I was woken at 7am by a loud booming. Irritated and still
sleepy, I went back to sleep until about 8:30am, ignoring my alarm at 8am. At
8:30am, F-sensei called me. Disoriented, I answered the phone. He offered to
bring me a bookshelf at lunchtime, but I told him I was meeting the A-san
(American) who he had introduced me to. He hung up, then called again a few
minutes later to ask me to move my meeting time so he could bring me the
bookshelf. I agreed, hung up, and called A-san, who agreed to the change. I got
ready and ate the leftover yaki-onigiri for breakfast. It was 10am, and
F-sensei wasn’t coming until 11:30am, so I began working on my kanji vocabulary
list again.
A little before 11:30am, F-sensei called up on the intercom.
I came down to grab the rotating bookshelf and the super old-school radio he
had brought for me. Since the bookshelf was heavy, he gave me a pair of gloves
to use to carry it. I lugged the items up to my room, dumped them next to the
sink, and rushed back downstairs to hop in his car. He was greeting the owner
of the building, who bowed deeply to us several times. F-sensei said that was
normal behavior for a landlord.
He drove me to Sendai Station, where I was meeting A-san in
front of Parco, the department store building. We got confused about which
building was which, so we had to drive around in a circle to go to the split
that leads to Parco. He dropped me off, and I met A-san in front of Parco.
Neither of us was very hungry, so we went up to a café A-san knew that
specialized in green tea and roasted green tea drinks and parfaits. I got the
autumn special, which was an iced roasted green tea float and a slice of walnut
cream cake (I think). It was sweet. The drink had a texture like dirt, but it
wasn’t unpleasant.
A-san had lived in Sendai for a year, so she had lots of
information to impart to me. After lunch, we went to several electronics stores
to compare refrigerators. While I was at the first store, Yodobashi, I also
bought an extension dictionary card for my electronic dictionary, in order to
add Korean dictionaries to it. It cost about 10,000 yen ($100), which seems
expensive, but I figured it was easiest to have my dictionaries all in one
place, and this would help me practice Japanese while I learn Korean.
The stores didn’t have very many choices of refrigerators
that were small. There was one I liked, but it wouldn’t be available until
November. A-san picked up a free tape measure for me, so that I could bring it
home to measure my space and see the appropriate size. I also picked up
magazines for the refrigerators that lists all the models and their
specifications.
We went to the 100 yen store, and then we went to A-san’s
apartment so she could look up information about Tohoku University’s placement
test and Japanese classes. We talked about movies, and she told me about a
movie theater and its discounts (really cheap for exchange students, cheap
early showings, and ladies’ day discounts).
Then we went to Daiei to look at bug repellant and
deodorizing traps, and dehumidifying sheets. I also bought a trash can with a
lid. A-san showed me the drying racks. The checkout line on this basement floor
was really long (10-20 people). There were three lines: one general line, and
two lines that prioritized alcohol. Those two lines were very short, and the
other one was very long. When I got up to the register, another employee rushed
up and opened another register.
We went upstairs to the 6th floor to see if they
had refrigerators, but they didn’t have them anymore. A-san explained that
Japanese stores’ stock changes dramatically in response to the seasons. For
example, the bug repellers would be less available in the winter, because there
are less bugs, despite the fact that trash flies are present all year around. I
also looked at futon sets. I wanted to have another set so that friends could
stay at my place. I was also planning to buy a blanket soon, since the nights
were getting cooler. A-san recommended that I check the prices at the store
called Seiyu at the mall with the movie theater, since they might have cheaper
bedding. Since the bedding sets were large, she also recommended either
shipping them or taking a taxi home, although I don’t know how I would
determine the price beforehand. I guess if I bought all of them at once, a taxi
might be cheaper. It would be about 1000yen if I got them at Daiei. I should
look at taxi availability too, and get a taxi company’s number.
