November 23, 2007 - Friday -- Happy Birthday darling!

A little rainy, but clearing later on.

I slept in very late this morning. It was still morning when I got up, but only just! I had a shower and then we planned what to do. We decided to eat out at one place, but it was closed, so we had to change plans. I suggested Moku-Moku, but on the way there we switched to the Grand Elson's restaurant. The Grand Elson is the place where we got married. They also have a little restaurant in the building. We went there and had a lovely lunch of roast duck with orange sauce. We started with some appetizers, then salad, hacksai soup and then the duck. It came with bread on the side and olive oil for dipping. It was really delicious.

After that, we visited the shop that one of my students runs. She was having a special day today. I didn't buy much though, just a tea-light candle that runs on batteries. It's very pretty, and I hope to use it sometime.

We picked up some munchies from the grocery store and then went home. We both did a bit of packing, and then finally got out on the road. We arrived at the hotel a little after 5. It's very interesting here. It's a cross between a ryokan and a business hotel I think! Our room is plain, but clean. It's a little spartan, but there's a gorgeous TV that we can't quite figure out how to work! I brought my computer and tonight watched 3 episodes of Heroes! I'm not sure my husband found that as enjoyable as I did though...he didn't get to watch it.

We had dinner at 6:30 and it was....okay. Fumihiko said he only requested the special offer course...not an expensive one, but frankly I was disappointed. Usually at ryokan there's so much food that we can't move afterwards, here, I was still hungry. The taste of the food was okay, but it wasn't fabulous. I could have eaten more although I'm not sure that I should! I didn't find the food as delicious as it is in most ryokans. Fumihiko didn't mind it though.

We came back up to our room and then Fumihiko went off for a bath. He came back and told me that the men's bathroom was empty and it might be a good time for me to go and have a bath. Well, it wasn't! It wasn't crowded or anything, but there were two other women there. Sigh. I'm still not into public nakedness. Anyway, I summoned up my nerve and took a bath. It was nice, but too hot for me! I do like to complain today, don't I?

When I came back to the room I started up my computer and did the watching of Heroes. Fumihiko watched some stuff on TV and drank his beer. Then, he fell asleep. He's still waking up everytime I make a noise, but basically he's out for the night. Poor thing.

Oh, I forgot, he got a haircut this morning. It was quite good. He didn't go back to his old brushcut look. I'm so glad as he looks older and more stern with his super-short hair.

I'm not sure if my husband had a good birthday or not. I think it was okay. He did seem pretty happy with the presents that I gave him though. He got some pretzels and chocolate, and also I gave him the special-special Rocky Balboa dvd set. It comes with a Rocky robe! Which fits him by the way. It's funny to see him wearing it! He didn't bring it on this trip.

So that's it for me for today. It was a pretty good day. Tomorrow I'm back to work for two classes. I hope they go well. I don't think I prepared enough for them, but hopefully I'll be okay.

Wish me luck! Got to go and catch some Zzzzzs. Breakfast is at 8:30am. Night night.