real thing

We enjoyed rafting so much, I'm glad we had this picture to show it all. A picture is one thing we didn't have when we went sea kayaking last July.

回転すし (kaiten sushi)

In the spirit of payday and my birthday this week, I treated my 2 loyal minions, Pao and Frankie, for dinner today. We decided to go adventurous on our choice of food, so we decided to try 回転すし (kaiten sushi: conveyor belt sushi bar - a place where sushi is served by a rotating conveyor belt and is surrounded by booths. Payment is based on the number of plates you consumed (automatically counted pa!), plus of course, additional orders like dessert, soup and beverages).

We left the office quite late, my fault because I had to rush some spec change implementation (which was not released anyway because of some CVS ip address change <-- geek talk hehehe) and arrived at the bar a little past 9. On the way there, we were wondering what other alternatives we have just in case the bar closed early, but we were so happy when we found out that the place is open for business until 11pm. So off we went inside, we were guided to a booth.. and our eyes were bulging with the sushi turning and turning around because despite the time, we were starving to death! (I did the most stupid thing today: my emergency food, a large oatmeal cookie, was included on the pack of garbage I threw out after lunch.. tanga talaga)

We were so hungry we started piling plates and plates on the table and we were so mesmerized by the food turning and turning (as Pao said: it's like looking at an aquarium.. yun nga lang, sliced or luto na yung sea foods hehehehe). We were enjoying the experience and after the 20th plate (for the 3 of us) on the automatic plate counter, and 5 more at the table... nobody wanted to move anymore. To rid ourselves of the taste of seafood and wasabi, Pao grabbed a chocolate cake while Frankie and I gobbled a melon. We finally finished the night on a total of 30 plates of sushi, 3 miso soups, 3 beverages and cups and cups and cups of cold water.

Our pants buttons are about to pop out so we decided to leave, in consideration to Frankie's bus home while me and Pao, walked home slowly, trying to walk all the sushi we had on our bellies.

Today was a very, very busy day at work, and the night was well spent. Ordinary day well spent, if you ask me.

Ultimately Broke

It's 1 day before payday and I started my day with only 380yen coins on my pocket - the only money I have left. Nothing, as in no other source of income, my atm account cashed out.

So I started my day shopping for a 105yen onigiri (which has a 30yen discount tag), 105yen 500ml lipton lemon tea, 105yen oatmeal cookies - the entirety of my lunch meal which costs a devastating 285yen. (devastating on my current state of funds anyway).

So, how do I cope with my hunger at 9am in the morning? Iced coffee courtesy of our friendly office vending machine - costing me the last of my funds - 80yen.

With 15yen left on my pocket, I walked home, wondering what to do with dinner.

God is more merciful at dinner: I have a block of pork tenderloin in my freezer, so I resigned myself to cook bistek tagalog (which only needs onions, soy sauce and spices) as topping on bowl of oatmeal for dinner!

What's Sapporo without?

A visit to Sapporo (in Hokkaido, Japan) is nothing without its famous Sapporo ramen, readily available anywhere at the heart of the city.And of course, what's the use of visiting the city without ever taking a very short stop at the rather incomprehensible and famous Tokeidai (Clock Tower)?And of course, Sapporo is everything with Winter sports beginning with....... 1. The ski jump stadium!2. The ski lift! (First time I'm on it without any ski gear on)3. THE ski jump (this is the real thing.. ski jumpers flying on air! I even witnessed one of the guys rolling down from the middle of the hill downwards because of a bad landing... scarryyyy!) 4. Bobsleigh!!!! 5. Hockeyyyy!!!!I would say snow for all those sports, but it's summer. And even if it's summer, there are still ski jump activities (they use those artificial grass and spray them with water to make it slippery).

Today's my last vacation day.. I'm going back to the real world tomorrow on a midday flight to Tokyo.. I regret not able to visit the Ishiya Chocolate Factory (home of the Shiroi Koibito chocolates), with its recent scandal on chocolate expiration date issues (which apparently, is being falsified for the past 10 yrs) and not being able to visit Hakodate. I'll do just these on my last visit to this city before I go back home to RP.

At least I have another set of memories (and loads and loads of pictures!) to keep me happy for some time.

Romantic encounters of the third kind

With a little respite from the scorching heat these past few days, we spent our morning at home and then went on to a nice walk along Nakajima Koen, enjoying the scenery, taking pictures, and made a fool of ourselves by posing with the ducks and the crows. We had a grand time watching the ducks on the lake with our Betty in tow for its break-in.
After the rather embarrassing picture-taking moments at the park, we went shopping and then rested our feet while sampling a sumptuous dinner of sashimi, yakisoba and omelet fried rice. We topped off our evening with Ocean's 13 at the theaters. And yes, I had 2 popcorns sticking out of my shirt (right on top of my breasts, by the way, and they looked like nipples for God's sake!) when I walked out of the theater.... no wonder people were staring at me. Sooooo embarrassing!

An ordinary day... the kind of thing you do on a Saturday but then, ordinary days sometimes turns out to be the memorable ones, right?

Bright lights of Susukino at midnight

It took a lot of face for me to smile for a picture on the middle of the busiest district of Sapporo, especially at night - Susukino (aka Ropponggi of Sapporo). Oh well, since it's summer vacation and all, I'm not the only one trying to get a kick out of a picture in front of the famous Nikka Whiskey neon sign.

In fairness, we went walking around Susukino area starting around 7pm at night. Summer is soooo hot, so I spent most of the daylight keeping cool in Starbucks or while window-shopping at the numerous department stores around JR Sapporo station. We started the night with a sumptous pasta dinner at La Pausa and then bowling, arcade and a nightcap at nearby Mister Donut.

And, oh yeah, meet Betty.... named after our rafting guide (see previous post, the pretty lady in green shirt).

Sunburnt but happy

This year's summer vacation started with a difficult search for a flight to Sapporo, home of powdered snow. I managed to snag a flight and left last saturday night from Tokyo. Me and Bert started the night with a celebration of our 6th, with a bowl of Sinigang and some tarts to mark up the dinner.. very pinoy hehehe!

So off we go the next day on a skin-torching heat to a wonderful travel to Niseko for rafting. My face now screams SUNBURN and I can't seem to move without wincing in pain but who the hell cares? I had a great time. It was also my first time to meet Scots, as our guides apparently came from Scotland. Our group is quite big.. 9 of us from 1 family.. the 3 pinoys above obviously ampons of the family.

And I'm having brain seizures because "pag-ibig sa tinubuang lupa" is currently playing while writing this post.. I honestly don't know where Bert get these music.

jump!

6 years and counting....

6th year of dates....

The year 2007

Everytime the year hits august, I begin to think that the year is almost over. I know it's too early to look back at this time but this year not just marks the 29th year of my life but also a lot of important milestones.

This year, is my last year as a single woman and marks our 6th year together with my husband-to-be.

2007 is the year when 3 of my closest, dearest friends whom I love, got married: Tintin M to husband Ray-an, Tintin A to husband Andrew and then there's Jo to husband Robert.

2007 is the year Pilak girls once again reunited after almost 15 years of love and friendship, but with Carla relocating to Singapore.

I still have a lot more itsy bitsy tiny things that are as important as the big ones, but I think, I'll just reserve that for December.

Gosh, I miss home.