more sightseeing!

Today we interns and Kubo-san of Saitama City's business department went to a festival, an Edo-style town called Kawagoe-shi (which is where Bushu Gas, the company I'll be working at, is located), and ate at Mexican restaurant "Casa de Rafa." I also finally got a prepaid phone all on my own!

The flower festival, which celebrated the marigold-like safflowers, was interesting. Apparently, safflowers not only look pretty, but can be used to produce oils for cooking and lip gloss. We didn't spend a lot of time here, but we took a few pictures as we walked through a field of safflowers and then had noodles for lunch.

After the festival, we went to Kawagoe-shi. We went to a museum that explained Kawagoe's annual festival, which is on July 26th-27th, and visited a few of the shops around there. Kawagoe has a *lot* of candy shops, so we got to see lots of cool Japanese candies. It was ridiculously hot out, so we stopped to have some "ice candy"--ice cream candy that is essentially a popsicle. Our flavor choices were truly Japanese: red bean, green tea, milk and pumpkin. I chose pumpkin and it was *really* tasty. Aside from the candy shops, we saw a store full of these incredibly creative wooden toys and a 1,000en (about $10) shop. We also saw the town's belltower, old brewery, and many signs for the Japanese TV drama, Tsubasa, which takes place in Kawagoe, or at least a town like it. We also saw NHK mascot Domo-kun and got a picture with him.

Dinner was interesting and consisted of a few courses. First was chips and salsa. Then was cheese-covered chips (so nachos, I guess), and then a salad that we were supposed to roll into tortillas. Next was a selection of beans, chicken, cheese and lettuce that we also rolled into tortillas for soft tacos. THEN was the Mexican rice. Finally, there was the tiniest, most dainty scoop of vanilla ice cream with mint leaves for dessert. Crazy take on Mexican food.

My Japanese seems to be returning pretty quickly. Because Kubo-san was with us for all but one hour from 9:30-8:00, we talked a lot. We stuck to pretty simple subjects most of the time, but also had a few more difficult conversations (i.e. about illegal immigration in America and Japan). Kubo-san has been spending a lot of time with us recently and must really have a heart of gold to keep entertaining and taking care of us gaijin. I'm trying to keep a list of new words I learn in a small notebook, so hopefully I can make that a habit.

That's all for now. I'm beat. Jet lag is still getting me down. >< Hopefully I'll remember to unload and add some pictures later.