Living La Vida Loca In Japan: February 2013

Showing posts with label February 2013. Show all posts

April 1, 2016

Friday - Warm and sunny

A good day.

I got up late this morning. I’m not sure why but I woke up early and turned off my alarms and then went back to bed. It was almost 10 when I got up for real. Not good. Sigh.

My morning was fairly quiet. I watched a bit of TV from the DVR, I did a bit of laundry and decided that since I was going out, that would do for my workout.

I scanned my cards early and then got them ready to go. I had some lunch and watched more from the DVR after the repeat of Penny Dreadful finished. I love that show. The second season starts tomorrow and I have had it written on the calendar for weeks. I think it is Eva Green. She is endlessly fascinating!

I left a bit after 4 and biked to the drugstore, hacked around and bought some stuff there. After that I came home.

F called and said he was finished work, so I got started on the kitchen prep. I did the dishes and then prepared the broccoli. Earlier in the day I had set up the garlic pork to marinate. When he was home I cooked dinner. We had garlic pork, leftover chicken from last night, leftover swiss chard, sesame soy broccoli and salad and it was good. F was quite impressed!

I had suggested before dinner that we walk to Mister Donuts for some tea and a donut after dinner. I didn’t think that F wanted to do that, but he did. Hurray!

We both got dressed for walking in the cold and set off. After a few minutes of walking we arrived at the donut place. It had closed. There on the door were listed the new hours. They are now open 8:00am to 8:00pm. Say what?! We hardly ever go there early in the evening and Mister Donuts is always open late…there are trains and such that people come and have a coffee or a tea and a bite before they catch them. I’m quite annoyed.

However, all was not lost. On the way back, we passed the new karaoke box and F asked if I’d like to go in. Of course I would! We got a membership and went and sang for two hours. It was a lot of fun! Towards the end I couldn’t think of what to sing so I posted on Facebook and asked my friends. It was a little crazy since they couldn’t hear me, but in some cases, that was all the better for them! One friend asked me to do Adele’s “Hello”. She is a great singer. I am not. However, my Queen song was okay and so was Elton John and Kiki Dee’s “Don’t Go Breaking My Heart”. I had fun.

We paid and left when our two hours was up. We walked home. It seemed warmer on the way back somehow.

At home, F snoozed for a bit on the couch before going to bed, I spent quality time with my computer.

I am not sure what we’re going to get up to tomorrow. There aren’t any new movies in town and we are on a bit of a budget. I’m hopeful that we’ll come up with something exciting to do. Come back a bit later and find out if we manage to have a good weekend after all. Until tomorrow….

Postcrossing - Incoming

To March 10, 2013

It's taken me a little longer than I expected to come back to this blog entry, but seeing as how it is a national holiday and I'm not doing anything productive, I thought I'd give it a try today.

As always, feel free to leave comments or questions about the cards or stamps below.

Angela sent this great card of a younger Leonardo DiCaprio getting on his inner Bjork. She writes that this photograph is by one of her favourite photograpers, Annie Leibovitz. She likes her more than she likes Leonardo! Angela is a fan of older movies and loves Cary Grant and Katherine Hepburn. She says that she could watch old classics from the 30's through the 60's all day, every day!

Leonardo DiCaprio, Tejon Ranch, Lebec, California 1997
Photograph by Annie Leibovitz

Angela also used these fabulous stamps on her card. I may have received them before, but the cancellation marks are quite light on these ones.

Thank you so much!

My next card comes from Britain and was sent by Janet. She sent me this card of The Beatles in a quiet moment. It's a cool card. She notes that she has never heard The Beatles music as she has been deaf since childhood.

PAUL, RINGO, GEORGE, AND JOHN RELAXING BACKSTAGE.
The Beatles at King's Hall, Belfast, 2nd November, 1964

Thanks for this card!

My next interesting card comes from Russia and was sent by Anna. She writes that she likes watching smart movies and her special love is Black and White films. A recent film that she enjoyed was Control (2007) about Ian Curtis of Joy Division. It's a biographical film. (I haven't seen it.)

Moleskine. Thai Weber

Anna used a grouping of large and beautiful stamps on the back of her card. I wish I could get more information about them, but I can't read Cyrillic. Any hints from readers out there?

A lovely Postcrossing! Thanks so much.

I was really excited to get this card. I had just rewatched the movie a few days before so it was great timing. I've read the books, and will likely buy the DVD of this when it comes out.

Manuela sent this from Germany. She writes that she likes gardening, reading local crime stories and going to the cinema. She sends her best wishes.

