Another weekend gone by

This weekend was interesting. It started off kind of slow, picked up again, and then slowed down. On Saturday, Natalie was under the weather so we just decided to kick it at home. Nothing much there, but it was nice to relax for a change. We seem to always be on a go, go, go pace.Sunday was a bit more eventful.

We started by going to Okayama and visiting Korakuen garden. It's supposed to be one of the 3 nicest gardens in all of Japan. Of course, this is all a matter of personal opinion but it's nice to have such a place in the city where I work. Needless to say, it was quite beautiful! Japanese gardens are so perfect. Every single tree, leaf, and hell even pebbles seem to be impeccably and deliberately placed. It's really crazy. Everything about it was perfect. All of the grass was a perfect shade of green. And there were also lots of Koi fish in the streams all around. I was really impressed by the sheer detail and work that must go into up keeping such a pristine garden. Of course, we've all seen pictures but you have to kind of just go. Anyways, Natalie and I really enjoyed ourselves. I'm excited to see more gardens in Japan and to see how they compare to Korakuen garden.

Afterwards, we spent the night eating and drinking with my coworkers. It was pretty fun. We went to a beer Garden, where you can drink and eat to your hearts content under the open sky for a few hours. I wish we had these in America. After our beer garden extravaganza, we all headed to Karaoke. Just the usual fun as always, well except for a few annoying things. All things aside, Natalie and I noticed that the first song some of the people sang was an Amy Winehouse song. We had no idea that she had passed away. I was never the biggest fan but it's always sad to hear about talented people going down the drain like that. Best wishes to her family.

This brings me to another thought. It's about the disconnect with your home country that one feels  when staying abroad. Your new country becomes your reality even though you're not really a citizen and native. What I mean is that I have no freaking clue what's going on back home. When I'm in America, I hear and see all of these horror stories in the newspaper and in the news. It's really freaky and scary. However, when I'm here, it seems like nothing matters back home aside from the well being of my family and friends. Seriously, Natalie and I decided to read the news the past few days and right off the bat, it goes like this: 87 people massacred in Norway, Amy Winehouse deceased, and America is about to default on it's loans (causing a worldwide economic catastrophe). Does anything ever happen that's good in America ( and the world)?

All of this being said, it's nice to be oblivious to all of the negativity. Things to look forward to: The beach  next weekend! Gonna try to report on how my battle with Japanese children is going in the meantime.