Mission Accomplished

'I am only doing what I can do'

That has been my mantra while I've decided to slowly turn over a new leaf. While ignorance can be bliss, if we are aware of our purposeful ignorance, it can lead to a guilty conscience. Mainly, I'm working towards being more environmentally friendly. Namely changing the things that I knew would be fairly easy to change. For instance, every week our recyclable trash (bottles, cans, glass bottles) ends up spilling over with water bottles. I absolutely love drinking out of a water bottle. Because of the rumored high lead content in the Japanese tap water, I buy flats of water bottles and use this for my drinking supply for the week. Even though they are recycled, there are only so many times a plastic bottle can be recycled, and the label and cap are non-recyclable. To solve this, I finally caved (to my husbands suggestions) and bought a water filter pitcher and a reusable drinking bottle that I really like. It has the bottle style top and is insulated to keep the water cool. Plus, it fits into my jogging stroller cup holder.

Another thing that I did was buy a fabric bag that I can use over and over again for carrying groceries. Like plastic bottle caps and that thin plastic label on the water bottle, plastic grocery bags are non-recyclable. Most folks use them once (or twice for lunch bags) and they are done for. Destined to go to some land fill. So, for 97 yen I bought a reusable grocery bag with the words, 'I am only doing what I can do'. This made sense to me. Because, in reality I know I'm not doing much but I'm comforted by knowing that I'm doing something. The local grocer has little laminated cards that are to be put in my basket during check out to alert the cashier that I don't need a plastic grocery bag. I'm sure that the store offers some incentive for bringing our own bag but hey in this case, ignorance really is bliss. Oh yes, does anyone know how to say, "No bag please." in Japanese? Lately, I've just been crossing my fingers in the universal 'No' style but I was hoping for a more polite statement.

A few months ago, I planted seeds for tomatoes and Ichiban eggplant along with several other herbs. The most recent news broadcasts of China's agricultural habits has me even more horrified to eat the half priced frozen shrimp or any other fruit/vegetable/former living thing from the supermarket. I trust that Japan's rules on imports are fairly stringent... but still I wonder?

OK, enough of the tree hugger stuff and on to the real juicy stuff. The stuff this entry was titled for. Mission Accomplished! I finally found Ice Cucumber Pepsi. It took a couple convenient store tries but I found it and gave it a taste test. I saw a lot of comments on other websites giving in depth criticism of this drink. I think these folks fail to realize, we aren't taste testing the lasted $80 bottle of wine here, it's Pepsi for crying out loud! The smell I think was the worst part about it. Other than that it tasted like any other sweet soda drink to me. The aftertaste was a little disappointing. Mike and I agreed that while it wasn't awful, it probably wouldn't be something we would spend 146 yen on ever again.

Kit Kat seems to be on a roll this Summer with new flavors. I just spotted another one; Kiwi Fruit. This one has been my most favorite out of the bunch.

Since we've been feeling down the last couple of weeks, we decided to take advantage of the July 4th holiday and drive to Enoshima Aquarium. On the way, we stopped at the Cantina in Zushi for a bite to each. Delicious as usual. The Aquarium was great. This was our second time there and I have to say that I enjoy it much more than Sea Paradise. If the weather wasn't so yucky we would have spent more time exploring the area more, but it was drizzling off and on all day and we had a late start so it was lunch and the Aquarium. The dolphin and whale show was fun as usual. I often wonder though as the trainers do their song and dance they think, 'This is why I majored in Marine Biology so I could become a jig dancer in a wet suit?' All the same it was fun and Josh absolutely loves the fish every time we go.

Summer has just started and I'm already smelling the burnt marshmellow smell of Yakiimo wafting from street grocers. WTF? Summer just started! The pool just opened! They haven't even started Summer Festivals yet! Although I do love Yakiimo, I'm really enjoying summer time melons,peaches, Kyoho grapes, and cherries so, I'm hoping that maybe today was a fluke.

In other news to try and make my life count for something, I'm finally going back to school. YEAH! Josh proudly goes around saying, "I'm going to school and Mommy's going to college" this alone is enough for me to live up to this goal.