Konnichiwa
Well, when I left you last night CJ got home after a loooooooong day with a bit of frustration and some laughs along the way.
First of all he brought home a Jumbo-shu which has now gone up in price from 105yen to 115yen. We must have been buying way TOO MANY of them and so they thought hey we can make some money off these Americans so let's up the price. haha It is still a bargin and well worth the $1.15. Our little warm fuzzy or reward for a tough day, long hike,...
When CJ got up in the morning and he went to iron his shirt for work,he could not get the wrinkles out. You see the dryer we have is little and I guess much littler than the washing machine and so the amount I can wash is obviously NOT the amount I can dry all at once. Oops...There too, is only one setting and so the stuff comes out cooked and wrinkled to S---!! He tried another shirt and with that one too, they would not come out. So after the third shirt was all pressed and he was buttoning it up he then noticed a big spot on the front. He was not a happy camper. I needless to say went out and bought an over the door drying rack at the store so I can air dry them and hopefully things will be better in the future. Poor guy, not a good mood to head to work where he is having some intense meetings all this week with different distributors throughout Asia on their quality and warranty issues.
I have been hearing more about work since I have been here then I ever heard the last 30 years. It is very interesting though, and fun to hear how he has to work around cultural and personal issues, translations.....
He has had trouble getting people to meetings on time and so he resorted to a money jar and you have to put a 100yen coin in if your late. He got a few coins in it the first week, but yesterday 2 guys were at his office door 10 minutes ahead of schedule. They all got a chuckle from that. :-) He is still struggling a bit with how far to push the envelope with these folks and trying to figure out if it is personal or cultural issues with many different situations. It is challenging and I can tell it is testing his patience a bit as of late.
Then on the way home he went to the Citibank where we opened an account so we can have a local credit card. They have no checking accounts here. This was his 4th time there and he called home after waiting 45 minutes to tell me he would be late. He was a bit annoyed and so decided to leave. When he was walking past the receptionist the lady stopped him and told him please don't leave. The lady will be right with you. So he waited and then she did help him and thankfully she could speak very good english and he had all his ducks in a row so it went quickly from there.
So after we ate a very late dinner at 9pm I said, "I cannot go to bed after just eating" so we took a walk to the 24 hour post office pick up window to get our Citibank credit cards that came in the mail the other day. I could not receive them as the account is only in his name with me as a 2nd card holder. They do not do joint accounts here either.
Anyhoo, I think we finally got the check deposited so we will have money in our account 15 days from now when it clears and then we will be good to go in using our new cards. It was a long drawn out process that is for sure.
It was a beautiful cooler night with a light mist in the air as we walked through Chinatown which was closing up for the night. Hey "MLE" we spotted some cute panda bear steamed dumplings which were still sitting on the steamer and waiting for someone to come and take them home? They aren't as fancy as the other japanese food pics you sent me in your email, but it was my first food with faces that I saw.
When we rounded the corner to the boulevard that the post office is on it was all lit up with lights on the tree trunks and flamingos of white and orange decorating the sidewalk gardens. We then walked a different way home past a big lit up church or something, then across the canal with light reflections off the water and back up the stairmaster steps, into the shower and then to bed.
This morning we talked with Grambo on the phone and he is doing well and on his 8th day in a row of work. He will go see Kalen in Chicago this weekend and then start his 4th year of college after labor day. I too got a video call from my buddy Huesos, Aubrey and Joey in IL and it was fun to catch up with all of them again as well.
It rained off and on her all day and so I never did get out of the house. Hopefully tommorrow? I did check on the EP NEWS website too for information on Santiago's visit from Honduras with the 2 HTS kids. They are in MN this week as guests of the old EP Legacy committee which is now Global Connect and it sounds like they have a very busy schedule. It will be fun to see what comes of this new partnership.
Friday Aug 29, 2008
It was partly sunny this am after the BIG midwestern thunder and lightning show I heard we had early this morning at 4am. I knew nothing about it, as I put in my ear plugs last night...yes more snoring.. so I guess the new bead bed pillow did not do the trick for CJ. :-( haha
After CJ left for work, I was busy chatting via Skype with my two dear friends Susan and Randee who both so courageously continue their battles against that darn Cancer.
They both have their good days and then some bad days as well, but overall their spirits are good and it was nice to reconnect with them both from afar. Thoughts and prayers are with you both as always.
I also wrote a note last night asking for someone in MN to clue me in on all the goings on there... guess I should have written a note sooner, as I woke up to 8 different perspectives on what has been taking place with the Honduras kids while in MN. YES! Thanks again to all of your for your notes. Sounds like they are having fun and enjoying their time there. Tomorrow is the big feast at the Ernst family home and it sounds like they are having a PIG for dinner. I too, got the good news that OMAR and Elisa from the Hogar had a baby boy this past weekend. He was over 8 pounds and has big feet like his papi. They have yet to name him? I will be excited to meet him when I go back to visit in February and March 2009.