The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Thank you. I loved this movie!

Elena sent this delicious looking card to me. She writes that she lives near St. Petersburg and she works for the post office.

Russian cuisine: backed(sic?) duck with potatoes

It looks delicious.

Elena also used some gorgeous stamps on her card. She had to put one sideways, but it is worth turning your head for!

Russia always has such gorgeous stamps I think. Lovely!

One of the ladies in AFWJ has been sending me her prefectures Gotochi cards, and this is one that I have just received.

Like quite a few of my friends, she will be moving this year due to the horrid way Japan moves workers around without warning. However, this is a great card, and we are both waiting to see what the new Gotochi cards for this year will be.

Well, there you have it, 5 Postcrossing cards, bonus stamps and a Gotochi card. Hurray! Which is your favourite?

Until next time!

Postcrossing - Incoming

To February 27, 2013

Apologies for not updating sooner. I had a busy end of February with writing deadlines and then in the beginning of March my computer decided to throw a fit and didn't want to work anymore.

Anyway, I have five rather interesting cards, some with lovely stamps too, so I hope you enjoy them. Please feel free to comment below. I'd love to hear which one is your favourite.

This card was sent from Portugal and talks about a horror movie festival in Lisbon. The sender didn't say more than that unfortunately.

This came with a stamp that some people would like, other people would think was apt for a horror movie festival!

Marina from Minsk sent this card. She only wrote, "Greetings from Belarus" so there isn't much to tell you about this card. It is a lovely view.

Holy Cross Cathedral of Convent of the Savior and St. Euphrosyne

Il Postino

This card came all the way from The Netherlands. Ina sent it and tells me that she doesn't really like Italian films very much. These days she likes the Turkish filmmaker who made a trilogy called, "Eggs", "Milk" and "Honey". She also loves Sokurov, a Russian film maker. She mentioned a film called "The Sun" which apparently isn't screened in Japan due to fears that the right wing in Japan might protest it. (It's about the Japanese Emperor.)

Thanks Ina! As I told her in my thank you, I did see Il Postino, but I didn't like it very much. I was a little too sad that the main actor died right after the film was finished, he'd put off having heart surgery a little too long. I didn't think it was a good enough movie to be worth a man's life.

A good card, with a lovely chatty message, though!

Eero sends his greetings from the middle of Finland. He writes that he lives there with his dog and cat in his own house.

He sent a lovely card. I believe that these are Collies, since they are bigger than Shetland Sheepdogs. I have a long love of Shelties, but Collies are quite close.

He used this fabulous stamp on his card as well. Lovely!

Lao sent this card from China. He sent Winter Greetings to me and said that he hasn't been to my country, but would like to travel there.

The Imperial Palace in Shen Yang

So, there you are. Five great cards and some lovely stamps. I've been falling behind with Postcrossing, so there'll likely be another entry coming soon. Keep an eye out for it.

Comments welcome below! See you soon.

February 28, 2013

Thursday - Warm and sunny

A good day. I got up a little later than I planned today, but it was fine. I had some toast for breakfast and re-watched Celebrity Apprentice and also watched Life’s Too Short. It was funny.

In the afternoon I watched some more TV, got stuck into writing my column and also did some laundry.

I also received a phone call and a box from Canada. Inside was my birthday present from a friend in Canada. She bought me a lovely coat. It’s very nice and quite different from one I’d get here, so I’m pleased!

F came home around 5:30 or so and then we went out to run some errands. We went to the drugstore, my school and then the grocery store.

We came home and F put the nabe together. We had it for dinner and it was very nice. It was a fish and chicken nabe with lots of veggies. I did the dishes afterwards and then got stuck in to finishing my column. I got it done and sent off.

I was just about to move over to the couch when F dropped his glass on the floor. It broke and sent glass all over. F picked it all up. He wouldn’t let me help him, although I was wearing slippers and he wasn’t. He cut himself on his feet a couple of times so I’m a bit worried about him.

I watched The Good Wife. Tonight was interesting. The plot is thickening I think! I like the actors on the show. They are all very talented.

Anyway, that’s about it for tonight. I have a class tomorrow so I’d like to get to bed soon. Got to go. Night!

February 27, 2013

Wednesday - Sunny and warm

A good day.

I got up rather early for me today and got dressed. F was in the living room and when he saw that I was getting up and was dressed, he was surprised. A bit after 9, we left to go to the doctor’s office. I saw the doctor fairly quickly and I asked him to examine my foot. He couldn’t see anything wrong with it, and he asked if I’d like an X-ray. I said yes, so I had one taken. It didn’t show anything either. Sigh. He did say that if I wanted he’d refer me to a podiatrist in Shinjo, but I would rather not make F drive me all that way just to see another doctor.

