Sunday and Monday the 16th and 17th
Sunday and Monday - On Sunday, I bummed around and bought $50 worth of groceries and had surprisingly little to show for it. I went into the import grocery store with a 5000 yen bill and figured no way I can spend more than this. But the import grocery store is a little like Target - everything is there so it’s pretty convenient to just do all your shopping there even though you aren’t necessarily getting the best deal. So I just grabbed a bunch of stuff I felt like eating or needed for the apartment, and got to the register, only to find that I was way over budget. I was able to actually articulate in Japanese to the cashier that I couldn’t afford everything/didn’t need all of this, so I separated my groceries and the ones that I really needed did total just over 5000 yen so I used my change and it was all good. The other stuff got put back by another employee and I felt stupid but proud that I solved the problem by communicating.
Before grocery shopping, on Sunday morning we were all supposed to go bowling, but gradually people started not being able to go until it was just me and Dan (teacher from England, only teaches kids at the moment). Of course when we got to the bowling alley, all the lanes were filled so we were like wtf do we do…? We tried to go to a restaurant that has green curry because, being English, he is all about the curry, but it wasn’t anywhere near opening, so we settled for me using his internet for an hour to answer emails, and then went to a different restaurant bc the curry restaurant STILL wasn’t open. So we got ‘drinks bar’, which is basically all you can drink from the sodas, teas, coffee, whatever they have. I think I drank my weight in Melon soda. It looks like toxic chemicals but it tastes great! There was also food ordered. At this point I am getting comfortable with paying for things in Japan - I’ve done it enough, what with all the 7-11ing on those days when I didn’t have an apartment. The only thing that’s really different is that you never hand your money to the cashier, there is a tray that you put it in and then they will pick it up and count it and hand your change to you. The 7-11 ppl are really great, because if you get something that you need a spoon or chopsticks for, they have them at the counter and put them in for you. If you get something that needs to be heated, they heat it for you right there. You can also buy stamps and pay bills at 7-11, though I haven’t done so yet. I’m pretty sure it’s my favorite store in Japan.
Monday I went in to work for 6 hrs and planned all my lessons for Tuesday and Wednesday. I could have done this at home but I didn’t bring any books or photocopies home with me on Saturday in my hurry to get out of there and go have fun. So I went to work and it was cool.
That night I rode my loan bike for the first time to Scott’s apartment to watch Heroes on dvd with him, a Japanese girl he likes, and Dan. I really like Heroes. It was fun to watch it with Japanese subtitles, too. We made some kind of Chinese noodle dish, and then watched the show, but the girl had to leave after the first episode, so we finished the dvd after she left, and also talked about how beautiful she was. Everyone agreed she was stunning. Apparently she can sing, too, but she was too shy to sing in front of strangers, which clearly I understand.