Shopping!

I watched the spectacular closing ceremonies of the Olympics tonight at my neighbor Vicki's, partly because I wanted company and partly because I was avoiding the cockroaches in my apartment.  Yuck.  They must have moved in when I was out on the town today.  I went on an all-day shopping extravaganza (remember, Fukuoka has been called the greatest shopping city in the world!) with Lori and Kumi, and returned home with only a few choice items, to greet the nasty creatures in my kitchen.  

It was a lovely day.  First we went to a flea market, where I bought two great vintage kimonos (for the price of one, a gift for being a foreigner), and then visited Fukuoka's most famous shrine, where I learned that apparently it is a bad year to be a woman born in the year of the dragon (1976).  What's a girl to do?  Dragon dudes are in the clear, and I'm not sure which sign is bad for guys this year, as I was busy focusing on my own bad fortune.  Man!  

Next we had delicious sushi in Tenjin, the main shopping area of town. We then toured several department stores, including one that had a special market of goods from Okinawa on the 7th floor. I sampled Okinawan rum, mango ice cream, and a disgusting fruit juice made of noni berries. According to wikipedia, noni is sometimes referred to as either "cheese fruit," "starvation fruit," or "vomit fruit" - take your pick. Anyhow, we finished the long day of shopping with coffee and dessert at my favorite new coffee shop in Tenjin, a cool place called "Le Union." We especially enjoyed the deep fried banana with red beans and vanilla ice cream. Mmm.

The most annoying part of the day was trying to get cell phones.  We visited several crazy electronics stores and tried to understand the plans offered by the three major companies.  Apparently nobody really gets how the charges work.  First you must purchase a phone, the cheapest ones running nearly $300, then you can choose a plan involving very limited cheap minutes, a few text messages, and expensive minutes after 9pm or to those enrolled with a different company.  The iPhone is about $800 and monthly rates are way more if you actually want to get online.  So I'll have to wait for that dream.  I think I'm going with a company called SoftBank, formerly Japanese Vodaphone.  Basically I have to learn to make friends with only other SoftBank customers, finish my calls before 9pm, and remember to send text messages otherwise.  Best is to just receive calls, which is free.  My new phone will not be one of the fanciest Japanese gadgets, like the ones that you can scan to pay for things in certain stores or the ones that have 5 megapixel cameras and mini-television screens, because they are too friggin expensive.  But I hope my new camera will be a fun color, like purple or green, which I can further adorn with sparkly stickers and my Hello Kitty-Lantern Lady charm from the Yamaga Festival.  Cool!

Tomorrow is the first official day of work. The last day of summer was an exciting day when I was a kid, eager to start school, a depressing day the last few years, dreading returning to school after fantastic breaks, but now just another part of this journey. I was sad to say goodbye to Portland a few weeks ago but am glad to have had time to settle in to my new life in Fukuoka before getting bogged down with work. I've got meetings this week and heaps of planning to do to get ready for the students on Thursday. Wish me luck!