Today was the last day I would be
living in the hotel. I had a lot to get done before moving tomorrow.
I can't believe that tonight is my last night in the hotel and when I
leave tomorrow I will be moving into my apartment.
Gandhali and I had planned to go to
the Nitori that is close to my house. It is smaller than the other
Nitori that I had been to. My goal was to get a sofa and/or sofa
sleeper. I found a lot of things that I needed for the apartment. It
is really hard to decide what are the things you need the most when
you first move into a place. Normally when people are moving into an
apartment they have some things that they would need. I was starting
with an empty apartment and a settling in allowance. After today I am
pretty sure I have spent all of it.
When we went to leave the hotel to
meet our friend, Robyn, who was going with us we realized that it was
pouring down rain. We all figured it would blow over rather quickly.
No such luck. You would think that I would be following the weather.
Silly me, I haven't been checking at all. (Although I have now looked
at the next 10 days of weather.) We finally decided just to pay a
taxi driver to take us to the shopping area so we wouldn't have to
waste any more time waiting for the rain to stop. The shopping area,
which we had never been to, is located very close to my apartment. It
is right on the water and there is a marina next to the shops. It is
so beautiful there.
We went to Nitori first to see what
all we could find. I found many things, but no sofa or sofa bed. I
decided that I needed to get a nice futon for our company in case I
could not find a sofa/bed combo. I bought sheets and a pillow case
for the futon. It is kind of like a tempurpedic mattress, but only in
a single double size. I think it will be pretty comfortable. I am
still on the look out for a sofa/bed for the guest room. I didn't
have much luck on the drapes. I need longer sizes than the stores
carry so I have to order them and it will take some time. I am
thinking that I may hit Ikea again on Tuesday to take a double look
at what they had. I was so rushed the last time that I just need to
go by bus so I can take my time. I do know that I will not get
everything 100% by the time Mark, Mel and the cats arrive. I can live
with what I have being delivered in the next couple of days. Tomorrow
is by biggest delivery. I have Nitori, Ikea and the cable/internet
person coming. On Tuesday I have Best Denki delivering a bunch of
things including my refrigerator, TV, vacuum, a fan and the
washer/dryer. Wow! I will be busy unpacking the big stuff. I have too
many things being delivered from the other places to list. What I can
tell you is that you need to stay tuned for the photos later this
week.
Once we finished for the day at Nitori
we decided to grab lunch so once again we would not be skipping our
meal. We were both so hot and sweaty that nothing really sounded
good. Then we saw a Krispy Kreme donut shop. If you know me then you
know that I rarely eat a donut. We both got a couple of donuts and
felt much better. They are so much better when they are fresh, fresh,
fresh. It was time to move on to our next store. We both needed to
get a washer/dryer unit. The plan was to catch a cab to take us to
the Best Denki outlet store. By now the rain had stopped and it was
so humid we were both just a sweaty sticky mess. Not a fun way to be.
We kept thinking as we walked that we would see a taxi and jump on.
Nope, no taxi. We decided just to try to walk to the store. We
FINALLY made it there about 35-40 minutes later. At this time we were
still feeling pretty good. We moved quickly picking out our
washer/dryer and my TV. I felt good knowing that they would be
delivered on Tuesday.
Now it was time to get to the other
Nitori store. Gandhali remember that it was not too far from the Best
Denki store. We began to walk and walk and walk. Something did not
seem right so we found a woman to help us. Remember that we do not
speak Japanese yet, but luckily they are so willing to help. I had
the address written in Japanese so that made it a little easier. If
you are wondering how I had it written Japanese I had to have some
one at the other Nitori write it for me. The woman who was helping us
told us it was far, at least 25 minutes. At this point we had already
walked so far that what was another 25 minutes? As we walked we once
again kept thinking that we were almost there. We finally had to ask
another person where the store was located. We were reassured that we
were going in the right direction. We continued to walk and walk and
walk and walk. More than 30 minutes longer and we were still not
there. Ugghhhh..by this time we had walked so far. We were both so
hot and sweaty that we didn't know if we were every going to find the
store. Once we crossed the big river the area began to look familiar
to Gandhali. At the next stop light we decided to ask another person
where the store was located. At this point the man told us we were
almost there. Feeling that there was a light at the end of the tunnel
gave us some hope and energy. If it were only that easy. Nope, we
honestly walked at least 25 to 30 more minutes Our feet were killing
us and we were so drained. Then we saw it. That was such a happy
moment for us both. We quickly hit the sofa area. I found one that I
saw in the catalog and I told them I would take it. (It will be
delivered on Thursday.). I went to look at curtains, but I need to
order the sizes I need. That quickly became a project and task for
another day.
We both knew there was no way we could
walk back. We walked next door to a large mall and ask someone how we
could get a taxi. He told us where to stand and about 20 minutes
later we had a ride back to the hotel. To give you an idea of how far
we walked to those stores it took us about 20 minutes in a car. Now,
imagine us walking that far and actually farther. We had been so
thrilled to see the taxi. We were both ready to get to our rooms,
clean up and then relax.
Now I am in my room. I have been
getting things organized for my check out in the morning. I have to
see if I can get a taxi that will take my bike in the trunk.
Otherwise, I will have to walk from my apartment back to the hotel
and then ride my bike back to the apartment. That will be another
long traveling day.
Just an FYI, we began walking at 1:20
and did not get home until about 6:45. Were decided that there is no
way that we did not burn off the calories from our donuts. I guess
that is the silver lining. I am glad to be at the hotel and ready to
relax.
Tomorrow morning I will be leaving the
hotel around 8:15 in the morning. I am really, really looking forward
to it.
Tomorrow when I blog it will be from
my apartment.
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