March 15, 2010

Monday - Warm and cloudy in Niigata, rainy in Tsuruoka.

And a good weekend was had by all. Well, mostly. It was an experience, let me tell you all about it.

Hubby and I had a fight on Friday night, remember? I wasn't spoken to for much of Saturday either, and had to ask if we could go out for brunch before my work. I thought things were getting better, but they weren't. We didn't talk during brunch, I went to work and taught my two classes, and then came home again for a bit.

F drove me to the train station, but we were really early so he parked in a parkade nearby. I told him that I didn't want to leave things on such bad terms before I left so he launched into a diatribe about what a horrible person I am at times. Hmmm, 'kay. Not really what I was hoping for. I stormed out of car and left him there. I caught my train and enjoyed my trip to Niigata.

In Niigata I found my hotel, checked in and went for dinner. I came back to the hotel later and actually had an early night. I was in bed by 1 am. Seriously. I got a text message from F at 2:30am, it was rather nice but I didn't reply.

In the morning my bad gum was sore. I had breakfast, which luckily being mostly eggs was soft. I checked out of the hotel and went to the Workshop, stopping at a drugstore on the way for some pain medicine. I took some medicine and went to the workshop. It was okay. Not great. I think the second presenter had good ideas but a bad way of presenting. It put my back up to be honest and the third presenter was nice but has done the same thing before. I left the presentation without buying anything for my school. I had planned to get something, but my gums were killing me. The pain medicine had worn off and I was told that the medicine was only to be used twice a day. Yikes. I thought about going home but decided I didn't want to. I went to the next hotel, checked in and then spent a few minutes texting and then calling F and talking. He sent me a message in Japanese to take to a drugstore so that's what I did. I got something that is the Japanese equivalent to Ambesol and also picked up a stronger pain medicine. When I got back to the hotel I used the liquid first. It helped a lot. I was surprised because it seemed like my whole lower right gum was swollen and I had what felt like an egg sized bump on my jaw. I was in agony for a while.

The medicine really helped though and a few minutes after I took the painkiller I was starting to feel almost okay. I decided to look for a place to have dinner. I ended up in Isetan, on their restaurant floor. I had a lovely pasta dish with porcini mushrooms in a cream sauce. It was expensive, but good. The food was soft too, so it didn't bother me. Since I had time to get to the theater, I decided to take myself to see Sherlock Holmes. I didn't have popcorn, I thought that would be a bad thing for my gums, but did have a drink. I gave myself one last dose of the liquid medicine before the film and then went in. It was good. I really enjoyed it. Robert Downey Jr has a sort of melancholy naturally, so he made a good Holmes and it was nice to see Watson as a man of action too. Jude Law, although ridiculously good looking, was very good in this film. It wasn't the greatest film ever, but it was enjoyable.

I walked back to the hotel, read some of my book, took a bath, and eventually, went to sleep. I slept well and was surprised when I woke up around 7 am. I slept a bit later, but was up by 9 this morning.

I ran down to the hotel bakery, grabbed a couple of goodies and then went back up to the room. I showered, ate and drank some coffee. This morning, I'm happy to report, my jaw was greatly improved and the swelling had gone down considerably. There's still a bump on my jaw, and I think the temperature of it is hotter than elsewhere on my face, but I'm better now. Whew!

I checked out of the hotel and went shopping. I found a locker for my suitcase and hacked around the shops. I didn't buy myself any books, although I did buy 3 readers for my school. I got a couple of things for my friend's present and also had a sakura steamer at Starbucks. I had gone in to see if I could have an Assam Black Tea Latte, but the clerk (barista?) made me come up to the counter before I had finished looking at the board. Darn. I missed my favourite.

I had lunch at 3 pm. A restaurant near the shopping area had a half price pasta and dessert plan available between 3 and 5 pm. I'd never been there before so gave it a try. It was nice. After my lunch, I decided to go back to the train station, so I took out my suitcase from the locker and walked back to the station.

I caught the train home without problems. I even finished reading my P.D. James novel The Private Patient. When we got to Tsuruoka, F was waiting for me in the station. We had a nice dinner at Moku-moku and after a heater set at my school, came home. It was a nice evening together. I watched my US med shows and that was it. Basically, a nice night. Whew.

Oh, one little story from my time in Niigata. I usually take a bath when I stay in a hotel by myself, and I like to use some kind of bath salts or additive. I found one at Franc Franc last night. It was a simple grapefruit bath tablet. I picked up the one they had there that was broken. It didn't bother me, and I planned to use it that night so didn't care that it wasn't in perfect condition. I thought I'd buy it, since no one else probably would. I took it to the cash register and the clerk called my attention to the fact it was broken. I said it was okay. She disappeared...and brought me a new unbroken one. I didn't have the Japanese to tell her that I wanted to buy that one because it was broken! I meekly took the new one, and later that night, when I ran my bath, I broke the tablet into 3 or 4 pieces before adding it to the water!

Night!

3 comments:

girl Japan said...

OHhhh is that the Moku Moku farm place? I went to the one near Mie.. oh it was so fantastic, I usually never eat at a viking but this rocked...

What was the workshop about, or did I miss that you said that already and I had a brain fart? hehe

Have not seen Holmes yet.... every-time I say Holmes.. for some reason the name John pops in my head.

I did see the Time Travelers Wife recently though.. didn't like it...

shinshu life said...

wow, being sick while away from home always makes me feel blue. I'm impressed you got out and made the most of your trip regardless. Was the workshop you went to E-- by any chance? I heard the Nagoya one was patchy, too. Pity as they are so great getting around to the regional areas for us country folk! Take care!

Helen said...

thefukases---no, the workshop was Oxford's. It was good in places, but sadly, I've heard a lot of this stuff before.

I did consider going home to be honest, but I wasn't sure I could handle 2 hours on a train either! If I'd felt as bad in the evening as I did on Sunday afternoon, I wouldn't have gone out, but the medicine really helped.

girl Japan--Our Moku-Moku is a local pasta restaurant. It's quite good, and they stay open a bit later than most places. I don't think it's a chain, maybe just the same name?

John is Watson's first name, so perhaps you are linking them in your mind?

The workshop was put on by Oxford Publishing...I use some of their texts in my school. It was for teaching kids. I do teach a few, so thought I'd try to pick up new ideas. I got a few, but didn't love it!

I quite liked the Time Traveler's Wife, but I haven't read the book. I saw it with my niece so it was with good company! We enjoyed it.