MMmm Cow Butt...

November... The month in which the leaves change in Japan, the weather starts to get cold and I get my act together! Amy and I have decided that we are going to start going to the gym and eating better. So far on day 4 of the plan I am feeling good. It seems to be easy to slip into a rather unhealthy lifestyle here. It is very tempting to eat McDonalds more than one should, and to fall into the party life that seems to consume everyone. As a result, Japan seems to do to some people what first year university does to others, make them fat!

Not helping the weight issue, last night we went to Outback Steakhouse for some meat. I made the mistake of mentioning the word `rare` in the same sentence as the word `steak`. I ordered a medium- rare steak and when it arrived it was like eating meat straight from the cows butt. Our waitress was so nice that I felt bad complaining and ate the thing. I have tried beef sashimi, quite a delicacy apparently, but for some reason this was different because it was bleeding and I could taste the iron from the blood. Yuck. Every time I eat western food here I end up a bit disappointed and remind myself not to do it again. There is something very different about the Japanese take on western food... The pizza has fish eggs, corn and mayo on it and the hamburgers have shrimp. I think Japanese food is much nicer than western knockoffs. Today I ate some really good Okonomiyaki, an omelet kind of thing that has egg, cabbage, noodles, meat and sauce all mixed together and then folded with mayo on top. It was our first time getting this particular fare from a street vendor and it ended up being quite delicious and cheap!

In other news, I have fallen in love. Today while doing some christmas shopping in Osu we came upon a cool store filled with really interesting stuff. In this store I was introduced to a brand of bags that I now love, Freitag Bags. The bags are really industrial looking Swiss creations made from truck tarps, seatbelts and bike inner tubes... Oh so cool, but oh so expensive! Amy is making fun of me but I was smitten! I guess I am lucky I am not drawn to Fendi and Louis Vuitton