New Experiences
Saturday September 8, 2007
The past week was a killer. I was so tired Friday night that I passed out at 9:30. I did that a few times this past week. I woke up Saturday morning and I was ready to go at 8am. I talked on the phone for awhile to my family and then got a call from a friend here in Japan. She and some people were going out that night to have dinner and then hitting up the Aussie Bar to watch the Rugby World Cup games. I was excited to meet some new people and I didn’t know anything about rugby so I thought it would be fun.
I had the afternoon to myself so I did some shopping. I am trying to get a jump on my Christmas shopping this year. I say that every year but I mean it this year. It’s not hard being here in Japan because every time I see something really interesting I think, “Oh… ____ needs this!!” and I buy it for their Christmas present. If you get something weird from me, it’s because I was thinking that you needed it at the time. J I did have a few things in mind when I went out shopping but of course I didn’t find those, I found MUCH better stuff.
I miss being at home for the seasonal stuff. I really want to decorate for Halloween for some reason; I think it’s really just because they don’t celebrate it here. Well, one of my first stops was my favorite bookstores. It also carries flowers and stationary and many other things. Guess what I found…a baby pumpkin!!! I was so excited! It was like all of those times where Mom would take us to the grocery store and let up choose our own baby pumpkin to have at home. I had to dig through all of them and inspect them and finally choose the perfect one. It was fun. When I was paying, the man taught me the Japanese word for pumpkin. It is pronounced, “Puccini” but that is not spelled right.
In the bookstore they had all kinds of decorations for Halloween. They were crazy expensive but it was fun to look at them. It made me miss reading Halloween books to my kids and doing Halloween story problems. I miss teaching at home like crazy! That’s been a hard part about being here, even though I’m teaching.
I left the bookstore and started walking down a strip with stores on both sides. I went into many of the stores I usually rush past. Many days it’s so hot that I go out with a plan and try to get inside as fast as possible. The weather was nice though so I just strolled along and looked around.
I found a discounted store that was full of books--in English!! There were so many children’s books that I didn’t know what to do! I wanted to buy so many of them but I controlled myself. They were so cheap! I did buy a few hardbacks that I couldn’t get cheaper at home, even at the Scholastic sale! I was having a great time just looking around. Sometimes I love shopping alone, I just get to do my own thing and I don’t have to rush or accommodate anyone else.
About that time I was ready to head down to the pet store to look for Miley a little present. Her birthday is coming up you know! She’s going to be one. I found exactly what I was looking for, but I can’t tell you right now. You will have to wait about three and a half months until I go home for Christmas. I will take a picture and post it, but I don’t want to spoil it, it’s going to be TOO cute!
While I was in the pet store I noticed that the monkey was gone. I guess they had to get rid of him or someone bought him. I don’t know, but it was SO much quieter without him there! I looked at the puppies for a minute but I had to stop and get out of there. I cannot look at those babies in those little cages. They are so sad looking and lonely. I wanted to buy one so that Miley could have a sister. They looked so much alike. It just broke my heart though to look at the dogs and I really thought I was going to cry. That always happens to me when I go into a pet store. I have to stop writing about it; it’s killing me right now.
Okay, so in front of the stores a man was running around pulling a little carriage thing that people could pay to ride in. I’ve seen this before in Kurashiki, but that day is was about a million degrees. Today it wasn’t as hot and it was shady so the guy didn’t look quite as foolish, although he still looked pretty silly. The people riding were getting a kick out of it though.
Saturday September 8, 2007
The past week was a killer. I was so tired Friday night that I passed out at 9:30. I did that a few times this past week. I woke up Saturday morning and I was ready to go at 8am. I talked on the phone for awhile to my family and then got a call from a friend here in Japan. She and some people were going out that night to have dinner and then hitting up the Aussie Bar to watch the Rugby World Cup games. I was excited to meet some new people and I didn’t know anything about rugby so I thought it would be fun.
I had the afternoon to myself so I did some shopping. I am trying to get a jump on my Christmas shopping this year. I say that every year but I mean it this year. It’s not hard being here in Japan because every time I see something really interesting I think, “Oh… ____ needs this!!” and I buy it for their Christmas present. If you get something weird from me, it’s because I was thinking that you needed it at the time. J I did have a few things in mind when I went out shopping but of course I didn’t find those, I found MUCH better stuff.
I miss being at home for the seasonal stuff. I really want to decorate for Halloween for some reason; I think it’s really just because they don’t celebrate it here. Well, one of my first stops was my favorite bookstores. It also carries flowers and stationary and many other things. Guess what I found…a baby pumpkin!!! I was so excited! It was like all of those times where Mom would take us to the grocery store and let up choose our own baby pumpkin to have at home. I had to dig through all of them and inspect them and finally choose the perfect one. It was fun. When I was paying, the man taught me the Japanese word for pumpkin. It is pronounced, “Puccini” but that is not spelled right.
