Day 100: Already?

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Wow 100 days in Japan already? It's hard to believe my trips more than half over and I still haven't gotten past the first week in my "Learn to speak Japanese in 6 weeks" do it yourself at home course I got 6 months ago and have been skipping on my I Pod every time it comes up on shuffle.

Anyway - 100 days, it's quite the landmark for me so I decided a small celebration was in order and coerced Phoebe into accepting an ice cream date day with me.

The first thing you should know about Japanese ice cream is it comes in wonderful flavours and there are various types. You can get Ice Cream, Soft Cream, Gelato, Flavoured Ice and some others I wouldn't know what to call.

I decided to start early, and helped myself to a rockmelon flavoured soft cream on the way to the station. mmm... It tasted as good as Gori (my favourite japanese celebrity) looks in a pair of briefs. Delicious.

Ahhh.... next on the agenda was Hokkaido Vanilla Ice Cream in Shinjuku Gyoen with Phoebe. We settled down on the blanket to swelter and melt, (even in the shade) and spend hours talking about Ice cream, boys and the upcoming Friday night theme.

We were kicked out of the park at 5:00 and wandered up towards the station where we found a nice little spot and settled in for my third ice cream for the day: Milk Tea and Oreo. Yum. I was starting to feel slightly sick after the third one - quite possibly because I was drinking a lot of water on account of the heat and it's never a good idea to gorge on water and Ice Cream at the same time. Well, so they say. But I like drinking water after I eat Ice Cream, it makes me feel nice and swishy. Well, until the nausea kicks in anyway.

Then, nauseated, swishy and with a slight case of sunstroke I made my way home. I was changing trains at Akabane when a sign caught my eye from one of the shops I walk past nearly every day. Sesame flavoured soft cream. Ooooh. My belly complained loudly and started heaving around, fearing for it's health and trying to pull me away but was sadly no match for the rest of my body which was suddenly alert, awake and powering towards the shop front.

I smiled at the shopkeeper, pointed at the picture and politely handed over my money. I then walked away 1 minute later, victorious, happy and wishing sesame flavoured ice cream could be coloured something different from the bluish grey sludge dripping slowly onto my wrist. mmm. I took a experimental lick. Pure, complete bliss and happiness in a cone. I smiled dreamily at a bussinessman rushing past me and took another slow lick of my ice cream. The businessman slowed his pace and took a longer glance at me, I raised my cone in his direction to salute him and giggled as he crashed into a 40 year old woman with a wheely suitcase who sneered at him disdainfully as she stepped onto the escalator.

I thought about getting some more Ice Cream on the way home, for Sanae and I later that evening then thought the better of it and bought a litre of white wine instead. My belly gave a small growl of approval and together we walked home slowly, ducking and weaving around the pavement as the exhaustion of sitting in a park on a blanket and eating ridiculous amounts of soft, cold, delicious Ice Cream caught up with me.

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Photos

Lounging in the park
You can't see the Ice Cream, or the park, but I promise you they were both there.