an eventful Friday lunch hour

During lunch break today I went home again. Since Monday this week, I've been returning home during lunch hour to cook my lunch and save money in the process. I also go home to make the most out of my host's fabulous kitchen (a really cool kitchen--roomy, well stocked, and has all the appliances and utensils and gadgets) which I have only until the end of the month to enjoy.

But lunch break today was a bit different. I had company. First, my host Kei-san came. I think he was a bit surprised to see me. But I don't think he minded seeing me. We exchanged a few words then he left soon after.

Right after Kei-san was gone, another visitor came. It was Kei-san's mom. I was really surprised. And apparently, Kei-san's mom was too. I can tell because she asked lots of questions. The difficult part was her questions were in Japanese. Thankfully I was able to understand her (I think), but I had to speak in Japanese as well. And it wasn't easy at all to do. My unprepared mind was almost in panic scouring for vocabulary words from my past Japanese lessons. At one point a few moments upon first stumbling upon each other, she asked when I arrived. But instead of saying the Japanese for Tuesday (Kayoubi), I blurted out Mokuyoubi, or Thursday.

When Kei-san's mom left a few minutes later, I made a mental slap of my head when I remembered that Tuesday is Kayoubi. Now I misinformed her. Sorry about that. I really have to step up learning the Japanese language.

Perfect Timing

Not really. Still, it was a nice photo, don't you think so?

This one was taken this last weekend (May 21) at the Shinjuku Gyoen park. It was a huge garden, and a major attraction for photographers because of the many colorful flowers in the Frech formal garden area. I have no pictures because my camera's not working and only during the day this picture was taken that it was brought to the store to be repaired. =(

But that didn't stop me from enjoying the place. It was as closest to nature as I can get, and a great place for a jump shot!

Eating and jogging and eating

To ease the guilty feeling brought about by eating piaya and caycay at the office, I went jogging this evening, my first official jog here in Japan not counting the running spurts that I have done on my way to work in the past week to avoid being late. Jogged for around 43 minutes around the area where I'm staying right now, which is in Tama City, Tokyo. The place is great for jogging. The weather is cool and there's ample space for pedestrians by the roadside and also walking pathways beside the river. I went towards the side of the city I wasn't familiar with, and stumbled upon the Nagayama train station, which I've been to before once, but I reached it by bus. I explored the area and then turned back to go home.

When I got home, I had lettuce salad in olive oil and tortang talong cooked sans cooking oil.