Around the world in 13 hours

Okay, I know I've been really bad at keeping this up to date lately. I won't even bother with the excuses.

Yesterday, I drove to Berkeley for another meeting with my team mates who I'm going to Japan with. We met in Berkeley because Beth, one of the four who is going, knows a Japanese woman, a, who lives there. Kimi made us a traditional Japanese lunch and shared some cultural insights that will help us fit in when we're there. Then we headed to a Japanese store to get apprised of what kinds of food to expect. There was some pretty messed up looking stuff there. Even the candy is strange, though has fantastic packaging (stuff like cartoon panda bears playing baseball stamped onto little coco filled biscuits).

It was a lot of driving for a lunch though.

Despite its length, the drive went smooth. It's a far cry from the drives I used to make when I first got here, which consisted of me blaring my music to try to drown out my pounding heartbeat. Hey, I'm a Montana girl, where four-lane roads are overkill.

But I’ve grown a little more comfortable on the California interstates in the two and a half years since I moved here.

For those of you who haven't, but plan on driving here, it is a very strategic art.

Here are some of the rules:
1. If you aren’t driving as fast as conditions allow, you are driving too slow.
2. If you are driving too slow, it’s perfectly acceptable for anyone to tailgate you, cut you off, pass you on a double yellow line, or leave their brights on while they tailgate you.
3. If you want to change lanes, but the two cars beside you only have enough space between them to accommodate a tricycle, merge anyway. They’ll move.
4. There are no rules for semi trucks (what we in California call big rigs). Just get out of their way.

Lesson learned: After seeing some of the Japanese cuisine, I might actually lose weight on this trip.