Thanksgiving Dinner

Friday night we had a bit delayed Thanksgiving feast with a few of our friends. We threw down the usual Turkey, Potatoes n Gravy, Noodles, Stuffing, Green Bean Casarole, and other many goodies brought by our guests. Of course it was all washed down with plenty of cold beverages and a few rounds of darts until Saturday morning was well upon us. It was also our neighbors son Tora's 2nd birthday and we even managed a chorus of Happy Birthday for him. There are a few more pics in the Flickr folder.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8953511@N05/sets/72157610350759181/

Time in Japan is flying by us very quickly.............

Our time here is sweeping by very quickly. November was a month filled with the usual fare of work, birthday and sayonara parties, cookouts, Thursday Night Darts, and we managed to catch The Who concert in Omiya at the Saitama Super Arena(yes those fossils are still rockin). Today puts us at 6 months before we return to home unless i receive some form of extension request from the company, its both sad and unbelievable that within 60 days we will begin making shipping and travel arrangements. We still have quite a bit to do both at work and on a personal level so stay tuned as we try to squeeze in a few more interesting events and trips to blog about. There is is a folder of random pics from the month of November in Flickr.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/8953511@N05/sets/72157610349472809/

The Utsunomiya Gyoza Statue Lives

Last night while passing through the Eki we noticed the Gyoza had been repaired and placed in its new home on the West side. It was dark out but the seam was clearly visible where it had been "epoxied" back together. This is a low quality picture at night time from a cell phone but you can still see the crack. As famous as the Gyoza is and as much play as the doofuses breaking it got we felt they could have done a better job of fixing it or just given it a proper burial instead.

2008 Halloween Party

This years event hosted by the Quebec contingent was held at Bar Penni Rain, It was really a great time and once again several of the 140+ people in attendance really went all out on thier costumes. More pictures in the Flickr Folders.

Charlene and Rita visit

Last week we were visited by my mother and her traveling pal Rita. They stayed for 11 days and visited all of our favorite Utsunomiya haunts and local sightseeing spots like Nikko and Mashiko. We were able to introduce them to many of our freinds and give them a taste of expat living. We finished out the week with a day of wine "tasting" at at CoCos and finished with a couple of days in Tokyo. We enjoyed really thier company and hope we were able to provide them with a memorable trip.

Sayonara Pat

Saturday marked a yet another Sayonara for friend, Pat Ellison who departs for home this week. The party was held at Plus Cafe which was a very nice gathering spot. Of course a second party at Iceman, and I am not sure where it went after that or if such things can/should be documented for future reference. Anyhow Heather and I brought along my visiting Mom and friend Rita and they seemed to really enjoy the gathering and meeting many of our friends, who of course were in fine form as the evening rolled along.
As you can see by the large qty. of photos I am posting, someone was obviously asleep at the camera, but I wont point any fingers. If anyone has a few extra pics they could throw our way we would appreciate to have and post them.
Good Luck Pat and see you soon.

Motegi MotoGP 08

This weekend brought MotoGP to town and a couple of friends from back home made the journey to Japan to join us for the race. It was a great 5 days with a little sightseeing around Tochigi, the track Friday Saturday, and Sunday, and of course plenty of beer drinking and BS'ing through it all. As far as the race goes we were happy that we were able to witness Rossi clenching the championship as he pretty much dominated from the get go. We would have like to have seen our man Nicky Hayden hit the podium but 5th was the best he could muster. Not a bad result considering the rest of his season and all of the drama surrounding his "team" and HRC.
We really had a great time visiting with Matt and Scott(yes, those would be original KFC buckets), and I believe it made us realize for a few days just how far away home really is.
Hopefully we were able to make their Japan experience a good one, as for most people the cultural difference can seem a bit strange at times.
Here are as always a few more pics in the Flickr folder, with full credit going to my man Yujii Ishihara for the bike action photos: Click for more Pics