Saturday, August 27th, 1988

Note:  This is a series of journal entries from my two years living in Himeji, Japan (1988-1990).  I'm archiving them electronically through my blog.  Last names have been deleted and replaced with first initial only.  For details on this series of blog entries, see this post.

Well, it's been a long time since I've written, but only a few things have happened since then.

Now it's August 29th and I'm going to finish this....

The farthest thing back that was exciting that I can remember is staying with Nobu and Carol for a couple of days.  I went on a Monday and returned on Wednesday.  During my stay we went to Port Island and shopped and had dinner.

Nobu took me to the port on another day and we caught a crab for Becky.  We went to a sports/shopping area, and I found squares of obi fabric.  I bought 2.  I also found really good apricot, and strawberry tea.

The thing that sticks out the most, however, was going to a Japanese restaurant Nobu and Carol know.  It was good, but I couldn't eat all of the dishes, of which the most repulsive were raw horse meat, and barbecued sparrow yakitori.  Ugh!  

Kim stayed over the last night, too.  It was really fun.  Becky & I got to know each other better.  We caught frogs, did hanabe, and played the piano.  She also taught me some kanji.

On Thursday of that week, I went with Kim to Osaka and got a job at OTC.  We ate at a place called Studebakers, which was a 50's American type place.  At OTC I met Mr. M., who I'd heard a lot about, and he hired me on the spot.  I'll make 4,000 yen an hour there.  Of course the added stress may kill me.  My class meets on Wednesdays at 5:30, and I'm not sure I can get there on time, especially on the nights I have marathon faculty meetings during the day.  Ugh!  I'll give it a month though.

Kim and I have found an English church that we like very much.  It's in Rokko, and has bible study, church, and fellowship all on Sunday evening.  The people are very nice, and I think we'll go there a lot, especially since Kim will only live a few minutes away.  It's so nice to understand everything again.  The place is technically Southern Baptist, so it's okay, even though I don't know the hymns!

Kim and I bop to Sannomiya a lot, and this past Friday took Jenny along too.  It was a fun day.  We hit Maruzen, and I bought yet more books.  We also went to a spaghetti place called Hole in the Wall Spaghetti, which was really good.  I had potato bacon spaghetti.

We hit a coffee shop, and went to Kobe Grocers for the first of many to come visits.  They are an international market, with such things as Campbells Soup, Grape Nuts, Hormel Chili, Wheatsworth, Jelly Belly, etc.  What a place.  You can even takubin your stuff home so you don't have to carry it!  We passed an American pub on the way there- Danny Boys, which we're going to take Mike & Resa to next week.  They have lasagna!

Last Saturday Kim and I went to Hamasaka on the coast of the Sea of Japan.  My ear (gland) was giving me trouble so I was in pain most of the trip up & back, but it was a beautiful place, once we finally headed in the right direction.  After laying on the beach for a few hours...

 Squid drying in the sun

...we went on a 1 hour boat ride along the coast & saw lots of neat views of caves, etc. along the coast.

That night, however, I couldn't take it anymore & had Kim call Mike B. to take me to the hospital.  He brought his neighbor and they took me to an ear, nose, throat hospital.  The doctor stuck numerous things in my mouth & down my throat.  I almost threw up twice.  He said I have a throat infection.  All 7 nurses stood around me because I was the only one there.  How embarrassing!  He gave me pills, for which I've gone back once to get a refill of.  So far my throat is better, but the glands in the right sided of my neck are still swollen, and my right ear has been ringing for 4 days now.

Kim & I made a trip to the gomi pile this past Thursday.  She really raked in the loot.  She came away with a t.v., a bicycle, a toaster oven, a hot pot, a tin, a basket, and some dishes.  I got some dishes too- only in Japan!

Saturday Kim & I went to B's for dinner and Trivial Pursuit.  We also played Wheel of Fortune & Jeopardy on his laptop computer.  I won at Trivial Pursuit, which was a really long game, because we'd break off into conversations throughout the game, and not get anywhere!

Resa made a fabulous dinner again with okra, steak, homemade biscuits, and a wonderful peanut butter pie for dessert.  We looked through gospel recordings catalogs and I got some new accompaniment tapes ordered.

Sunday Kim & I met Yukieh at McDonalds and went to watch Satoko perform in a traditional dance concert.  It was very interesting, and we got to see some kabuki beforehand.

We then went to Yukieh's for dinner.  What a trip!  We watched 6 short stories in "The Storyteller" series, and met most of the clan living in Himeji.  My favorite was Yukieh's aunt.  She was really sweet.  I even tried eel at dinner, but ate chicken mostly!  Yukieh's family reminds me of Masano's family.