Oh my GOD, is packing difficult!!
I’m up to 4 boxes to ship, ugh, even AFTER pruning my wardrobe of 3 huge bags of clothes. I just love clothes too much!
This morning I did a test-packing of my carry-on bag. Even as I was packing things in, I was thinking “Oh, I don’t really need this. I can throw that out.”
So there is still more to go.
My airline baggage is a bit of a… hmmm, silly situation. I’ll be carrying on my shamisen in a big case, so I won’t be allowed a carry-on suitcase as well. So I’m actually checking my little carry-on rolly suitcase, because it is the most damned useful suitcase, and I’ve got two short trips already planned back in the states, where I will use it. I really don’t want to lose this suitcase, because it’s seriously perfect.
So that leaves me with one large checked bag left. It’s going to be a little bit difficult, unless I man up and buy a bigger suitcase. The one I have I actually got for free, so it’s not like I’m losing out there. I’ll look at a recycle shop later and see if I can’t find a bigger case.
I have a third suitcase, that is a soft duffel bag. I’ll be carrying it on as a “purse”, because you have to carry on things like laptop, ipad, cameras (2), tablet… it’s soft and squishy, so it should be OK.
All my underthings and socks will go in the shamisen case, as “padding”, haha!
Tomorrow is the speech contest! I have it memorized, with only a few hiccups. It clocks in at 5 minutes 22 seconds, and I think it’s a pretty darn good speech.
I stopped my diet. For a while, I tried hard, but then I realized that I only have a month left, and all I really want to do is eat all the delicious Japanese food! Hahahah. Even doing it for a little bit changed me, though. I dropped 2 kilograms, and I’ve stopped eating so many cakes and breads (which is a definite bonus for my wallet as well… those cakes were expensive).
The other night, I went to a party with Rogakko teachers, at an Italian restaurant. We had dish after dish of various pastas, veg, wine, meat, and dessert. It took hours, and was fantastically delicious. I felt so, so full.
The next day, I didn’t want to eat anything. At all. I had a snack of peanuts in the morning, gelato on the way home from running errands at 4 pm, and half a pizza I ordered in at 9 pm. I didn’t mean to go for pizza, but they stuck a flyer in my mailbox that looked SO DELICIOUS.
Unfortunately, the most delicious pizza (a margarita pizza) was some insane price… nearly 3,000 yen for a medium. HIGHWAY ROBBERY!! I got tomato, basil, and pepper. At some leftovers for breakfast today. Nom nom nom.
Today I’m going to go swimming in the Anabuki River. Crystal clear water, gorgeous gorge, followed by Yoma’s home-cooked dinner and a sleepy train-ride home. HOORAY!
