Friday November 5, 1997: 9am
Sleep. Yeah whatever. With various phone calls, I ended up only sleeping after midnight, and since Sariya is (a) jetlagged, and (b) well-rested (having slept through all phone calls and distractions), she was up at the all-too-perky hour of 5am. 5 AM!! I suspect she was up even earlier, but 5am was when *I* got up too. Ew.
Ooo though, she started to unpack and wow! RPs!! KD!!! Real 2-in-1 shampoo! Gingerbread house stuff! And - get this - PUMPKIN PUREE!! I wasn't expecting the pumpkin puree. Now I can really attempt to make a pumpkin pie.. heh heh.
So I went for a short run - Sariya walked with me until we picked up my bike (I left it at the station last night), and then she rode that beside me for the rest. She thinks it's FREEZING here. Hm. So much for my "She's Canadian, she'll live" theo ry.
9pm
Would you believe she is already dead out?!? 9pm!! Oh well, we're going to get up really (*really*) early tomorrow - somehow she has conned me into going to the Tsukiji Fish Market - which I've already been to - and wasn't completely enthused about
going again since it requires getting up before 5 - on a Saturday?? Aw mannnnnn. Anyway, tonight we went... grocery shopping. Nothing absolutely extraordinary happened (really? grocery shopping?), I guess the dancing fruit weren't out today..
Saturday December 6, 1997: 6:15am
Ugh. Got up at 4:30. It's even still dark now, and we're half-way to Tsukiji. This'd better be good!
9pm
Back to the Fish market. We were wandering around by 7, so it was still somewhat busy although I hope to never find out if it is busier earlier... 4:30 is as early as I get up. Anyway, we checked out the outer market, and then tried to find the inn er market.. I'm still not really sure if we found it or not - what we found was a *very* happening busy place where obviously not many tourists go (judging from the number of "hello!"s and stares) - that place was dangerous! I mean, the traffic of fish c arts and old men biking by with cartons strapped on the back, and trucks and and and... it was a bustling place. We just tried to NOT get in the way (or run over, while we were at it), which was quite a challenge!
Once we found our way out of there, we quickly dropped by the Indian-looking temple next-door, then headed over to the Hama Rikyu gardens. They didn't open 'til 9, so I killed half an hour reading, and Sariya sulked because I hadn't told her to brin g a book along. Whatever.
The Hama Rikyu Gardens (Y300 = $4) are really nice. We basically had the whole darn place to ourselves - not a common occurence in Tokyo! Anyway, it's an old duck hunting ground, and there are lots of green lawns, funky-lookin' trees, ponds, more p onds, bridges - plenty! I quite liked the place, although it would look especially nice in either the spring or the kouyou season (ie, when the leaves are changing colours)
From the Hama Rikyu Gardens, we took the advice of Sariya's walking tour guide book, and took a boat ferry to Asakusa, along the Sumida gawa (Sumida River) (Y620 = $7.50) - and this was a relaxing way to get there considering the other option was to take the subways and trains, plus numerous transfers.. or walk. So, since Asakusa isn't exactly CLOSE to the gardens, the ride takes about 45 minutes, which put us in Asakusa around 11. Quick pit-stop at a McD's (where I learn that "french fries" is tra nslated as "Mac Potato Fry" (?!?!)) and then we did the usual Asakusa tour - the temple, the waving smoke, the throwing coins, eating 'an' and sembei, then to Kappabashi Dori.. Oh, I had put on my Waterloo hat as we were leaving the Asakusa temple - this is the same hat that got me so much attention on my Obon trip - and sure enough, within 20 minutes I heard a "UNIVERSITY OF WATERLOO?!?!" - yes yes yes, yet again, I meet a Waterloo student while wandering the streets of Japan. Her name is Christine (Kri stine?) - 3rd year sys. engineer - she said she was here on some program where you work for 4 months, study for 2 months, and travel for 2 months... doesn't sound like a bad deal to me! Then again, when would I ever have the money to travel for 2 months! !
Now it was only about 1 or so, but we'd covered a lot of Tokyo ground. We opted for walking to the Edo-Tokyo Museum and the Sumo Museum, to check 'em out. I was hoping we'd have better luck than Jon, who had wanted to do the same thing, but got mis
erably lost - ha ha ha! [for *that* story, told by Jon, see Special Guest Jon
] Ah, I shouldn't laugh, I've gotten lost one or two times myself... So we DID find them, with no reeeal difficulty, and we went to the Edo-Tokyo M
useum. I'm not sure if it was really worth the Y600 ($7.50) price tag. I had heard this museum had a really good replica of old Edo - and it DID, but in *miniature*. It's just not as fun if you can't walk through it!
