November 15, 1999 - Monday
Today was a great day. How often have I said that lately? Exactly! The worst thing
that happened today was that I almost got hit by a delivery truck as it turned into
a pachinko parlour. That was pretty dramatic. I don't know what he was thinking
about, it's not like I'm easy to miss. I was wearing my bright red Mickey Mouse rain
cape...hardly the kind of thing to blend in. Anyway, I didn't get hurt, just a bit
shaken, but..no blood was shed, and I guess thats what's important.
Where was I going when I narrowly escaped death? I was trying to catch the train
to Sakata. I did catch it, and had thoughtfully brought along my Amelia Peabody
book to read on the train.
When I got to Sakata I went to the bank and headed off to Daiei. I had lunch...curry
udon and did a bit of shopping. I also bought an umbrella because I didn't want
to wear the aforementioned rain cape everywhere. When the lady asked me if I wanted
to use it right away, I kind of understood. "Hai" I said!
Then I headed off to Marine 5, the big departo in Sakata. The walk was nice, even
though it was drizzling. I started on the top floor and basically bought my way
down the store! I got Christmas presents for Joe, Susan(just a little one), and
Katie. I also bought a few things for my classes from the Hyakku-en shop (aka The Dollar Store).
Then, I found a great gift store on the first floor. It's the kind of store that
sells things for tourists. I found some great things for my nieces and something
for Kyla too. I asked the lady to sell me the things and then she started speaking Japanese
to me. I forgot every word of Japanese that I know...almost and managed to garble
out that I could only understand "s'koshi Nihongo". Then she asked me if I was Russian. Don't laugh too hard! There are a lot of Russians in Sakata, but I told her
that I was from Canada.
She wrapped the boxes for me, which took a bit of time, and there was another customer
waiting, so I asked her to go ahead and help the other lady.(Aren't I nice?) Then
when she totaled everything up for me, she gave me four really nice booklets on Sakata for each gift and gave me a discount. That was so nice.
Then I decided to try and head back to the station to catch the 6:48 train. I made
it handily and finished my novel on the way back to Tsuruoka.
In Tsuruoka, I went to Mr Donuts for supper and then came home. Tonight I wrapped
Van's birthday present and Caryn's birthday present, and got a couple of Christmas
Cards ready to send off. I made some more Christmas Card too. And that's it. A
pretty good day, all in all.
I'm starting to feel a bit Christmassy now. Yay!
Ho ho ho...
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