Living La Vida Loca In Japan: January 2013

Showing posts with label January 2013. Show all posts

Postcrossing - Incoming

To February 4, 2013

Another interesting group of cards for your viewing pleasure. Some of them are gorgeous, and one of them is a first for me, and a rare country to boot. Yay!

Remember that if you'd like to get a better look at a card, just click on it.

First up, is also a first for me. This card comes all the way from the United Arab Emirates! It was sent by Liam and his mother. They write that they live about an hour and a half's drive away from Abu Dhabi. They live in "the garden city of the Emirates". They also write that it is winter now and they are enjoying the cool weather.

Abu Dhabi
Sheikh Zayed Mosque, Emirates Palace Hotel &
Abu Dhabi Corniche view.

The stamps that were used on this card were huge and rather beautiful too. Have a quick look!

Thanks so much Liam and Mom! I appreciate your card very much.

I was on a trip to Taiwan when I received this card from Taiwan. I thought that was rather funny. I sent a few postcards from Taiwan, but I didn't see anything that looks like this!

Sandy writes that she is a social worker in an area famed for beautiful scenery and colourful aboriginal culture. She also writes that it is getting cold with temperatures in the area of 12 to 15 degrees Celsius. When she wrote the card she was busy preparing for Christmas and New Year.

The stamps that she used were also very interesting. I like the little dragon/dog one on the bottom left. Thanks Sandy!

Julia sent this card from Germany and writes that she likes Gauguin. She says that the pictures are so warm and strong. She sends greetings from Germany.

Paul Gauguin: Contes barbares, 1902

Thanks Julia! It's a great card.

Also from Germany, comes this card from Annette. She sends greetings from Osnabrück, where it was -7 with snow when she wrote.

She says that this card is from the North Sea, a holiday area. She wishes me a happy birthday, and a nice week.

Thanks Annette!

I received this cool card from Germany...that's three in a row if anyone is counting! I've requested thread or yarn craft related cards if anyone would like to send them, and I think this fits the bill.

Michael sent this with his best wishes.

Katalog-Umschlag, um 1910
Google says that this means Catalogue envelope to 1910

Thanks Michael!

My last card comes all the way from the Netherlands. It is a gorgeous card, but perhaps because it is oversize, it has been damaged on the way.

This postcrosser wrote a nice message, but didn't sign the card, so I don't know his/her name.

They wrote that on the front of the card you can see tulips, which are very famous in the Netherlands.

The writer is from The Hague, and has lived there all their life. They study pedagogy and are in their second year. They do their internship in a multicultural center for children.

Thank you so much for a really cool card. It is so bright and colourful that it makes me happy!

If I can just quickly mention one more card that I received this week. It was from a postcrosser that sent a card shown in the last batch. She sent me a special card for my birthday. It arrived the day before and is quite beautiful. She writes,
"Happy Birthday to you! May your dreams come true!"
Thank you so much Valentina! It's a gorgeous card. :-)

I hope that you have enjoyed the look at my latest cards. I wonder what will be in my mailbox next week?

I love comments, so please feel free to leave one for me! Until next time...

January 31, 2013

Thursday - Clear and sunny

An okay day.

I got up and watched Grey’s Anatomy and wrote another Postcrossing card. I had a quiet morning, mostly on my computer, but relaxing too. I had planned to go out really early, but decided that I just wasn’t up to that. I probably should have gone, but…

In the early afternoon I ate a small lunch and then decided to go to a stationery store. I debated taking my bike, but decided not to. I should have, as most of the roads were quite clear.

I spent a few minutes in the store looking around and settled on a couple of items. I asked the clerk to have them wrapped as they weren’t for me. He told me the charge which was fine, and then he disappeared! He must have been gone about 15 minutes…literally. I didn’t time him, but I was quite surprised. The other store clerk went and checked on him too, so she was surprised it took so long. Finally he came back. The gift looked very nice, but I’m honestly not sure what took so long!

