The weather at noon in Sakae (Nagoya's shopping/fashion district, where I work) today was strongly reminiscent of a sunny July afternoon in Toronto: clear, with only a touch of humidity, a nice breeze, and the concrete around me was buzzing with the daily hustle and bustle of city life.
I had time to shop around in one of the department stores before work, and I bought myself a new wallet - something I have been needing for a long, long time* - black leather, sensible, 2100 yen**. You can't find them any cheaper around here; believe me, I've tried. Next on the list is a serviceable yet fashionable purse. I also bought a small handkerchief-towel hybrid; everyone in Nagoya seems to have one, for wiping your face after exertion (or anything, really) outside in the humidity. It is suitably kawaii, which I think makes up for the stolid nature of my wallet. I would also like to purchase a sun umbrella***, and thus my cuteness quota will be filled for the next month, as they come in varying degrees of frilliness, patterns, and pastel colours. Every fashionable lady worth her salt has one, and I think they seem quite practical (and also adorable, which is one of my driving reasons behind wanting one).
The reason I was in Sakae so early this morning was because my stomach has been acting up again; I feel perpetually hungry, much to the detriment of my snacking habits, and, once full, my stomach hurts. The doctor reckons I have gastritis or an ulcer, brought on by both the change in diet and the massive stress load I've been internalizing for the last six weeks. I'm not good at dealing with stress, and I invite quite a bit on myself by worrying about virtually everything that could ever possibly happen, and now I suppose I'm reaping what I've sown. So I have two packages of pills to last me two weeks, and if it doesn't end there, the doctor asked me to come back for an X-ray or scope to see what the problem might be. Let it be known, once more, that I love the Japanese health system; I paid a grand total of roughly $13 CAD for the pills, the appointment, and everything. The Xrays/scopes can be done right in the clinic. To top it off, they're polite and fast. Here's hoping it clears up soon - I need to look into yoga, I think, to calm me down.
Everything is actually getting a lot less stressful though, to be honest, as I'm acclimatizing to my life here, the daily rhythm of the workplace, and how to organize my schedule around it. Tomorrow is pay day; I'd like to look into getting a bicycle, as it will make grocery shopping, exploring my area, and picking up things at the post office much, much easier. Since I am promised that the weather is only going to get hotter as the summer progresses, minimizing walking time is definitely high on my list of things to do. The weather, alas, is not static; a day like today is a rarity - but one to be enjoyed.
*My previous one was held together with duct tape
**About $22 CAD
***"Parasol" evokes something made of paper, or a contraption structured like something out of the Victorian era; these are neither.
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