Washing off the week with some shopping and a taste of Mexico

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Saturday 7/07/12

Kazumi picked me up at 9.30am and we went shopping in the city with Cate and her baby Mikio. Found a 300yen shop, much like the 100yen shop, but nicer! There were also items for 1,000yen. I bought a 300yen blow-up globe to use with my Pandas but also with the Juku kids who have very little concept of the world outside Japan, and have no idea where either Australia or America are, let alone the UK. My shoes were on special, down to 3,000yen, but even size LL was far too small (about 25cm), when I need about 28-30cm. Not fair! I may have glared at a Japanese girl trying on similar shoes in the shop.

Then it was back to Asabata for a Mexican lunch: fried beans and mince, home-made guacamole, cheese, sour cream, tortillas and corn chips! Amazing! And to top it off we had left over Baskins and Robbins ice-cream cake from Shino’s 10^th birthday last week. I had an involuntary nap on the couch after lunch and then Kazumi decided we would go to a clothes shop on the other side of the city. These clothes were much cheaper than the ones in the city on sale, and I got a stack. I also got two new pillows, shaped like bananas! And an ordinary pillow for 500yen which felt like it might nearly be firm enough to be called a ‘pillow’. On the way out I spotted some Betty Boop plastic slippers, so had to run back in to purchase those as well. Kazumi left the big items in her car this afternoon, as she is helping me move tomorrow, and there was little point me bringing them inside only to have to lug them all out again tomorrow.

So, as you can imagine, this evening has been spent packing everything up. It’s amazing how much you can collect in three months. But in my defence, quite a lot of it is craft items for my lessons. It is also very humid and warm this evening so I have the windows wide open: I no longer care if the neighbours stare in, as I’m not even going to be here another 24 hours.

Motivation has waned 2 hours in, so I’m procrastinating by writing this, but I have yet to tackle the pantry. Clothes, shoes, bathroom, paper and craft are all packed, it’s just pantry, crockery, kitchen stuff to go, and all those pesky little things that one leaves till later as they seem so insignificant, but actually they all add up and become a big job. Despite being fully aware of this, I’m avoiding doing them.

I’m not going to bother cleaning till everything is out, as moving is a messy job, and in the last few years I’ve learnt this lesson several times over.

Toasted cheese and ham sandwiches for dinner with my guest, as you will see in the picture. Unfortunately, he didn’t react well to the starter, so I had to eat the main and dessert all by myself.

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