Don't miss my two long blogs about our Tokyo adventures previous to this one below....
We woke to a cold, wet, rainy and blustery day so CJ and I just lounged around the house most of the morning. We had planned to go and see an International Day festival north of here a few train stops and hoped to catch the Thai dancers that we missed last week in Sankeien Garden, but I got involved with looking at my photos from yesterday (albums coming soon I hope on Face book) and CJ was watching some TV and relaxing, so we decided to skip it. By the time we would've got there, they would already have been done anyway. It was good to just relax after our long day in Tokyo the day before, but at first I was a bit anxious as I hate when I know something new is going on and I feel like I am missing something.
I too was thinking of going to a local elementary school where I saw they were having some kind of game day, which I figured might be something to do with the Hani Matsuri Day for Girls which is coming up here on March 3rd. It is the day to celebrate girls and their growth here in Japan. There are special cakes, candies, puffed rice treats sold in green, pink and white. Each family with a girl supposedly puts up an alter with little dolls on it of the emperor,empress and their court. I found some little clay figurines and sticky window decorations for our house to decorate with and to remind us our sweet daughter Kalen.Boys day is in May.
I also found a paper doll like cutout alter and figurines to build and so while CJ went for a run, polished his shoes and watched TV,I spent the afternoon cutting those out while waiting for Shohei to call us.
We had invited him to spend the day with us, but he called earlier in the week and said he had to work at the Meiji Shrine up by Harajuku in Tokyo for game day there. So he would call us when he was done at 4:30pm and would love to come here for supper on his way back home to Kamakura in the south.
So later in the early afternoon, CJ and I braved the weather and went for a walk down to OK Foods and the Homes store to get a few items we needed for supper and the house and then back up all the steps home to prepare a spaghetti dinner for Shohei.
As we walked through Harbor View Park and down the steps we passed many a purple and white Kale flower garden and they looked so pretty with crystal like droplets of water from the morning rain decorating there cabbage like leaves. It was almost like diamonds twinkling in the sunlight that was now peeking through the clouds.
I had asked Shohei if he had any food restrictions and he said he does not eat raw vegetables and salad. They make him gag. I teased him that he would starve to death here then, as that is pretty much what we live on. I asked if he would like spaghetti and he said "Yes". So I made meat sauce with noodles, garlic toast plus a salad and green beans for CJ and I.
Shohei called at 4:30pm on the dot and said he was now leaving Harajuku for Motomachi station. When we figured an hour was up we walked down to meet him and then the adventure of finding him began. He is a total stranger to this part of town and we obviously didn't give him very good directions and it took us about an hour to finally meet up. We now know there are many Chinatown exits we did not know existed and we also know Motomachi Shopping Street is Exit Number 5. Luckily for him he was underground in the long warm corridor while CJ and I were outside in the elements and not dressed warm enough as we did not anticipate walking across town to the other side of Chinatown.
Shohei called when he got off the train and we told him we were already there and waiting at the gate. He then proceeded to go to Exit One which was on the opposite end of the underground walkway. We waited and he never showed up. I had my cell phone with me, but failed to bring his number with me, so we had to just wait for him to show up or call again. Thankfully he called again and I asked where he was. He was at the Yamashita Park by exit one and I then noticed the sign and told him we were at exit 5. So he was going to walk and said it was a long way. So we waited some more. Then he never showed up again and now it is getting on about an hour and CJ is cold and so he heads to Starbucks for a cup of coffee. I stay and wait and then he calls us again and does not know where he is at. He got turned around in the underground maze. I told him about the phone situation and so he knew to keep calling us back until we met up. I told him too, to wait there at exit 1 and that we would come meet him there.
So I went and got CJ and we were off in search of our long lost friend.:-) As we walked down the street to the exit I figured he was at, I then learned there were 3 more train station exits along that street and further east then I even knew about. We finally got to exit one and he was not there and so he called again and CJ talked to him on the phone till we finally met up. Crazy! :-) I even thought perhaps he might have had second thoughts and did not know how to tell us he was not comfortable coming to our house, or that he stopped to get a bite to eat in case he hated what I prepared.haha Heck he was probably very hungry after working with the kids all day and I know CJ and I were about starved as it was nearing 7:30pm.
Thankfully we finally did meet up and then made a made a mad dash toward home, warmth and some food. Shohei apologized for getting lost and said he was a stranger to this area and did not know really where he was at. We of course said we were sorry as well and now hopefully know better, how to give directions.
