lunch with Ken and Kato-sensei

I got to Odaiba before them. Then we walked around a couple malls and looked at a bridge and a fake statue of libery. In the second mall, called Venus Fort, the whole thing was done up like an italian streetscape and the ceiling was domed and had clouds and was illuminated to make it seem like dusk. It was very pretty. We ate at a hawaiian place that was tasty - we split a hamburger, a chicken burrito and a bowl of taco rice (rice with chicken taco meat, lettuce, tomato and a soft boiled egg stirred together). It was very tasty. Then we went to Asakusa and walked around there and looked at the temple (the picture of me is in front of the second gate, which has had white plastic and scaffolding around it every time I have been there before today, it has an obviously fresh paint job now) and the shops and I had ice cream (thank you, Ken!!!) and then to Kappabashi and looked at the fake food stores. I went home and Kato-sensei went with Ken to Akihabara to help him find his new hotel. It was really crowded on the first train back, but the second one was not so bad. I have to say, though, it was awfully nice to sit on my bike to ride back home. We went in a shoe store and they did have one shelf of some rather ugly sandals, but they were "LL" size, so I decided to try them... I guess my foot is not a 25-25.5 since they were all comically too small. Not only was my foot about an inch longer than them, it was noticably wider too. I give up. Kato looked kind of shocked that my feet were bigger than the biggest shoes. I'll just wear the ones I already have and patiently (hah) wait to be home where I could put on a different pair of shoes every time I leave the house for a week. Even just to check the mail or bring in the laundry. I miss my zillions of shoes... although I am sure my parents don't miss tripping over a mound of shoes by the door constantly very much.

Anyways, I have very good timing - today for dinner I had a hamburger (that was finally still a bit pink in the middle!!!) and a salad (big lunch and ice cream) and I finished both the head of lettuce and the bottle of salad dressing! Now I just need to work on eating all that ramen... I made it the other day and rinsed it and sprinkled half the seasoning on the cooled (and less oily after the thorough rinsing) noodles and that was really good. It's almost too hot to eat a steaming bowl of soup. I am saving my last box of cereal to eat in July. So pretty much the food situation is under control.