Am I in America?

I haven't really felt as though I actually live in Japan this entire time I've been here. Today is a great example of how I could've pretty much been in America. I had the MOST American day ever. It all started in our failed attempt to train to COSTCO in Chiba...near Tokyo. Apparently there's something going on in Tokyo today which would've made training impossible. Thus, we decided to go to the Sano Outlet Mall instead. I could only window shop as I need to really learn how to budget my money with things I NEED vs. things I WANT. Still in the learning process...

Anyway, we get to Sano (thanks to Emily for driving!) and the first thing we do is go to the food court. I just spoke to my sister on the phone yesterday and she asked why my blog entries are all about food. Um...they just are? If you have a problem with it, then stop reading my blog! Haha. So back to my day...hmm. Oh yes, we get to the food court and what do we choose to eat?? McDonald's!! That's right...how much more AMERICAN can we get? It wasn't just us though, the entire outlet mall seemed to try to cater to Americans...or Japanese shoppers in America. First of all, it looked almost exactly like the outlet malls back in San Diego...just bigger...and with like a western look? I dunno. Oh yeah, and they actually had FREE water at the food court. Lemme tell you...that's just unheard of in Japan. NOT the free part...just the fact that there was water to be had. I'm serious. They were also playing American English songs everywhere we walked. All the stores they had, ie) Adidas, BOSE, Coach, Diesel, Nine West, etc...pretty much you can find at the outlet stores in America. It's like...they knew we were coming? So yeah, other than the fact that everybody was Asian, it was like we were back at home. Um...wait a sec. I mean, it's exactly as if we were in an outlet mall in LA! Hahaha.

I came out of the shopping trip empty-handed, as did Jeff, and Emily sorta. But that's okay...Ann made up for our lack of purchases. I do have to give her credit though for not spending $1000. Good job! Hehe. Anyway, we went to Mr. Max to pick up some stuff afterwards. Mr. Max is a cross between Target and Walmart. Uh yeah, I TOLD you we had an all-American day. Haha. It was cool but my purchases were soo boring. I do love them dorai petto! Hehe. We also visited the hyaku yen store but it was soo big that we were overwhelmed. After that, we had tacos for dinner. Um, are we in Japan or in San Diego? Really. Well, I do have to say that they were the most interesting "tacos" I've ever had. Kalbi w/ corn, lettuce, tomatoes in a pita? It was good but I'm not too sure about the taco part. Yeaah.

Now I'm home. The rain just stopped and I hope it doesn't come back...at least not with thunder. I hate thunder. Lightning...that's fine. I also had my green tea so I'm happy. I'm just thinking...Tokyo Disney is in less than a week! Woohoo! Space Mountain, here I come! Hehe.

Thought of the day:

Lemme get back to this one. I'm too tired to think of anything.