May 28, 2008 - Wednesday

Cloudy, hazy sort of day. No rain.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you are now reading the blog of the latest Permanent Resident of Japan. Wahoo!

I had myself a bit of an adventure today. When I got up, I showered, dressed and took myself off to the station. I walked because I didn't want to worry about what to do with my bicycle. I also had to get to the post office before I caught the train so that I could buy a revenue stamp. Luckily, I managed to get my stamp, then catch the train to Sakata.

In Sakata I walked aaaalllllll the way over to the Immigration office and got my new sticker thing in my passport. The man there today was the nice younger guy and we didn't have any problems communicating. He advised me to go to my City Hall within the next two weeks, I thanked him and left.

I went to the big department store that's near the center of Sakata and had a good poke around. I also had lunch. It was a little confusing at first. The cafe I went to had a sign up about it being self service, but at first I thought it just meant "get your own water!" Then, I realized that I know the "water" kanji and it wasn't on the sign. So, I went to the counter and ordered. I had the cold shabu salad lunch with some iced tea and my novel (Sanditon by Jane Austen). Then, a guy walked past the restaurant and I accidentally made eye contact with him. He must have been a bit drunk or possibly just quite stupid because he came over to me and asked if I was Russian. "No." Then he asked if I was American. I said, "Go away." He tried to figure out what country that was. I put my nose back in my book and he finally walked away. Gah!

I had an idea that I would catch the bus to Mikawa Shopping Mall, and get Fumihiko to pick me up after his work. He works in Mikawa, so it wouldn't really inconvenience him. I texted him, and he said that he would meet me there, so after a quick trip around the hundred yen shop, I dashed to the bus stop. I got on the bus, and for most of the trip I was the only person on the bus. I did have to ask the driver how much to pay when I got off, but it wasn't a big deal.

In the mall I didn't really do all that much. I hacked around, looked at craft stuff...my blog buddy at Blooming in Japan is tempting me more and more...then wandered over to the Large Ladies Clothing department to have a look around. I found some cute shirts that I wanted to try on, so I went over the limit...sign? what sign? I can't read the sign!...and took five shirts instead of 2 into the changing room. I liked quite a few of the shirts, but didn't buy any. The proportions are just wrong with a lot of clothes here. For example, I tried on a cute grey t-shirt for summer. It was almost perfect, but the sleeves were about 2 inches too short. They stopped right at the part of my arms that I want to hide! Other shirts were too tight over the bust, gathered at the bust or hem. Yes, I really don't want to call more attention to my embonpoint. {All my life I thought the word was Om Bom Pom...that's what it sounded like when my mother said it! Didn't have Google back then though.} There was one shirt that I was tempted to get, but didn't. It was cute. It was two shirts, one made out of t-shirt material, with a frill around the bottom, the top was a black and white check smockie-tunicky thing with a little black bodice. I thought about it but decided that I'd never actually wear it.

I was thirsty after all this trying on, so I went and had an oolong tea and finished up my novel. I've been working on this book for months. It's a collection of Jane Austen's unfinished and early works. It was good. The last story, Sanditon had this description of a person that I thought was marvelous,

He seemed very sentimental, very full of some feelings or other, and very much addicted to all the newest-fashioned hard words - had not a very clear brain she presumed, and talked a good deal by rote.

When Fumihiko came for me, I bought us coffee at the coffee shop. I took a deep breath and decided to tell Fumihiko that I'd gone to Sakata and got my visa change already! He was a bit surprised. He'd been planning to take a day off and go with me, but he hadn't actually said that to me! After the coffee, we drove home. Fumihiko changed his clothes and then he said that as it was a special day for me, we should have a special dinner. We drove all around Tsuruoka looking for a place that we could go and finally ended up at the Grand El Son. We had a delicious dinner of acorn fed pork. I offered to spring for dessert and coffee, since Fumihiko was paying the main dish, so we had that as well. It was a lovely meal.

We came home afterwards and relaxed. I'd had a long day with a lot of walking. I sat at my computer for a while with a bag of ice on my head. It seemed to help. If I'm not better by Saturday Fumihiko will take me to see a doctor. Thing is, I can't see anything wrong with my head! I can't feel anything wrong either. Sigh.

Anyway, this has turned into a novel, so I'm going to end it now. It was a great day for the most part. Now, I'm really tired and I have to get some sleep. Night!

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