Aaron's Day Off (Finally!)

Aaron and I finally shared a day off in common together!  This past Monday we were both free.  So what did we do?  We walked around downtown Sendai aimlessly.

Well, first, we both slept in.  Aaron was especially tired from a very long and hard work week.  But we both arrived in downtown Sendai by 12:30-1ish.  The first thing we did was grab some grub at our favorite sushi restaurant:  Umai Sushikan.  We both enjoyed our favorite order: aburi toro salmon.  Which is seared salmon on top of rice.  We followed that up with the regular orders of maguro (tuna).  I also tried some ama ebi (sweet shrimp).  Since living in Japan the last time, my taste for shrimp has gone out the window.  However, I remembered liking ama ebi in the past so I thought I'd try it again.  The result:  I still don't like shrimp.  Even if it's sweet.  I especially hated the texture and had to wash it down with coke afterwards.

But I made another discovery.  I tried something called the "crazy toro salmon."  What is it?  Well, it's a lot like the aburi toro salmon.  Seared salmon on top of rice, but this time coated in lots salt and PEPPER!  I love pepper.  And this is now my FAVORITE thing to get.  Must.  Get.  This.  Every.  Time.

Afterwards, we still weren't completely full but we were racking up quite a bill, so we got outta there.  We headed to H&M to finish my quest for decent fitting bras.  Once inside, it was nice to see some semi-American/western styled clothing for very cheap.  Definitely much more fashionable than Uni-Qlo, which is where I usually shop.  Unfortunately, no bras.  Pooh.  But the trip was not in vain.  Aaron found a pair of boxers and socks for very cheap and they were very nice.  The bad news is: I'm stuck wearing very uncomfortable/painful, useless Japanese bras that don't offer any coverage.

Inside a Japanese McDonald's.

Afterwards, we had a lot of time to kill, so we walked around looking for a Baskin Robbins.  Couldn't find it.  Instead, we ended up at a McDonalds.  Ordered a large fries and ice cream.  Unfortunately, I didn't care for their ice cream.  So sad... the one thing about McD's that I love: their soft serve.  But here, it's very milky and not so sweet.  Very disappointing.

After snacking and regretting it, we remembered we wanted to check out the International Center.  

We have been wanting to make some new Japanese friends.  Unfortunately, our schedules and jobs have prevented us from really doing this.  But this was our chance to look up people who were wanting to make some international friends.  We both took down some names and email addresses of some ppl.  We both emailed them, and so far, I've gotten a reply back!  Hopefully, things will work out for us.

We left the International Center hoping to catch a bus back, unfortunately, it was rush hour.  Every bus that came by (every 5 min) was jam packed with ppl.  We ended up walking the rest of the way, which was really not that bad anyway.  Once at Sendai Station, we hoped on a train bound for Yamagata.

Again, it was rush hour and we found ourselves standing for the first 20 minutes of the train ride.  But we were able to sit for the last remaining hour.  Now that it's summer and warm, everything is green.  And Yamagata is a very beautiful prefecture.  Along the way, we saw this very beautiful sunset overlooking the green rice fields.

This was taken from the train window.  It woulda been even more beautiful outside!

Once in Yamagata, we got what we came for.  Yamagata beef!  Oh yes... The place we went to before as all booked up, but we found a place next door that was cheaper.  It wasn't as good as the last place, but still amazingly good.  We ate so much that we ended up regretting afterwards.  But now that I've had a few days to recover, I'm ready for more!

We took the last train back to Sendai and I got back home at around 11pm.  It was a long day.  I was tired.  But it was really great to spend the whole day with Aaron for once.