September 30, 2021

Thursday - Cloudy and warm

I had a quiet day today, and after the last week or so, I really needed it. I am still not feeling great, I still think I have a cold rather than anything really serious.

I did a load of laundry in the morning and later at lunchtime, shared the food I had bought last night with K. She seemed really grateful. I want her to help herself to the stuff in the fridge, but sometimes she doesn’t. 

I watched a little TV, I’m trying to catch up with what is on the DVR. I basically just took today easy, I sent some emails, I posted a picture on one of my groups, no big deal. 

When F called to say he was coming back to the house I reminded him that he was supposed to bring bentos. He ordered them online from his phone but did tell me what he was getting. I was quite pleased with what he chose for me, chicken namban with curry. I ended up liking it. He got tempura for himself and a fish bento for his mother.

We ate and then I cleaned up the bento boxes. It wasn’t a big deal at all. When I finished, I asked F about going out. I told him at the grocery store that I was planning to make pasta tomorrow night, but he suggested that he make a nabe instead. I was quite pleased with his idea, so he bought a lot of the ingredients. He’s going to try and make imoni, the local nabe of this time of year. 

We came upstairs and relaxed for a while. I had a text conversation with my sister for a bit and then I took a shower. I live an exciting life!

Tomorrow there may be more laundry in my life and I really should prepare for my next lesson.

Fumihiko wants me to get to bed soon, so I’m going to end this and post it earlier than usual. Come back later if you like and hear all about my Friday. Until tomorrow….

September 28, 2021

 Tuesday - Sunny and warm.

I woke up early this morning, somewhere around 6 am. I went downstairs and then went back to bed. When I woke up F was already gone.

I got up a bit late this morning and had a longer snooze than usual. I did get up though and got dressed. I had a light breakfast and then watched Elementary. After the show, I went downstairs and got my lunch. I ate and watched the news too. 

After that, I started to get ready for work. I changed my clothes, brushed my teeth, that kind of thing. 

I had two lessons and they went fairly well today. Whew! Afterwards, I did up my paperwork and then F called to say he was on his way back. I was quite tired but had to go down and get dinner started.

For some reason, I had thought that I had bought chicken for tonight’s dinner, but I hadn’t! I had bought pork! No problem.  So, tonight’s dinner was sautéed pork with fried cabbage, mushrooms, salad and rice for F and K, and couscous for me. It was quite a nice meal really.

I did the dishes afterwards. I actually had done a load of laundry before dinner, so when I finished with the dishes I went upstairs and hung up the clean laundry. I watched some Grey’s Anatomy at the same time. It was a sad episode. 

After the laundry was hanging up, I finally got a bit of a rest! I’m so glad. I watched Shameless at 11 pm which turned out to be the final episode of the show. I’ve been watching it forever and the last episode was okay, but a bit of a letdown. 

And that’s about it. It was a good if busy day. Tomorrow I’m off again, this time to the mall to meet up with a friend of mine. I’ll probably go in the morning and have lunch and do a little bit of shopping for Christmas and my sister’s birthday. Wish me luck with that.

Hopefully, I’ll be back tomorrow night. Come back later if you can and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….

September 27, 2021

Monday - Cool and sunny

I got up this morning at my normal time and watched the news. Yes, I’m already back to my usual routine, mostly. I watched the news and then went downstairs for a few minutes.  I didn’t eat early today, I waited a bit too late in all honesty.

I was waiting for my suitcase to arrive. It was scheduled between 2 and 4 pm and I had no idea when it would show up. Lately, I haven’t heard the doorbell ring when the delivery person shows up so I was a tad worried.  

I was in the washroom when I thought I heard the doorbell. I yelled that I was coming and then washed my hands and headed for the door. There was no one there! I was hearing things. I do have an excuse, the field next to the house was having the plants cut down all day. It was so noisy. K came to the door after I left to see what the fuss was about and I let her know that I was expecting a delivery.  She was still in her pyjamas. I grabbed my lunch and while I was eating I heard the truck outside. I ran downstairs and she was at the door with the delivery man and she was now dressed! 

