Valentimes Day

I know it is spelled wrong, I did it on purpose. Valentine is much like Valentime. As you may know, Valentine's if pretty much already over here in Japan. It was a seemingly uneventful day as I started teaching classes, but quickly took a turn. First, the Jazz lost embarrassingly to the New Orleans Hornets. I don't want to talk about it thanks. We had fish for lunch (last year I had Hibachi grill steak, just saying). We did get some chocolate at lunch because in Japan, women give men chocolate and other things on Valentine's Day, not the other day around. My kind of country. 

After the embarrassing loss, I headed to my car to go home. That is when the fun started. It would seem that I had left my headlights on and my car was dead. Yay! I sheepishly went in to visit the other teachers to ask for help in jump starting my car in the snow. They helped me out and we got it started. The battery was almost 6 years old and due for a new one. Another ALT told me that I could get it changed at a gas station, so I went said atarashi (new) battery (battery). I made some complicated gestures with my hands and they seemed to know what I was talking about. I asked how much and they said some numbers I didn't understand. I said OK. I also got an oil change by pointing at a sign on the wall. 

25 minutes later and I was on my way. How much did it cost? Much. I estimate I paid double for a battery that was half the size of batteries back in America...something like 80 dollars. On top of the 20 for the oil change, this has been the most expensive Valentine's Day of my life! Hooray!

I decided to balance out the universe by making a good delicious dinner. I set out in search of hamburgers. Technically, this was the second journey for hamburgers as I tried some awful combination of meat-like substances called a hamburger steak yesterday. I can not find ground beef anywhere in this country. All the ground beef-like things I find have pig and cow...but I would not be deterred. I also found some Chili Taco flavored corn chips. 

 Also, I got donuts. Don't cry for me Argentina...these donuts were semi-passable.

 I got creative and fried an egg to put on top of the burger. Putting an egg on your burger makes it "Aussie Style" I am told. That means that this one is for you Matt and Kate! 

 Despite looking in 2 grocery stores, there were no hamburger buns to be found. I found some last week with no problems, but evidently lots of Japanese people wanted burgers as well. 

Precious frozen bacon from Costco. To me, it is like the fine china. You only use it on special occasions, but it provides peace of mind knowing that you have something special held in reserve. 

To cap it off, I am watching a classic lovey-dovey movie. Braveheart. You may not think it is a love-filled movie but it is. William loves the girl who gets her throat cut, and the future king of England loves that dude who the king throws out a window, and then William impregnates the future queen! You will notice that I didn't put a spoiler alert on that, but if you haven't gotten around to watching Braveheart in the last 16 years...too bad.