In the bookstore they had all kinds of decorations for Halloween. They were crazy expensive but it was fun to look at them. It made me miss reading Halloween books to my kids and doing Halloween story problems. I miss teaching at home like crazy! That’s been a hard part about being here, even though I’m teaching.
I left the bookstore and started walking down a strip with stores on both sides. I went into many of the stores I usually rush past. Many days it’s so hot that I go out with a plan and try to get inside as fast as possible. The weather was nice though so I just strolled along and looked around.
I found a discounted store that was full of books--in English!! There were so many children’s books that I didn’t know what to do! I wanted to buy so many of them but I controlled myself. They were so cheap! I did buy a few hardbacks that I couldn’t get cheaper at home, even at the Scholastic sale! I was having a great time just looking around. Sometimes I love shopping alone, I just get to do my own thing and I don’t have to rush or accommodate anyone else.
About that time I was ready to head down to the pet store to look for Miley a little present. Her birthday is coming up you know! She’s going to be one. I found exactly what I was looking for, but I can’t tell you right now. You will have to wait about three and a half months until I go home for Christmas. I will take a picture and post it, but I don’t want to spoil it, it’s going to be TOO cute!
While I was in the pet store I noticed that the monkey was gone. I guess they had to get rid of him or someone bought him. I don’t know, but it was SO much quieter without him there! I looked at the puppies for a minute but I had to stop and get out of there. I cannot look at those babies in those little cages. They are so sad looking and lonely. I wanted to buy one so that Miley could have a sister. They looked so much alike. It just broke my heart though to look at the dogs and I really thought I was going to cry. That always happens to me when I go into a pet store. I have to stop writing about it; it’s killing me right now.
Okay, so in front of the stores a man was running around pulling a little carriage thing that people could pay to ride in. I’ve seen this before in Kurashiki, but that day is was about a million degrees. Today it wasn’t as hot and it was shady so the guy didn’t look quite as foolish, although he still looked pretty silly. The people riding were getting a kick out of it though.
This man is nuts...and his shorts are so short!I went to a department store to look around. I love looking at the Gucci and Prada and Channel and seeing what I would buy if I was rich and famous. haha One day this teacher will make it big, right? J Keep dreaming, Amanda. In the meantime, I’ll just look. The department store I was in was Tenmya. They have many things but there’s really no point in looking at clothes or shoes because I can’t wear any of them…I’m too tall and my feet are too big.
I left there and went to another little mall and looked around. There’s a GAP and Northface there so I feel more at home when I go in. I shopped in GAP for a little bit, getting my head around some of the fall fashion, GAP style. There were some cute things but I was not in the mood to try anything on. I just wanted to smell that GAP smell and think about America for a few minutes. J Upstairs there is a great bookstore that has a good children’s section and a decent English section. I wandered up there for a little while. I wanted to pick up a couple of things and look around.
I left that mall and thought I would head back to the train station area since I had pretty much exhausted the shopping scene in that area so I went to the trolley stop. I love riding the trolley. I usually just walk but I had some heavy bags and a huge blister on my foot from my shoe so I thought I’d ride. It’s 100 yen to ride, about 87 cents or so, so it’s really cheap.
When I was at the trolley stop my friend Meghan called and told me that we were going to meet in 30 minutes. That was perfect timing! As soon as I got to the station, maybe 10 minutes later, she was there. We met up with some people that I didn’t know. There were two girls from Australia and a guy from North Carolina. Meghan is from Canada. They needed to go to the 100 yen store so we went walking back to where I had just come from. It was fine with me because I didn’t know about this 100 yen store…it was 5 stories!!! We met another friend of theirs there and then we all went to eat dinner at Rocco’s Burger. It was yummy! We all just chatted and hung out for while until people had to leave for meetings and things. Amy, Bernie (both from Australia), Meghan, and I were left and we had a great little time. They are all here for their second year in Japan.
Pretty soon it was time to head to the bar for the rugby game. The great thing about where I live in Japan is that you can walk everywhere. We walked to the bar and just hung out and watched TV. The first game was New Zealand vs. Italy. New Zealand beat them to a fine pulp. I felt really sorry for Italy. The next game was Australia vs. Japan. The Aussie Bar was filling up with so many Australians and Japanese people. It was so funny to watch and listen to everyone. I learned about rugby…the tries, the conversions, and the scrums. They thought it was hilarious that I knew nothing about rugby and all I could compare it to was football. We will all get together in a few weeks for another game. I told them that I needed a jersey though. haha
Fun night, fun night.
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