During the week, I was a little worried about being bored and lonely this weekend because nearly everyone would be attending frisbee camp. Ultimate frisbee is one of the main social activities here, but I can't bring myself to join in. I just don't enjoy playing it. So, practically all of the ALTs in and around Kochi City would be busy Saturday morning through Sunday afternoon.
However, I remembered that Elizabeth had talked about showing me some recycle shops (thrift stores) in the area, and she doesn't play frisbee. So I sent her a text message asking if she'd be up for some shopping. Fortunately, she didn't have plans and could be persuaded to leave her apartment.
We started out at the McDonald's in Obiyamachi for some lunch. It was the first time I'd eaten at McDonald's since arriving in Japan, and it was pretty tasty. I just had a basic cheeseburger. I've been getting more used to ketchup now since I don't know how to ask them to leave it off. I could probably figure it out, but for the most part I don't care that much.
Elizabeth showed me some shops in the Obiyamachi area. I didn't buy anything, but I imagine I'll be visiting those shops again in the future. One of them had some really random shirts that looked like they had come from an American thrift store. Some had patches on the sleeves from fire departments or correctional facilities. It was pretty strange. I also saw a jumpsuit that looked like it just might work for an April O'Neil (Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles) costume. We'll see what I come up with for Halloween...
After exploring Obiyamachi for a while, we headed out to Hard Off, a store that sells all kinds of used things. It was a bit of a bike ride but fortunately I had put on sunscreen. At Hard Off we saw DVDs, computers, musical instruments, furniture, and clothing, among other things. It was an interesting store. I saw a cheap anime DVD that looked promising, but I can't play it on my computer since it's Region 2.
We headed further down the road and went to another recycle shop called BJs. Apparently all recycle shops have unfortunate names. This one was just clothing. Recycle shops aren't as cheap as American thrift stores, but the clothing tends to be more fashionable and in better condition.
After that, we turned around and started to work our way back into town. On the way in we stopped at Shoe Plaza. I wasn't sure if I'd be able to find many shoes that fit since I usually wear U.S. size 7.5-8. Elizabeth estimated that I'd probably wear a size 25, which is about the largest size they stock. When I started trying things on, though, I found that I mostly fit size 24 or 24.5, so there were a lot of shoes I could wear. I ended up buying two pairs of shoes that were very inexpensive, 990 yen each. They're actually the same shoe in two different colors, ha ha. I normally don't do that but these are especially cool shoes.
We continued to bike back toward the center of town and Elizabeth showed me an alternate route back to our apartment. We stopped again at Starbucks for coffee, where we hung out for a long time and talked. Elizabeth is really interesting and I enjoy her personality. After that we decided to get dinner. Since the sushi place we intended to eat at was packed, we ate at Joyfull, a family restaurant. The food was tasty and they had a (non-alcoholic) drinks bar where you could get unlimited refills of as many kinds of soda or coffee as you liked.
After that, we headed back to the apartments. Now I know the locations of a number of interesting shops, and another road that connects back to our area. It was a very good day. I'm hoping to spend more time with Elizabeth in the future, as well.
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