Just another Sunday

Today I missed Greg and Leanne's baby shower. That really sucked.

Instead we did some more setting-up-our-home stuff. We went to a big secondhand furniture store, about a 20 minute walk away, to get the first pieces of furniture for our livingroom.

First we got a kotatsu. A kotatsu is a table, almost like a coffee table, that goes in the main living space. Its low to the ground and you're meant to sit on the ground around it. The top of the table separates from the bottom frame, and on the bottom frame, facing the floor, is a small heater. You put a blanket above the frame, under the table top and then you get all cozy under a heated blanket in the winter.

We got a 3'x3' kotatsu for about ¥3000 (less than $30). Then we found a couch/futon for about ¥4000. It is similar to the one below, but not nearly as nice. Its a simple rectangular futon the size of a single bed. It'll look like a proper couch with a cover and some pillows. I like that its low enough to the ground that we can still cuzy up to our kotatsu.

Last time we bought from this store- Treasure Factory- there was a lady there that knew enough English to help us out. Today there were three boys that know just about as much English as we knew Japanese. They rang us up just fine, but things started to deteriorate as soon as we asked for home delivery. This requires us to fill out a form with our contact information. I gathered that they were trying to tell us that no one working at the time could speak any English, and we obviously couldn't understand much of what they said- I just caught words here and there. I know enough kanji to figure out where to write my name (in English and katakana) and our address. One of the boys figured out how to translate and print out their information- letting us know the details of home delivery. Then another boy and I figured out the delivery date with him saying numbers in English and me saying days of the week in Japanese. At one point I said "difficult" in Japanese and we all laughed in agreement. At long last we finished the transaction, the furniture will be delivered on Wednesday, and we finally left the store. Only after that did Kris and I realize we were both sweating from the stress of communication.

Next we walked to the nearest station, about 12 minutes away, and rode two stops down to visit Costco! The Costco nearest us is one stop away, but its about a 30 minute journey because of the walk from our house to the station and from the next station to the Costco. Anyways, Costco in Japan is nearly identical to Costco at home. I could almost convince myself we were home again, which was kind of sad. We ate lunch- hot dogs- and grabbed a couple things before heading home. We walked all around Costco so it was pretty late by the time we got home.

Since then we've had our usual meal of curry and croquette and our usual dessert of waffle ice cream, and we've been watching movies on Netflix. Unfortunately its time for bed, and another weekend is over. This one was very long, and although I had a lot of fun it felt way too short.

I start another school tomorrow. Normally I am emailed a schedule of my classes the previous week but so far I havent gotten anything, so tomorrow is a total mystery to me. Luckily the school is nearby, a total trip of about 25 minutes. Can't wait to see what tomorrow brings.

K+K