I made my first Japanese dish last night with mini eggplants, peapods and I added onion to it. I stir fried it and then put this sauce in with it that I bought at the store. Thankfully they have drawings on the back of alot of their packages and so I had kind of an idea of what to do. It actually ended up quite tasty. My first time ever making eggplant.
It is still not raining outside,for the moment anyhow and so I think I will run to the store for some tomatoes for our TACO Friday supper. Wow,is it already that time again? This week has flown by...even with all the rain keeping me housebound for most of it.
Well I must say, it was good to get out of the house and off this chair. I went down on the back side of the bluff and just decided to walk down side streets through the little neigborhoods and see what interesting things I could find. I enjoyed looking at all the container gardens in front of each of the houses. These people love their plants and I am always amazed at how many some of them have 3 and 4 rows deep. I noticed too they are getting ready for fall and all the gravel, mums, marigolds, fall like plants are being put out at the stores for fall landscaping projects. I even noticed Halloween decorations were out at one little general merchandise stores. WOW..I wonder if the kids go door to door here as well and trick or treat? Something else to find out.
I went past a carport that had a bunch of chimes and white platic bags hanging from the netting above the minivan. When I crossed the street to look closer I see it was a grapevine with clusters of grapes hidden in the plastic bags. As I write this I am thinking where the heck was the dirt that it was planted in ?, all I remember seeing was cement. If that grew from a container..well,then that man or women has a heck of a green thumb I'd say. I wonder if they make wine,jelly from the grapes or if they just eat them?
Then I continued on and stopped at a few different mom and pop shops and bought an item or two at each of the places. Spread the wealth I figured..and give each of them a few yen. Met Charlie the very friendly produce man who wanted his foto taken. He asked in English if I was a traveler and I told him no I live here in Yamate-cho.He actually had some very nice looking watermelons for only 500y a piece. The store a few doors down had them for 1800yen, another for 3000yen. If I didn't already have my bags and hands so full I probably would have gotten one, as that is the cheapest I have seen a whole watermelon. I am wondering too if this is more their watermelon season now in August,as I seem to see way more now than before?
We have yet to have any watermelon since we moved here. Quite the change from the states, since I usually bought 2 a week in the heat of the summer back in MN.
I walked through and looked in alot of different food stores and fish markets looking for interesting food to take pics of.Graham's friends Emily sent us an email with fancy Japanese foods in it and so now I am looking to see if I can see any, kind of like a scavenger hunt. I did see some pretty pastal candies in animal and flower shapes and also some marzipan goodies. Everything is so decorated and detailed here.
Then my arms and shoulders began to get sore as my bags were very full and it was now getting hotter after my 3 1/2 hours out and about in the ever warmin sun. So I purchased two flower pot containers for the front porch and will fill them when we get back from China in a week or so. I told the lady as she handed me my bag,"I had better go home as I don't have any more arms. I need to be a Taku with 8 arms to carry any more". She and the other 2 sales clerks laughed and understood my Japlish charades.:-)
Back home past my favorite veggie market as they are the only place I see snap peas and for only 100yen.Then up the long hill with many steps past the closed up and very quiet international schools,through the park and down the other steps still under construction to our newlsy paved street. Felt good to get home, unload and have my veggie tempura I bought for my late lunch. It was cold as there was really no park on my route to sit and it eat but it was still very tasty.
Downloaded my pics, recorded my bills, prepared the Taco fixins and now will relax till CJ gets home. Maybe finish reading my Geisha book I started on the plane when we came back after the funeral. I don't really read too much in the summer, it seems, as it is more of a winter thing for me when I find myself house bound. Though I could of this very rainy week, but I have this blog that seems to be keeping me busy instead.
We have no real plans yet for this labor day weekend. My guess is we will probably stay around home and try to get some of the plane arrangements made for upcoming trips to USA, CJ's mom in October, kids here for Christmas, me to Honduras in February. I need to do something about getting some Sumo tickets for us in Sept or October and I should email the men from the school I met. Perhaps go to Costco for a few items with CJ, as it is quite a ways to haul those bigger sized items 3 subway stations away and back all by myself. Maybe we will go for another bike ride too, if the weather is nice, or I think it would be fun to go to the zoo and see the Panda Bears....who knows...?
So I will close for now and wish you all in the states a happy labor day weekend. Suppose many of you will head to your cabins and begin to close up shop after another summer season comes to an end. I hope you have nice weather there too, and good luck to all of you getting the kids ready for school to start next week as well.
Konnichiwa
Karla and CJ
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