Potluck, Tenjin and Typhoon
This past week seemed to go by so
quickly, but my three day weekend went even quicker. I have always
heard that as we get older time seems to go by so much quicker. I
really am starting to believe this. My grandmother told me this when
I was younger and the other day when I was Skyping with her we talked
about it. Her mother had told her the same thing. It is funny that
when I was a kid it took forever for a school day to end.
Friday evening we had a potluck
sponsored by the FIS PTA. It was from 6:30-7:30 PM. Mark and I went
home right after school so that I could make my caprese salad. We
also freshened up and then it was time to head out. I have to say
that the weather when we headed to the subway really gave me hope. It
was a little breezy and cool. This is one of the first times that I
actually thought it felt cooler than in the past month and a half.
Could it be a sign of autumn coming soon? Let's hope so. It had been
raining on and off all day, but we lucked out on our way to the
potluck- no rain. We arrived about 10 minutes late. Mark just
couldn't decide what to wear. (Just kidding) When we arrived it was a
full house. There was food from so many different countries. The
potluck was held in the Annex building and was in the main lobby
area. It was nice to see so many familiar faces and to have a chance
to chat with people I hadn't seen during the week. Once the potluck
was over we began to walk to the subway. Now it was beginning to
sprinkle. Luckily for us it wasn't a heavy rain. We made it to the
subway and back to our house without getting too wet.
Saturday I was able to sleep in
until 6:40. I know that to some of you that is not sleeping in at
all, but for me that was an extra hour and 40 minutes worth of sleep.
It was heavenly. I almost felt guilty for being a little “lazy”.
Mark and I had planned on going into Tenjin for the day and
investigating all of the stores below the street shopping areas in
the subway. It is an underground shopping area that has 600 meters of
stores. Here is a link you can go to
http://yokanavi.com/eg/landmark/index/668
so that you can see the area. We found some good shops.
There are a couple of Kaldi stores
which sell coffee and many imported items. I even found one can of
refried beans and some vegetarian curry sauce. It is so funny to see
all of the Halloween candies, pumpkin decorations, bags and other
foods available. From what I have heard Halloween is a big deal at
school. I will never understand that at all. For those of you who
know me you know that I am not a fan of Halloween (except for all of
the candy). It will be interesting to see what all really happens for
Halloween. You know I will blog about it.
OK, back to our underground shopping
experience.....I would say that about 85%-90% of the stores are
stores for women. They have clothing shops, sock and legging shops,
shoes, make-up, scarves and just about everything in between. They
have some very cute styles for autumn. If only I were younger and
more slender then I could buy some of the outfits. I will have to get
some photos to share. I didn't get many there because Mark didn't
want to look too “touristy”. We were looking for a nice place to
eat lunch, but the places we saw catered to many “smoking”
customers, and I just can't deal with smoke in restaurants. It
reminds me of in the US when I was a child and some tables were
smoking and some were not smoking. The smoke still travels around the
restaurant. There are really not too many of these places around
that I have been in. If I see any smokers I just say no to eating
there. I guess I am a clean air snob. The cleaner the better for me.
We decided since we couldn't find a
place to eat we would stop at Freshness Burger on our way home. I
love the bean patty sandwich. It is so “fresh” and delicious!!!
One day I will take a photo. I think you would all agree that it
looks healthy and fresh. Mmmmmmmmmmmm...I have now been there three
times. After our late lunch we headed home. It had been raining all
day, but we did not notice since we were nice and dry below ground.
Once we got home we put our stuff
away, fed the cats, and hit the road again. Our goal was to find the
Sakoda store and get some storage furniture (shelf units, a computer
desk, bookshelves, etc.) We had a nice walk to he store. We were
finally able to see some of the area right near our apartment. The
entire time we were walking to the store it was raining lightly on
and off. It was very comfortable outside which made the trip more
doable. There is a store called Foodway. We popped in to see what
their prices were like. We found out that it is a very large grocery
store and some of the prices are definitely lower than some of the
stores we normally shop. Since it was rainy we didn't want to get
groceries that we would have to lug around the other store we were
going to shop.
Sakoda and Foodway share a very
large parking lot. Sakoda is a two level store that has everything
you could imagine for sale. They have furniture, pet supplies,
imported foods, kitchen items, plants, school supplies and may more
things. We were not doing very well selecting things for our house.
The only thing that we bought for storage was two bookshelves. We had
to arrange to have them delivered since we knew we couldn't carry
them home, and we were not sure if we would find a taxi. While we
were there filling out the delivery information we heard loud,
blaring voices through a megaphone. They were having a “timed sale”
we were told from the young man helping us. He spoke English so he
was very helpful. He gave us one of his cards so that when we are
there we can ask for him to assist us. I took a short video of the
sale, hopefully it will play for you. All I can say is that it was
SOOOOO loud.