I set off back home. I had hoped to get home in time for the start of Shameless, but I didn’t make it. I did make good time though. I bought some new stamps in the local post office and the clerk there told me there were some new stamps coming tomorrow. Yay! I watched Shameless which was good, but quite shocking, as it always is!

I scanned my outgoing cards. Last night I wrote 6 and this morning another one, so I had 7 cards ready to go. I put stamps on them and then scanned them and uploaded the pictures to the site.

F came home around 6:30 and was very tired. I gave him the option of dinner first and then going out, or going out first and then dinner. He chose the latter option.

We went to my school to start the heater, a drug store, the gas station and then the main post office to mail my postcards before going home.

At home we each got busy. I cooked some green beans I’d bought yesterday, and the chicken, while F cooked himself some fish and whatever else he had. He was finished eating by the time I sat down, so it was quite sad. Tonight I suggested to him that he keep a food diary so that he can try to pinpoint exactly what foods are making him feel bad, and when, rather than him just bluntly stating that “meat” is bad for him. He didn’t like that idea.

He watched something on TV, or rather did his usual looking at his cellphone while he pretended to watch TV. He took his bath and I moved to the chesterfield for The Good Wife and a little hooky!

He went to bed soon afterwards, but not me!

Anyway, that was my day. It was quite good and I’m really glad that I went out. It would have been so much faster on my bike, but walking was probably good for me too! Tomorrow I’m back at work, hopefully I’ll ride my bike for most of the way. Got to go. Night.

Postcrossing - Incoming

To January 27, 2013

I found 8 cards when I returned from my holiday, but I'm not going to post all 8 cards right now. I'll post half of them for your viewing pleasure now, and half when I have more time.

I'd enjoy hearing any comments or observations that you have on the cards.

The first card came from Valentina from Belarus. She writes that she loves books, flowers, nature, music but especially children. She wishes me all the best with this interesting card.

Club of maestros of popular arts and crafts "Lakeside"
with the Braslav Museum of Traditional Culture
(I have no idea what it means!)

I rather liked the simple look of the stamps. Very architectural but attractive too.

The next card comes from The Ukraine, from Elena. She points out how similar our names are. She tells me that she enjoys watching movies and mentioned The Intouchables as a recent favourite. She loves watching retro movies too, like Marilyn Monroe in Some Like it Hot and especially films with Alain Delon. I haven't seen too many of his films, sad to say.

This is a very popular card on Postcrossing!

Charlie Chaplin ("World Movie Legends"series)
Design by Anna Spett

I really like this card!

The stamps that Elena used are amazing too. The triangular one is very shiny and the one on the left is beautiful. I wish I could see it better!

Thank you Elena.

I received another Russian card on January 27th. It was sent by Nataly who writes that she's a doctor and works in a hospital. She loves her work, but her dream is to live in a warm country by the sea some day!

Nataly's card has a recipe for borscht on it. I've never made borscht. I've only once seen beets up here and I didn't buy them. Still, I can dream about making this some day.

There were two stamps on the back of the card, but I only scanned one of them. The other was a fairly common one. This is quite an interesting picture, plus it is really big! It takes up about one sixth of the postcard!

This entry has had a very Soviet bent to it so far, and this card is no exception!

Sergey sent this gorgeous card from Russia. He writes that he's keen on travelling and learning foreign languages. He says that it is cold in Moscow but there isn't any snow. This annoys him because he enjoys making snowballs and going tobogganing. He asked me about Japanese weather, so I told him we had lots of snow where I live!

He wished me a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. He sent this card a bit before Christmas, but it took a long time to get to me. It is a very wintery card though.

I really like this card!

There you have it. Four great cards and a lot of beautiful stamps.

Until next time!

January 30, 2013

Wednesday - Sunny then colder with a little snow

Had a pretty good day today. I got up at a reasonable time and watched Grey’s Anatomy. After that, I did “The Cull”. I wrote to all of the people that I cut off my woman’s group and then I cut them off the group. Done. At least for now.

