12 June 2009

We didn’t have plans until after noon today again, so everyone told me to sleep in. I think they can tell that I’m pretty tired from all of my school work and travelling, so I didn’t mind taking advantage of the extra sleeping time. I set my alarm for 11:30am, and that’s exactly when I woke-up. As always, Miyo had brunch ready for everyone when I came downstairs. Today’s brunch consisted of new combinations from last night’s leftovers. Miyo is just so creative! She added a few other items as well to make it more like breakfast, such as sausages, fresh fruit, and inari sushi. I definitely got my fill of the good foods!
Just like yesterday, Toshio and Masaru had plans to take me further around Nagano. Miyo stayed at home again, presumably to rest and take care of chores around the house. I don’t think she is really interested in a lot of the museums and such that we visit. The first museum we visited was the Kitazawa Museum of Art. The featured exhibit was on Emile Galle, who is known for his glass works. It was really amazing. Next, we stopped at the Taizi Harada Art Museum. It housed many pieces of artwork that made you feel closer to home in Japan. Lastly, we visited the Glass Artware Museum. There was an extensive collection from Daum and Lalique, and I probably enjoyed these the most. Downstairs in the museum, there was also a large gift shop and glass blowing shop. It was just nice to look at all of the nice pieces. By the time we finished looking around the glass shop, Toshio wanted to take a coffee break. We sat down in the museum café, and he ordered coffee and cake for everyone, except I chose to have water instead of coffee. I had no idea what he got for me since I couldn’t read the menu at all. I ended up getting three sample squares of three different cakes, which all turned out to be very good. After finishing up our snack, we got in the car to head home since I was almost 4:30pm, and Masaru had offered to cook dinner. On the way back home, Toshio stopped at Mister Donut since Masaru told him that all Americans eat donuts, cake, and pie for snack at night. That is obviously not true, but Masaru thought I was being polite. Anyways, Toshio ended up buying me three donuts of my choice since he wouldn’t take no for an answer. We drove home afterward, and Masaru prepared dinner.
For dinner, Masaru made pork shabu shabu with lettuce, daikon, green sprouts, and sauces. This was also complemented by Miyo’s grilled shitake mushrooms, pickles, tomatoes, and miso soup. We had quite the choice of foods. I ate until I was full, then we had cantaloupe and apples for dessert. It amazes me that they always eat so healthily. The rest of the evening, I showed them my house and other relatives’ houses on Google Maps using street view. I also showed them some of my past projects and tried to explain the concept of 3D modeling. I’m pretty sure everything was over their head, but at least I tried since they were all curious. The language barrier seems to be increasingly frustrating, but I’m trying to make the best of it. I ate my donut for snack and drank the Fanta grape soda Miyo had gotten for me at the grocery store. I can’t help but laugh since they think I am such a fatty at night with my snacks. Oh well. Tomorrow they have plans to take me to a rose garden and some historic town, so I have to get up early since we plan to leave by 8:30am. That should be interesting. I’m hoping Miyo will come along too though since she hasn’t joined us on any of our outings yet, and I think it’d be really nice to spend some quality time with her as well.