August 8 - around 8:30pm
Today,
we were pretty busy. This morning
we woke up at 8:00/8:30am. Right
before we were dressed and done with our bathroom routine, Ryoko and Yohei went
to let Ryoko practice driving. When
they got back (about 10:30pm) we had a late but long breakfast.
Then it was off to Matsushima.
Our
first stop in Matsushima was at a small brewery.
Dan bought four bottles of beer and one bottle of, what we could best
figure from the description on the label, appeared to be a cider or
“sparkling” beer. (Turns out it was basically a light beer).
Ryoko and Dan cracked open a couple of bottles as we drove the rest of
the way to Matsushima, though Yohei had to pass since he was driving.
Matsushima
was quite crowded and since we left a bit late, we didn’t have time to see
everything. No boat ride or anything like that, but we did go to Zuiganji
and had some ice cream. Well,
Ryoko, Yohei and Dan had ice cream (green tea flavored) and I had kaki-gori, a
Japanese snow cone. It was azuki
flavored - red bean. Not so much
syrup as red beans and a bit of thick sauce.
Funky, but really good!
After
Matsushima, we returned to Sendai, meeting the Onos for at late lunch at a
Chinese restaurant - to the tune of just over 200 dollars!
Lunch was over 2 hours and we had tons of different dishes.
I am pleased that Dan got to try Japanese-Chinese food, which is
different from the Chinese food we get in the US.
After
lunch, the six of us walked around Sendai some but didn’t see any of the
Tanabata parade - it finished about 10 minutes after we got there.
To
get to Sendai and lunch, we parked on the edge of the city and walked to the
subway, and took the subway to near the restaurant.
After seeing the very last minutes of the parade, we returned to the car
the same way, but this time with Mr. and Mrs. Ono.
We got to the car and then stopped at a supermarket.
While I was waiting in the supermarket entrance for Dan to use the
restroom, I bought a little something from a vending machine of San-X
characters. I ended up with Dango-chan,
a little bear with a stick of dango. I
thought it was a great way to spend some of the change that we were collecting
since we couldn’t exchange coins back into dollars.
I would have preferred Nyanko, but the bear is cute and it was fun.
I know, I’m odd. Also at the grocery store, Mr. Ono bought Dan 3 beers
that he could get labels off of. I
also bought a little 135mL can of Asahi beer (but we left it in the Onos’
fridge when we left - darn it!) and two things of gum.
Now
we have returned to the house and I think we will do small sparklers and
fireworks (that Ryoko and Yohei picked up at the grocery store).
We shall see!
*
* * * *
Almost 12:00am
Yep,
fireworks. Sparklers and some slightly bigger ones.
There was this one type - kind of the size of baby/sport weight yarn -
that you let dangle down and slowly burn while you let it (hoped it would) send
out little sparks like on those electric balls at Spencer’s Gifts and
wherever. It was very subtle but I
think my favorite kind of pyrotechnic that we did tonight.
Tomorrow,
I think we go shopping.
* * * * *
I
almost forgot - today was a bit sad, too. Maybe
it was because of the music in the car (love songs) that was playing or maybe
because of how little of the trip is left, but I got very sad when driving
tonight.
Okay,
I wasn’t driving, but rather when we were driving from near the subway station
to the grocery store and then again from the store to the house.
I
miss Japan so much. Being back in
Sendai makes me really miss it… it really feels like I belong and knowing that
I can never have it again is really hard. I
miss the signs I can’t read… I miss driving on the other side of the road…
I miss the challenge of reading and speaking and understanding Japanese…I miss
my friends (especially since I only have a lot of friends in Japan)… I miss
standing out, being special, getting stared at… I miss the random shrines and
temples in the middle of busy cities and shopping areas… I miss the mountains,
the gray oceans, the neon signs, the cluttered beauty of the cities… I miss it
all. It is, of course, hard to have
trouble in Japanese, to be constantly out of the loop to some degree.
But there is something that, for some reason, really clicks for me.
Something I feel I haven’t ever had outside of Japan or even with
non-Japanese friends. Yes, I’ve
had friends, good ones even, that weren’t Japanese.
But still there wasn’t that instant “click” feeling. It was a more gradual development of things.
With my Japanese friends, for some reason it is easier.
I really have so many reasons not to be confident in Japan - mostly
language related - but still I feel more comfortable and confident in Japan and
with the Japanese.
Well,
I suppose it is of no use thinking about it.
Thinking about it would only make me sad - it won’t enable me to move
my house and family to Japan. Maybe
I am most sad because I have no real way of knowing if I will ever be back.
My life now is not very Japan-friendly.
That isn’t to say I would trade. I
love my husbands, cats and house. I
don’t want to exchange them. But
it just isn’t a very be-in-Japan-friendly-type of life style.
But maybe this is best. I will always love Japan and dream about living here but the dream isn’t ruined by pesky reality and related problems, let downs, and disappointments.
On to August 9 Journal Entry
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