I was just finishing up when F called and invited me to lunch. I wasn’t even dressed yet, but said yes! He picked me up after 12 and we went to Kappa Sushi. I think we both enjoyed it, and it was fun. He dropped me back off at home when we were done.

I shovelled F’s parking space and got quite a bit of it clear. Unfortunately the other part of his space had quite deep snow in it and it was frozen solid!

I had a good but quiet afternoon at home. F came home and I made him some tea. He took a bath and after that we decided to go out for dinner. He’s on his “fish” kick again, so at first I suggested going to Cocos or Gusto, then changed my mind and suggested Sukase.

We got to Sukase and there was a party going on in full swing. They were loud. We had a good meal, but we couldn’t talk to each other. The party people were really high pitched too, so it was extremely annoying.

We came home via the grocery store. I bought some chicken for tomorrow night, I hope that F will share it with me, but if he doesn’t oh well.

Watched a bit of TV tonight and enjoyed it. F went to bed quite early again. He’s quite tired these days. I also wrote about 6 postcards for postcrossing. I’ll have to try and scan and send them tomorrow.

Anyway, that’s it for me. Tomorrow I’m not exactly sure what I’ll do. I’m thinking about going out quite early as I have some errands to run. Got to go. Night.

Gotochi Cards

I've recently received a few Gotochi cards from friends around Japan, so thought I would post a few of them for your viewing pleasure. In most cases I don't have any extra information about the cards.

A fellow Postcrosser and AFWJ member sent me these two cards. She lives somewhere in Hyogo and had to go to great lengths to find them as her local post office doesn't sell them!

They are very appreciated!

She also sent me these ones, as she found them on a short trip.

The dancing one reminds me a little of the Yamagata Dancers card.

These last two came from another member of AFWJ. We've been swapping cards for a couple of months now and it is always a treat to find one in the mail.

She sent the card of the sand baths when we were having some very cold weather in hopes that it would warm me up. It did!

The man on the bottom card is Saigo Takamori, an influential Samurai in Kagoshima. My husband told me that he also made the trip up to Shonai at some time as he was friends with the local area head.

There you are...my latest Gotochi cards! Great aren't they? Thank you ladies for sending them. I adore them!

January 29, 2013

Tuesday - Cloudy with a bit of snow

An okay day. I got up, watched TV, got a call from my husband and then took my shower. He came home for a quick visit, bringing me taiyaki for breakfast. Yum.

I had a good morning and early afternoon. I had some leftover chicken and scrambled eggs for brunch, then headed off to work.

I made good time, but close to my school I twisted my foot and it hurt a lot to walk on it. When I got to my school I grabbed my snow scoop and shovelled a bit of snow. I went in after that and got ready for class. Well, sadly my student wasn’t able to come today either, so it was all for nought.

I read newspapers before F called me. He picked me up and we had a yummy dinner at Jiro. I had my usual, he had the shrimp and clam dish.

We just came home after dinner, even though I wanted to buy some groceries for tomorrow. F put on the TV and we ended up watching a Clint Eastwood movie. I was a bit sad as I missed a programme I wanted to watch, and said so when the movie was over. He didn’t watch the movie and said that he’d missed a show that he’d wanted to watch. Honestly, we really need to start talking to each other.

He went to bed quite early and I stayed up and watched Criminal Minds and Sherlock. Benedict Cumberbatch…yummy!

That’s about it. Tomorrow, come hell or high water I’m doing the cull and then I’ll be done for another year. More or less. Got to go. Night!

Pictures from Taipei, Taiwan

We visited Taipei last week (Jan 23-26) and had a pretty good time. We both enjoyed getting out of the cold winter weather. It wasn't always hot in Taipei, but there wasn't any snow and that was a bonus for us both.

