For example, last weekend while I was at a street live, a woman came up to me and told me thank you for always coming to Yoshida Hiroki's lives. I was kind of surprised, because I don't remember seeing her before though... And, as she was saying thank you, she gave me a cup of coffee along with the thank you, because she didn't want me to be cold. What?!! Surprise level-up! It was a really kind thought (even though I don't actually drink coffee). A while after she came back and talked for a little bit, and then offered to take my garbage, to which I declined for a couple reasons....one: she shouldn't have to throw away my trash, and two: I couldn't give it to her because I couldn't drink it, but she doesn't need to know that.
Then, when I was at a live (this time in a live house), one of the older women, Kiyo-san, who I know from various lives I've been to, came to talk to me and wanted to check that I was doing okay, because the last time she saw me, I didn't seem as genki as usual. We ended up talking a lot, and walked to the station together afterwards (even though I didn't take the train...I actually walked home, but it was nice to walk together and be social).
Also, last week, when I went to my Japanese class, my teacher asked me what I was doing for my birthday, and when I told her I'd probably be on my own, she was kind of sad and told me that unfortunately she had plans that day, but we should try to do something together the following weekend. I was so surprised! But it was really nice of her to say that!
Recently, I injured my foot, and so my kids have been very kind as well, stroking it and saying the Japanese version of "there, there". Completely unnecessary, however, I appreciate that they are learning to care about other people.
And, most recently, I wanted to talk about last night. I was out and about, and then I got to thinking, I really wanted to drink some apple cider, but they don't really have that in Japan, so I decided to go to Pinot, to see if he could make me something that was at least along those lines. I ended up with an apple-y/lemon/honey hot drink. It was good, but didn't have the spiciness of apple cider because there was no cinnamon or cloves, or whatever else goes into apple cider. That's not what I wanted to talk about though. When I walked in, there were a few people already there, and coincidentally, one of them was Ryosuke (who I know from Yoshida Hiroki's lives). So, when I sat down, I kind of got pulled into their conversation, and eventually the question of my age came up. When I told them that I would be ??? until the end of the night, they were so excited to hear that it would be my birthday the next day, and started to try to sing Happy Birthday. Eventually, when I was ready to leave, I paid and was just getting up when Shifumi (a woman that had been there from the start and was talking together with us) said, "Only 30 more minutes to Amanda's birthday!!" After that, some of other customers who had come in after wished me a happy birthday as well, and then total chaos happened. Tatsu-san asked me what I would do for my birthday, and was I going to have a birthday party. When I said no, and that I would probably be by myself, suddenly they all started talking about their plans for the next day and how unfortunate it was that they were busy too and wouldn't I be lonely. Wait, what??!! But I'm not finished yet...then they all suddenly decided that we should have a birthday party right then, and an older man (who I've seen in there a time or two) decided that he would go buy a cake. And so he went out with another guy and they went out to the entry and started discussing cake shops, then Tatsu-san ended calling a cake shop (honestly I thought they would all be closed, but apparently not). But they told him they could make one but it wouldn't be ready until 1am, and so they decided not to do that because that time was kind of difficult for me and for the other people who would be catching the last train. The older man decided to actually go out and look for a cake and so even though I had been ready to leave, I had to wait and stay until he came back. When he did come back, he hadn't been able to find a cake, but did come back with some chocolates. Then, because it was after midnight and offically my birthday, they all sang happy birthday, and wished me a happy day. Craziness! But it was really nice of them! I was happy that they wanted to celebrate with me, even if we didn't really even know each other!
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Also, as an unrelated aside, let's talk about my recent walks. Since the beginning of 2017, it's been my goal to walk at least 10km every day. Most days, I can do more than that, although sometimes it's only 8.5-9.5km because I don't have time after work. On the weekends, though, I'm able to walk for much longer. On Saturdays I've been taking much longer walks, upwards of 20km. However, I decided that I wanted to try for 30km, which I did yesterday (the beautiful weather definitely helped)! (Although by the end of the day it was actually just over 35km. Yay!! I had ended up walking to Nishinomiya Gardens (a really big shopping complex) and stopped there for a lunch of yummy waffles and fruit tea, before heading back home
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| Awesome, for the end of January! |
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Because I didn't leave Pinot until after midnight, it got split into 2 days, but in total, yesterday I walked 35.7 km (over 51,000 steps).
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