Shopping, Sake and National pride

April 11th

As odd as this may sound, I’ve really been enjoying shopping since I arrived here. Not ‘shopping’shopping; just grocery shopping. It gives me a chance to practice what little Japanese I know. At the moment I’m purposefully buying just a little bit at a time so that I have to go back more often. Sometimes it’s a struggle, but it feels like I’m getting a little better every time I go back. I can’t read Katakana (yet… I’m going to have to get onto that asap.), but I know a lot of the food names, so that helps. Everyone here is always happy to help if I ask.

Last night was a lot of fun. We (our training group) played card games (alcohol is sooo cheap here. 500 Yen for a bottle of Vodka, Sake or Gin). There were three Australians and two Canadians, so it naturally became Canada vs. Australia. It’s very funny to hear us impersonate each other; ‘banana’ comes to mind. I won cheat, so I guess I did Australia proud. The picture to the left is me trying to dress like the guys here. (well.. it was part of a challenge...)

All the Sakura petals are falling down. It feels a little magical when the wind blows and thousands of tiny white and pink petals drift …. . They’ll all be gone in a day or two. They don’t last very long at all.
It’s been a very different Easter for me so far. I had some fish yesterday (Good Friday) but there isn’t really any mention of Easter here.

Thanks for reading!

Stef xxo