The day I wrote the best poem ever about USA MEAT

yes, that is what we went through to eat dinner.

Tuesday June 29 (Day 27)

In all of the 3 weeks we have been going to work, we have never slept in until now. Bean and I later realized that we slightly remember talking early in the morning about waking up to run, but it ended up being all a blur until I awoke at 9:15. Looking at my cell phone, which read 8:15, it took me about 30 seconds to realize the one hour difference in Japan and frantically wake Bean up. I am not sure what was different about this morning, but Bean and I must have acquired some grand power of speed because we arrived at the office no later than 9:30. We couldn’t help but laugh when we walked into the office, still trying to catch our breath, to see at least half of the seats still empty. All is well that ends well. After my heart calmed down a little bit, Bean and I hit the internet for resources. Lunch was…the normal…and the fun didn’t really begin until we sat down to write our report on the GuruNavi event on Monday. For some reason, Bean and I had a major attack of laughter. In an attempt to sit down and write the report, I shut my eyes and let my fingers and brain do the work. Instead of a report, I got none other than a …poem. Surprise surprise. Now, for sharing this poem that we jokingly sent to some coworkers as our report (before actually writing the real thing) and that brought laughs all around:

Lets crank this paper out
And tell them people what its all about
The meat industry is whack
That’s why USMEF is bringin it back

US beef is more tender
And we charge like an offender
And you know Pork is where the money lies
But Shoot! don’t forget about those chicken thighs
And that Japanese fresh fish might be cleaner
But our angus beef be leaner

Presentation is what they search for
And we provide like a fairytale folklore
So all those pretty plates sittin there on them tables
It don’t matter what is written all over them labels

With green tea on our side
We will be up all night for the ride

I cannot explain how much this poem lightened our afternoon, but I think I may frame this masterpiece. Oh, and Seya-san said later that she let her husband read the poem and the two of them laughed about us for a long time. Some things never change.
After work we ran around the city (2nd day in a row). Soon we found ourselves looking for dinner, and after a few failures, due to price or what not, we decided to go to a Chinese restaurant that we had passed multiple times during our trip but had never went to because it is only opens for dinner. The staircase led down to one red door in a “basement” of a building. Laughing at this hole in the wall (literally) we opened the door into a room of tables. Many businessmen and women were eating, drinking, and smoking, which left this restaurant without windows full of smoke. The atmosphere was very cool and the room was full of antiques. The food was equally as satisfying! We both got dumpling soup, similar to wonton soup, and shared fried rice. Having to take food home while not burning a hole in our wallets made this place a great find! Our next stop? None other than Don Quixote! I have no idea why we end up here most nights. This time we discovered the food varieties and soon bought some banana chips, yogurt, and ritz crackers for lunch additions. We desperately wanted to enjoy the Japan FIFA game, but because we were soo very tired, we both decided to watch the game in our hotel room. I made the mistake of watching the TV while lying in bed…I think I made it to half time ha.