22nd Birthday!

Me and Shuu-chan! She's SOOOOO cute! I want to steal her!

Our awesome suite Yawara's mommy booked us. Mahaina Inn, even has stairs to the right

View of the center courtyard of our suite

View of our stairs, just to show you that I wasn't lying! There were STAIRS! lol

Yawara's mommy also hooked us up to this Dream Garden for free. Absolutely gorgeous!

These pictures do not do it justice!

I have like a crap ton of more pictures, but I have to check out of this hotel soon!

The goldfish kept opening their mouths, expecting food, lol

Twirly tower

View from the top of the tower

Hard to believe that there were tsunamis and earthquakes while taking these pictures

Kittens we saw on the way back! They were so cute!

So we tried to get dinner, but couldn't cause we read the signs wrong. They don't close at 10, but take last call at 9, so we went to this supermarket/omiyage shop and bought a lot of omiyage okashi, instant ramen, cookies, drinks, lol

And then we found yukatas in the closet and tried them on

And our place at nice! This place is so amazing! I don't wanna leave it! But it was a beautiful birthday! All I needed was a cake! lol

Leaving for Okinawa tomorrow~!

Here are some of the latest pics:

Planned on going to the art museum, but it was closed, so we went to the sculpture garden right next door for free!

It was kinda hot out today, so we skipped City Park :( But maybe when we come back? :)

These men stand eternally nude for you.

The coolest sculpture, in my opinion!

Photo courtesy of Yawara Ng

And now he's sitting! Look at him sitting.

A ladder to the sky? I forgot how they were even holding that up!

lol, I laugh every time I see this picture. It's like he's reaching out and saying, "noooo, don't leave meeee..." 

Leaving for the airport in about an hour. I'm STILL sick. At least it's only coughing and not a combination of torture. We also had beignets twice today... Once at Cafe Du Monde and the other at Morning Call. I think I only like the original Cafe Du Monde near the French Quarter. The branches all kinda suck cause... it just lacks the atmosphere. Like, I was looking at it in the mall, and it looked out of place. Lol, but enough of that!  


So both my luggage weigh about 80 pounds together, so that means I'll only get to bring home 20 pounds of stuff home. I'm thinking of sending some crap home early though... We'll see! 


Off to Japan!
-Christine

Being sick the past few days...

Pretty flowers Yawara gave me. Started to wonder if he did something wrong cause it was random, lol

Went to Houston to pick up our student visas from the Japanese consulate

Pretty bathrooms at the downtown aquarium there

A white tiger's lair. lol, why is she in an aquarium?!

Looking up at some fish!

A lot of their fish were surprising in size, as you can see by my hand!

The 2nd floor had these really pretty restaurants...

Bye bye Houston!

Back to LA, at Lakeside Park

This photo was taken by Yawara!

Such beautiful weather outside

I was terribly sick the past few days, now I think I'm finally getting better. Yawara's mom is scaring me with her medical techniques... Not that I don't believe them, just that there are a number of them! She was giving me a heated massage yesterday, made me drink things I've never tasted, applied stinging oitments on me, etc. lol But I'm willing to do anything to get better! And tonight, I'm supposed to sniff this weird liquid and spit it out?


Well, anyways... Came back from Houston last night because we had to pick up our visas and passports from the Japanese consulate. We need our passports asap cause we're leaving TUESDAY! And that's why we drove down there instead of waiting for them to mail it back to us... 


Off to Morning Call, French Quarter tomorrow, and Art Museum and City Park Tuesday! I don't care how sick I am, I'm going!


-Christine

Insecterium

Japanese Magnolia Yawara's mommy planted

とてもきれいよ

Yawara's mommy's soba(some type). The tempura in the back was actually much better!

And the Audubon Insectarium! Yawara is eating bugs here...

The carcasses of butterflies have never been more beautiful

The butterfly garden!

京都らしいね？

Candy with a real scorpion inside Yawara bought

On the Riverwalk!

Haagen-Dazs Cookies n' Creme Dazzler! Best Ice cream I've had in the states! Also at the Riverwalk! I've been telling Yawara to take me here since before we left to New Orleans. And now,  he finally has! And now, I want to go again and get the Rocky Road one!

And then we went to the expensive Drago's. This is their Herradura Shrimp I had. If I didn't have ice cream beforehand, i probably would have killed it, but uh, was so full from the ice cream. You should order their oysters because I usually don't like oysters, but this was really good! :9 

And now, Yawara has given me his sickness... But at least he's feeling better? Friday's plan is to go down to Houston to pick up our visas and passport... I don't wanna go since it was like an 11 hour trip to get here already... But oh well, guess i will study Japanese in the car while Yuwa and Yawara drives! >>


-Christine

Mardi Gras

My first beads! I actually caught them, unlike later, where there's a bigger crowd and I got hit in the face multiple times, lol. By that point, I was using my hand as a shield. But this was a small childrens parade in Yawara's neighborhood.

Taqueria Corona's cebollitas (charbroiled green onions) Really yummy, as simple as it may look...

ceviche

Lots of people for the 1st Mardi Gras parade

Humorous floats

Spermes!

People running with sperm cells! There was an old guy who came up to everyone with a "pizza slut" box, and inside was a penis coming out. It was disturbing and funny, but it was happening all too quickly that I couldn't get a picture of it, lol

And Karaoke at Little Tokyo afterward. Lots of fun, but the mics sucked! It made me really look forward to singing karaoke in Japan as well as eating street vendor foods, such as takoyaki, toriyaki, etc.

-Christine