January 22, 2001 - Monday
I had an adventure today. I really did.
First, I got up for my Japanese lesson and I was late, as usual. Sigh. I swear,
every week I plan to leave on time, but something always stops me. It was a good
one today. I did some listening practice and I learned 3 new verbs. I can now say
go and return in Japanese, but I'm a little hazy on come.
After my lesson I returned videos and tried to plan what to do. I was torn between
going to Mycal Otaru and Sapporo. So, I went to Shin-Sapporo instead! It's further
away from Otaru, but I've gone past it on the train and I always vowed that I'd stop
and check it out one day. Well, today was that day.
The train was crowded and I couldn't get a seat until Sapporo. Sigh. I did try to
memorize my new verbs; ikimasu, kimasu and kaerimasu, but only the first and last
stuck.
In Shin-Sapporo I got off the train and headed into the nearest mall. The first shop
I saw was a shop with large sizes. Was this fortuitous or what?I went in and had
a good snoop. There was a suit that I thought might fit me, but it was expensive.
I didn't have enough cash on me to buy it, so I thought I'd go and look for a cash machine,
have lunch and if I still was thinking about the suit I'd come back and try it on.
I wandered around, and found a lot of cool shops. I had lunch at a fast food restaurant.
They had a pretty good corn potato chowder, and the fries are good too. I finally
found a bank machine and then decided that I'd go back to the store.
I went in, grabbing a pair of pants from the rack outside and asked if I could try
them on, plus the suit. The lady suggested that I try on a suit smaller than I had
planned. I did, and it fitted!!! It was very cool, but it was black. I didn't really
want a black suit, as I have a lot of black clothes already. There was a knock on the
dressing room door and the lady brought me the same suit in grey. Hurray! I tried
it on, just to be sure. It fitted very well. The suit consisted of a jacket and
two bottoms...a skirt and a pair of pants. The only problem with the suit is that the
pants are a little long. However if I can find a dressmakers to shorten them it
won't be a problem for long. It was kind of funny, the lady kept talking to me in
Japanese. I think I understood what she was saying, generally anyway, but not exactly. The
other pair of pants were "chotto chiisai". Really, they were nice, but just a little
too small. Anyway, I bought the suit. It was expensive, but I think I'll be able
to get a lot of wear out of it and I haven't bought myself anything great for work in
two years, so it's worth it. The lady was very nice and gave me discount coupons
for my next visit.
After that I was going to take the train into Sapporo, but then I thought, "I'm having
an adventure dammit!" so I took the subway. The nice thing about the subway is that
it stopped at the place I wanted to go, Odori Park. The train station is about a
10 minute slippery walk away.
So, I rode the subway. It's always amazing to me how incredibly clean the subways
are in Japan...this one was spotless. I got off at Odori and went to Mitsukoshi
department store. Of course I hit the bookstore and then I picked up a couple of
magazines. After that I visited Virgin Megastore, but didn't buy anything. I did go to Tower
Records and I bought a new Reba McEntire cd. I also went to another couple of shops
and then The Body Shop.
I was feeling lazy tonight so I didn't want to walk on the slippery streets back to
the train station, so I took the subway. I got off, bought my train ticket and then
realized I was hungry. I found a garlic restaurant and ate there. It was pretty
good, but I bet I have terrible breath!
I went and caught the train then and wonder of wonders, got a seat. The train was
pretty crowded.
When I got off the train, I put on my sweater, gloves and hat and walked home. At
home I watched a bit of TV, and that's about it. It was an adventure for me. I
went to Shin Sapporo, I bought a suit, I rode the subway...I did a lot of stuff!
Cool day.
Oh, yeah, I also bought a Dick Francis novel. Hurray, hurray!
I'm off to bed now...Nighty night.
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