2nd Week - The Weekend

Sunday (200108): Rest Day

Today Claire and I were supposed to go for another bicycle exploration trip. I suggested cycling to Hiroshima Port or to Miyajima station but Claire watched the weather forecast yesterday and told me that it will snow in the northern part of Hiroshima today. So we decided to check that out first. But after thinking for a while, I feel that it should be snowing in the northen part of Hiroshima Prefecture and not Hiroshima City (cause Hiroshima Prefecture is very big! And our city is located at the south). But still, we decided to try it out. :)

But when we woke up today at 9am, it was drizzling and it continued past noon time. Hmm, so we will just keep waiting... In the meantime, I'll continue my jap revision and read today's Seikyo Shinbun that Hashimoto-san put into my letterbox. :)



While reading half-way, Claire called up and told me to watch the TV. Apparently, there is a show on animals and in this epsiode, they were testing out the behaviour of kittens with a rotating sushi belt. Interesting and the kittens were so cute!!! haha...

Shots taken from my TV. The kittens were introduced a rotating sushi tray...

So cute and adorable!!!

After that, I switched to another channel and discovered there was a running competition! I suddenly remembered that my colleagues informed me that there's a Prefectural Relay Race this sunday and I actually forgot it! Oh no! So no choice, I have to watch it on television on a rainy sunday... =(


For this race, from what I understand, Hiroshima is hosting the 13th leg of the competition, with 47 prefectures joining it and there are 7 runners for each team, usually students from universities, and ran about 10km each. (just my estimate) The scary time is that they were dressed in their running attire, that is, a singlet and shorts in the cold and rainy weather! (I feel so cold already in my room, Haha...) Impressive!

The finishing point is at the back of the Peace Museum, which is within the Atomic-Bomb Dome and a 15 minutes walk from my apartment!!!

The first runner came in at 2 hours and 20 minutes (approximated) and the selected results are as follows:

1. 長野 (Nagano)
2. 愛知 (Aichi)
13. 東京 (Tokyo)
15. 福岡 (Fukuoka)
16. 長埼 (Nagasaki)
21. 山口 (Yamaguchi)
24. 広島 (Hiroshima)
26. 静岡 (Shizuoka)
27. 大坂 (Osaka)
30. 北海道 (Hokkaido)
33. 京都 (Kyoto)
35. 奈羅 (Nara)
41. 青森 (Aomori)
43. 福山 (Fukuyama)
45. 新潟 (Niigata)

My Singapore-style fried noodles!

And really, it has been raining the whole day! In the evening, Claire cooked some Singapore-style fried noodles with sausages and vegetables in it and was really yummy! Then I continued revising my jap and read up a bit more of work stuff to get ready for tomorrow.

Saturday (190108): Work, Work and Work

Went back to office to carry on reading my stuff. Received a surprise mail from Claire that she’s in too! Haha… Then we stayed till 5pm and went back to our apartment together. On the way, as that time was the knock-off timing for most of the working people, the street was crowded with people. So we decided to take another route back. We chose the one that we brisk walked the other time, passing through Hiroshima castle and shrine as well as the sports centre and science centre for kids. This route seems like a big round and we cycled for quite long before reaching the A-bomb dome and getting back to the conventional route that we had always cycled.

Along the way, we decided to check out another supermarket, called Mama-chen cause Hashimoto-san told us yesterday that the food there was the cheapest among all, just that the size is smaller. It was just 2 junctions away from the mart near our apartment (Apanda). By the time we reached, it was already 5.45pm and there was almost nothing left (and it closes at 6pm and on Sundays). I noticed that the breads were selling at 100yen per loaf and decided to buy 2 loaves. Haha!!! I also bought blueberry jam at 105yen, butter at 198yen and cup noodles at 88yen. Claire bought an apple, a small pack of strawberries at 390yen (she said she found the same packing of strawberries in Singapore and it was selling at S$9 plus, so it is worth it to buy it here…)

Then after that we went home and Claire taught me how to cook crispy butter bread using butter (of course!) and a frying pan. The result was really good! In the end, I cooked another 2 more slices and just keeping eating and eating…

My crispy butter bread!!!

At around 9pm, my parents went online and chatted with me. We chatted and laughed for 45 minutes before they told me to go and rest, which I said I won’t. Haha… Then I chatted with my cousin for another 10 minutes and to my other friends before going offline. The next time I will talk to my parents will be CNY ba (which they arranged for me), which sadly is a working day here in Japan… But it's ok! I will try something new and refreshing here in Hiroshima!!!