This whole going-to-Japan thing is a whole lot of trouble... I guess as with going to any other country for an extended period of time, you have to figure out how to get things that you're used to, or make do with what you can. It gets complicated when there are different laws in effect, too. For example, if I bring in more than 1-2 months of medication (or "quasi-medication") I have to declare it and have that approved before I can bring it in. This includes things such as Advil, Tylenol, contact lenses, and any other sort of prescription drug. I guess I can understand the prescribed meds, but....contact lenses?! Oh, and this declaration involves about 4 sheets (some in duplicate) of explanations, listings, and the like.

I suppose the kerfuffle comes in that word has it that a lot of Japanese OTC meds are of lower strength than what we get here, and that things like extra-strength pain killers are prescription-only. But I really need my Advil... I mean...Really.

My old friend (and prom-date) Toshio is now living in Japan. He's been there for a few years now. Unfortunately he has been very sporadic with his emails, and didn't even reply to my "I AM COMING" email. Heck, even his best friend Albert had to track down Tosh's dad to get a phone number to tell him he was buying a plane ticket to Japan. Now that we've gotten in real contact with Toshio, he's excited that both Albert and I are coming (altho Albert is only coming for 10 days). Up until now, I thought that Tosh didn't care since he didn't bother to check his emails. But since I've actually called him, my fears are a little relieved in that he said not to hesitate to call if I'm struggling with anything at all. I asked about drugs, and he said not to worry and that I can easily find something "with the same function" as my beloved Advil. Ahhh....the few years in Japan has smartened him up girl-wise. :) Ai misu yuu rotsu, badei!

May 2-4 was great this year. On Saturday, we had a "Lees going-away party" here at John's house. My good friend James (otherwise known as my brother from another mother) is leaving in a few weeks to do his residency in Vancouver. As he said, this summer, "the House of Lee will be severely diminished."

Anyway, we served up quite the shindig! We made burger patties (with onion bits and secret sauce!), beef skewers, bacon-wrapped beef skewers, veggie skewers, potato salad, caesar salad, a veggie dip tray, a shrimp ring... And on top of that, ppl brought ice cream, and two fantastic cakes from the best cake place in Ottawa. The cakes were so good that although everyone was pretty full, we all managed to put away a cake and a half! It was definitely a good time, and it does seem strange that I had a going-away party about 2 months before I leave, but no time like the present to get the parties going!

Sunday, we went fishing with some of John's buddies. John and I started the usual trash talk of "I'm gonna catch more fish" "I'm gonna catch bigger fish" etc. etc. Fishing's no fun without the trashtalk! It started off pretty quick, we each got bites within the first two casts.... Unfortunately we caught some lame rock bass and a couple of sunfish. John caught two smallish bass, but we had to throw them back because bass season doesn't start for another month. Then he caught a large crappie, which he was quite happy about. I later caught two nice large bass, which got everyone ooh-ing and aah-ing. I also caught a pretty big perch. It was too big for bait-size, so John cut it up and used it for bait. :(
His friends left, so we went to try another spot, where John quickly caught a very large perch and a decent-sized pike. That spot was getting windy and weedy, so we tried one last spot before going home. There wasn't much happening there either, but I found a patch where a bunch of perch were milling about, so I put on a small hook to catch them for fun. I caught one somewhat large one, so I kept him. And then I put my line back in and all of a sudden something snagged my line and took off!! I landed a large pike! I had caught one earlier at the first spot, but it had snapped my line. This one got caught just at the edge of the mouth, in the cheek, so he couldn't bite my line. I took both the pikes and perches to my mom. We went to meet up with his friends, who had spent all that time cleaning and gutting the fish. We bbq'ed and fried 'em up and had a nice fish dinner. mmmm....

Anyway, back to the bbq thing. When I invited a friend to the bbq on Saturday, she asked if she could bring anything. I said not to worry, since we had all the food covered. She said, "you know it's not a white bbq when..." I'm like, "what do you mean?" Apparently, at "white ppl" bbqs it's BYO___, where you bring your own meat, beer, drinks, lawn chair, etc. I mentioned it to John, and his reaction was like, "bring your own meat?! If I brought my own meat, I'd rather just stay at home and bbq it myself!" How strange... is it really only "Chinese" bbqs where the host provides all the food?