Cross cultural meals

We got a little taste of home from 5,000 miles away last night. Our host father, Hiroshi, had invited over four people part of the JET program, which brings in English speakers to teach in Japanese schools. There were two from the U.S., (Michael and Aaron) one from Ireland (Mark), and a woman who is both from the U.S. and Argentina (Michelle).

It was fun to hang out and compare notes. That and it was nice to speak a little "fast English." We've noticed that we are starting to speak English slower and with more pronunciation to each other since we are required to do so with many of the Japanese.

We had a mock rotary meeting before digging into a meal of sushi, chips and salsa, McDonald's and KFC. Our hosts must have driven a couple hours round trip to get us some American food. I felt a little bad. It was really sweet, but we are determined have a complete Japanese experience, strangely textured seafood and all. I have to admit, despite the fact that I rarely eat fast food, a drum stick from Kentucky Fried Chicken tasted comfortingly familiar.

Lesson learned: Just like eating salad at breakfast, it is possible, but strange, to eat McDonnell's with sushi.