I’m actually quite chuffed with her. It was nice of her to help me out like that. I took my suitcase upstairs and didn’t unpack it for a long time.

After lunch I worked on my lessons for tomorrow. One of them was mostly ready, the other I had to do a bit of prep for it. 

I was waiting for F to call but he didn’t. I finally went downstairs and he called!  He was on his way back. 

I got to work. I washed dishes, I cleaned the stove, I washed and prepared vegetables and I also got out my big fry pans.  F arrived back and went upstairs almost right away. 

I finally got dinner cooked. Today I made my version of Gapao rice with chicken. I roasted some okra and didn’t burn it this time and washed some lettuce for a salad. Everything had to be done right at the end, but it finally got done. I called F down and he did help put the glasses out on the table. 

We ate and it was very nice. The Gapao rice was good and so was the okra. All of the okra was finished. 

I washed the dishes and put them all away. It took a long time today but got done. I finished up my podcasts too, so that was good.

I went upstairs after I finished and relaxed for a while. All too soon it was time for me to take my shower, so I went downstairs and I did. After my shower, I set up the washing machine to wash my new pants.  I went back upstairs and watched The Good Wife and did a bit of crochet too. I am trying to finish up the scarf soon. 

After my show finished I went downstairs and picked up my laundry. I hung it up here in the room. 

That’s about it for my day. I spent a few minutes with F and that was fun, then I came to my computer and began to blog. 

Tomorrow I have my classes and I’m also cooking dinner too. Come back later and hear all about it! Until tomorrow….

September 26, 2021

Sunday - Sunny but coolish

I’m back!  I had a great time spending time with my friend in Akita, Aomori and Iwate. We met in a smaller town in Akita and then drove up to Hirosaki in Aomori. We stayed a couple of nights in Hirosaki and then drove back into Akita to go to a musical revue. From the theatre (the oldest one in Tohoku) we drove to my friend’s house near Morioka. We had dinner with her husband and then had an early night.

Yesterday, her husband went off on a fishing trip and we went shopping. Well, more strictly, I went shopping! I ended up getting three shirts and two pairs of pants. Most of the things I bought were for work, so that was a good thing. I also got some more tea. I love my tea, what can I say?

We went back to her house and she cooked dinner for us and then we watched a movie before heading to our various rooms. 

This morning we sent my suitcase back to Tsuruoka so I didn’t have to carry it on the trains, then my friend gave me a tour of the city hall complex. It was very interesting and there are a lot of cool spaces there.

She drove me into Morioka and we had a light lunch at Doutor. We said goodbye and she had to go back to her house. I spent a few minutes shopping for souvenirs and then went through the gate. 

When I was on the other side, I bought myself a nice bento and then went upstairs to wait for the train. It arrived in time, I found my seat and then got ready to eat. I discovered that my bento was self-heating, so I had to pull a string completely out of the package and then wait 5 minutes so it had time to heat up.  It was an okay bento. I thought the gyutan was a bit tough and but I liked the idea a lot.

I had zero problems on the train and even was given a bag for a memento at Akita station. I found my platform, bought a couple of drinks and got on the train. The carriage wasn’t full again, which I am glad about. 

The train arrived on time and I disembarked and waited for F. Nope, he wasn’t there waiting on me. I had to text him to make sure that he was coming. 

He finally arrived and then we went off to look for dinner. We tried to go to the Kushibiki place, but they had already closed. We ended up going to Misono which was rather nice. F had meat on rice and I had the chicken curry. 

We ended up going to the grocery store and picking up food for the next two days. 

We came back to the house and have rested and relaxed for the rest of the evening. F went to bed a little early and I’m still up, but am half asleep. I’ve watched a bit of YouTube and caught up with some of my videos. 

So, I’m back now. I have been falling asleep at my keyboard and when I wake up I have to check what I wrote to see if it makes sense. Sometimes it doesn’t. Anyway, I’m done for tonight. 

Come back later if you like and hear all about my day. Until tomorrow….