Wednesday

This morning I walked with Gina to the train station to see her off, and was half way home when my stomach sank and my eyes almost welled up as I realized that I had forgotten my purse in the apartment. I was locked out with no money, no passport, no key. I'm sure you all know the feeling.

So, the other thing that I really like about Gina's apartment is that the landlady speaks English, and I knew where she lived and she was very helpful to me. She took me in and gave me tea and tried to find a copy of the key. She didn't have one, so she lent me a thousand yen and I went to Gina's school and managed to convince the staff to let me talk to her. So I got home and all is well. Phew! It just took a few hours longer than expected. A late breakfast for me.

This afternoon I met Gina at the station. She was chatting with a Japanese woman who likes to practice her English on people like us. She got us to sign her book, which probably had hundreds of notes from people all over the world. Then she made us an origami crane. It was nice.

Tuesday

I am feeling much better today. I am still coughing some, but much less. Today I went to four stores without so much as a hack.

The thing I like most about this apartment is the bathtub. I can sit in water up to my nose and lean back and relax for as long as I want. It's in its own little shower / tub room. Then I can conserve water by running a load of laundry using the bath water for the first cycle. The washing machine is equipped with a pump and a hose just for that.

Gina's black cat, Nimai, sure does enjoy the company of little Josie, the mostly white female kitten that Gina might adopt. She is here as a foster cat right now. They have a good time racing around the apartment playing chase. Josie gets into trouble in kittenish ways, like yesterday. I made muffins in the silicone pan, and there were 2 left in it sitting on the stove. Later on, while Gina was gone, I was in the bath and heard a clamor. I went out to find that Josie had gotten that pan and I think she ate half a little muffin. Nimai seems to have outgrown such pranks. He is 3.