We had brunch in Framboise and then F dropped me off at home. He did come in the apartment to change as well. I took a short nap just before he left. It turned into a long nap, but let’s not tell him!

In the afternoon I worked on my column a little and also some other computer stuff. I watched a few minutes of The Glen Miller Story (love the music) and then some of my usual TV. I was watching a Jason Statham movie when F came home tonight. Yay Jason!

We vegged for a while and then went out for dinner. F watched his ramen restaurant tonight but once again, the parking lot was full so we gave up on it. Instead we went to Gusto where I had their new Pasta dish. It was nice, and so far I haven’t had a reaction to the tomato sauce. F had a mix fry thing and seemed to like it. We’re planning to make a nabe for dinner tomorrow night and will buy the ingredients tomorrow night.

We came home and watched a little telly. At 10 I watched Cold Case and then at 11 Private Practice. Tonight’s was pretty good as the staff staged an intervention. Lots of juicy tidbits came out, but it ended pretty much the way I thought it would.

F made bread for tomorrow. He was planning to make onion bread again (and HE was going to caramelise the onions this time!) but I begged him to make something I could have peanut butter on! He set up the bread maker for white bread. Yay.

That’s about it. I did receive 3 postcards in the mail today, but sadly I won’t have time to scan or upload them until next week unless I magically finish my column tonight! And since I’m going to bed soon, that ain’t going to happen.

Tomorrow I will finish my column, maybe throw in a bit of laundry and who knows what else? I’ve got to go. Night.

February 26, 2013

Tuesday - Clear and sunny, much warmer

An okay day.

This morning I woke up to an empty house. F had already left for work and I hadn’t heard him leave at all.

I got up, showered and watched Speed, which was on TV. Oh, Keanu…you and me on a runaway bus…Sorry, where was I? I had decided to go over to my school quite early today, so I had lunch a little earlier than I would normally and left.

Walking to my school wasn’t too bad today. It was much warmer than yesterday, plus it was sunny and clear. Snow was starting to melt in places and I felt quite good. When I got to my school, I grabbed my big snow scoop and moved a bit of snow. My parking space wasn’t too bad considering how much snow we got, but the walkway by the doors and the bit between the parking and the building were quite deep. I did the best I could, I took quite a lot of the snow out of my space and put it in the drainage ditch, and even broke the top off the “wall” of snow in my space. I did leave a lot of the wall up though. While I was there, the snow fell off the roof of the house next door and fell on the parking space next to mine! Scary. There was some ice in there and I imagine if I’d been standing there I would have been hit, and possibly hurt. It’s a bit strange that the house next doors slope goes over the apartment building’s parking area.

All told, I worked on the snow for about an hour and a half. I was busy. No one else in the building seems to do anything as far as snow removal, unless it directly affects them.

I got ready for my class. I had to dry my hair as it was quite wet, but I heated up the water, changed, set out my books, did the usual things even though I was sure my student wouldn’t come. Ten minutes after the official start of the class, my student wasn’t there, so I decided to call her. The phone was ringing and then my doorbell rang. She had arrived! Yay. We had a good lesson, and set our schedule for next month. Hurray for us.

After class I procrastinated a bit. I did my usual finishing up stuff, but I just didn’t want to go home yet. F had been so angry last night that I couldn’t get up the nerve to call him. I read through the 4 newspapers that I had at the school, finished my magazine and then decided that I had to bite the bullet. I left a message, and then he called me back. He said he’d just got home and would come and pick me up.

Tonight I decided to let him pick where to eat so of course he picked a ramen joint. His first choice was closed, the next one he went to didn’t have anything on offer except for ramen. He ate, I watched him. To be fair, he offered to take me somewhere else afterwards, but I really just wanted to go home so we went to the grocery store for some food for me.

We came home and I ate dinner. We didn’t talk a lot tonight. F is either a bit mad at me still or his neck is really bothering him. I can’t tell the difference to be honest. I watched Criminal Minds and then turned off the TV, F went to bed a couple of hours ago.

Really that’s about it for me. Tomorrow he has a part day off, and I think he’ll take me to the doctor. We’re having arguments about which doctor to go to, but we always argue! Got to go. Night.

February 25, 2013

Monday - Snowy, windy and cold

An odd day.

I got up at my first alarm so that I could watch the Academy Awards this morning. I also got dressed right away too. I didn’t want to be looking for clothes if someone came to the door.

