Buffet and Karaoke in the same day . . .

Sorry for all the vegetarians out there, but I had to take this picture. It shows the meat section at the restaurant we went to today with Fumi and Mr. Morimura, and the other couple, Daron, Lori, and their baby. The Morimuras took us out for lunch to celebrate Nicolle's and Annie's birthday. There were even squid here to cook. Each table has a grill built in and you cook your own food. It's a Bennion paradise because they not only had meats of all kinds but also fruits, vegetables, salads, sushi, cakes, ice creams, even a cotton-candy machine. Fruits and meats are so expensive here we rarely buy them.
Here's Fumi with Annie and Colette.
The Bennions. You can see two types of sauces in front of me, one for meats, the other for sushi.
Later we went to a Karaoke place, and Nicolle actually sang! She has a great voice but rarely sings. she sang three songs! Two Shakira and one Shania with Lori. I sang Sweet Child of Mine (badly), I can't help falling in Love with You (UB40), Rapper's Delight (Sugarhill Gang), Desafinado, and Garota de Ipanema. We all had a lot of fun. The Morimuras were much better at it as it is a big deal in Japan, I didn't know until we came here that Karaoke is a Japanese word. Everyone sings karaoke here. Some karaoke clubs have private rooms you can rent for a few hours, where you can sing as much as you want in privacy, or others are open to whoever wants to sing in a bigger room.
Here's another picture of the table with the grill in the middle. When Mom and Dad come we'll definately take you to this restaurant.
We also ran into a big group of Peruvians there. We had already met one of them the other day.
Last night we had our new Brazilian friends over for dinner. It was great to finally converse with someone who lives here, even though they are foreigners here like us. The husband is dekassegue, or a foreigner of Japanese ancestry. His father taught him Japanese so he speaks it well, but she only speaks a few words. Like the Brazilians I knew in the States, they are here only to save money, but will return to Brazil after being here about 5 years. They are actually going home in July just like us. We were all happy to have them as friends, and hopefully we'll be able to see them more while we're here. They're very nice.