We finally headed home. Mark was
leading the way since we both did not know a particular route to
follow. We ended up going a little way out of our way....and then a
little more out of the way, but all in all it was a nice walk and I
can always use the exercise.
Home again, home again....it was
nice to be home and relax. I had been walking in wet shoes for quite
awhile now.
Sunday was the big day that Robyn
and I were going to venture out to see if we could take public
transportation to Costco. Now, I need to tell you that we heard many
different horror stories about people trying the same thing. One
would think that we would probably just believe them and leave well
enough alone.....but not us. We were bound and determined to find a
way to go their on our own when ever we wanted to. It was our chance
to show that we could be more independent and get what we needed. The
plan was to head out early so we could beat the crowd.
I left my apartment at about 8:45
and went to the subway. I was going only one stop and then Robyn
would meet me there and we would continue on to Tenjin. Gandhali
joined us on the subway to Tenjin, but then she left to catch a
different line to head to a festival at one of the temples. We made
it to Tenjin easily and then we just needed to find the correct bus.
I had been told that we needed 27B. We found it. So far things were
going pretty well. I was beginning to be hopeful that all would turn
out well. The bus ride was going in the right direction and we were
following our route on my Google maps app. Then we hit our first
snag. The bus pulled into this little gravel lot with about three
buses already there. Everyone got off the bus. Now we were a little
confused. When we were getting off the bus we asked for “Torius”
which is where Costco is located. The driver said “no”and then
took us to the little bus stop and showed us the other 27B bus that
would be coming. We would have to wait about 15 to 20 minutes.
Luckily it was a covered bus stop. It had been raining all morning.
We waited and then we got on the
next 27B bus that came along. We were not sure exactly where it would
drop us at the Costco area. Robyn saw the sign for Torius so we
hopped off the bus. Now, it was raining pretty steady and we had to
walk a short ways to get to the footbridge to cross the road. I was
still doing pretty well because I wasn't soaking wet which is always
a good thing. We saw Costco in the distance and knew we had made it.
We were very happy and hungry at this point.
As we were walking into Costco we
saw the group of teachers who drove in the van. They were all nice
and dry and heading back home after their shopping trip. We said
hello and let them know we made it to Costco in one hour and fifteen
minutes. That was pretty, or at least we thought it was. Once we were
in Robyn went and picked up her new glasses. They looked great on
her. They really have some nice looking frames at Costco. That is
good to know in case I have to get new glasses while I am in Japan.
Once she had the glasses adjusted we
went to get some food at the food court. We decided to eat and then
shop. Now, I just have to set the stage here. By now it was almost
11:30 and the food court was PACKED. I can't emphasize that enough. I
could not believe how crowded it was. We had a long line to stand in
to order our food. I was happy that it did move rather quickly. I
ordered a slice of cheese pizza and Robyn ordered a hot dog. It was
standing room only at the table area. We had to stand to eat our
food. I honestly think their food court area is much larger than the
ones in the states yet it was still packed. Robyn got a few photos
which I will try to get to share with you. I won't have them attached
to this blog though.
It was now time to shop. I was so
happy because I knew what I wanted and knew that I could only buy
what would fit into my trolley cart. I was very aware of the size of
the items I was buying. The one thing I didn't take into
consideration was the weight of the items. Ugghhhhh...what was I
thinking, or more like not thinking? Any how, I was a happy person
while I was shopping even though there were millions of people all
around me. No, I am not exaggerating......there really were millions
of people or at least it seemed like it. Sometimes I was at a stand
still because there was no room to walk at all. It is not good to
begin shopping too late at Costco here. I decided to make my way to
pay and get out while I could. I paid and then went out front to put
all of my items in my trolley. This took some creative thinking. I
opened and put my Amy's burritos in lose instead of in their boxes.
This saved a lot of space. Here is when I realize that my food was
very heavy! I had olive oil, spaghetti sauce, salsa, shampoo and
conditioner, face cream, bread and a few other items. I could not
even hardly move my trolley. I knew I would have to, but wow I should
have been smarter than that.
Robyn was right behind me with her
stuff and we were on our way to the bus stop. As we were walking out
we noticed a very long line along the side of Costco, it was all of
the people who were waiting to get into Costco. I couldn't believe
it. They had to wait for people to leave so they would have carts. I
have never experienced anything like this before.
We saw where we needed to go and we
were so happy that it seemed to be working out so well.
