Shower Discovered

SEPTEMBER 23, 2010

Today was the fall equinox, and thus a national holiday. I am a-okay with this plan.

I slept in, joyfully, although I was woken several times by the hardest pounding rain I've heard yet in Japan. It makes me want to get a little rain gauge to know how much rain we're actually getting in these intense storms.

I woke up for good to what I thought was the doorbell ringing. I stumbled over to the door and saw a dark outline through the peephole that I thought might be Elizabeth, but the peephole doesn't provide a terribly clear picture and I didn't have my contacts in yet. So I stumbled back to my room, threw on some more appropriate clothing and went back to find an empty front step. I did text Elizabeth and she showed back up about 5 minutes later. Her first words were, “Did I wake you?” I guess I looked the part.

We chatted for a good time and when she left, I was inspired to clean. The house certainly needs it. I did a load of laundry, swept the kitchen, cleaned out the bathroom and the toilet room.

And I had forgotten about my laundry until now. Never fear, it's now hung out to dry and all I can do is hope that it doesn't rain during the night. Which it likes to do.

Through talking with her about my Osaka visit and the bathroom, I discovered something interesting about my own. Elizabeth mentioned that her bathroom also had the shower outside the bathtub, just like Walker and Kiki's. And then I realised that mine does, too! I'd always thought that the door to separating the washing machine from the bathroom looked like a shower door and that the floor there was odd (textured plastic to be a bit non-stick. So, I just set up my little foot towel on the floor in there and went about my business. But when Elizabeth mentioned this, I realised that the floor does just drain in under the bathtub (yes, when you drain the bathtub, you can see the water flow out in a fan under it and the gas heater) and that those texture grooves would probably channel the water in that direction. Plus, even the showerhead faucet faces away from the bathtub toward the door. So, yes, my entire BATHROOM is one giant SHOWER! Who knew?! That said, my thoughts of putting a small bookshelf in there to hold paperbacks and shampoo and such would probably look incredibly weird to a Japanese person. Imagine... a bookshelf in the middle of a shower...

I left the house and went biking to hard-off, a used store that has electronics and furniture. I'm looking for some bookshelves, but pretty much struck out there on that. I'm also looking for a bigger something for my kitchen to hold my ingredients. I really don't have enough cupboard space. Here, I had a bit more luck. My best find was a 4,000 yen (~50) HUGE storage case with rolling shelves. I think it's technically supposed to be for clothes, but it would work just fine. Now I just need to figure out if (1) I want it, and here I'm leaning toward yes, despite the price and (2) if I can fit it and (3) how to arrange home delivery as this DEFINITELY won't fit on my bicycle. I may have to ask Elizabeth if she wants to visit and see if I can get her to do the talking. I'm also going to have to go price stuff in the new shops around and see if there's anything for bookshelves. This cupboard may be bigger than I need, but it would certainly hold everything. Right now, my shelf is a mess as I can't fit everything in an organized fashion. I also need a spice rack.

I got back just in time to take care of a few more things then it was off to kaitenzushi with Elizabeth. It ended up being a fun experience. We both, for dessert ordered the cupcakes and were greated with a cup filled with chocolate pudding with whipped cream, chocolate syrup and almonds. Not QUITE what we were expecting! Elizabeth also tried the purple sweet potato (which looked like a cross between frosting and a purple slug) and was NOT impressed. It was also the first time we'd had to wait for a table, which was odd for us.

On the way back, we stopped at the hyaku-en shop and I picked up a curtain rod to hold another towel, this one on my vanity, as there's currently no place to hang one. If I wash my face, I either must troop to the kitchen and use the kitchen towel or into the bathroom across the hall. It's a rather odd location for the rod (right now, it's situated about 6 ½ feet up, so as not to block the vanity, but it's the best I could do. I think I'll get used to it. They also had perfect white-boards, but they were 500 yen. Way to false advertise, hyaku-yen shop! So, I held off for now and I'll shop around. There are a half-million of these things and I'll see if I can get a better one elsewhere.

As I really didn't eat much at sushi, I made a small thing of crepes as a light bedtime snack. Plus, I have my funny milk to use up, meaning I must do cooking!