November 2nd, 2007
Many Morning Misadventures
It’s not even noon yet on Friday, and I have a bunch of stuff to talk about already. This does not bode well for the afternoon.
What’s Red And White and Comes in 10,000 Pieces?
I forgot to mention in yesterday’s report that Marc had an adventure as well on Wednesday. He arrived at the train station to find that everything was messed up. Eventually, he found someone who could explain to him that there had been a girl who “jumped” in front of a train, which mangled the schedule for hundreds of miles around.
That happened on Wednesday, and I knew something was up as well. All the usual monitors and screens in the Shinkansen terminal had text on them that I couldn’t read instead of the usual scheduled arrivals, departures, and commercials. Over the intercom was lots of talking, sometimes with several people talking at once rather than the calm recorded messages I usually hear. My train arrived on–time at the usual place, so I had no problems; the Shinkansen runs on different tracks than the regular local lines. Marc however, was four hours late to class and ended up going several stops past where he needed to get off (Wednesday was his Takahashi City day, which already takes an hour each way). I don’t know if he actually had to do his classes late or if they were cancelled, but no one doubted his story as it was all over the news. What a mess! I guess it’s pretty common, but it’s the first time it has affected us personally.
Oops. Crunch Time!
Last night, I was on the bed reading when I noticed something and had to sit up and take off my glasses to see what it was. Nothing, just some dust on the floor. So I laid back down to keep on reading and couldn’t find my glasses. Uh-oh. I sat up, and sure enough they were right where I left them. Lying on the bed, under me, and I had squished them. I bent the frames back to the correct shape, but one of the lenses has halfway popped out. I fiddled with pushing it back in, but I need a little glasses-sized screwdriver to fix it. I haven’t seen one here and didn’t bring one along. Mom! Something for the next box!!! I don’t want to wear them now for fear that the lens will pop out, fall in the street and break. Fortunately, I did bring a spare pair. Once again, I will thank the Clark Howard show for tipping me off to the $7.95 eyeglasses website. I might just order another set while I’m here.
Swimming Sunk!
OK, as I mentioned yesterday, I figured today would be a good day to revisit the Toyonari Pool that I tried back in September. I worked out my schedule very carefully so that I would arrive when I figure the crowd would be light. I took the bus to Tenmaya Station and then switched to Bus #10 to get to the pool. No problem at all. Got off the bus, found the building. No problem at all. There’s a sign on the door. Problem! The sign says:
11-1 (something) 11-14 (something else)
I peep in the window and not only is the place closed, but the pools are drained. I can only assume the sign says “Closed for maintenance 11-1 to 11-14.” Let’s see 11-14 is a Wednesday, so the Friday after that (16th), I go to the Elementary school. The next Friday (24th) is a holiday. So unless I want to try again on the weekend or have a day off that I am not expecting I won’t be trying that again this month. Two hours and around 800Y in bus fares later, at least I have something to put in the blog for today. And on the bright side, I went early, so I still have most of the day left.
Shopping!
It’s now 3:30 and I just got back from downtown, round two. After typing up the preceding report and doing a load of laundry, I headed back downtown on the bus. The goal this time was to check out the major shopping stores near the bus station. Cred, The Loft, and Tenmaya are the big three. I hit them all today.
The Loft is the smallest of the bunch with only 6 floors. It was mostly a bunch of clothes that won’t fit me and lots of women’s stuff. They did have one floor of giftwrap, greeting cards, party games, toys, and office supplies. I think this section may come in useful for holiday lessons and when it’s time to send actual gifts back home.
Cred was more interesting, but not but much. There is a bookstore on the 4th and 5th floor, and they have a section of books in English on the 5th floor. I didn’t buy any books today, but their prices looked better than Maruzan, so when I am ready to buy books, I’ll check here first. Then up, up, and away! On the 20th floor is a Chinese buffet. They had their lunch rates posted, and it’s 990Y for lunch. That doesn’t seem too bad for a buffet. I wonder what it costs for dinner? The view from the 21st floor is great, and I will be sure to take my camera along next time.
Tenmaya, on the other hand has ruined my entire opinion of Japan. I though Japan was made up of a sensible, realistic bunch of people. Tenmaya, however, has proven me wrong. I don’t know when they did it, sometime since last Saturday I guess (Probably the dy after Halloween). Yes folks, Christmas has hit Okayama. Tenmaya has everything decorated with trees, blinking lights, garland, and the works. No Santa Claus, at least not yet, but Macy’s has nothing on these guys.
So there it is. I hit the three biggest shopping stores in Okayama. What did I buy? Not a darn thing. I saw a couple of books that looked good, and I may go back for a cloth “shopping bag” to carry things in (1050Y), but I didn’t actually get anything today. Well, that’s not entirely true; I did get a double-dip Magic Midnight Mint ice cream cone at the Baskin-Robbins and lunch at Co Co Ichiban.
I was actually kind of hoping to find some kind of art supply store. I have plenty of time, so I think it might be a good idea to make something or do some kind of craft-type thing. But I haven’t found anything that really jumps out at me yet. It has been suggested that I take up Japanese calligraphy, but I’m not sure that I can really do something like that without knowing more of the language; there’s a lot more to it than just drawing letters.
It’s still pretty early. I only have one essay left in the “Best Buddhist Writings” book, so I’ll finish that tonight, probably within the next half hour or so. Then I need to decide whether to read my last book here or pick up something from the library and save this last one as an “emergency spare.”
No related posts.
Entries (RSS)