After that we headed back home - stopped off at the grocery store where we got involved in a small "banana incident" (?) - cooked up some grub - and tried to keep Sariya awake. The last, she didn't appreciate whatsoever, and only managed to keep her eyes open after I'd given up trying. Spiteful girl.
I finished another Marcia Muller book though - man, I love mysteries!
Sunday December 7, 1997: 9pm
Today we did the Shinjuku-thang. Ya know, the usual.. start with the West side with the sky rises and numerous observatories, the massive clock, the city in a building, yada yada. Ate a bit at a Subway (for the first time in 7 months) and a bit of McD's.. then headed on over to the East Side - to wander the over-crowded streets and weave in and out, dodging all sorts of people. We went over to Shinjuku Gyoen (Shinjuku Gardens) - and being such a beautiful day, we sat down to read for an hour or tw o on the grass near some trees. Gee, it must've been really picturesque or something, because not long after I'd made myself comfortable, we were, well, being photographed. Not just by some passer-by, no, by the guys with snazzy cameras - bunches of the m. Like, we were just reading - and they were trying to be quiet, but you just can't disguise the sound of an automatic zoom... it was quite amusing, I thought - I mean, as long as I could keep on reading!
Next we kinduv just wandered - it was "pedestrian paradise" in Shinjuku, from 1 to 5 - meaning that not only were the sidewalks jam-packed, but the streets too. We made a brief stop at a Marui Depaato (department store) - and discovered that Japan i s over-run with selections of - of all things - coats. Weird.
Not much left to do, and crowds getting worse, we headed home for some chow.
Monday December 8, 1997: 9pm
Argh, today was just plain confusing. I could NOT, for the life of me, figure out the resolution, scan area, zoom and whatever-else calculations. How - frustrating!
Sariya dropped by work after lunch and said hi to the guys and stuff - hung around a bit, to mumble to herself while exploring my 2nd computer, ya know the deal. Now though, I think I'm gonna read some before catchin' the zzzzz's.
Tuesday December 9, 1997: 9pm
Goody goody, got more done today. Well, at least I set my brain straight. Oh, and I got the dreaded long-distance phone bill today... but I'm still standing!
Wednesday December 10, 1997: 10:30pm
Took Sariya to calligraphy tonight. That was kinduv amusing. I was held up at work so we didn't get there til past 7 - but everyone's so busy lately that we were the first ones there anyway. So we sat down for some tea, oranges, sembei, and other various snacks, in true Sensei-tradition. Go-san arrived and sat down for tea too, and it was lots of fun. They said we had really different characters, and I took this to mean that Sariya is just - uh - a tad louder than me.
We chatted for an extra long time, then moved to the calligraphy room to start. While I continued on with my kakizoume, Sensei taught Sariya the basics, and then started her out on doing the kanji for "fuku" (good fortune). Not exactly the easiest character, but Sariya had asked me to suggest something lucky for her new apartment - so that's what she got. Well, I think she did quite well, and I guess she liked it because she wants to come back next week too. Of course, that may have to do with h ow humourous Sensei and Mr. Kitagawa are - I made the mistake of telling Sariya a few of Mr. Kitagawa's funny habits on the way to the lesson. And sure enough, he didn't let me down! They are just so funny! On numerous occasions today I ruined my calli graphy by laughing - Oh, their labrador "Rabu" ("Love") SNORES - and he snores *loud*. Like, Sensei pointed it out; Hear that? That's Rabu's ebiki (snoring)". I listened - and sure enough, coming from the garden was a good strong snore. *That* got me laughing!
We're getting home purdy late now - I fully expect to be cranky in the morning!
Thursday December 11, 1997: 9pm
So tonight is the office's end-of-year party. Sure, it's a bit early, but the Japanese celebrate all through December. Actually, they're not reeeeally celebrating the new year... they're celebrating their bonuses. See, twice a year, Japanese worke rs get big bonuses - often 3 or 4 months worth of their salary.. and since our bonus receiving day was yesterday, the big party (where you spend all your money) is tonight. Now although each employee gets a bonus, I don't (as far as I know) because I don 't have the right VISA for them to be able to pay me more - and even if they could - I wonder if they would. Anyway, since I'm getting no bonus, I couldn't afford the Y10,000 ($125) party. Go figure. Plus, they were going to an onsen, and I'm pretty su re that the other 3 women weren't going - so I would've been all alone for part of it - not much of a party!
Well, I'm fine with staying home!
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