February 9, 2017

Thursday - Rainy and snowy, then clear

A good day, and a good week!

I had a great time away.  Some of the time was with F and some of the time was alone, but it was all quite enjoyable.

On Friday evening, F and I drove to Yamagata city, stayed in a hotel and then drove to Sendai on Saturday.  In the early part of the day, we went to Shiogama to the Fish Market and had a very fresh lunch.  They have the set up that we can buy fresh fish from a stall and then buy some rice and miso soup elsewhere to make lunch.  They do have a do it yourself grill somewhere, but we haven’t used it.  It was great this time!

A little ikura, squid, tuna and salmon on rice.

F enjoying his lunch a lot!

We checked into our very nice hotel in Izumi, and later met up with an ex-student of mine who was also an ex-classmate of F’s.  We had a very enjoyable time and it was lovely to see her again. We had an okay dinner at the outlet mall and then came back to our room for a little bit of wine and conversation.

On Sunday, we drove to another city and went to a movie.  We went to see Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children.  I enjoyed it, but then again, I love Eva Green! We drove back to our hotel and had a very fancy dinner at the hotel.  

On Monday, we checked out of our hotel and then drove back to the other city and saw the movie I wanted to see originally, Doctor Strange.  After it was over, F drove me to the nearest subway station and I left him to drive home.  

I took the subway to downtown Sendai and checked into my hotel.  I spent the next three nights there.

On Monday I bought a movie card and watched a couple of movies in the hotel.  I did a lot of crochet that night too!

Tuesday, I got up early and went to see the street market.  It was a little underwhelming, but only because I couldn’t really buy anything.  I also went to Ikea, walked all around and then had lunch before going to the Natori Mall.  At Natori, I bought some yarn and then came back downtown to my hotel.  I tried to take a nap, but failed. However, I got up a little later, took a shower and then headed out again to meet up with another ex-student.  

Ikea. I was so happy to finally get there!

My new yarn.  I've spent about 5 hours and have knitted about 3/4 of an inch.
Now I know why I crochet!

We had dinner in a fairly nice restaurant, and a lot of great conversations.  After that, I went back to my hotel and started knitting! 

On Wednesday, I slept in quite late and then went shopping!  I stayed mostly in the downtown area. I didn’t buy a lot, but I got some teas and also bought a few postcards, but nothing as crazy as I usually do.  I had dinner at a Hawaiian burger restaurant and then went back to the hotel where I did more knitting and stayed up much too late again!

Avocado cheddar burger.  It was messy but quite good!

This morning I got up early-ish and then finished packing up my stuff.  I checked out of the hotel and put my bag in to be sent home. I didn’t want to deal with carrying it around.  I took my backpack and put it in a locker near the bus station, then went back to the station.  I met up with some ladies in my women’s group AFWJ.  We all live in Tohoku and it is sometimes hard to meet up.  We had a nice lunch in an Italian restaurant and then spent some time chatting later.  

I caught my bus with time to spare and began the long trip home.  F was there at the bus station in Tsuruoka and we went for a quick dinner before picking up a few groceries.  

I’ve spent the rest of tonight answering email, catching up on things and a little crafting!  

Tomorrow I’m not sure what I’m going to get up to. Probably there’ll be a bit of laundry in my future! Come back later and I’ll tell you all about it!  Until tomorrow….