I got down to the serious business of Facebooking the Oscars! It was a hoot. An old friend from my university and I make it a date, we comment on the Oscars together and it’s a bit like watching them together. This year we were joined by a guy from my high school and then later on, a blog buddy! 3 people in two different continents watching the same show and “writing” about it in real time. Fun!

I enjoyed the show this year. It was my first experience seeing Seth MacFarlane and I thought he did an okay job of hosting. I was quite happy for Jennifer Lawrence and also for Ang Lee. Adele was amazing as always….and how cool to have Dame Shirley Bassey there for the Bond tribute. She sang Goldfinger. Sing it with me now… “Goldfinggggah”!

The Academy Awards took up all of the morning and some of the afternoon. I was deciding to go out and shovel some snow when the TV started broadcasting a siren noise. There was an earthquake in the middle of Japan. I think it hit Tochigi and was fairly strong. A couple of seconds after the warning on the TV it hit us, but it was very mild here. Still, it was so close to the anniversary of the big one we had two years ago, so I know people are a bit anxious about the whole thing.

I went out after a few minutes and shovelled some snow. I did the doorway of the apartment building, then F’s parking space, and then went down the driveway a little bit. It got darker and the snow started up again, so I gave up and came inside.

After F came home, we relaxed for a while and then went out to my school. I needed to set the heater for tomorrow’s class. We did that, and then came back home.

I got started cooking dinner. I had asked F to help me, as part of a conversation over dinner, but as usual he did nothing. Sigh. He says he’ll do something, but he doesn’t. Anyway, I prepped the chicken, set the table, prepped the soup and heated it up. While we were eating the soup, I cooked the chicken in the microwave. The soup wasn’t hot enough of course, but I followed directions so go figure.

The chicken was good, and so was the salad. I was sure that it wasn’t enough, so I cooked a few hash brown patties for us and served those too. It was quite a nice dinner.

F did most of the dishes, and then decided to make bread again. Yesterday’s loaf didn’t rise properly, but it tasted good. He wanted to make the same type again and did. I took it out after 1 and it didn’t rise again. He thinks that it was the flour. It wasn’t strong flour. I’m ticked because he wasted the onions that I caramelised.

We re watched the Oscars tonight. I enjoyed it without writing all through it, and F seemed to watch parts of it. He took his bath, and while he was there I took out the bread.

We discussed the flour and he was all set to try making more bread. However, starting to make bread at 1:30 in the morning just isn’t a good idea in my opinion and he got angry at me for saying so. He threw the bread pan on the floor I think…no idea if he picked it up. He did some “work” on his computer and then stormed off to bed without talking to me. Good Riddance.

Anyway, I’m done. It was a good day until F started to act stupid. Sadly, I’m getting used to it. Tomorrow I have an afternoon class, but I’m going to have to do a lot of snow shovelling and walking to get there first. Sigh. Night!

Oh, and today was a personal anniversary for me too….a rather sad one, but I haven’t been wallowing as much as I usually do for it. Probably a good thing?

February 24, 2013

Sunday - Cold and snowy

An interesting day. I slept in as usual, but the nice thing is that F slept in a bit too. He did get up before me, but that’s pretty much the norm around here!

When I got up, we talked about going out, but I suggested having the pizza that was in the fridge instead. F baked it for us and we quite enjoyed it. I liked it a lot.

After a while of computer usage, I asked F to please start tidying up the tatami room. Next week there will be the fire alarm inspection and the men have to come in and check most of our rooms. F has all manner of junk everywhere. I do too, but I know whether I want to keep it or not!

I started in on the tatami room, and then F got mad at me because I was cutting down a box. When I say I was cutting it down, I only mean that I was cutting the tape so I could fold it down and make it take up less space. He wanted the box for something, so he taped it back up again. Gah. Anyway, for the next couple of hours we did some tidying up. He finished the tatami room and then started on his changing room. I tackled my clothes in the bedroom. I must start throwing things out. I must.

Finally, around 6 we started talking about going out for lunch, and then around 7 actually did go out. I told him he could go to the place that he likes and I hate, but when we got there, the parking lot was full. Oh darn. Then he suggested a yakiniku place, so we tried there, but the parking lot was full. We ended up at Aki, the okonomiyaki place and it was good. Yum. We usually swap half of our food with each other, but today, we just swapped a quarter of it. I liked that better I think. I had my usual curry and cheese, F had shrimp and kimchee. Both were good.

