The Excursion

Today, we took a ride to my new school. I think I have a route which will be pretty direct. I do have to cross a branch of the Hankyu line which goes north to Imazu. So, there are just a few roads which cross the tracks. I think I will just head to the Hankyu station, close to downtown, then turn north and follow a major road to a fire station and turn east again and I am there. The school looks like all of the others: no grass and a concrete box about 4 stories tall. We stopped in the 7-11 across the street from the playfield to confirm it is my school. It is! The clerk proceeded to give us directions back to the Hankyu station. My Japanese is getting better, I understood the direction he pointed.

We made it directly to the Hankyu station, where we took the train to Amagasaki, the next town over. From the Sonodo train station we walked on a road which took us under the Shinkansin Rail, the bullet train, across a river and directly to Costco. I downloaded a map in English before we left. It had the major roads, tracks and rivers, so I was able to go directly to the store. Chrissy complimented me on my navigation skills today. Costco is a little more than a 1/2 mile from the station. The store is very similar to the American counterpart, but no Boca Burgers. Whaaa!! Whaaa! We did pick up a case of beans, a large jar of peanut butter, Salsa, chips, Bananas, Mandarin Oranges, Bagels, Cheese (I think it is my excitment that made me capitalize the foods).

We are already adjusting to the prices. We saw a two pack of grated parmesan shakeable cheese for only 1700 yen (@$15). I was very happy. But we didn't bring enough yen. We then had to pack it back to the train station and ride it back home from the other end on our bikes. It makes you think twice about what you want to buy! I packed a box and my backpack. Chrissy packed a sack. Everytime she picked something up I assured her that I would pack it home. It all looked so good. Not very Japanese today except for the mode of transportation.

Oh yeah! It was also the most packed Costco we had ever seen. Next time we will make it a weekday trip.

No pictures today - sorry. If we can figure it out we'll put on a video Chrissy took of the kids dancing and playing drums at the festival last night.