COSTCO

The other day, I took a trip down to a familiar place, Costco! I was really excited to go for 2 reasons: 1) to be able to compare the Costco at home to one in a different country, and 2) to get some good old 'merican food!

And the most interesting part was....

It is EXACTLY the same as at home 0_0

Seriously, when you walk in the cafeteria is on the right and entrance on the left, then you walk by the TVs and computers, the clothes are in the middle, bakery and deli in the back, pharmacy on the opposite side...all the same! They even had lots of the same products (which I was happy about haha), of which I bought ciabatta rolls, tortilla chips, chicken ceaser salad, and more.

OK, this pizza is a little different. It's got shrimp on it and it was located next to  the sushi section!

Then of course, we stopped of to get some hot dogs.

Same dog and drink combo :)

The pineapple smoothie looked good

 

the taste of home~

Unfortunately, I had to carry two giant and extremely heavy bags home on the train with me...made me miss the Mountaineer. But I've been eatin' good since-

新年あけましておめでとう！

Happy 2013, everyone! I hope you all had a lovely time at home for the holidays. I wish I could have gone back, although I had a fine holiday as well.

School is out for the winter so I had almost 3 weeks away from work. I was really good to have a break since I was getting quite busy near the end there trying to finish up things before the break and organizing the Christmas party in the English Lounge.

Korean food with my coworkers

I got some good presents too, including socks (my favorite ;D), a Japanese novel, a loaf of whole wheat bread, and dryer balls. Presents came with decorations, too, so I got in the mood with some lights, tinsel, and a mini tree.

presents under the "tree"

REAL Thanksgiving dinner! All the way from home~

After Christmas I headed down to Yokohama to stay with my host family for a week. They really enjoyed the cookies I gave them. It was kind of a full house, since their daughter was visiting also, and they got another puppy since the last time I had seen them. I got to visit with them, eat a ton of good food, watch some Japanese TV, finish The Casual Vacancy, play with the pups, and sleep a lot!

amazingly delicious sukiyaki

me and Roy-kun

New Year's Day

I also went to Hatsumode, the first visit to a shrine in the new year. I pulled average luck :)

It's a good luck charm for the home attached to an arrow and with a snake ornament.

Hope you all had a good new year too!