I went to meet a... friend's... brother's friend's friend (There's a really long chain there that I didn't realise existed until just this moment) on Saturday because they were in Japan and nearish to where I live. I am positive that the last time we actually saw each other was at the very least a half decade ago. She was hanging out in Osaka while waiting for her flight so I met her at the Osaka Pokecenter (until recently I didn't even know there was one in Osaka). I was a little worried that I'd get lost because this map:
seems to say that the buildings (JR Osaka station and the Daimaru store) are not connected and that you have to exit one to get to the other. NOT SO. I put my ticket in the machine to get past the gate and a look to my left and THE BUILDINGS ARE TOTALLY CONNECTED. Thanks for that non info, site. >:[
... Ever since I had it pointed out that that face looks like a sad bull if you tilt your head to the right I can't seem to picture it as the angry one I used to use it for (Naru. Hint). Although for this it's totally an angry face.
She seemed to enjoy herself at the Pokecenter. Spent more money than she should have (She doubled her budget that she set to spend there) but as most of the things she bought were Christmas presents for her friends she felt it balanced out.
As she was telling me that (a new Pokemon that I have never seen and cannot remember the name of) was her starter Pokemon, she really wanted a plushie of it. And I couldn't help but think of this:
I showed her Osaka castle (But not before almost taking her on the completely wrong train. Whoops. Silly me. I'd like to point out that following me could possibly end in disaster...) and she was happy that we went. It cost 600 yen to go inside and we were both expecting something more... castle-like and less museum-like. The view from the top was nice, though. And, hey, exercise. We walked up and down eight flights of stairs. We also went up the wrong staircase once (There are signs labelled up stairs and down stairs and we just followed another group up the down stairs.) because stairs definitely can't go both ways. I understand that it's for crowd control and that but outside context, stairs that can only go up and stairs that can only go down, it is amusing.
I wanted to take her to eat Gyuudon because it's cheap, fast and delicious. Unfortunately where we were didn't have what I was looking for. (They are pretty much everywhere so not finding one was surprising. Though I partly blame the part of the city. If we were at a more downtownish area I'm sure we'd have spotted one or two... or five on the same street.) So we ended up going to an... interesting donburi place. I know that donburi comes in all different styles but this one had avocado, lettuce and mayo on it. Definitely ... different.
It's always nice to sit down and speak to someone who speaks English, native English, but it was even more fun (for me) to give out random pieces of info that I've picked up while in Japan. Most of the time I can't do that because Japanese people tend to know the things I know already and usually that goes for the English teachers that I've met along the way. Talking to someone who is just passing through is interestingly different than talking to someone who works/lives here.
So I bet, after going through all that, you're wondering how my bike fits into it all.
From my house to the train station it's about a half hour bike ride. I'm trying to bike more, not only for my body but also to gain confidence in biking in Japan as at first (And even still) I found it scary what with the narrow roads and giant trucks. Plus it saves me the bus fare of 360 yen (one way). As I do use my bike fairly regularly I try to make sure everything is working and keep it in good shape. I tested out the air in the tires before setting off and they were good to go. But as soon as I got to the station, suddenly it felt a bit strange int he back. Like I could feel every bump on the road. So I stopped to check and my tire was flat. I'm betting it was something on the road. The road isn't very smooth and I do try to avoid the more sketchy looking parts of it but sometimes running over them is unavoidable. So here I am at my destination but for the way back it looked like I was in a bit of a mess. The rest of the family (The ones who join in on family outings. Of course this means the ghost and Masaharu did not join.) was in Hiroshima. (That was a trip I was supposed to be on because it was
supposed to be on Friday but because of rain, they cancelled. So I couldn't join :( ) So I texted my problem to my husband while putting it in the bike parking lot and paying the fee. His solution was to keep it there until the next morning. This was a problem as I was told by the man who operates the lot (I assume) that I have to pick it up by the following morning. He didn't specify what would happen, just that I would have to pick it up.
The following morning comes (I took a bus back) and my husband and I set off to go to a popular temple known for it's autumn leaves... and we both completely forget about my bike until we're about halfway there. Luckily it was still there (I've seen the police take bikes away because of some reason or another but I imagined that something similar was going to happen to my bike...) come nightfall and it seems that the only thing we had to do was pay a fee of 100 yen.
Hooray my bike is back.
But it still has a flat tire. Darn. I'm going to have to fix that tomorrow. Let's see how well I can communicate flat tire to the bike repairman, haha.
