WorldWideKittyGlassesProject : September 2017

Monday, September 25, 2017

Xanti's Birthday (kanagawa, japan)

My wonderful friend, Jaydine, of 7 years lives very close to me by chance. We met in the Philippines on my second trip there. Her son, Xanti, turned 5 yesterday (September 25th). She had a surprise party for him and invited her family and close friends. The surprise worked! Then everyone wanted to take a photo of Xanti blowing out the candle on his cake, but he wasn't having it. He kept blowing out the candle whenever he felt like it, it was so cute. There were lots of food and the ice cream cake was good. However, my favorite thing was the buko (young coconut) salad. A traditional Filipino dessert that was great on the humid day. Since I was the only non-Filipino there was a lot of Tagalog being spoken, so I think I'm learning a bit just by listening, haha! Xanti loves the cartoon Cars and really wanted to play the video game, so I was the token adult to play with him and the other little one. It was a fun night filled with food and great company. Happy Birthday Xanti!!!!!!

the big 5!

surprise!!!!

no grandma!!

not wanting to pose for pictures

just wants to eat

ladies

early birds

let's eat!

now everyone is together!! Happy birthday Xanti!

Birthday Boy!!! Philippines 8480

look at that concentration

Philippines

Philippines 8484

Sunday, September 24, 2017

Back in Japan!

After a wonderful summer vacation in Europe, I needed to get back to work in Japan. I was lucky enough to be placed in the same apartment as I was in last semester. The difference in weather from the Czech Republic to Japan has been really nice. Its nice that I do not need to heat my place and that I do feel the heating on while traveling on public transportation. At the orientation for work I saw a lot of familiar faces and there were some new faces. After orientation we all went out for drinks at Canal Cafe and then made our way to Shibuya. I really wanted to watch the sumo finals today, but unfortunately I wasn't able to find anyone who wanted to wait with me super early in the morning for the tickets. I'll just have to go next May. I should've taken more photos last night, but I forgot. Anyways, thanks to those whose photos I got. Have a great semester!!

Australia

USA

England 8475

USA

England

England 8479

Monday, September 18, 2017

Beer Drinking Competition Prague, Czech Republic

On Saturday, I went to a Vinobrani to get some delicious burčák. Then it started to rain, so I decided to check out the couchsurfing event that was planned for the day. I was questioning if it was a real event because the organizer didnt do a good job communicating with people who were interested in the event on the event page. Since I was in the area, I thought I would see it it was real. As soon I got to the bar, the organizer greeted me and told me to wait with the other couchsurfers. I asked if they knew what was going on and they didn't have a clue. We waited as more people came and were still confused. There were about 20 of us and the organizer gave us all numbers, then she randomly picked 5 numbers. I was number 2 and I was chosen third. After the numbers were decided we had to move to another room where there was a table with 6 chairs lined up, a camera set, and two lights on the sides. The 5, which turned to 6 of us were told to sit in the seats. Then the organizer told us that we had to drink the first beer as quick as possible or eat the cake that was in front of us. I got third place, but the organizer didn't even check who won, she asked us who won. It was very unorganized. Then she told us that in the cake there was mustard. The next round we again had to choose to either drink the beer or eat the food. I smelled the food and I could smell barbecue sauce in a pastry. I decided to go for the beer. There were weird foods and beer every round. I drank way more beer than I would normally. The last round we were given more than 1 liter of beer. I decided to just quit and give my beer away to two audience members. The grand prize for the winner of the 5 round contest......a CAKE! WHATTTTT????!!!!!! It would've been much better if the winner got a t-shirt or a glass or something to do with beer......... It was definitely interesting and now I can say I was part of a beer drinking competition.

Slovakia 8457

Belarus

Slovakia

Russia 8460

Russia

first round

trying to figure out points

Ukraine

England

Slovakia

only one eating the really gross food

Kazakhstan

scoreboard

last round....huge beer

wait what???!!!! this is the last round??? i'm out!

Russia

winner with his interesting prize....

Kazakhstan

Russia

delicious cake the winner got and HAD to share.....

Israel 8470

Ireland

Israel 8472

Sunday, September 17, 2017

Burčák (young wine) Prague, Czech Republic

My favorite part of the year in the Czech Republic is when its Burčák season. Burčák is young wine and basically it tastes like juice but is alcoholic. Its a delicious beverage and I enjoy both the red and white versions of it. I was able to find some at Namesti Republiky Square and met with some couchsurfers to share the burčák with. After drinks, I decided to go to my favorite place in Prague for food, Arepas de Lyna. Like usual, Lyna, the owner had me take photos of everyone in the restaurant which makes it easy for me to get more photos for my blog. It was a great atmosphere and it was a fun night.