Yakiniku with Tongans!

I have been favoring the photo journal type blogging of late--I think it is much more interesting. If you do not agree, let me know! Otherwise, enjoy! :P

Thursday was a holiday and so I spent the day with my dear Tongan friends, the Fifitas.
Just as a reminder--I met Api at the Interac Office I sometimes work at.
Upon discovering that I was also LDS and that I also live in Fuchu, Api pretty much made me family.

We had a lot of fun watching a video of her sister in BYU Hawaii's evening show performance, "The Breath of Life" and the kids had fun snuggling up to me! I loved it!!

Around five we went out for dinner--real Yakiniku!!!! It was soooooooooo amazing.

First you take off your shoes!! They had tatami mats in the restaurant! How cool!

You grill your own meat...it is soo awesome!

Her children speak mostly Tongan and Japanese! I don't remember her daughers' names, but I remember the son is Kiseki! Darling kids :)

Bro. Fifita is a pro rugby player! Cool eh?

Glorious Food

Meat! I never buy meat, so this was a nice treat!

We ate soooooooooooooooooo much.

I gave up.

Kiseiki did too...he mostly just played with the shoe boxes! He is three years old.

Yeah, I love this kid.

And these girls!! Plus one more daugther (who is on the other side of the table).

They are soo cute and fun! The oldest is only nine!

How could you not love him?? The name Kiseki is Japanese for "miracle".

Somehow we managed to have room for dessert!! Luckily Japanese serving sizes are much smaller than in America.

I had a lovely day and am soo appreciative for such wonderful friends :).

A Moonlit Walk...through the GRAVEYARD!

Saturday mornings Brooke is very lazy and likes to sleep in. However, after talking to her mom until like 5pm (1am mom's time), she decided she did need to leave the house. So Brooke decided to go on a "short" walk...HA! Heading down a street she'd never been down before, Brooke notices that the light is starting to fade quickly.

Phase One: Quick Walk through the Neighborhood

There was this super shweet looking house!

Phase Two: The Graveyard

As I was winding my way through the residential area I stumbled upon the super huge graveyard I live by! And since I didn't quite remember the way I had come, I decided to go through the graveyard (since I'd done that before). The only problem was the receding daylight...

The Graveyard....well, the first part anyway.

It is actually a great place to see older-Japanese style architecture.



These pictures are pretty much self-explanatory. Enjoy the creepiness.

I did.

I thought this looked kinda cool.

Hehehe :)

Doesn't that just inspire fear??

It did for me! It was also really really cold. Thus the two jackets plus hat.

The winding path of DOOM! Well, not really, but it kinda looks creepy eh?

Stay away from the light!!! Muahaha.
Yeah, I definitely had way too much fun with that!

On the first part of my walk--during phase one!--I found an orange tree..and these had just fallen off...so.... :) Free fruit!

Yeah, I was pretty tired afterwards....hehe. But it was much fun!

More later!

Oops! I forgot the cosmetic/hygiene section!!

Gee whiz!

Here are the last two pictures I wanted to post--they are pretty good ones too!

I do believe this to be a brand of soap...hmmm.

Moisture Ambassador to the RESCUE!

Ok, I'm done for reals this time!

Lots of love,

Brooke

Shopping In Japan

I had to do some shopping this week and luckily I had my camera in hand!

Part I--The Grocery Store!

Baking Goods

The packages are soo tiny!! Chocolate chips cost like two bucks!


Citric Acid...hmmm.

Yay for Disney!

There are soo many different sauces...and I can't read what most of them are :(.

Maple syrup...soo expensive here!
(that is like almost $11 for that)

Peanut butter is also expensive...sadness.

Part II--The Department Store

Japanese department stores are not the same as American ones, not at all. Most department stores are at least five levels. Either the ground or basement level is a grocery store! It is pretty sweet! So you can get all you shopping done in one place which is pretty handy.

Itoyokado's are pretty much the best!

So the Valentine's Day gifts were what caught my eye here!!

Choco-aids!! How cute :)
"Everyone likes Fun & Delicious Milk Chocolate. Let's have a Special Time!"...lol.

I soooooo wish I could read the Japanese on this!!!!!!!!

Pretty much everyone smokes here...so I was tempted to replace a few friends smokes with chocolate ones...hehehehe.


The Japanese on the left says "dokidoki", "harahara", "uruuru" and "irairani". Those are onomatopoeias for "beating fast", "heart going pit-a-pat", etc.

Seriously, Asia has some kind of obsession with poop...yep.

These were just kind of cute!
Various chocolate goods disguised as health care items.

Well, all for now!

Later!

BBQs and Purikura Happiness

Saturday dawned bright and cheery--the perfect day for a BBQ!!!

My awesome Chinese friend, Keyu, invited me to a BBQ at the church with the missionaries and pretty much anyone who wanted to come. It was soo awesome!!! I ate a hot dog--on a BUN!! With Heinz RELISH! WOW! They also had burgers, but I was pretty satisfied with my hot dog. It was pretty flipping awesome--hahaha, no pun intended, but I will run with this one!

And it gets better, much better!! For after our BBQ goodness we made S'MORES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! With graham crackers and HERSHEY'S chocolate bars...did I die and go to heaven?? Pretty sure. The best part was that we roasted our mallows on chopsticks!!! How awesome is that???

These are my awesome friends, Shizuka-san and Kaori-san! They are pretty much the sweetest girls you will ever ever ever meet! Japanese church members are soo amazing!! Japanese people in general are awesome, but together with the pure love of Christ, and well, things just turn out amazing!

Have I told you guys lately how much I adore the Kichijoji ward??? 'Cause I do, A LOT!!!!! They have really been there for me and I feel soo at home among them. It is pretty much the best thing EVER! I have been really blessed since I've come to Japan. The Lord has given me such amazing friends--wonderful friends back home that support me with their sweet e-mails and comments, and great friends here!

ANYWAYS, enough of that mushy stuff! After the BBQ, I was re-introduced to PURIKURA!!!! I say re-introduced, because during my year in Taiwan, I spent quite a lot of time in those picture booths with my Taiwanese classmates. Funny, they were in Japanese there too! Japan is the homeland of the amazing picture booth that not only enhances your appearance, but also allows you to decorate the crud out of the pictures before printing! There is quite an art to it actually.

Behold, the awesomeness of the PURIKURA:

This picture is now the background on my cellphone!

Aren't we just too cute??? <3

Yeah, so this Purikura makes your cheeks "rosy"--which makes mine REALLY rosy :P White chicks, geez.

I just have a weird face; what more can I say?? :P

Aw, the hand-heart thing--soo precious!!!

Smiles for EVERYONE!!!

Well, that about wraps it up for now!! Love ya all!