We stayed at the Fushin Hotel. The brochure said it was a business hotel. It was comfortable and quiet. We had breakfast included too. It was next to a huge hospital with a shopping area and a food court.

Fushin Hotel

On our first night we visited the Taipei 101 Tower. Most of my pictures of the outside didn't look that great, so I'm saving you from them. This is inside the building. They have a large damper to stop the building from moving, and they have the model version up for picture-taking. Here's F with Damper Baby!

Damper Baby

Our second day, we took a tour of the sights of Taipei. It wasn't a bad deal, and we were lucky enough to have the tour to ourselves as another group cancelled!

Chiang Kai-Shek's Memorial Hall

The roof of the building

Chiang Kai-Shek

Martyr's Shrine - columns

The Martyr's Shrine

Changing of the Guard
Martyr's Shrine

Temple, not sure where!

On the tour, we also visited the National Palace Museum, but there were a lot of people and the guide just showed us things that he wanted to show us, not things that we might be interested in. I'd go back, but only if I could go by myself. (Or with F!)

We went to the Night Market by ourselves, but it was too early. We got bored and left, went downtown and had a lovely French meal in a Japanese department store.

On Friday, our last day, we headed up to Tamsui, the north part of Taipei. It's a fishing area. F wanted to see it, so off we went. We got off the bus a tad early, but it worked out well. We ended up in quite a historic area and had afternoon tea.

At Tamsui, near The Little White House and the tea shop

After walking around and finding the Foreigners' and the MacKay Family cemeteries, we left the area.

We walked back to the coastal area and each had lunch. Although we were together, we didn't eat in the same places. I chose a nice cafe and had a pork hot pot that was yummy. We were given some side dishes too, and enjoyed them. F chose to go to a grotty little noodle shop and had noodles that he didn't like too much.

We walked along the shore for quite a long time. We were looking for a ferry dock, but never actually found it. Instead we took pictures along the way and then took a bus back to the MRT station.

Tamsui Fisherman's Wharf Area

We took a train back towards our hotel, but got off at the Night Market area again but this time had a good snoop around. We ended up back at the hotel in a bit of a huff at each other as F didn't think it was important to have a proper meal and I did.

So there you are, a small selection of the photos I took in Taiwan. I really should have taken more!

You can see that F didn't lose his scarf until he came back to Japan. Sob!

January 28, 2013

Monday - Cold and snowy

Today was okay. I got up a bit late. I just overslept, no big deal. When I was up I got on my computer and did a bit of stuff. I didn’t get a lot of stuff done, but I did about 4 loads of laundry and cleaned a little, so that was good. I also managed to get all of yesterday’s cards scanned to my computer. Next up is just to get the blog entry written.

I was going to work on "The Cull" for my women’s group, but decided that Wednesday might be a better time for it.

F came home tonight and was tired, but okay. After a bit, we went over to my school to set the heater and then the grocery store so he could get stuff to make his cod soup. At my school we both did quite a bit of snow shovelling so when I came home I felt really bad. I just went to bed for a bit. F didn’t even check on me or ask if anything was wrong. I think he thought I was angry, but I really wasn’t.

I slept for about an hour and then got up. F was on the couch eating his smelly soup, so I got to work on my chicken. I had a “Shake and Bake” Tandori type thing for the microwave, so I did up my chicken, ate my salad and had a little kabocha soup with it. I enjoyed it very much. I finished up "Scarpetta" over dinner. I only had a few pages of it left. I did my own dishes after too.

As the evening went on, I requested getting the TV for a bit. F had been watching Boxing. I couldn’t tape my show because both things we were watching were on WOWOW channels and they only play through my VCR.

Things got nicer through the evening, and F went to bed just a bit after midnight. I’m going to try and go soon as I do have to work tomorrow.

That’s it for me. Tomorrow, work, plus a walk in the snow. I am so NOT looking forward to that! I’ll talk to you then. Night!