After dinner we ran a few errands. We bought groceries, and then gas for the car. We came home and in a few minutes, I got busy. F had asked on the way home for more onion bread, so I caramelised the onions and he made the bread. We tried putting some of our new rye flour in this time. Flash forward 5 hours and F took it out. Something went wrong as the bread didn’t rise. Oh no! It smells good, but all that work on the onions….I hope the bread still tastes good. I didn’t put all of the onions in this time, we have some left over for another loaf.

Watched a bit of TV tonight. Some of it I didn’t see very well as I was in the kitchen at the stove, but some of it was fine. F and I watched a bit while we had a bit of a snack. We had bought some yakitori at the grocery. That and a big fruit plate. It was on sale, but the fruit really looked good, and as I don’t usually eat fruit, trust me on that!

So that was my day. It was good in that parts of my apartment are looking better than they have in years, and F and I got a lot done, but didn’t have any major arguments. Hurray for that.

Tomorrow is the Oscars…and I shall be faithfully Facebooking them for my own amusement. Hopefully they will be exciting! Also, I’ll try cooking again tomorrow night. If F turns his nose up at my food we’ll probably have restaurant food only for the next month or more. That’s it for me. I have an early morning planned! Got to go. Night!

February 23, 2013

Saturday - snowy but warmer

We woke up this morning to a world of white. Snow was everywhere, and it was quite deep too. Bleck. I didn’t want to tell F, but I had to.

We went for brunch to Gusto and then F drove me to my school. He was amazing and shovelled and removed a lot of snow from my parking space. I worked on other areas. He soon had the area look good, and even stayed there to make sure the snow plough didn’t block the gate.

My student came on time, and had a special request. She wanted me to do test preparation. It was fine, but it honestly would have been nice if she or her mother had asked in advance to let me prepare for it. Still, it was fine. All too soon our class was over. It was quite sad for me, as she won’t be continuing at my school. I’ve been teaching her since she was 4 or 5, so I’m quite sad about the whole thing.

After her class, I checked on the parking lot and the snowplough had blocked the gate. My student’s mother hadn’t parked there though, so she wasn’t trapped, but I cleared the gateway anyway. I had another class scheduled today.

I spent a couple of hours inside my school doing bits and bobs, I checked on the snow situation a little later and it was okay, and prepared for my next student. She called a little late and said that she couldn’t come as she was busy. I spent the rest of my time doing things like washing dishes, reading newspapers and napping!

At 6 pm I called F and asked him to come and pick me up. He did, and we went to Fireball for dinner. We had the pasta set again. We had butter chicken curry on spaghetti and smoked salmon and mushrooms with a vodka taste sauce. They were both good, with the salmon and mushroom having a slight edge. Suitably stuffed, we left the restaurant and came home.

We had a quiet night in. F watched something and then I took over the TV. I watched a new British drama, Case Sensitive and then my usual Saturday night stuff. I’ve also watched the last half of The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo.

Tomorrow, I’m not sure what we’re going to do. The weather forecast isn’t good and there are all kinds of advisories in effect. Sigh. I hope that it’ll be a good day. Got to go. Night.

February 22, 2013

Friday - snowy but warmer

A good day!

I went to bed a little earlier last night, but slept in later than I did yesterday. It wasn’t a bad thing to be honest.

I got up this morning, showered and then spent quality time with my computer. I was thinking about cooking lunch when my cell rang. F was inviting me to lunch. I accepted with the proviso that he had to drive me to work afterwards! He bought it, so I not only had lunch, but a ride to my school. Hurray hubby :-)

Lunch was fast and not bad. We went to Tsukyia and I had gyudon, he had fish, and true to his word, he dropped me off at my school. I left my bags in the school, grabbed the shovel and went out to clean up some snow. It wasn’t too bad. Today the snow wasn’t as powdery as it was yesterday, so I could move it. I did the walkway and also the area in by the parking lot, as well as my space. It didn’t take that long either.

I went inside, and wallowed in my free time. I read newspapers and relaxed for a while. At 2:30, I went outside again to check if more snow had fallen (it hadn’t) and then came back in and changed my clothes.

My student came on time and we had a good lesson. It was an “extra” lesson to work on verbs and I think it was a good idea to do it. Yay!

After her class, I did some prep and paperwork, then F called me to say he was done. He went home to change first, and then picked me up. Tonight we had dinner in Hana, the fish restaurant. F had fish and I had tonkatsu. Mine was fine, he said his was good. We came home via the bank machine to pick up some moola and then came home.

We had a quiet evening in. I watched a lot of D-Life and really, really enjoyed it all. I even made popcorn for myself. I put some of my dill flavour powder on it, yum.

