Monday, November 2, 2009

Halloween in Tokyo.. We're not in Kansas anymore


I apologize once again for my lack updates, but to be fair I'm full of excuses. I had a pretty rough cold for about a week, the direct result of spending 4 hours a day with toddlers at a preschool. I never thought one of my favorite jobs would involved getting coughed on, sneezed on, slobbered on, (today I even got peed on whilst diaper changing) BUT alas a little case of the sniffles is worth seeing how easy it is for me to make them smile.

So I spent my sick time eating lentil soup and watching the Alien Quadriligy. While I like to think I found a cure for the common cold that I can live with, I should probably admit that the mother of one of my students took pity on me and sent me home from a lesson one day with loads of cold medicine. I find that every time I travel I end up getting parented by proxy.

This is a very sick me eating my very delicious homemade lentil soup. That's right I cooked, successfully. No fires, no deaths, and you know what? other people that weren't me actually admitted that it tasted fabulous and went back for seconds. I can cook now! It's only taken 4.5 years living on my own to figure out how to feed myself.

Regardless I was healthy for Halloween, which is a "yay," considering it's my favorite holiday. Why? Because much to Winston's dismay Autumn is my favorite season (he enjoys the sweltering Summer heat that makes me wish I lived with penguins in the South Pole). Plus, I love carving pumpkins (and baking their yummy seeds), and on a side note I always crave candy corn in October. But only the the yellow/orange/white corn shaped ones. The pumpkins weird me out, which makes no sense because it's all nothing but corn syrup.

Now, I'm also a big fan of costumes. Halloween is the only day of the year wear it's socially acceptable to wear WHATEVER you want. This year, I decided to dress Winston and I as Star Fleet officers. Behold: Captain James T. Kirk and Leonard "Bones" McCoy of the Starship Enterprise...

We got loads of compliments on our costumes, and more than a few chuckles from foreign passer-bys. This surprised me, considering that al I did was spent $10 on some long sleeve shirts, color the collars with a Sharpie pen, smear dollar store glitter paint on some cardboard, and pull Winston and my black skinny jeans out of the closet. Whatayaknow, I'm resourceful.

So, our evening went a little epically something like this. Winston and I trained over to our friend Greg and Nicole's apartment. We ate lots of homemade salsa, guacamole, and had more than a few beers each. Did I mention that Greg and Nicole love me so much the actually bought me my own pumpkin to carve? Well, they did, and I consider myself quite lucky.

Behold, my pumpkin pride and joy.

Now, I'll admit my pumpkin is a bit toothy. To be fair i didn't have any official pumpkin carving tools, it was just a kitchen knife. However, me and my "one tooth wonder hillbilly" pumpkin look quite content.

I believe Nicole and I were discussing how being in the kitchen cooking together made us feel like "adults."

mmmmm. tomatoes

the fruits of our labor

After watching about 15 minutes of Saw, then the Candy Man, then Star Trek, we decided to head out for the evening. Now there are several reasons why I don't usually go out in Tokyo. The first is that the bars are too smokey. They second is that the bars are too crowded. The third is that a beer costs around $10 a piece. But on Halloween, exceptions must be made. Of course, our bar of choice was beyond crowded, so we grabbed a few corner store store beers, and stood on the street to watch the show.

Nicole, our "Naughty School Teacher" doing her best "mom face" That'd be her husband in the background =0)

she looked so darn cute in those glasses with that ruler.

Me, Nicole, and our friend Sachiko (who was an evil office lady)
This is Greg with his Japanese doppelganger. By far, Greg had the best costume of the night.

Minnies!

Buzz Lightyear to the rescue! Apparently Japan loves Disney.


zomygoodness! Robot!

Now, the next few pictures are all going to look the same, but I want you to notice how busy and crowded the streets are.




live long and prosper, or Nicole will beat you with her teacher stick.

Now, before drawing this lengthy post to a close, I'd like to show you all a "funny." Nicole is one of my dearest friends. We met at college, we ran around Europe together, and now we work together in Tokyo.

Now, this is Nicole and I dressed as a duck and a witch for our preschool's Halloween party:


And this is Nicole and I after hours, left to our own devices. We think we're pretty funny.




hope everyone had a happy Halloween!

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