January 27, 2013

Sunday - Cold and snowy

We’re back…finally.

We were supposed to be back last night, but our local airport was in the middle of a snowstorm and the plane couldn’t land. We flew back to Tokyo and had to spend the night there before going to the airport again this morning. Our hotel wasn’t the greatest, but it was clean, quiet and reasonably comfortable so we both managed to sleep well.

Okay..so, how was Taipei? In a few words…not like I expected. I really didn’t expect that I’d enjoy myself, but it was such a nice break from the weather and from (whispers after checking no one else is around) Japan. It was really interesting to be in a place that uses 3 languages and that both of us were clueless about at times! We got around quite well by ourselves, our Taipei hotel was nice without being luxurious and we didn’t have any problems with crime, so yay!

F spent most of the time searching for the perfect Japanese ramen and not finding it, so he was his usual self when it came to meals. I just wanted to eat stuff that I can’t get every day, which meant that Subway and Starbucks were very much allowed!

We did see quite a bit, both by ourselves and on a tour that we took. On the first day we took ourselves off to the Taipei 101 building, then had a pretty bland meal in a food court. The next day was sunny and gorgeous, so I had to get sunscreen. We got some in the hospital that was behind our hotel. It had quite a big shopping and food court area. In the afternoon we took a tour of Taiwan and were taken to the Chiang Kai-Shek memorial, the Martyrs Shrine where we also watched the changing of the guards, a small temple and the National Palace Museum. We probably wouldn’t have visited all of those by ourselves. I really wish that the guide would have left us alone for a while at the museum as the things that he showed us, weren’t really the things that we (I) wanted to see.

That evening we went to the Night Market, but arrived too early to see or do much. Things were just getting set up and my feet were so sore that I didn’t want to walk any further. I suggested heading to the downtown area, finding a restaurant and having dinner before going back to the hotel. We did that, and miraculously ended up in a gorgeous French restaurant with a nice young waiter whose English was good and had lived in Canada for a few months. We had a very good meal there, steak, plus soups, salads, bread and even soufflé for dessert. It was delicious. We had a hard time getting back to our hotel, we were so stuffed! Of course that was also the night that F decided to count his coins while going down the escalator. He dropped them and then fell over while he was trying to pick them up. He wasn’t hurt, but I was freaking out.

Our last full day was different too. We took the MRT (like Edmonton’s LRT) up to a fishing area as F had wanted to see it. We took a bus then got off at what we thought was a good point. It sort of was, but we had to climb up a hill on stone steps so it wasn’t fun. However, we did see a lot! We saw a Foreigners Cemetery, the Little White House, some buildings in the area in a western style and we had Afternoon Tea in a little coffee shop in a place where the waitresses were young and couldn’t speak English or Japanese! We managed, but they were so nervous it was almost funny.

I found out about the person who built everything. He was a Canadian of Scottish descent, George Leslie Mackay. He lived an interesting life. He was a missionary and doctor who founded churches, hospitals and school all over Taiwan.

We had an argument about lunch, I wanted a nice lunch at a cafe, so I had it, while F pouted. He wanted to go to a horrible looking noodle shop so he wouldn’t eat much with me. After my nice meal (which was kind of a nabe in cheese sauce, supplemented with some nice things we were given for free), he got to go to the noodle shop. He didn’t like it much.

We walked for a long time along the shore, then came back to the MRT station by bus. We decided to go back to the Night Market before going back to the hotel. This time, the Night Market was in full swing. We snooped, walked and enjoyed ourselves. Well, I would have if I’d been alone. We tried to go to the food court but someone complained about the smells. Granted, a lot of the food was quite pungent, but some of it looked great. We only had a dumpling each, before we left. However, I saw a stand outside selling pearl tea, so I had one. F had something that looked like kakigori. We both enjoyed those. Next to the shop we went to, was a stand selling fried chicken. The chicken looked very good, and very big, but we didn’t have any.