Tomorrow I have two classes and an early start, so I’d really like to get some sleep soon. It was a good day, and I haven’t had a lot of them lately. Thanks for reading! Night.

Postcrossing - Incoming

To February 18 , 2013

The cards keep coming to my mailbox, and that’s just the way I like it. Of course, I have to keep sending more out, but I like that part of it too!

If you’d like a better look at the cards in today’s entry, just click on them and if you have any questions or comments, please leave them below. I appreciate all of them!

Marina sent this card from Belarus. I was a little surprised when I registered it as it took 260 days. It was actually her second card to me, as her first one just didn’t arrive. I have quite a few cards that have gone missing along the way too, so I understand how annoying and sad that can be.

Charlie Chaplin

Marina says that she is a student at the Medical University. She likes travel and sweets. I do too!

Charlie Chaplin seems to be a favourite all over the world too, so of course I like this card very much. Thanks Marina!

This very retro card came from The Netherlands.

Thea sent it and writes that she types out her card’s messages and then prints them. She tells me that she is from the nautical town of Hoorn, about 40 km north of Amsterdam. She says that “Hoorn” is a very old Dutch word for “corner”. There is a bend in the coastline near her town. Cape Horn in South Chile was discovered by an expedition from her town and was named after her town!

I feel suitably educated! Thanks for telling me all of that Thea and for sending this interesting card.

When my parents settled back in Canada we lived on a piece of land very far from any big city. We only received two TV channels, of which one was CBC Television. I have good memories of CBC. I watched All My Children and Coronation Street for years on CBC, tons of British Dramas and late night movies. Of course I was also forced to watch Hockey Night in Canada on it, so it wasn’t all great!

That little bit of personal history will help you understand why I love this card so much!

One Family One Nation ad. The CBC Television network
launches their Coast to Coast coverage July 1, 1958.

Shelley sent it from Toronto, and gives me the CBC website address so I can try to watch TV from Canada. She wishes me Happy Postcrossings too.

Shelley also used a new Canadian stamp that is commemorating Raoul Wallenberg. He was given citizenship in many countries posthumously, and Canada was one of those countries. He was a hero and this is one of the many tributes that he has received.

Arigato Shelley!

I was rather pleased when I opened up my mailbox and found this rogue inside. W.C. Fields!

W.C. Fields

Paivi sent it from Finland. She writes that her town is the oldest town in Finland on the southwest coast of her country. Thank you so much!

This lady just “vants to be alone”, but today, she made this grouping of cards.

Greta Garbo

Anna sent me this lovely Greta Garbo card and writes that she lives in a southern city in Russia. She’s an artist and teaches drawing in some children’s clubs.

Anna also used some gorgeous stamps when she mailed this. The lovely triangular one in the corner has a raised texture. It feels rather like a lace tablecloth!

Thank you so much Anna!

The last card that I have for you today is from Germany. Peggy sent it from Jena. She says that she loves travelling but hasn’t been to either Japan or Canada. She says that she will have to change that soon! She asks about the weather in Japan and states that it started snowing where she is and now they have 40cm of snow. That sounds rather like Tsuruoka!

Postcardbook:
Greetings from the Fairy Tale King

Thank you Peggy.

There you are. Now I’m all caught up and so are you! Do you have any favourites from this bunch? I love the movie and actor cards of course, but I must admit that my personal favourite this time is the CBC card! However, it is so hard to choose!

Until next time!

February 21, 2013

Thursday - Cold and snowy

A goodish day. I had a surprise this morning. I woke up with a start, thinking that I had overslept and would be late for work. I thought it was 9:30, but it was only 8:30! Surprise, surprise…I was early, but I decided to get up then anyway. Yay me.

I showered, watched a little TV while I ate breakfast and then a little later made lunch. I left just before noon.

I made good time, but because it was so cold and windy it was difficult to breathe for me. I’m suffering a bit from it right now. Sigh.

Once I got to my school I dumped off my backpack inside and then got busy shovelling snow. I got it done, but decided to come back in 30 minutes to check.

I set up for my class. I changed too, and generally prepared myself for work. I went outside 30 minutes before class and there had been a bit of snow, so I took care of it. When I finished, I went back inside and then it was time for my class. My student was a couple of minutes late, but we had a good time. We were studying grammar, and tenses…two things I’m nervous about teaching!

After she left, I did my paperwork and prepped for tomorrow. Then, I did something different for me. I ran off to the drugstore. It took me about 10 minutes to walk there and I did a little shopping in piece without my dear husband! I walked back to my school. It was after 5 pm AND it was still light. Hurray for that!

