On Monday and Tuesday the most exciting thing I did was go running in the afternoon and catch up on errands. But even those uneventful days in Japan are pretty fun when I get to spend them with the family. I can talk to the girls as we all lay around on the couch doing nothing at night. Or I can hang with Mama in the afternoons when we are both home and talk about random things like why I`m still single and how she decided to name one of her girls after a girl she admired from an anime as a little girl.
I went to the temple for the first time with Mama and Momo. Our guide was this cute little old Japanese man who was extremely friendly and loved asking questions to which I did not know how to answer in Japanese, but it was still fantastic.
On Wednesday I went to dinner with a lady I knew from the ward two years ago (Irie family). I ran into her at church a few weeks ago and we decided to do something when I came back froｍ Yuzawa. It turned into a family affair so I went with the Tsujimotos and we had a nice time eating dinner with them. I talked to Kisetsu quite a lot about everyone at Mikuni since she and I were both there recently, and I learned that Kazuki (this beat boxing amigo) is her cousin! Small world.
On Thursday I had the morning to myself to be productive and the evening to go eat okonomiyaki!!! This is Karin and I biking to go meet her friend for dinner. We decided to bike by the river, and it was beautiful. Karin is so fun to hang out with. I`m lucky I got to meet her this time around since she was on her mission before. Plus she introduced me to Ayumi who is also way fun. The three of us ate dinner and sat and talked for at least 2 hours (which is saying something for me since it was all in Japanese.)I was pretty happy while we talked because Karin told me that her family is pretty shy, which surprised me. Then she told me that they must just feel really comfortable around me so I don`t even get to see their shy side. I guess it`s just nice to feel like part of the family.
On Friday I decided to go meet up with Sister Takahashi-another friend from the ward 2 years ago. We decided to meet at the temple, since it is fairly close to her house. Unluckily for me, I actually did not remember exactly how to get there. Luckily for me, it was close to a sushi place that I could ask around for. Turns out living in Japan is way easier when you can actually speak the language. (2 years ago was a valiant but poor attempt at Japanese-ing.) 
Anyway, eventually I did find the temple and Sister Takahashi. She took me to one of her favorite ramen places, and it`s her favorite for a reason. After eating we went back to her house and talked for about an hour and a half. She told me that her kids wanted to play when they got home from school so once they arrived the three of us went to the park. They are so stinking cute. It makes me want to have Japanese children of my own. Just look at them.
We saw the sights and took the expected, poorly-lighted photograph at the top here and then we were on our way down again.
In the car we rocked out to K-Pop, naturally. And then everyone was in a k-pop mood, so a dance party happened. In the middle of this I was trying to figure out plans for tomorrow with Natasha and Anna. (Not having a cell phone once we leave the house means we always have to be extremely well planned out before trying to successfully do anything.)
(Enjoy this night view of Sapporo.)
We started the day out Saturday by going to Sakura`s school festival. This was a dream of mine growing up-but I never went to a Japanese high school (I don`t want to talk about it. It`s still a sore spot of mine. :p) and we don`t have these here, so naturally the three of us had to go crash Sakura`s. But don`t worry-it was completely normal. So normal you might have trouble finding us in this photo-we are the ones with the awkward red badges that scream *we don`t belong* since everyone else had a different colored badge. Thanks for that, school people.
It was pretty fun to be here even if I was about 8 years too late to be living out this dream. Anyway, Anna and Natasha weren`t feeling too hot so we ended up leaving before the end (I forgot how loud a high school full of screaming teenagers can be.) We decided to go around some fun places for one last time together, which is how I found myself at Odor
i park again, this time with my shoes off. A refreshing change, I`ll admit.
We had the chance to admire Susukino all decorated for the summer festival. (Although since the festival hasn`t started yet, there`s always the chance it will get even more hard core.)
And I`m not sure how this happened, but we found Mario, Luigi, and the whole Mario Cart crew so we took pictures. That`s a normal reaction to seeing your childhood brought to life. What was unexpected was having Luigi gesture us over to take pictures together. (He told me to sit in his seat, and I would be lying if I said I didn`t have to fight a serious temptation to complete a lap of my own.)
There was also this random street drum perfor-mance happening for which we had to stop and watch. (And by watch I mean rock out to.) Turns out Odori is a pretty happening place. We even decided to go get okonomiyaki again (I know. I know. I have a problem.) And while we were walking around JR Tower there was a slight black out in the area where a bunch of restaurants are. Everyone seemed really confused about what to do with themselves since computers were down. Waiters and chefs were awkwardly standing by doors possibly waiting for someone to tell them how to handle the situation. Luckily, Natasha, Anna, and I knew just what to do. And that`s to take a picture!
I had to hurry home once we parted ways because I was running a little late to greet Papa (who has been in Tokyo.) This seemed like as good a time as any to get lost on my way home. In my defense though, I had never come home from that station before. Anyway, thanks to all my running I was able to recognize the area and figure things out pretty quickly with only a 15 minute delay. We went to the temple again as a family that night and then out to eat.I may have a slight problem with creeper pictures, but it`s okay because acknowledging it is the first step. (The first step to taking more effective creeper shots? Maybe.)
Dinner was delicious and having everyone to talk to was even better. Saying goodbye is a bit of a damper though.
I was finally getting Keia to warm up to me and I had to say goodbye. And by warm up I mean that she always calls me Kora instead of Rora (my Japanese name to substitute for their lack of L`s.) But anyway, she really did like me despite her slightly hesitant look here in the photo. She`s half Japanese and half Indian. Further proving my point that half Japanese children are adorable and that I need one. Enough said.
Today, Monday, is my last day in Sapporo and I spent it finishing last minute errands. I leave for Tokyo tomorrow and Paris the day after. I was able to spend a bit of quality time with Sakura. I went to Momo`s band concert. Luckily I have so much free time to go since the rest of the family was busy.
It`s kind o fhard to tell, but she is the one right above the guy with the weird twisted overalls head. She is playing the flute. When I waved at her at the end as she walked by with her classmates, she quickly avoided eye contact. Nailed it. I considered calling out her name to embarrass her further, but decided against it. (Just for the record, she wanted me to come.)
Goodbye Mama, Papa, and Sapporo.
Hello Tokyo and Paris!
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