Girl Scouts in Tokyo!

Finally, the Girl Scout Winter Conference!
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Back in Feb, I went to the GS Winter Conference in Tokyo, at my favorite place, the New Sanno! Woo hoo! The conference was for all adult GS leaders and staff in the West Pacific region: mainland Japan, Okinawa, Korea, Thailand, China, etc. The conference was Feb. 19 - 21, but I went a day early, then O and the kids came by bus on the 21st, and we stayed one more night. 5 days at the Sanno, absolute paradise!
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When I arrived on Wed afternoon, I headed of for my new "usual", a frap and chocolate chunk scone at the Starbuck's up the street, then went to run some errands: paid my cell phone bill at a combini, shipped a package via Black Cat, bought some stamps and mailed some postcards, got a new battery for my watch. Man, was I ever feeling metropolitan, cruising my way around Tokyo, breezing in and out of shops. I walked all over Azabu and Hiroo, down lots of streets I'd never been before, exploring lots of different neighborhoods. It was so great to be out on my own, no worries about anyone being bored by just wandering aimlessly around town, which is my absolute favorite thing to do.
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After walking for literally hours, I was headed back towards the hotel, planning to get dinner on Hiroo's shotengai, a cute little street filled with tons of great shops and restaurants. I passed by Queensway Reflexology, a foot massage place. I'm sure I don't have to tell you how heavenly at foot massage sounded at that moment, after 4 hours hoofing it around the city! They had a huge menu board outside and I saw I could get a 45 min massage for only Y2500! Yes! The lights were really low inside, with a few candles lit and soft music was playing. There were 6 recliners, all empty. My masseuse directed me to a recliner, gave me a warm buckwheat pillow for my neck and a warm, scented eye mask. I relaxed back in chair while he worked his magic on my barking dogs for the next 45 min. I think I even dozed of once or twice! Pure bliss!
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After my wonderful massage, I headed further down the street and decided to eat a Zest Burger. There was a huge window where you could watch the burgers being made from huge slabs of meat. I just had a regular cheeseburger set w/ drink bar. Really yummy! I headed back to the hotel and met up with a bunch of other early arrivers at the bar. We hung out for a few hours, sampling drinks and munching on bar food. It was the perfect ending to my perfect day!
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The next morning there was an opening/welcome ceremony at 8:30, but my first class wasn't until 10:00, so I slept in (hey, I paid to attend this conference, I'm damn well going to enjoy myself!) then went down to the Emporium for a of delicious french toast b'fast.

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I'm going to become an Adult Facilitator (adult trainer) for the GS, so I registered for a 4-part "Train the Trainer" workshop. The first day we had two 1.5 hr classes, with a 2 hr lunch break in between. I slipped out at lunch to grab a bite at Yoshinoya, had a yummy beef bowl.

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We were on our own for dinner that first night, so a group of us decided to head to the Outback Steakhouse in Roppongi. Oooohhhh yeeeaaaah, bring on the Chocolate Thunder from Down Under! We had a great time and really enjoyed our dinner.
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After dinner, we stopped by Lush, a great store with "natural" and "vegetarian" handmade soaps, cosmetics and other bath/beauty products. I bought some yummy honey soap and a pig-face bath bomb. Back at the hotel, I was in bed and asleep by 10p!
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You're not allowed to take photos inside the Lush store (?)(!), so I had to step outside to take this shot.
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Friday morning......I slept in again and skipped the GS continental b'fast in favor of a huge stack of pancakes with a side of crispy bacon, AND sausage! Yeah, I'm wild like that.

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Part 3 of my workshop, lunch with a couple of girls at a soba joint up the street, then a yoga class. Well, I signed-up for the yoga class, but ended up taking a nap instead! Went to a Mgmt Team (I'm on the Girl Scouts Overseas Council) meeting from 3-4p, then went to get ready for our big dinner. The theme of this year's conference was "Leader of the Pac" (Pac, as in Pacific). So we did a 50's sock-hop; the conference shirt was a hot pink and black bowling shirt, really cute. There were lots of ladies in poodle skirts with big hair and all that jazz. I went a little more low-key, with just the bowling shirt and blue jeans rolled up at the bottom and a big ponytail with a pink scarf. Dinner was typical hotel banquet fare, pretty gross actually. Then we had a silent auction with items donated from all the different Pacific GS sites.

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We hit the bar again for an hour or so, then I went back to my room for a long, hot soak with my piggy bath bomb and a good book.

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Saturday morning.......you already know how this part goes ;) Another scrumptious french toast b'fast, then off for my last training session.

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There's a bus that runs between the base and the Sanno 3 times a day; since I drove, Otis came on the bus with the kids, plus Meg's BFF, Saturday morning, they arrived about 10:30. Kudos to O for not only venturing into Tokyo on his own (well, on an American bus, but still......huge for him!) but with 4 kids as well!

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The conference ended around 11:00, I met up with O and the kids and we went to the pool for a while. Then the kids headed a few blocks up to McD's to get some lunch. I have absolutely no qualms about sending my kids off alone in the middle of Tokyo. Granted they've been to the same McD's a gazillion times with me, it's only about 3 blocks, and they don't have to cross any streets, and Gabi is nearly 15 now, but it's something I'd never even consider doing back in the States!

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We relaxed in the room the rest of the afternoon, then O and I headed to the shotengai for dinner. We decided on La Jolla, a terrific little Mexican place. It was the first time I've had Mexican in 1.5 years! It was so awesome!
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We had a great table at the window on the second floor, overlooking the shotengai
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Our appetizer, a huge plate of nachos!

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My dinner, a cheesy chimichanga, refried beans and spanish rice
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Sunday morning, I took the kids down for the b'fast buffet, while O slept in. We went for a walk around the neighborhood and stopped at Arisugawanomiya Park. Then we headed back to the hotel, rounded up O and headed home :(
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A very small part of Arisugawanomiya Park
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It was a really great 5-days, with a few pesky GS meetings mucking up my flow, but I really enjoyed myself. It was over much too quickly! Last year's conference, which I missed, was in KOREA! I was hoping for somewhere super cool this year, but was plenty happy with my five days in T-town. I'm really hoping next year's will be in Okinawa!

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A special thanks to the hubster for taking 2 days off of work and for wrangling the kids for 4 days, so I could go to the conference.

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