The calm after the storm...

Although the orientation on Fri. and Isla de Salsa on Sat. were canceled, I still managed to have a great time this weekend! I prefer to call the typhoon a tropical storm because the word "typhoon" just makes it seem so much worse than it actually is! It was just rainy and windy. So, we went to Fukuoka City on Saturday anyway. NOT A DROP OF RAIN! We got paid today, so Saturday was spent window shopping and making a mental wishlist...the list includes things like groceries, home furnishings, and a funky red wool coat with matching fly red patent leather pumps! Oh yeah, then there are those not-so-important things like rent, utilities, and saving...lol

On Sunday morning, I took out my trash for recycling and the old man who helped me last time asked in Japanese, "Do you have any whiskey?" I thought he was commenting on the fact that none of my bottles were alcohol bottles (unlike my colleges who have whole bags of only beer cans on recycling day, lol). So I said no. Then I realized that he was asking if I brought whiskey from the states. Then he said, "Oh, you don't drink?" like he was a little surprised to meet a foreigner in Japan that was not a drinker!

I swear I called the Isla de Salsa people like 20 times to see what the plan was for folks like me who had purchased a ticket and didn't want it to go to waste because of a little rain...they made all the Saturday tickets valid for Sunday! I got a really good deal because the Saturday tickets were less expensive and people who bought tickets for both days did not get refunds! It took forever to get there, the strip of beach on the island was small and packed, there were a total of 5 Black people (yes, I counted), some Hispanic folks sprinkled about, with a dash of non-POCs (yay for BFWords) here and there, there was a not-so-good Japanese band playing a really bad watered down version of Latin music, and I was HUNGRY! So first things first...I looked for something to eat of course! And that's when I met them...1. Jamaican restaurant owner from NY who has a restaurant in Fukuoka, 2. His French employee, 3. Their Kenyan friend at the next stall, and 4. the group of Navy folk stationed in Sasebo on the USS Juneau and the USS Harpers Ferry. I exchanged info with a bunch of folks and everyone has invited me to a number of festivals. Unfortunately, as was stated in a previous post, my camera is out of commission. I did take some photos on my disposable but I'll have to wait to get those developed once the film is all used...perhaps I can get some pictures from the Navy folks. We'll see...after about an hour, the Latino band made their way to the stage and that's where the real fun began and everyone kicked off their shoes and got down with the salsa...So of course I did the same! It was great. I'll definitely be finding all the salsa spots in the city!

So this weekend was not a complete waste and I did manage to have fun. Time to browse the Fukuoka Now (English magazine about Fukuoka City) for places to eat, dance, etc! In an attempt to keep this from being the most boring pictureless post yet, below are some photos from Saturday of foods that I encountered in the daily gastric adventure commonly referred to as mealtime:




Times like this you need bigger chopsticks!






This is the closest to India that I've had Indian Food and yes it does it get better with proximity!!!



Green tea parfait...I had desert first by the way!
From the bottom to the top:Sweet Azuki beans, mochi (glutinous rice pounded into paste and molded into shape), Bananas, Corn Flakish cereal, Soft serve Vanilla Ice cream/Gelatto, 2 more Mochi, a lady finger, Macha (green tea) Ice cream, more Sweet Azuki bean, a Waferish cookie, drizzled in some kind of syrup...SOOOO GOOOD!