's usually Coke or Diet Coke

The coke cans were outside the glass if you can tell. For some reason they wanted us to touch & feel (Rick is touching in the picture above) but we have no idea why they wanted us to touch--it's not like we were scratching & sniffing.

They pump gas from the ceilings. I guess that way it doesn't matter which side of the pump you're on.
Pump up-close
They have green tea kit kats! Get out! I told you the Japanese really like their green tea.

See green tea