Another random night, another part of the city explored, another part of Japanese life experienced!

Hello,
Well there has been one or two days where the temp has gone under 35 since my last post so the summer has become more bearable. Last Saturday Talal and I went to Yoyogi Park and then walked down Omotosando and then over to Shubuya. We had a wonderful day. Talal had never been to Omotosando and he was very impressed by all the designer stores and in particular the Ralph Lauren building which has become a regular stop for me when I am showing people around Tokyo. I was able to remember from my walks with the girls, suitable places for Talal to pray. I have since gone on line and located some mosques in Tokyo for him and his friends. I am actually surprised, since there are here on a scholarship from their King, and many don't speak English and are only learning Japanese, that the embassy has not taken better care of them and helped them out more.
Anyway, this last week ticked by quickly. I long for home, I am so excited to get back to Canada but the days slipping past so quickly brings me closer to losing Talal. My heart is being pulled in two directions.
Friday nights I normally work for Gaba but last night I had off. I am sooo glad I had the night off. I meet up with Talal and his friend Hatem in Hiroo. Hiroo is the ex-pat center of Tokyo. This is a wealthy area in Roppongi which is filled with Embassies, cafes, tree-lined streets, and foreigners who generally either work for their Embassy or a multinational and therefore get paid the big bucks. I had never been to this area before but I had always wanted to check it out. Hiroo also is home to the Islamic Institute of Japan and a mosque. This is another reason I choose this place to go to on a Friday night. I am so glad I did, for two reasons mainly. One- it turned out to be Hatem's birthday (not something that is celebrated in Saudi Arabia) and he got to go to a mosque which is really a rare gift for these guys. Two- there was a fabulous street-fair going on!!! I had no idea!!
After I left the guys at the mosque I decided to explore a little. I went down one street and then another, and then I heard music and voices. the street fair was huge!! it snaked down on average sized Japanese street so a couple kilometers and even spread out to include other streets. I was delighted! I sampled some Japanese white wine (although evening it was still very hot) and the wine tasted like white grape juice! YUMMY!! There were many men and women in Yukata (summer kimono) and surprisingly less foreigners then I would have expected. So hear I thought I was going to Hiroo to have a little escape from Tokyo and I ended up back solidly in Japan. It was so much fun. There were food stalls, and drink stalls, and toys, and crafts, and sooo many people. I walked to the closer end from where I had entered and then turned around and walked back as I still had more time. I sampled another glass of white whine which wasn't so delicious. I soon realized that I needed to get some food in me or this wine that had gone straight to my head was going to stay there. I bought some BBQ squid. It was a bit salty but otherwise okay. I also bought candy apples for the guys and myself. I took lots of pictures so I shall post them in the next post. The timing worked out perfectly. The guys were finished at about 9pm which was closing time for the street-fair. Well I guess that wasn't perfect timing for them but it was for me! They were able to find me and we walked to Roppongi and ended up at TGI Fridays which was not exactly where I had envisioned eating (small Italian or French cafe, down a quite side street), but after the squid and the candy apple I was really interested in food anyway. At least Hatem was able to get a bit of birthday cake (Friday's warm brownies with ice cream and fudge). All in all it was a great night. I was so tired from the work week that I completely passed out on the train ride home, and Talal had to wake me up when it was our stop. I slept in this morning as well. Sooo tired. I am looking forward to finishing at Gaba next Friday. Working two jobs and not coming home until 11pm every night is weighing on me.
Cheers,
L.