Still Alive

The weather has changed. Probably two weeks ago the weather turned much cooler. Now the days heat up into the mid 70s and the nights drop into the upper 50s. I never thought I would consider this weather cold, but after the summer we had, I frequently find myself looking for my hooded sweatshirt to wear in the house or even riding my bike.

This morning, I didn’t wear it, I should have. I went to Midori, an electronics store. Katsumoto, who really is my best friend if we only spoke the same language, met me there with his wife and son. He had hunted for some Internet providers to replace our Yahoo bb account, which we lost last week. He uncovered Bay Communications which he helped me begin a new account with today. It will take two weeks to get the system set up, which is much better than the four weeks it would take to re-establish a yahoo account.

Right now my Internet routine is a bit on the shady side. There is a free Internet café close to the Kitaguchi station, but their hours are only from noon till five, hours that I am at work. No schools in Nishinomiya are allowed to have email access. They have Internet, but no email. I can sign into my Pullman school account, but all of the instructions and outlook pages show up in Kanji. I don’t know how that is possible, but I can’t view any mail.

At home, I have discovered an unsecured wireless network. It’s spotty coverage at best. If I want a decent connection, I must place my computer on the kitchen windowsill-facing west. It is only on that windowsill that I get any coverage. If I slide the computer down to my lap, I get nothing. I slid the office chair into the kitchen so I can surf and read CNN in some comfort. While I am on Skype, I can reach the coffee pot, the fridge, the stove and the toaster. It is almost like I designed it that way.

After, Katsumoto helped me sign up for a real provider, he and I went out for lunch. The Busy Bee Café, the Internet café, was closed. That is where he wanted to go. So we went to the mall and had Okonomiyaki, Japanese pizza. Okonomiyaki, really doesn’t resemble pizza except it is round and can have some cheese in it. The one he orders for me is vegetarian, with cheese and corn inside of it. The Japanese love corn, it is an actual pizza topping. Okonomiyaki is more like a cabbage pancake with filling. Most of the time it is stuffed with squid or fish or meat. Katsumoto has made it his duty to find vegetarian Japanese food for Chrissy and I to eat. The Okonomiyaki is really good.

After lunch, we split up. I came home and got my hoody, and Katsumoto went home to weed his garden. I didn’t stay home long. I had my other excursion still in the works. Today, I biked through Amagasaki to Costco. I don’t know how far it is. It is probably between eight and ten miles from here. While I know Nishinomiya fairly well, I have never seen a map of Amagasaki, outside a very basic map of the Costco neighborhood. So this trip was really exploratory. I knew that I just had to stay between the Hankyu railway and the JR railway. Once I crossed the Shinkansin line, I would have gone to far.

It took me almost an hour and a half to get there. I wended my way through Amagasaki. I couldn’t find any direct roads that run east to west that are bike friendly. So I meandered through the neighborhoods. I did discover a nice park on the Amagasaki side of the Mukogawa River. There is a paved bike trail on top of the levy on the river side there are fifteen or so ball parks, each ball field had a game or practice going on. On the city side there was a nice floral park. It looks like a good place for a picnic someday.

Amagasaki is a mixed bag. Some places like the parks look very nice, but they also have a lot more industry and pollution, at least around Costco. Some of their main streets are very nice, but the closer I got to Costco the worse the sidewalks and roads became. Using the railroads and the increasingly shabby neighborhoods as a guide I was able to ride right to the store.

Shopping at Costco is entirely a different experience than stateside shopping. Here, shopping on bike or on foot, we are limited as to how much we can buy. Today, I only brought 3000 yen, I didn’t plan on buying much. I really only came for a piece of Costco pizza, a little taste of home. Today, I skipped the Hokkaido Ice Cream. It is delicious, but I didn’t think it would sit well on the ride home. I filled my backpack with a bag of Ciabatta rolls, a bag of raisin bagels, a bag of cheddar bagels and a bag of Kit Kat bars. You never know, I could get trick or treaters. I strapped my backpack to the back of my bike and rode home. I found a more direct route home. The trip took me only an hour.

Now, visualize this: I am wearing my Pullman Volleyball hoody, standing next to an open kitchen window, sending this message off on its way for you to read. It is 20 minutes before Eight o’clock. I am soar and I am tired, but I can’t go to bed until nine. I have to find something that will keep me busy. I might study Japanese. Tomorrow, you have Sunday and I have work. Thank goodness, I have work. I don’t know if I could do a third death-march three days straight.

Sayonara.