At my school again, I had some tea and got stuck in on my recent newspapers. I didn’t finish, but I got today’s done and most of the Sunday paper. I didn’t hear from F until 6:30, but he came over to pick me up and I was happy to see him!

We had a decent dinner in Cocos and then hit up the grocery store on the way home. We didn’t buy a lot, just stuff for adding to meals.

We had a quiet evening in. I watched a bit of TV, as did F. We actually shared the TV. When I had seen something, I let him take over the TV for a bit. It was Ultimate Fighting yucky stuff, but I don’t care that much if I don’t have to watch it.

I went to the chesterfield to watch The Good Wife and do a little sewing. Matthew Perry was on again and he played a very devious man. He so wasn’t Chandler Bing, sob! I enjoyed it though.

And that’s about it for me. I’d like to get an early night tonight. Wish me luck with that! Night.

February 20, 2013

Wednesday - Cold and snowy

A good day.

We were people with a plan today. I got up around when I meant to, got dressed and then we were out the door a scant few minutes after 10 am, as I’d promised I’d be! We went to the tax office. About 3 stamps from them and five minutes in line and we were done, baby, done!

I offered to buy F breakfast so we went to Mr. Donut. He had their noodle breakfast dish and a doughnut, I had a nikuman and a frank-pie. We enjoyed ourselves and it wasn’t busy. I like listening to the music there.

After that, we went to a bank to see if I could get a cheque that an older relative sent me for my birthday. This cheque was actually a money order, drawn on a Japanese bank in Japanese yen. After about 20 minutes of waiting around, they told us that they’d have to charge me 1000 yen to contact the other bank and then the other bank would probably charge me 1000 or more yen. This for a money order that is for less than 3000 yen. Sigh. It’s not like I can ask my relative to pop down to the bank in Canada and change it. She’s 91 and can’t get around without help.

I was a bit mad after that, but know how crazy banking in Japan is. It’s weird and nothing makes sense about it.

Next up, I got F to drive by NTT to see if their office was open. It was, so we vowed to come back later. We popped home to pick up a couple of things, and then headed back. We asked about changing the billing for the internet to F instead of to me. The man directed us back to our bank. ACK! So we went to the bank and F filled out a form. I’m sure that something will go wrong though!

Next up was lunch. We were going to go to a favourite place, but they were closed, so F suggested the Komagihara buffet place. I was all for it. We went and were quite pleasantly surprised. There were a lot of fish dishes for F, a few meat dishes for me, and a dessert chef working his magic. That was a surprise. We had a pretty good meal, with lovely dessert.

F wanted to have a massage today, so he dropped me at home and went off. I did a lot of emailing with one of my groups and also packaged up 3 envelopes to send. I was reasonably busy!

After F returned, I called one of my groups’ members and tried to get her connected to the group. It took a while, but we finally succeeded. Hurray for that.

F ran me off to the post office and helped me mail my envelopes. One of them was a little complicated as it contained something for a friend.

We still weren’t hungry so we went to my school and preset the heater for tomorrow. I have an early class tomorrow. Still not hungry so we bought a few necessities at the drugstore. We drove around looking for a restaurant to go to and then F suggested Kappa sushi. It was a good idea, since we didn’t have to eat a lot if we didn’t want to.

We got in right away and had a good time.

After dinner we came home and I set up the bread maker for the morning. We’re going to have pain de campagne again. This is my first time making it, so I hope that it is good.

I watched a little TV and spent a lot of time on my computer. I won’t have much time tomorrow so I needed to get things done tonight.

And that was about it. I’m hoping to get to bed soon as I’m rather tired and tomorrow will be busy again. That’s it for me. Night.

February 19, 2013

Tuesday - Colder with flurries

A really good day today.

I got up at a decent time this morning and showered, got on with my morning. I dressed, and had a quick breakfast, then went out to meet my friend before 11:30.

She picked me up and we decided to go to an Italian style buffet restaurant in Tsuruoka. We had a lovely lunch there while we gabbed about many things. We discussed our husbands, our in-laws and life in Japan, amongst other topics.

After lunch we moved our conversation over to S-Mall and sat in the mall and talked some more. All too soon it was time for her to go home to her family, and me to go home. She dropped me off near my apartment and headed on her way.

I got home a bit before 5, watched a bit of TV and did some computer stuff. F came home around 5:30 and was very tired, poor thing. He went into the bedroom and had a long nap. I didn’t hear from him again until after 10 pm!

