Big Boys and Taiko

It's midterms at my all girls high school this week, which means Heather (the other ALT there) and myself have a lot of downtime as we have no classes to teach.  We were allowed to go out to lunch, so we adventured out to Big Boy's, for 3 reasons. 1. It's close to the school. 2. We wanted to see how it differed from it's American counterpart. 3. It has a drink bar!! Anyone who knows me, knows this is a good thing indeed.

For those who don't understand why the third reason is so great, let me enlighten you. Here in Japan, there is no such thing as free refills. I do believe America is the only country that does free refills. The other problem is cups/glasses here are so much smaller than the giant big gulp super sized drinks we can get in America. I need my 44oz of Dr. Peps, see? lol. Actually, I have yet to find any Dr. Pepper is Japan. :( There is a surplus of Fanta though. And Coca Cola. And a weird soda called Aquarius and another called Calpis. But I'm going off on a tangent here. Problem: I never feel like I have enough to drink when eating out here. Solution: Drink Bar!!!! For 1 price, it's all you can drink refills! Yay!

 I guess Big Boy statues look generally the same no matter where you are. I do like that they labeled the restaurant "Healthy & Tasty" so I could know that about it. I guess the people that can't read English won't get to know.

My delicious hambuger steak. It's like eating a hamburger without everything else. There were delicious caramelized onions under the patty. When brought out to the table, the skillet was sizzling. Also, check out my tasty piece of broccoli! Of course, it came with rice, because it's Japan. And there is my delicious refillable melon soda from the drink bar!

So the menu for Big Boy's in Japan is very different than the ones in America. Check out the menu:

That's right! The entire menu is basically steak! Heather is a vegetarian, there's not much on this menu she can eat. There is a salad bar however, so that's what she got.

After eating our food, returning to school, and getting home, I was chilling inmy apartment when Michael called and said "come play taiko drums!" or something along those lines. So I did! It was pretty challenging. I feel like my sense of rhythm is perhaps not as good as one could hope for.

But look at those mad taiko skills! You're supposed to keep your arms straight and hit at the center of the drum. Harder than it sounds. you had to concentrate on the rhythm and where to hit and how to hit. My hands started cramping up, and by the end of the 2 hours, I had trouble unwrapping them from around the drumstick. Also, when you hit it right, the other people hitting the drum made your sticks bounce up, so you had to control them. By the end of the night I could feel the vibrations of hitting the drum all the way to my toes. I do believe my arms are going to be sore tomorrow!

 Kayla, Michael, and Saki also have impressive taiko skills.

Maybe not as impressive as these guys though: