Tuesday, October 3, 2017 – Nagoya

We’re moving around when Sachiko knocks on our door and tries to tell us about the morning’s breakfast plans.  We think that she might be going to the hospital either with a friend or to visit a friend.  There is something about medicine and once a month?  She has so much more English than we have Japanese (although Ginger pulled the word for “eat” right out of the air yesterday and impressed us all!) but we aren’t sure we really got it.  Before she leaves, she begins laying things out on the table that were her mother’s we think we are to choose something;  but she keeps saying “All”  “All”!!

She gets her keys and leaves and we go next door for some guidance and leadership from Tae!  The real story is that Sachiko has recently acquired a form of diabetes that requires you to go to the hospital once a month for a test and to take a pill.  As for the goodies, her mother loved to shop and buy things that might be given a omyagi and we are welcome to take as much or as little as we would like.  There are pins and cloth bags and coasters and chopsticks and chopstick rests.  Ginger tickles her by using one of the rests as a spinning top!  Looks right to me!

Shortly after Sachiko gets back, there is an uproar and Tae, Andy and Sachiko all rush outside.  It seems that a policeman is here and demands that the car be moved! Tae’s little car is generally out front;  but the big van must have annoyed someone.  We all leave for breakfast which solves the problem for the time being.  The cop is sitting in his patrol car with his lights flashing waiting for us to leave!

We’re going to breakfast as Sachiko’s favorite place and it’s one we’ve been to before.  We love it, too!  When you order coffee or tea, breakfast is free!!  Ginger and I order something that we’ve not had here before;  it’s scrambled eggs with catsup, salad, banana, and a thick piece of pizza toast!  It’s very good and quite filling!  The tea is delicious, too! Sakurako is the hit of the place.

Next stop is a boulangerie called Bré-Vant for scrumptious breads, sandwiches and desserts.  As you enter, you pick up a tray and a pair of tongs and load up your tray with taste treats!  They are giving away samples of lemon apple pie that are to die for!

We had passed the gallery where Tae has a piece on display and Ginger and I ask if we can visit it, so off we go.  The downstairs is a fish store where the kids’ beta came from.  The gallery is upstairs and is small but well thought out, with many media represented.  Needless to say, Tae’s piece is far and away the most beautiful.

We need to get home so that Andy can get ready for school;  but first we need to make room for the car in the narrow driveway between the two houses.  There is an air conditioner there now and Andy’s bike, which he moves first thing.  The A/C isn’t very heavy and he and I move it around back, making as much room as possible!  The van just fits.

Inside Tae offers lunch but we’re still stuffed from breakfast.  Andy, though, has something to eat before he sets off.  Sachiko surprises Ginger and me with presents from the gallery!  We each receive a pair of dichroic glass earrings!  I had pointed out one pair that I thought was charming and guess I’ve learned not to do that!  But I do love them!!

Ginger and I think we’ll take a little nap so that we can stay up later tonight when Andy comes home.  We’ll be leaving tomorrow after Iori’s gym class, so we won’t see Andy again until we come home Friday night.  We only nap (well, Ginger naps) for about an hour and we select some treasures from the table before returning to the kids’ house.

We talk with Tae until it’s time to meet Iori’s bus.  All the moms from yesterday afternoon are there and the little ones get off the bus.  Each mom is wearing a badge that makes them official!  And all the kids are in their little uniforms with matching hats and lunch boxes.  Andy told us yesterday, that at lunch time a cart is brought to each table and one student from that table is responsible for serving all his table mates.  They rotate weekly.  He also told us that when preschoolers cross the street, they wait until the traffic clear, then all hold up one hand as they cross.

All the kids and moms are going to the temple today so the kids can play.  It is so precious to watch them interact without any squabbles.  There’s a bucket of water and several are “painting” with it. 

When everyone is tired out, it’s time to go home and Ginger and I get to play with the kids.  Iori is really into the “Q Rangers” on TV and Sakurako and I play with the Word program on my laptop.  She can recognize “Q” and “O” and “P” and is having a blast typing huge capital letters and numbers.

When it’s time for dinner we finally dive into the bakery bag!  So many delights to choose from!  Far and away the favorite, though, is the dessert that resembles a jelly donut that’s filled with red-bean paste.  Happy taste buds! 

Soon the kids have their stories and baths and go to bed with no fuss at all!  It fascinates me every time I see it!!  Tae is beat and settles down to read manga on her phone and Ginger and I work on our computers.  I’m trying to catch up the blog and she is fighting with hers because it says her start up disk is full.  By ten thirty we’re both ready for showers ourselves and will be all clean and ready for bed by the time Andy comes home.  We’ll try to stay up and visit a while.  Tae has read herself to sleep on the couch;  but she doesn’t want to go to bed and says we can stay!