ship comes in

Well, it looks like my ship came in with all that yen, but alas, 100 yen is about 1 dollar, so nope, not much cash.  And my actual money, my first retirement check, did not arrive in my bank account.  So I am dealing with my first hassle.  Fortunately, I have great people where I worked who are on the situation.  Retirement is saying I did not submit the direct deposit information.  No only did I submit it, however, I called them the week before I left to confirm all was ready.  I can’t print anything here, let alone scan it to the USA.  I can’t call anyone unless they have WhatsApp.  But the check’s in the mail haha.  Now I have another month to solve the mystery.  But since I’m up during the middle of the night here, I can email Florida during business hours–there’s the upside to jet lag!

Yesterday was March 1, 2018.  Again I spent the morning in.  Usually when I’m traveling the morning is the time of day I enjoy exploring, but between the weather, fatigue, and uncertainty, I’ve been staying in.  The morning gave me a good opportunity to video chat with my sister in Florida, however.  What a difficult time for her school and our little community with her sweet student lost.

At noon I picked up Katie.  Her school on Thursday is in Nara.  Getting to Nara is like going from Orlando to Daytona, but instead of dealing with I-4, you get to sit in a lovely train for an hour.  And since Nara is the end of the line going east, you could even allow yourself to dose off.  But not me, I was too excited!  At first it’s a subway, so it’s all underground.  But soon we were outside, cruising through the city with mountains in the distance.  Ahead I could see a pretty large mountain–no problem, the train went right through it!  I could feel the train pulling us uphill, too.  I checked the compass on my phone (total nerd) and we were at 500 feet elevation.  My apartment is at 50 feet.

At the train station we saw my first Japan bird!  Seriously I’m such a bird-nerd I was very excited!  I identified it as a Black Backed Wagtail which you can google if you have the mind 🙂

The train station is right by her school which is located in…………a mall, of course!  The mall was small by Japan standards, but 3 stories high.  An hour later I met her for lunch, after first gawking at the adorable puppies at the pet store.  Katie has her eye on a blonde colored dachshund 🙂  We went to the food court and she helped me order Udon noodles, which originated in Osaka.

As you can see, Katie opted for McDonald’s 🙂  But my lunch was definitely unique.  So they cracked a raw egg into my noodles, and the yolk was orange, not yellow!  Then I added tempura flakes and green onions.  I took a chance and got a piece of something tempura fried, which thankfully turned out to be yummy fish.  Anyway, you stir the noodles and the heat cooks the egg.  It was mild and delicious, although I was pretty awkward eating them with chopsticks!

I dropped Katie back at her class and stopped at the international foods store to pick up Kraft Macaroni and Cheese for her–4 boxes at around $2.80 a box, but she’s worth it 🙂  I decided to climb the tall hill of stairs next to the train station.  I really didn’t feel like it–by 3:30 p.m. I had been up 10  hours and my legs felt tired from all the walking the day before.  Plus it was very windy, cloudy, and about 57 degrees.  But I thought, what are you, a woman or a wouse!?  So up the mannnnny stairs I went. It was quite a view, and I could only imagine how lovely it would be on a sunny day.

At the top of the hill there was a neighborhood.  Here there were some teenage boys playing tennis over a barricade. You can’t see them well in this picture; they are on the right side wearing white.

I grabbed the train heading back to Osaka, feeling confident because there was only one train!  On the way home there were many school children on the train.  They all wear uniforms, and the little ones wear hats.  Most of them were junior and senior high students.  As anywhere, the boys were goofing around and the girls were giggling 🙂  An adorable little girl about 8 years old got on the train alone, carrying her matching navy blue backpack with a long pink umbrella.  She stared at me and I smiled, so she tipped her head at me with the most serious look.

I got to my station and changed trains much more easily today.  By now though, it was rush hour and I did not see a Women Only car.  Oh well, I crowded myself in with all my Asian friends.  I was the only non-Asian in the train car or in the station.  No white people, black people, or anyone who looked Middle-Eastern or anything else.  I was used to this from Mexico City, but I can’t help but wonder what they think.

In Japan, you walk on the left side of the sidewalk, just as you drive on the left side of the road.  But on the escalator, you stand on the right keeping a clear path on the left for people who want to walk up quickly.  Everyone follows this rule and Katie explained the right-side tradition started years ago when escalators were first introduced to Japan by an American company at the World’s Fair which was held in Japan.

Time to get ready for my new day here.  It’s a sunny 48 degrees…..oh man!

Photo:  Yen, 1 – 10,000