In fact, that night was rather bad because we just didn’t eat dinner. F wouldn’t go to a restaurant and preferred to get ramen from a convenience store for his dinner. I had sandwiches.

We left the next morning. We’d asked the hotel to drive us to the MRT stop to take a train, but the driver said it was just as quick for him to take us to the airport, so he did. Yay.

Our flight back to Japan was fine, and we didn’t have any major problems until flying back to Shonai on Saturday night.

Anyway, it is late and I’m tired. I’ll try and post some pictures after I download them from my camera. Night.

Slight Change of Plans

January 26, 2013

In Tokyo as Shonai was snowed in. Night!

January 21, 2013

Monday - Sunny and warmer

A good day

I woke up before 8 am this morning. Nothing unusual about that. What was unusual was that F was still in bed beside me. Oops! He’d overslept. I woke him up and he got up and was able to get to work in time. Safe!

I overslept a bit, but as I had nothing much planned this morning it didn’t matter. I got up and was relaxing by myself when F made a brief appearance! He brought me some juice and chocolate, so he was in my good books!

After he left, I got dressed and started making stew. It took me a while as I had to cut up all the veggies, but it went well. I set everything in the pan and put the lid on to, well, stew.

I also scanned a few cards so that I could send them out. I won’t be able to the rest of the week. It took a while as my computer and F’s scanner had problems talking for a while. Still, I got it done.

F came home a bit late tonight. He was a bit tired, but not drained like usual. I found a recipe for dumplings and he did laundry! I made dumplings and put them on top of the stew, set the timer and forgot them for 15 minutes. I set the table while he worked on packing.

I served dinner and it was a big hit. It looked quite cool with the dumplings on the top of the big pan. They were very nice ones too, and so was the stew. Actually, the stew was very good. I’m looking forward to having it tomorrow night. F did the dishes afterwards while I finally spent a little time on my computer.

We made a quick run to my school to set the heater for tomorrow and then to the post office to mail cards and a letter I’d written. On the way back F asked if I’d like to make a trip to Mister Donut, so I said I would. Woot.

We went in and noticed that their prizes that they give away for points were pens, quite nice ones too. I had just enough points to get two pens, one for each of us. I got a cute pink one, and F got a brown one. They are really nice and a pen is much more useful to me than a plastic mug such as they were giving away before. We had our donuts and drinks and then came home again.

F worked on his packing again, and then so did I. I tried to get myself organised. I still have a few things to throw in the suitcase. I’ll probably check it tomorrow and see what else I need. We didn’t even watch any TV this evening, we were so busy.

Which brings me to this. I won’t be updating tomorrow night, nor for the next few nights as we’ll be away. Don’t miss us too much, but I’ll be back with all the details as soon as I can! Night.

Postcrossing - Incoming

To January 18, 2013

Another lovely bumper crop of postcards to show off today. I have been receiving a lot of cards, haven't been sending as many as I like due to time constraints.

I'd love to hear which ones you like and why in the comments. Remember, if you like to see them a bit bigger, just click on the picture.

On with the show...

Alena sent this interesting card from Belarus. She says that this card shows the illustration for the book "Red Sails" by the great Russian writer Alexander Grin. She notes that it has been translated into many languages, and she whole-heartedly recommends it.

I hadn't heard of the book before, but I will keep an eye out for it. Thank you Alena!

Next up is this card that Travis sent from Saint Louis in the US.

He writes that he is a 28 year old Youth Specialist for his state. He is also a caretaker at his church. He wishes me a great holiday season!

When I took this card out of the mailbox, my husband's response was, "Oh, it's YOU!". He seems to think I look like Audrey Hepburn. I don't, so I think it is time for new glasses for him!

Audrey Hepburn, 1956
Photograph by Yousuf Karsh

Maria sent this lovely card from Cologne, Germany. She writes that she has a few favourite movies and lists off Dead Poets Society, Back to the Future, Indiana Jones, The Artist and Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy as some of them. She also likes old Disney movies. I loved all of the movies she listed, with the exception of Dead Poets Society.

