Shopping, flipping, and check out this sandwich!

Ever since we got back from our girls' weekend, we've been laying low. I think I must have worn Fiona out because on Monday morning, she specifically asked if we could "please have no adventures today." That certainly works for me, but little does she know that sitting around the apartment just gives me more time to plan more BIG adventures!

At some point Monday afternoon we got a little bored of sitting around the apartment and wanted to get out for a bit despite the fact that it was supposed to rain. We decided to go do a little shopping - I'd like to find a few pieces of clothing for each of us to bring back and having recently gotten some guidance on some good shops to check out, we made them our destinations for the afternoon. After pursuing the first shop for a while, I found a couple things I wanted to try on, so we headed for the fitting room. The attendant showed us to a room and after some gesturing, we figured out she wanted us to take our shoes off before going in. Once we had, she thrust this at us and closed the curtain behind us.

We inspected the gift from the fitting room attendant and did a fair amount of speculating as to what it might be for. Fiona thought maybe it was a bag to put our shoes in which seemed a reasonable possibility. I guessed maybe it was for standing on in the white floored portion of the fitting room...

As I reached up to grab a dress off the clothing hook, everything finally became clear when I saw this sign posted on the wall:

You're supposed to put it over your head to protect the clothing from makeup! I don't do a ton of shopping in the US, but I've never come across this before. Is it a uniquely Japanese thing or do I just not get out enough?

Next up, was another lead on where we might find postcards. For the past four weeks, we have searched high and low for postcards. I assume this must also be a cultural thing - we have literally found rack after rack after rack of postcards in nearly every stationary-like store we've visited...

...but, not one has been in the style that we are accustomed to finding in the US and Europe. Not one that we have found is a picture of the local area. At one shop a few weeks ago, we found two that were paintings of recognizable local spots, but even those were pretty abstract. Fiona was pretty enamoured by these sumo wrestler cards though, so she was only to happy to embrace the local tradition and give up on finding picture postcards.

Also on our shopping list was another fan for the apartment. It has been incredibly hot here for the last week. Hokkaido is known for it's cool summers - people often come here from mainland Japan and other parts of Asia to vacation specifically for the cooler weather and low humidity. Well, that doesn't seem to be playing out this summer. We've had temperatures in the 90's, humid days, and best of all - NO AIR CONDITIONING! With overnight lows in the 70's, it's made for some toasty nights.

I was pretty sure the current weather wasn't typical, but my suspicions were confirmed once I started looking for a fan for the apartment. We went to three huge appliance stores and every single one of them was sold out of every fan under $100. It was complete mayhem. As an aside: Does anyone know what the deal is with fans in Japan (and likely elsewhere - I've just never spent a lot of time looking at fans? Each of the three stores we visited had 2-3 models for less than $50, another half dozen or so for $50-$100 and then probably another 30 or more options ranging in price anywhere from $100 all the way up to $300!!! What do these magical devices to that is so special as to warrant the high price tag? I'm really dying to know.

Tuesday we woke up to a hot and sticky apartment, but cooler air outside, so we decided to spend the day in the park. On our way there, we stopped for a sandwich. I've never quite seen anything like this...

We shared it and still couldn't quite finish it!

After lunch, Fiona mastered a skill she's been working all summer to achieve - the flip! She is so proud of herself.

Then, on the way home from the park we popped our heads into one of the many tourist booths lining Odori park. We'd been into nearly every one of them already looking for post cards, but on a whim looked in one of the few we hadn't visited and low and behold...picture post cards!! It felt like such a victory.

Wednesday we had plans for another relaxing day. Fiona was going to play at the playground across the street from our building while I ran loops around it. It all started off well enough, but as I was finishing my run I got a huge surprise when a large bug flew INTO my ear. Fiona, who already has a ridiculous reaction to bugs was with me so I was doing my best not to panic, but I had a bug IN MY EAR! I guess it was a good thing we didn't have any plans for the day because we got to spend the rest of the day navigating the local clinics.  I knew of one where we had been to get shots, so we headed there, but they told me I needed to go to an ENT clinic. It was closed for lunch, so we headed off to find something to distract me from the fact that I may or may not still have a bug lodged in my ear (Fiona couldn't see anything in there, but it felt clogged and I couldn't hear very well out of it).

With some time to kill, we went to the one last appliance store I know of it Sapporo and finally had luck swing our way - this was the last lonely fan box sitting on an otherwise long, empty self. Score! In the true Japanese fashion we have come to appreciate so much, they efficiently packaged it up with this nifty little carrying device that made packing it home a piece of cake.

Once the ENT clinc reopened (and after an hour wait in the waiting room where Fiona patiently sat reading the entire time), I was seen by a very kind doctor who looked in my ear, used a nifty miniature vacuum to suck out the bug reminents (the main culprit had vacated), and then applied some antibiotic drops for a scratch left behind by the visitor. Seriously, what kind of luck to you have to have for a bug to find its way into your ear while traveling abroad?! Quite possibly the most amazing part of this story - guess how much this little trip to the clinic cost me? $35!

I'm happy to report that after a couple days, my ear is feeling much better. And after three days of puttering around the city, we were ready for bigger adventure. Stay tuned!