December 23-25, 2000
Merry Christmas!
December 23, 2000
I had a great weekend. I left Otaru around 10:45 on Saturday. The train ride to
Sapporo was uneventful and I caught the train to Obihiro without any mishaps. The
train was a few minutes late, but it was otherwise a nice trip. It was quite funny,
when I got on there was only one other person in the car. Within 2 stops the car was full,
then two stops before Obihiro everyone got out. It was back to the same 2 people
that were originally on the train.
Susan and Steve met me at the station and we went and had a bite to eat, then we took
the bus to Kamishihoro. We vegged and talked and watched "The Wedding Singer".
My video has 3 karaoke songs after the movie, so Steve and I did a rocking version
of "White Wedding". What a hoot. It was late before we went to bed.
December 24, 2000
We decided that the 24 th would be our Christmas as I had to leave on Christmas day.
We had a lovely breakfast of bacon and toast, before we opened our presents. I
did very well. I got some things from The Body Shop, some bath stuff and a stuffed
doll that Susan's Mum had made for me. It's really cute. It's a Scottish Man with a set
of bagpipes. I've dubbed him Hamish MacTaggart, for want of a more Scottish name!
After presents we relaxed for a while, then Sue started cooking. I had asked for
a trifle, never really expecting that she'd make it. It was something that I'd always
associated with Christmas as a child. So did she, so she did it.
We went for a walk in the afternoon to pick up the barbecued chicken that she'd ordered
for our supper....turkey being a bit difficult to find and roast beef being too expensive.
It was a bit windy but the sun was shining so it was a nice walk. When we were nearly at the butcher shop their friend Shino drove up and gave us a ride there.
Apparently she went out looking just for them. Wasn't that nice? She drove us to
the shop and then back to the house again.
We had our dinner around 6. We had a light snack around 4:30 I think, escargot, bread
and cheese. Yum. Supper was good, chicken, cranberry sauce, stuffing...first time
in more than a year for that, rice salad. Yum. Yum. We were all stuffed so we held
off on the trifle for later.
Also that evening we watched Grosse Point Blank, ate trifle, and then watched Shakespeare
in Love. What a great evening! It was quite late when we all went to bed.
December 25, 2000
We all slept late this morning. Yay! However, around 11:00 we started to shake a
leg as I had to catch the bus to Obihiro. We breakfasted on fried rice and trifle.
Interesting combo!
Susan and Steve walked me to the bus stop...just outside their house and we hugged
goodbye. It was so nice to see them again. It was the first time that I'd seen
someone from "back home" in Japan.
The bus ride was uneventful, and so was the train ride back to Sapporo. I again got
a reserved ticket, I just prefer it.
In Sapporo I went shopping. I bought a couple of magazines and cds. I also went
to the New York Cafe again for supper. It was great.
The train on the way home was crowded but after a couple of stops I did get a seat.
At home I answered e-mail, watched a bit of TV and soon I'll go to bed. It was a
great Christmas and I really enjoyed it.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
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