Back home we had some rice crackers and tea while waiting for the noodles to boil and the beans to steam. I made Shoehi a small salad just in case he wanted to try it, but he shook his head NO and said he would eat the tomatoes, but could not try the lettuce or cukes. I had fore warned him on the phone earlier in the week, not to feel bad at all if there was something he just could not stomach and to not feel bad about telling us so. We would be more than happy to look for something else to feed him if need be.
So we then ate our meal and CJ and I chowed down like you thought we hadn't had a meal in weeks. I was very cold and starving. Shohei started out very slow and at first I felt bad and thought perhaps he did not like it,but he just kept eating steadily as he talked and shared stories with us about his school, family and mom who will have died 2 years ago on March 7th. He was missing her alot I think, as he talked of her alot that evening. He too told us more about his dad and brother and about himself when he was a very shy young boy and now how he has changed his life around and is back at school and becoming very social. Yeah..it is hard to believe he was like that, as he was so friendly and open with us the day we met him in Chinatown. It is great to see how he is pushing himself to step out into unfamiliar and new situations. We complimented him alot on his outgoing friendly personality. He really is pushing himself out of his comfort zone and he is much happier for it.
:-)I wonder what his dad thinks of all the changes he is making. He too talked of his dad and how the death of his wife has been very hard on him and how he actually had cut the months of February and March out of his calendar. He can't wait for April to get here. He is busy taking dance and cooking classes. Shoehei also talked of their house being tidy, but dirty and not having the flowers and such his mom used to put around. We said they were missing a woman's touch in their bachelor pad and he agreed. He told us how next time he wanted us to come to his house and we said we would love to and also would like to have his dad come visit here if her would like to join him sometime.
CJ was struggling with jet lag as he sat and listened to us talk, and so he kept busy and washed all the dishes and cleaned up the kitchen, and got dessert ready too. We had a yummy new jumbo-cho like dessert I found, that to our surprise and delight had not only Bavarian like cream inside but whip cream too. Double our pleasure! YUM! :-P We ate it with a fresh mix of blueberries, strawberries,red grapes and black raspberries that I bought and made up from Costco.
They also have toothpaste looking tubes of sweetened condensed milk here and so I drizzled that back and forth across the top for even more sweetness.It was so very tasty and delicious and Shoehi really loved it too. He kept saying how these were all new and different flavors and ways of eating foods together for him, but he licked his platter clean. Yea!
We enjoyed a few chocolate strawberry candies and then CJ and I walked Shohei back to Ishikowacho station for his 10:30pm direct train trip south to Kamakura and home.
It was an enjoyable evening and fun to learn more about him, the Japanese culture, Shinto beliefs and to spend time with our special new friend. We look forward to our next meeting and hope to get to Kamakura Boulevard and to walk under the rainbow arch of Cherry blossoms in a short 3 weeks from now.
It is now 4:30 pm on Monday March 2nd and the sun is getting lower in the sky across the bluff valley here and I never did get outside in the sun. Oh well..Hopefully tomorrow it will be shining again. I always like to get my thougths down on paper before the next adventure begins and as you can see I had alot of stories to share.
I have literally been writing all day and I now need to get up off this computer chair and downstairs to make some dinner for CJ and I. CJ will leave for China tomorrow and so I will try and work on my Face book pics of the Fish Market, River cruise, garden flowers...Had a nice Skype phone chat with my California friend Gaely and it was so good to catch up with her. Her hubby David was a commerical fisherman for years and so he could really relate to my fish market story. He was home and recovering from recent knee surgery and she was also telling me about there son Alec who is currently living and working in Hong Kong and also reminded me of her mom and dad who met and got married years ago here in Japan. I had not talked with her since our last visit to California back when the kids were in middle school I think and now her youngest Katherine is a junior in high school. Time moves on quickly.
I am looking forward to eating the cake and pastel treats I bought for Hami Matsuri tonight as I don't need to eat a whole cake by myself tomorrow on the 3rd so we will celebrate our daughter Kalen tonight and maybe I can get CJ to help me glue the paper dolls together too. It is kind of like building a model of sorts and engineers like that sort of thing I think? Maybe more Idol is on as well? We missed last night, so I am not sure what day we are at now.I heard through the Idol grapevine that Casey might be a wild card too, so who knows hopefully her dream has not yet died out on that show anyway.
more soon
Karla
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