Say Kimchee!

A lazy's lunch:  left-over rice, some seafood and kimchi.  Fried egg to top it.  Voila!  my version of kimchi fried rice.  Fast, cheap - well, in this case free; and filling.

My Happy Feet

 
I had the perfect plan.  I was going to treat my feet to a pedicure spa.  Despite the forecast saying it was going to rain, it was bright and sunny when I left this morning - for the first three minutes anyway, and then it started drizzling.  It was turning out to be not such a great day.  On my way back from the St Clair West station to Yonge, two kids who looked to be not more than 15 years old, on a packed streetcar, the girl had her legs on her boyfriend’s lap - who could mistake that fact -. at 9:00am sucking on an almost empty freezie and using swear words like it was the word "the", combined with the whiny speech which seems to be popular among kids these days - the 5 minute trip felt like hours.  By the way, they were sitting right in front of me; unless I wanted to have neck pain it was somewhat difficult to ignore them.

When I got to the salon...I came pretty early mind you....it was a full house - a wedding party was having their nails done.  Well, I just had to have my nails done today, so I decided to kill time.  I went to the library and borrowed a book - Scarlet Nights by Jude Deveraux.  It's been a while since I read an English book since I have been so engrossed with studying Japanese.  Well, wouldn't you know it, by the time I went out of the library it was pouring like crazy.  I bought an umbrella - a pretty nifty one too.  I now have four umbrellas - of different styles and sizes - thanks to incidents like these.  Hmmm...still had time to kill - went to the drug store, encountered someone who isn't so happy with their job - ooookay.  All these encounters and it wasn't ever 10 o'clock yet.

Coffee and bagel at Timmie's seemed like a good idea - of course as the day already wasn't so great why would breakfast at Timmie's be uneventful - nothing major though.  Anyyyyway.....it was still pouring out by the time I finished my coffee.  I guess my pedi spa really was out of the question so I trudged back home in the rain disappointed.

Back home sitting in front of my computer not even for 30 minutes yet - YES! - the sun is out again.  To go or not to go....I really really wanted today to be the day! 

And so I went....ahhh it felt sooo good.  Now my feet are happy.

 （＾。＾）

 

Do you know where you're going to?

I may have boarded an experimental train during lunch today what with the trains being upgraded.  I have yet to ride the new one.

I had four stops to get to my destination.  In- between stops took approximately 45 seconds each.  Normally it would just be a quick and quiet subway ride.  However, today, this bored monotone voice, volume up announces each destination and arrival 3 times, each announcement takes 5 seconds, a total of 15 seconds.  A few seconds prior to reaching the next station, this voice comes up again and speaks for the next 15 seconds.  Therefore, during my 3 minute subway ride, 2 minutes of it was spent listening to this voice. 

Yeah yeah .... I should put my great mathematical skills to better use.

By the way, the ride coming back was "normal", with this same bored monotone voice announcing each destination and arrival just once.

What do I think of it?  I think it's overdone...although it does have its good points...unless you are totally spaced out; you will never miss your subway stop.

I have been warned that the Tokyo subway has multiple announcements too "うるさい!" as my friend would say.  I would be more tolerable I think ^o^  Half of it would probably escape me anyway.

5 More Weeks and Counting!

Yay! Five more weeks and counting til I finally fly to Tokyo!!!  I am probably one of the many travellers who gave a sigh of relief when the Air Canada strike has ended.  I am strictly speaking as a traveller.  I do not want to get into all the labour details.

I have viewed and reviewed my itinerary.  I seem to be changing it everytime I look at it.  I know I'm never going to have a perfect itinerary but planning is part of the fun.  I have looked into options and possibilities of going to Kyoto and Osaka - would have loved to, however, I only have seven full days in Japan and decided to spend all these in Tokyo.  There's so much to see and do in Tokyo alone.  I'd like to explore the city as much as I can. 

The internet really is such an amazing thing, some useful sites that I found:

http://www.hyperdia.com/  enter your to and from station, and it gives you several options for your trip, with cost and time of travel.

http://www.japan-guide.com/  travel information, places to see, etc....

www.google.ca/maps  this is really a cool tool.  My hotel just happened to have a street view so I traced it from the station to my hotel and took note of the landmarks.  Hopefully, I won't get lost first time coming out of the station - assuming I exit from the correct exit - there are three I think!  I also read street names are almost non-existent in Tokyo. 

Doing all that research makes me more confident - well, sort of....my Japanese friends have assured me that the Japanese are really friendly to tourists.  When in doubt, just ask.....but not during rush hour!!!  Speaking of which, I've seen these youtube videos of the Tokyo subway during rush hour.  Unbelievable, until I heard Nihongo in the background and saw these white gloved station employees politely asking "May I push?" it was almost too funny.  I also found out that they are actually part timers hired specifically for that job.

My Japanese will be put into test.  With my limited kanji I think it would be really useful to memorize the kanji for beef, pork, fish, chicken.....as long as I know these, I know what's in my food.  I do love Japanese food so hopefully, how it's cooked will be a pleasant surprise. 

One Fine Day

Tis the last official weekend of Spring 2011.  Lovely day, perfect weather. . . . smell of barbeque in the air.
Ahhhh sooooo hungry!