She signs off with her best wishes and a hope that I like the card. I do, very much!

The next card is a surprise. It is not the card that I misplaced, but it is a card with the same picture! Interestingly, the one card that I can't find, is the one card that I have received the duplicate of from someone else!

Ilya from Moscow sent this card with his warmest greetings. He writes that he wishes me a Merry Christmas and a happy new year. He said that he hasn't been to Japan yet, but thinks that it should be very interesting to live there...it is, most of the time!

Yuri Gagarin: First Man in Space

Thanks Ilya...as I still haven't found the first one of these cards, I'll try harder to keep this one safe!

I received this interesting card from a Postcrosser in Finland. These ladies are rather sought after by fans. This is my first card. It makes me laugh.

The card was sent by Katarina who wrote that she exercised in the morning and then painted a winter view in the afternoon.

Originaali: Inge Look

And the last card for you tonight brings me right up to date! It's quite an interesting one. It comes from India!

Mukund sent the card from Pune in the central part of India, although the picture is a desert state in the West of India. I didn't know that there was desert in India...One of the many reasons I love Postcrossing!

Sam Sand Dunes, Jaisalmer, India

Thanks so much for a very neat card!

And there you have them. A bunch of very beautiful and interesting cards. Any thoughts or comments? You know what to do!

Until next time....

January 20, 2013

Sunday - Sunny, warmish, with some snow and wind

A mixed up day.

Went to bed a little late last night, but got up at a reasonable-ish time today! F fed me some of his cocoa bread and it was nice. We vegged for a while, but I got dressed before F. When it was lunchtime, he asked if I was ready. I’d been ready for about an hour. I wasn’t sitting around in my pyjamas then!

We went out and had lunch at Cocos Ichibanya again. F had the curry udon set and I had curry with vegetables and pari-pari chicken. Yum. It was nice.

After lunch we did a little shopping, but didn’t have much success. We tried a bit in Tsuruoka, then headed to the mall. I was looking for a cheap jacket, but didn’t find one to fit me. We did get some socks in Mikawa, so not a total waste. Also, we discovered that Aeon does have non-binding socks for women. Unfortunately, the ones I saw only went up to size 24…not big enough. I’ll stick to the men’s socks mostly then. We had hot chocolate at Seattle’s Best and then came back home for a bit.

I did something at home that I haven’t done before. I watched Coyote Ugly. I’ve managed to miss it before. I didn’t miss a lot, but I can see how it would be a guilty pleasure for a lot of people. It was dumb, but the guy was good, and so was John Goodman. I wouldn’t recommend it really, but it was amusing time wasting. During the movie F announced that he lost our plane tickets and basically tore the living room apart looking for them. Sigh.

We had dinner at Kappa sushi, but neither of us ate all that much. It was fine really. We followed that with a quick shopping trip to the grocery store. I’m going to make a big stew tomorrow so that we don’t have to eat out for the next two nights, or something like that! At the store, F realised that he had probably packed the tickets in his suitcase.

We had a quiet evening. F had indeed packed our tickets already. Don’t understand him most of the time. F also made bread. He made cocoa bread, which I’m sure will go very well with the pork stew tomorrow night…Not. Don’t understand him at all.

Anyway, that’s about it for us. I did write up 3 postcrossing cards, hopefully I’ll mail them tomorrow. I have to go. I’m very tired! Night.

January 19, 2013

Saturday - warm and sunny - beautiful day!

A good day.

I got up on time this morning and took a shower. Afterwards I spent some time on my computer and then we left for brunch around 10:30. We had a decent meal in Gusto and then headed to my school.

F and I both did a lot of snow shovelling, with F taking care of the majority of it. He was super. He actually takes it out of my school’s parking lot and dumps it.

