Konnichiwa
How did you like your break? What break you ask? ......Well, I haven't written anything in 4 days and no one has written and said "Hey, come on, where is the news"? So I am guessing I have probably worn you all out and perhaps your sick of reading my long drawn out accounts of each day? ...
But Alas, and never fear you hard core DIE-HARD fans that are looking for more bathroom reading material...I am still here alive and well. :-)haha
I have to be honest with you and tell you I kind of hit the wall this past weekend and felt like the "Japanese honeymoon period" might be over for me. It has been a bit boring here for me as of late, and I am OBVIOUSLY in need of more conversation with people and was feeling a bit lonely or more like stir crazy, I guess. I was a bit disappointed to find I was too late in getting into the one Japanese class on Monday and Wednesdays. Darn! Then I too was anticipating what might happen later this week when I go to look for more classes and how that was going to work with my school schedule if I get one....In the midst of another transition period I guess and perhaps I'm just anxious as to how it is all going to play out?
So now, I am adjusting to a another new routine and with more changes to hopefully come in October, as it looks like I will probably get to have some interaction of some kind with the kids at the school. Yeah!
Since I last wrote on Saturday we have been hanging around the house a bit more , catching up on sleep, relaxing and regrouping. We didn't go see Sumo after all, but did end up taking the subway down to Costco Sunday eve to load up on the last of the blueberries and a few more items we can get there cheaper than the stores close to home. You can get 6 cans of black olives for 6 or 7 dollars when one cost almost $4 at the regular store, so that is worth the trip in itself. We too happily found some refried beans and so now our Taco Friday's are complete. We really were missing those two ingredients. Yeah! Costco was the place to be Sunday night I guess, as the checkout lines were 10-12 people deep and the restaurant was packed with families having pizza dinners. Overflowing shopping carts were lined up like a fence. I should have taken some photos in there? Darn!
Monday Sept 15th was a National holiday and CJ had off work. It was Respect for the aged Day and the only thing I could find out about it was that the older generation 60 years and up got free admission to certain tour spots? Cj was not in the mood so no SUMO today either.
That afternoon after a very early morning phone chat with Kalen and Michael (he is happy to be back in Chicago)and then another couple hours of sleep, we made our way to the Ramen Museumn in Shin Yokohama for an early dinner.It is a little museumn with a 1958 facades and 8 different restaurants each with their own specialized Ramen recipe. We tried 2 different kinds this time. One pork and one garlic. They were very good. We then got a fried cinnamon bread stick and I also visited the old time candy store to get a few old school Japanese treats. I was going to get some 10yen stick type of crispy treat and then I asked the guy dressed like a cop what flavors they were. I thought the purple one was grape and the red one was strawberry..but luckily I asked, as they were cow tongue and octupus. Yech! :-( The other colorfully wrapped flavored sticks were shrimp, salmon, soy sauce, chicken feet, fish, corn, ....I did get a corn one, but have yet to eat it. It feels kind of like a big baked straight Cheeto through the package, but I keep thinking about the cow tongue and so I have yet to open it.
After the museum we then walked through the shopping and restaurant areas of the train station looking at the fake food displays and checking the prices on items in the grocery stores. We ended up standing and watching through the window, the chef at one restaurant preparing their most popular dish. The guy first grilled a hamburger and while that was cooking he put a piece of foil down with green beans on it and a few pieces of bacon it looked like. When the burger was done he laid that on top and then covered it all with some beef gravy type looking stew.Sealed it all in the foil and when he placed it on a hot iron skillet the foil puffed up like those old Jiffy pop popcorn foil pans. He served it with a baked potatoe and some green herbed garnish. We figured it must be some kind of salisbury steak type dish? Doesn't take much to entertain us I guess.:-)
Of course, we stopped by Jumbo-cho on the way home for our favorite dessert. I have eaten more desserts here the past 2 months than I have in years. I am thinking I had better watch it a bit, especially once the colder weather sets in and if I am not out walking as much to burn it off? Back home and CJ watched some Formula One racing on TV and I chilled and read over some Yokohama websites my friend sent to me, with some disturbing cultural info and ways they do things here.
So yes now I am thinking, contemplating... and that seems to be the way I get when the warm weather begins to go away and the cooler air blows in...
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