Friday November 28, 1997: 10pm
Shravan-san is back! Well, just for a week, but still that's cool. When he went back to India in September he was promoted to the manager of the Banff project on the Indian side - so it's neat that he can come back.
Tonight I attempted - gack - Christmas shopping, and all I can say is that apparently I am NOT going to be able to do it in Hino! Hahahahaha
Saturday November 29, 1997: 10pm
Suggoi ame desho!!, as they would say here. Holy mackerel (excuse the language ;), it has been just pouring all day, what's up with that? I think my laundry is *wetter* than when I hung it out to dry (um, I didn't hand it up outside - duh). How useless.
So on further inspection of my bathtub (you didn't think I'd be finished with my bathtub, did you?) I've found something I know that bath lovers around the world would appreciate - a mechanism that - my God - keeps your bath HOT! You know, so you don't have to keep the hot water running! I think Mom would especially appreciate this. Anyway, I haven't actually tried this mechanism out yet because it's too soon after the "blowing up bathtub" incident - plus, I don't usually take baths - but I fully intend to try it out before I leave. Imagine the luxury! All I can say is that Japanese sure know how to take baths!
Sunday November 30, 1997: 8pm
Pancake day! Well, not the *real* Pancake Day - just make-pancakes-for-those-uneducated-in-pancakes day. So I met Wakako-chan and - um - Wakako's friend (let's call her T-san for now, cuz I just can't remember her name) at the Hino station at 1 or so, and from there we walked back to my place. Gee, this was going to be the first time a Japanese person came to my apartment - I wondered if there would be something they'd find really odd about it. Well the first comment was on how clean (huh?) the place was - yeah well, that's cuz I spent 3 hours yesterday doing a *thorough* cleanup (let's call it a "halfway-mark cleanup") since I've been here about 6 months now (already!?) and it was probably about time. Anyway, I put on some music (all Canadian, of course - the Hip, Our Lady Peace, Sarah McLachlan..) and they wanted to see what kind of music I had, and we went through that for awhile - and I set them up with my stack of English books to go through (they both read English books, and I thought they may like to borrow some) while I set out to make the pancakes. So while I was making those, I'd join in on the conversation every once in awhile. Oh yeah, they were looking at the book "Bachelor Brothers Bed & Breakfast" and I yelled from the kitchen "oh, that's a great book!" but they didn't know what bachelor meant - ha ha, so I say, well, it's a man who's not married - usually over 25 or so .. and T-san gasps and goes, Is there a word like that for unmarried women, too? And I say, no, and a relieved look comes over her face as she mumbles, Oh good, cuz I'm over 25... And oh, that's when I remember that to be unmarried in Japan is a strange thing - so I say, Oh, but bachelor's not a BAD word, as a matter of fact, it's kind of a good word. Like, if someone said - "say, there's a bachelor over there" - all women would look over inquiringly - and then I told them how mothers (Mom being one of these) would probably phone their daughters and tell them they'd met such a nice young eligible bachelor the other da y... which brought us to the topic of *eligible* bachelors.. ha ha!
Anyway, the first pancake went to Wakako-chan, and they kept on coming from there. I could not believe that they only had 1 and a half each!! Gee, I devoured 2 in no time at all! That's fine though, I still made the rest and gave them to Wakako-chan to take home with her. Actually, while I was making the last one, I was sitting in the main room showing/explaining the pictures I'd brought from Canada to them (they wanted to see them) and, well, being Alexa, I *completely* forgot about the pancake... and mabye 20 minutes later I suddenly jump up and run into the kitchen... that was one black pancake, let me tell you!
We spent a good portion of an hour looking over the old pictures I'd brought with me - they seemed to find this fun - and frankly I was more than happy to tell them the stories behind them - yeah I guess it was interesting. What *I* found funny was taht they thought that my guy friends were so good looking! They were just amazed! Hahahahaha! I'm gonna email them all tomorrow and tell them that they've got fans in Japan. A-hahaha! I was like - him?!? Really?? Haha!! Oh, they also loved the cottage - they couldn't believe Lake Ontario was a lake - each time a picture of the cottage came up, they'd say "THIS must be the ocean", and I'd say, nope, the lake again...
I just walked them to the station - T-san with "Bachelor Brothers Bed & Breakfast", and Wakako-chan with "Snow Falling on Cedars". That should be neat. And now for the big cleanup!
Monday December 1, 1997: 9am
I have figured out why my alarm clock randomly decides to NOT go off on some days (um, like TODAY dammit). Good, because I like to be able to depend on the thing. So I guess I'll have to stop knocking it off my desk in the middle of the night then... woops.
9:30am
Oh perfect - now the Japanese employment rate is going up! Just what we all need is a bit more instability around here...
1pm
My twit of a sister... I am *sure* she told me she was arriving on December 3rd, but she sent me an email over the weekend saying it was the 4th -- but she only mentioned it briefly and didn't give me a flight number... ARHGHGHG. And I think she's already left the cottage so I can't reach her, so I will take my chances and head over there on Thursday, and not Wednesday..
Tuesday December 2, 1997:
My only on-line entry: My On-Line Japan Resources which include sites on touring, language, weather, history, geography, you name it! Check it out, cuz it's today's entry!
Wednesday December 3, 1997: 8:45am
I knew it was cold out today because when I got up I was still frozen - and still, my windows were dripping with condensation! And if I remember my Gr.11 physics correctly (which I undoubtedly *do* ;), that means it's much colder outside than inside...
Oh and then when I got out of my shower this morning, I was actually steaming. At first I was a bit alarmed because there was steam everywhere and I thought maybe there would be another bathtub explosion. But soon I realized (as it was SO cold just standing there) that it was ME, which also kind of alarmed me (was *I* goind to explode?) until, of course, I remembered that Gr.11 phsyics.
Oh, this morning on my run, one of the runners I always see out on my route stopped (oh oh, not another Spock!) - but, no worries, he invited me to this running club-type thing they hold on Sundays along the Asakawa. He said there are about 75 people (woah, big club!) and they run 10K. Cool! So maybe I'll go some Sunday. Of course, it's at 12:30 or something, which is right smack-dab in the middle of the day - ah, we'll see.
Thursday December 4, 1997: 9:40pm
Well I actually found Sariya OK. I started to get nervous at about 7 - after about 40 minutes of waiting, when I realized that there was another platform in the Tokyo station that trains from Narita arrive on. Just as I was debating whether or not to check out the other platform, I saw her. Cool. Her bags were, in good ol' Sharp tradition, big and heavy. So we lugged those suckers over to the Chuo line platform (no easy task) and went on home to Hino. Basically, she clunked out on the bed almost immediately... don't blame her. So currently I'm at loss at what to do (not really) - sleep is looking like a pleasant option...
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