Moisture Dessert

We are in Tokyo and having a great time. Most of the time when I travel abroad, I learn some of the language in advance so that I will not sound ignorant. (By the way, I cannot use contractions while writing this post because I cannot find the apostrophe key on the keyboard) - but in Japan I am surviving by pointing at things and speaking English (loudly - if you talk louder, everyone knows non-English speakers will understand you)

This morning I turned on the television in the guest lounge at our Ryokan (traditional Japanese inn) and I asked Superman, "Why am I turning up the volume? I can't (found it!!!!!) understand anything they are saying anyway?"

You would be proud of me - I am being a true writer - carrying my journal everywhere and writing down every little detail so I can remember to share it all on Hot Toddy's Toaster Oven. (thank god i found the apostrophe before i tried to write my blog title - otherwise I would have had to type "The Toaster Oven Belonging to Hot Toddy")

Last night we went to a 7-11 (here they are called 7 and i Holdings - no idea why) and we all bought unidentifiable snacks and drinks and passed them around. I bought something called a Vodka Burn and it turned out to be basically a Vodka Red Bull (you can buy liquor at convenience stores - this place is paradise!!) and Devo bought something called "Moisture Dessert". After the gcb tried it, he said, "that tastes horrible" - to which I replied, "It is called 'Moisture Dessert' - what did you expect it would taste like? You can't expect a product called moisture dessert to be tasty, can you?" We decided that the words "moisture" and "dessert" really shouldn't ever be used together.

Metro is amazing. He can pop off all these Japanese phrases like it's no big deal. I am so proud of him - and thanks to his efforts we won't starve. I mean, I can always point at the menu and speak loudly in English, but it is nice to have a backup plan.