Hahahahaaaa....key word - “seemed”. We got to the bus stop
(remember it is still raining all this time) and sat down. We looked
at the sign and were so happy to see that bus 27B did come to this
stop. We were then looking at the sign more closely and we saw that
the next bus was not due to come until 2:22. It was about 1:35, we
would have over 45 minutes to wait. That seemed like forever. 45
mintues...had we only known what time the bus came we could have
planned out the shopping around that time. We didn't know though. Now
I knew what Kevin was talking about when he said the one bus only
comes once per hour. We had been sucked into the deceptive little
time killer of the bus. There were a lot of cars going into the
Costco shopping area. Some of the cars were so close to the sidewalk
that they splashed us with water. By now my shoes were soaking wet. A
taxi had gone by us but we wanted to see if we could wait for the
bus. As we kept sitting at the bus station we decided to give a taxi
a try. Of course then there were none to be found. We headed back to
the bus stop and waited for the bus. Luckily for us a man came along
who spoke English and he did tell us that the bus we were getting on
would take us right into Tenjin. That was music to our ears. Finally,
the bus came and we were on it. We were a little nervous when the bus
pulled into that same gravel lot. Thank goodness we didn't have to
get off the bus.
We made it into Tenjin and went to
go to the station. We couldn't find the elevator so I had to manage
with my 100 ton trolley down the stairs. I did it, but at what cost
to my back. Ouch! I was so happy to be at the station. We ran to
Kaldi so Robyn could get her decaf coffee beans and then we were
headed for our train. Yes, we had made it.
We knew that this was not a very
practical way to get to Costco. I have to say that I concede to Kevin
T. that he was RIGHT about a Costco day taking 6 hours. I never would
have believed it if I hadn't experienced it myself. I left at 8:45 AM
and got home at 4:15 PM. I was exhausted and sore. I had to get the
trolley up and down the stairs at my subway, too.
Once I was home Mark and I had to
run across the street for a few groceries since Monday was supposed
to be a very stormy day with Typhoon Sanba.
Finally, I was home for the day and
ready to relax. I was so tired when I went to bed.
Today is Sunday. I was ready for the
typhoon weather. It was so windy. Not near as rainy as I thought it
was going to be. In fact, at first this morning it wasn't even
raining at all. We could see that there were not many people outside.
We really needed to get to Nitori to buy some furniture things that
we did not get at Sakoda the day before. Of course by this time it
had started to rain. We headed to the subway area to get a taxi. The
wind was very strong. The wind gust was what got to us. We made it
safely and then hit the stores. We bought a desk, clothes shelves for
the closets, a new kitchen rack that is much wider and higher than
the one we have right now. We also bought an ironing board, some
things that go on the racks that make it easier to store things.
Everything will be delivered on Wednesday. We will finally be able to
unpack our boxes.
We tried a new restaurant for us
today. It was called Chang Chang. We never know what we are ordering,
but we just take it all in stride. We both ordered different “meals”
that came with rice, noodles, veggies, meat and so much more.
Obviously, Mark had to eat most of the things since I did not eat any
of the meat things. Then we walked home. We tried to get a taxi but
there were none to be had. It was a windy and damp walk home. It
rained on and off, but mostly it felt very misty.
I was glad to get home. I cleaned
the bathroom and did some planning for school. I really need to get
all of my school stuff to school because it is so hard to trolley it
each day. Tomorrow will be a subway day with my trolley.
The weather should be better
tomorrow. I am looking forward to that.
I have attached some photos and they
may or may not go with the blog, but they are all from Thursday
through today.
As I was typing this I realize how
much time I have spent typing. I think my brain got tired because I
did not add all of the humorous things that happened the past couple
of days. Once thing that was funny was that Robyn lost not one
umbrella but two umbrellas. She lost the first one so she bought
another one, then she lost that one too. It was funny at the time.
More to come this week.
 |
| My apartment is the tall white one taken on Saturday near Marinoa City. |
 |
| Close-up of my apartment. I am on the 16th floor. |
 |
| Low tide on the river. |
 |
| Cool drinks on the street. |
 |
| Typhoon coming over the mountain. (Well, not the actual typhoon) |
 |
| Huge driving range. |
 |
| Driving range |
 |
| Green tea Kit Kats |
 |
| Low tide |
 |
| The river next to our school. |
 |
| Rainbow in the typhoon clouds |
 |
| Robyn getting fitted with her new glasses. |
 |
| Robyn's new glasses. They look great! |
 |
| Boats waiting out the storm in calmer water. |
 |
| Temple down the road from us. |
 |
| The stairs up to the street from the Fujisake station. |
 |
| Typhoon storm clouds. |
