Shopping and Food

Today I went shopping. (After some Japanese homework) Not the kind you are thinking about right now. No, I *still* need to get things like a pillow, rags (for cleaning), shampoo ... So no clothes, yet.

But it was still fun...

Snacktime:

I didn't enjoy this one much to be honest. I didn't like the sauce on the salmon and some avocado peaces were a bit too brown for my liking.
And also the ratio to rice is not sufficient I would say. I got this in a menu for 1045Yen. And I got full so it was fine

Back to the Shopping!

I did pretty good! I got most of what I was looking for, and even a new Gi!

Which was quite expensive to be honest. But I think it was worth it. Because the cheap one from Amazon is shit. I also value the experience with the shopkeeper very much. He was so NICE and he spoke English, thank god. He got exactly what I was looking for and then taught me how to properly fold it into a small package. And then let me try to do it by myself. After, he packaged it in a Japanese traditional bag.

A cloth:

And it really felt great knowing that technique and having such a package☺️☺️☺️

He asked me for my name after and there I told him about Martin recommending the shop to me, and he remembered him! (Martin was last in Japan 2024)

I don't know, I just felt really welcome and chill. He told me to use it lots too☺️

Ueno Station

Well after that I went to Ueno Station to meet up with Tessa (hi Tessa!) to get food.

After searching for a while, we decided on Hotpot. 20 min later we decided in front of that restaurant it was too expensive. Went to the next best Sushi place. Which was closed :|

Next was tempura, where we sat down.

Until we realized it was really expensive and didn't even look that good (the cheapest was 6000Yen) so in an awkward moment we left. But it was less awkward than anticipated, honestly. Oh well I am getting less self-conscious.

Finally we found a place. We only looked that the precises weren't that bad and:

It was really good! It was basically Japanese Tapas. Like you get a lot of things together, share them and can try them all:D
Here is what we got:

The Tofu really suprised us! It was packed with flavor and the broth was great! Now that I think about it... Probably one of the best tofus I have ever eaten. Wow.

After we talked a lot and I realized how diffrent our experiences till now have been here. You know mine but Tessa works here as a Post-Doc. She has much more language barriers than me.

Because even when Japanese people can speak english, in present of other Japanese people they often don't. That was also my experience with my hostlab. But as I am not doing research here and won't attend meetings it doesn't bother me.

I really liked going out and talking to you Tessa, let's do it again sometime🥰

Have a good day!