I had a great class with my first student today. She was in a good mood and I think class was just difficult enough for her. After she left I relaxed for a few minutes then did paperwork.

At a little after 3 I went out again to check the parking area. It was still fine, but I tidied some of it up. F had had to stop when my student and her mother arrived early. I went back in my school and read some more.

My second student arrived a few minutes late, but it was lovely to see her. We had a good class together too.

After class, I finished the day’s paperwork and then did the dishes up. I changed and called F. No answer. This again. I called him on his cell, the apartment and even texted him without an answer. Finally, half an hour later I caught him. He picked me up and we went home for a few minutes. We had a bit of a spat about where to eat, but we agreed on Grado.

We went home to pick up newspapers and were going to walk to the restaurant. However, it was starting to snow and rain, so we drove after all. We had a lovely meal. I had chicken and hauksai pasta in a cream sauce and it was amazing, F had a seafood aqua pazza that he said was okay. The best thing for me though was after we were drinking our tea or coffee, a nearby family got up to go and the young man came over to talk to me. He asked me in English if I was Helen and when I said yes, he told me his name. He was one of my ex-students from my Eikaiwa days! I started teaching him when he was 4 or 5 and now he’s in his second year of high school. It was so lovely to see him. I often wrote (obliquely) about our classes on my blog. He had to leave, but I was fair chuffed to see him again.

F and I came home and had a fairly quiet evening. I played him the first episode of the Warwick Davis comedy show I watched last week and he was laughing at it too. I taped the second episode tonight so I think I’ll have to run it for F! I also watched a few other things, the CSI shows, Celebrity Apprentice and Chuck. Poor F, when I’m around, he doesn’t really get to see much Japanese TV. (It’s better for him…trust me!)

Anyway, that’s about it for me. Tomorrow we might go shopping, I’m not sure. Hopefully there won’t be any snow-shovelling in our day! I should get some sleep. Night!

January 18, 2013

Friday - Cold, snowy and windy

A surprisingly nice day!

I got up this morning and wrote a postcrossing card. I also scanned a whole lot that I have received recently, and uploaded the necessary ones to the Postcrossing website. Hurray for me.

F went out for part of the morning, but came home after a bit. In the afternoon we decided to get a few things done. First up, we went to my school to set the heater for tomorrow, then had lunch at a restaurant that F likes. Okay, I like it too most of the time.

Then, we tried to go to NTT to get them to change the billing account we use, but they were closed. Instead we went to AU and F had them take my cellphone charges from his account. That’s really nice of him, but I’d rather he pay for the internet!

After that, we decided to go to the doctor’s office. I’m fine right now, but we’re going away next week and are worried that I might get sick again while I’m away. I got some medicine “just in case”. F also saw the doctor, and basically got told that he’s fine. We picked up my medicine and then drove off. We mailed my postcards and decided what to do.

F wanted to go to his other doctor, so I asked to be dropped off at the mall. That’s what we did. I had a little time to myself to do some shopping. I didn’t buy too much. I got a some writing paper so I could write a letter on my trip. I always find when I’m in the airport that I want to write a letter, but buying writing materials in the airport is really expensive. I was bored finally, so I had a tea in Doutors and waited for F. He joined me and we left the mall.

F wanted taiyaki, so he picked up a couple for each of us. We went home and ate them. He snoozed on the couch for a while so we didn’t go for dinner until quite late. His first choice of my suggestions was closed, so we ended up at Hana, the fish restaurant. We both had a type of salmon. I thought it was salty and not that good. I probably wouldn’t have it again.

We came home via the grocery store. F set up the bread machine and I made tea later on. We watched a bit of TV tonight and enjoyed it. We even watched Shameless and F seemed to like it too. He watched it, which surprised me a lot!

And that is it. It was a good day. We didn’t fight and I think we both enjoyed our day off. Back to the grind and the snow shovelling tomorrow though. Sigh. Night!