Yesterday, we visited my favorite sandwich shop, Substation II. Ever since 1988, when I was a bagger for the now defunct supermarket, Winn Dixie, I would spend my lunch break at this place. With multiple locations in South Carolina, I usually stick to the #4 which is the salami, pepperoni and provolone cheese smothered in lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, olives, banana peppers and drizzled in oil and vinegar with a touch of mayo. Basically, when you pick that bad boy up, you hold on tight and don't let go!! At our most recent outing, we went to the shop closest to our current residence and the staff there was very friendly but loaded it down the oo much and since it was eaten at home, I basically stood over the kitchen sink with both sleeves rolled up. My wife still thinks that the Subway Sandwich shops of Japan are ideal with their sandwiches with eggs in them and as a result was suffering from heartburn from her #12 (all cheese sandwich).
Later that day, we were at Costco loading up on cheap gas at $3.50 a gallon and a 36-pak of bottled water and then the hard part of finding a dollar bill to feed the vending machine for a soft drink to get my wife to belch so her heartburn would go away. She ended up with a Sprite which reminded her of the days in Japan when Kirin would lead the way in this sort of drink with their version, Kirin Lemon.
From Costco, we headed into town for the Oktoberfest and went through a stretch of road known for police pulling people over for speeding, even if you are doing 50mph in a 45mph zone. I put the car on cruise control since driving that slow drives me nuts. My wife then enlightened me of this sort of practice in Japan known as Nezumi tori (Mice Trap). In the US, this is known as a speed trap. I guess the Japanese think of the police as cats chasing the mice.
At the festival, I was very pleased with the turn out and received several pats on the back for the favorable results for the Dedication Gala and Ceremony Luncheon. More importantly, this came from people that I would guess were standoffish towards me since I was an outsider and a unknown this time last year. Now, I'm a part o the "In" crowd which came at a price since I have forgotten more Nihongo (Japanese Language) than many foreigners will ever learn. But as my wife stood back with a sense of pride for all of the praise, she realized that this had to be done. We rewarded ourselves in the VIP area and drank German beers made by Spaten and ate brats marinated in beer. My wife commented that the Japanese sausages are much better. I reminded her that these sausages are made by Americans who had to come off their menu to fit the occasion so they are not familiar with this sort of thing. I got her to chuckle by saying, "At least they are not the kind that Jimmy Dean makes!" since she can't stand eating sausage that is soft. To the Japanese, it has to be "link" sausage and when you bite into it or cut it, it has to make that snapping sound as if you hear "Po-ki". One of my favorite snacks are the cracker sticks called Pokkie.
Today's videos are 1- a fellow gaijin eating at a Subway Sandwich shop in Japan, 2- Kirin Lemon commerical in Japanese, and 3- Japanese police conducting motocycle training.
The Divine Wind Vault http://divinewindvault.blogspot.com (C)2006-10
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