When we finished shopping at Daiei, A-san and I split up for
the day. I started walking home. I didn’t feel like going straight home, so I
went via the shopping district streets. I encountered a crowd surrounding a
flash mob performance of classical music by a local high school orchestra which
was very skilled.
I kept walking. I paused at the 100 yen store that was the
same brand (Can Do) as the one above the CO-OP by my apartment, but the
offerings were the same. I reached the end of the shopping street, and heard
the sound of a concert going on. I could see what appeared to be an outdoor
concert across the street. I also heard a more traditional Japanese
performance, but I couldn’t figure out where it was coming from. As the light
turned green and I began crossing the street, I realized that there was a
smaller performance occurring on the media, where the audience was mostly
older. I headed toward the concert, which featured the group PandaLion. It was
3 men singing and one man manning the computer. The songs were a mix of rap and
singing. The concert staff were in pink shirts. At the back of audience area,
there were tents set up. I didn’t know exactly what they were for, but they
appeared to be either advertising or selling tickets to the band’s performance
in December, and band-related goods.
After the concert ended, I spotted even more tents and some
food stands in the back. I wandered over, and discovered another tiny stage
where some sort of eating demonstration was finishing. The food tasted was
apparently delicious. The guest taster left the stage, and the six girls in
uniform dresses with bright orange aprons began commenting on their experience.
My trashcan was getting heavy, so I continued heading home.
A little ways down the street, I passed groups of people
sitting in from of Sendai Electron Hall, and a huge line stretching from the
door around the side of the building. One person was holding a sign that said,
“Please give (up) a ticket to me.” I couldn’t read the kanji of the famous
person’s name whose performance it was, but it was a woman. There were at least
100 people gathered outside.
It was about 5pm, and lots of other people were walking home
as well. I decided to take a more backroads route this time, following my map,
I passed an American rabbit store and a kennel.
On the road for my apartment, I noticed a bunch of people
crossing at the traffic light in front of Seiyu. Seiyu? I thought. I remembered
that A-san had mentioned that the mall Seiyu had bedding. I decided I would
check it after I dropped my stuff off at my apartment.
Back at my apartment, I set up my trash can and wiped the
dust off it, my new old radio, and the bookshelf. Then I started the rice and
went back outside.
Seiyu turned out to be a grocery store, just like CO-OP. I
bought some pork, garlic, and carrot/orange ice cream. I couldn’t find a small
vegetable, so I went to CO-OP to buy broccoli again. As I was leaving CO-OP, I
noticed people filling and emptying water bottles at a couple of machines.
There was also a stand that had bottles with wide tops for sale. One machine
said something about “delicious water,” and the other one also included teas,
but I didn’t have a chance to look at them up close and read all the words
plastered all over them. There was continuously always someone filling multiple
water bottles (limit if there’s line is 2 bottles). I tried waiting for a woman
to finish so I could take a picture, but I got impatient, so I just took a
picture with her in it.
Next to the machines was the customer service counter. There
were three employees busily cleaning up. It was just past 7, and their hours of
service had just finished. I looked at the displays of brochures and flyers. I
picked up a coupon sheet. I also saw advertisements for what appeared to be
different kinds of health insurance. Was this where I signed up to be a CO-OP
member? I wondered. There didn’t seem to be any flyers directly addressing
consumer membership, just health insurance membership.
I left the CO-OP and went back to my apartment. I cooked the
pork and broccoli with garlic and soy sauce, and ate it with rice. Then I used
the leftovers to make three onigiri with filling. I made yaki-onigiri out of
two of them. I had a lot of sugar and soy sauce left over on my plate, so I
tried cooking that. I ended up with salty burnt caramel. I cleaned up and
organized my room, stuffing all my clothes in one suitcase and putting the
other one in the closet. I stocked the bookshelf with random stuff (including
books).
It’s 11:20pm and I’ve been tired since 9:30pm. I hope I
don’t wake up too early again. I tried to use the radio that F-sensei gave me,
but the left speaker kept thudding loudly when I turned it on, so I gave up.
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