A lot of work... and a lot of food

We worked long on Wednesday, until almost midnight. But we always started late the day, around 10 am (Here people sldom come to work before 10). And we always went out for lunch. Our Japanese hosts took us every day to a different restaurant, trying out a new type of food each time.

So on Wednesday we ate some Tempura (てんぷら), a kind of a deep-fried fish and sea food (squid, eel, crab, shrimps). Unfortunately I have no picture of that (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tempura).

On Thursday we had Okonomiyaki (お好み焼き) a savoury pancake with various ingredients (mine was with squid) - see the pictures. More about it: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okonomiyaki

The mirror that never gets wet

Genial invention: After I took a shower I was surprised to see a rectangle on my bathroom mirror which seemed to not get wet at all by the steam. I guess it is heated or something... Really cool!

Smoking on the street is prohibited

The Hotel

Checked-in at Hotel Keio Plaza, next to Shinjuku station. The hotel (first picture) is a 45-floor building, myself staying on the 19th floor.

The second picture is the view from my window, the building is the Metropolitan Government Office.

By the way, the toilet bowl is electronic! It can was your butt, and afterwards spray it ;-) Haven't used yet those features!

Konnichiwa from Japan

The flight was one and a half hour shorter due to some strong tailwind. I have not slept at all, and I still have the whole day ahead. On the runway after landing the welcome message was "Down with Narita airport". The Japanese are famous for their interesting translations into English. More to come ;-) Here is a picture from inside the Narita airport.

Back in Finland

After one day in Bucharest (38 degrees hot, one movie - Cassandra's dream - and some short shopping), we are now back in Finland: 11 degrees in the evening when we arrived, only about 18 promised during the day... Well it feels good though to be back here.

Monday shopping and saying good-bye

On Monday we spent the morning shopping: we bought the gifts for the ones in Finland. In the afternoon we visited grnadma again and then said good-bye to Andrei-Luca and the rest. My father saw us off to the railway station... a night ahead in a sleeping car to Bucharest and then a day in the capital before returning to Finland.

Bye-bye Satu Mare!

A grilling trip on Sunday

On Sunday, we went on a trip 45 km from Satu Mare in Valea Mariei. We were some 15 people there, family mostly, cousins, uncles and aunts, nephews and so on. Not too hot, just perfect for a summer day out. In the evening we went bowling with Darie, Lucian and Raluca.

More playing with Andrei-Luca

We spent almost the whole Saturday in the company of Andrei-Luca, my nephew. We played with him and also took a walk with him in the pram through the park in center of Satu Mare. He was so curious about everything, looking around all the time... watching the birds, the fountains, the flowers, the people around...

Visiting grandma

After Andrei-Luca has entertained us on Friday morning, in the afternoon we visited grandma in Hrip, a village 15km from Satu Mare. We picked some plums. This year the plum crop was outstandingly rich, the trees were overloaded.






I also found an older picture of mine since the times I was a student and wearing beard. During those times, once traveling by train, the conductor in the train thought the reason for my half price ticket was me being "retired"...