We had a quick and almost cheerful dinner at Gusto tonight and then came home via the grocery store. We only bought a few things but it was okay really.

I watched a little TV and then F did. He went to bed just after 1 and I’m still up. Bad me! I will go to bed fairly soon though. Although I didn’t really see much of F today, he was in a good mood for a change. I think it is because he has taken tomorrow off work. We have to go to the tax office, which hopefully will take only a couple of minutes. Fingers crossed!

That’s it for me. Night!

February 18, 2013

Monday - Cloudy, sunny and possibly rainy

An okay day.

I was a little late getting up this morning, but as it was Monday and my day off, I really didn’t care. Since D-Life has started putting on a programme dubbed into Japanese at 9:00 am, I no longer feel a need to get up and watch it. Sad to say, there’s rarely anything else on at that time, so might as well sleep.

I had a quiet day at home today. I wrote another postcard to go with the four that I wrote last night. I scanned the cards and then uploaded the images to the Postcrossing website.

F came home once during the day to change his clothes as he’d been sweating a lot, and then again at 5:30-something to stay. He cooked his dinner and then I cooked mine. I had chicken fingers with wasabi-mayo, couscous and salad. It was yummy, but the couscous made me cough a lot! I think some of it must have gone down the wrong pipe.

After we both finished eating and the dishes were done, we headed out to my school. Today is the day that F is doing my taxes. I took my laptop over to the school and that’s where I am writing this. I’ll finish this later on….

Okay, back at home. F didn’t finish until after 11pm tonight. I felt really sorry for him, and me who had to stay there with him! We came home via the post office to mail off some cards. At home he took his bath and stayed up a bit too late.

I wrote a bit of email and did some of my computer stuff on line. I uploaded some of the updates that I wrote while I was over at the apartment and tried to chill out a bit.

Tomorrow I should be going out with a friend from the next city and if I have time afterwards, I might go shopping or start working on my columns for the next Journal. I’m not sure, it’s a mystery to me!

I have to go to bed soon. Night!

Postcrossing Incoming

To February 12, 2013

I have a great group of cards for you today. I’ve started to receive a lot of cards again, so it is rather difficult to keep these posts up to date. Still, here we go!

From the Ukraine comes this pretty card of what I believe is a town council building. The sender didn’t write very much, just that he hopes I like his postcard and that he sends his best wishes. Thanks Oleg!

Buchach

This next card comes from Malaysia. Waimun sent it and tells me that the wall painting is by Ernest Zacharevic, and is located in the heritage area in Georgetown. I found a neat time lapse video of the painting of this mural on Vimeo, which you can find here.

She also writes that she is Chinese and she is going to celebrate New Year next week.

"This Old Man" Mural

She signs off by wishing me a Happy Chinese New Year and saying that she hopes I like the postcard that she picked for me. I do, thanks so much!

Sari in The Netherlands send me this card with author Eileen Chang on it. I haven’t read any of her works—yet, but hopefully I will one day. Doing research on Eileen Chang I discovered that she didn’t have a very happy life. I felt rather sorry for her to be honest.

Eileen Chang

Sari wrote about her hometown, Deventer. She said it is one of the oldest towns in The Netherlands. More than 98000 people live there and they have many beautiful historical buildings and the river IJssel, which makes her town’s location and surroundings unique.

Thank you Sari for sending a female author card. I’m so pleased to receive it.

This card was greatly appreciated! I love Humphrey Bogart and to receive a movie card with him on it was a huge bonus. This card came all the way from…Sendai, Japan. Yay! I love Sendai, did I ever mention that?

Cecily sent her warm greetings, and told me that it snowed a lot in Sendai a few days ago, and it was hard to drive. She also asked how my life in Japan was and wished me a happy life.

To Have and Have Not

Thanks so much for an excellent card Cecily!

My next card comes all the way from Taiwan. It was sent by a high school girl, but she didn’t write her name in Romanji so I can’t read it. She writes that she loves Japanese culture but she can’t speak Japanese!

Never mind about that, I can’t either!

I received this card before from Singapore. I believe that it was the same person that sent it, he probably has two or more accounts.

He did use a lovely panda stamp, so that was greatly appreciated.

Andrea sent this scenic card of Bremerhaven Germany. She writes that she lives near this city. She works in accounting and her hobbies are reading, travelling and yoga.

Greetings from Bremerhaven

Thanks Andrea! I’m always happy to learn about the people who send cards to me.

Well, there you are! Another group of seven great cards. Which one do you like best? For me, the Bogart card is my favourite, with Eileen Chang a very close second. However, I really like all of the cards!

Until next time!