Just Couldn't Resist!

I know, I thought my next blog post would be written in British Columbia, but I just couldn't resist!  
So, today I thought I needed to get some things ready for me to fly out on Wednesday.  I wanted to get some items for my trip.  I bicycled to Rogers (ロヂアース) this morning and did some shopping.  Unfortunately I hadn't bought a basket for the back of my bicycle yet, so I took my backpack.  It was actually a pretty nice day to go for a bicycle ride.  It's only about 9 km from my place to Rogers, so not too terribly strenuous.  I spent a while walking through the store looking for different things and purchasing various items.  It was kind of fun, but I was also being wary of how much space I didn't have.  I decided to buy a little desk fan, since I didn't want to run the air conditioner when it was warm but not that warm.  It's a cute little fan.  Right now it's blowing on me as I write.  

Just precious!  

On my way home, I bicycled past a laundry mat. Laundry mats are small buildings with just a few washers and dryers.  I've never had to use one, the places I live in have washers and I usually hang my clothes to dry.  

The best part is that they have a special washer and dryer for sneakers!  Yup!  Go figure!  Just couldn't resist and took a picture!  

I stopped by Panas for some delicious Indian food and bicycled on my way home, just couldn't resist.  I have been wanting to get some Indian food before I flew back.  
I had also been thinking about buying that basket for the back of my bicycle, so on a whim, I  stopped at this little bicycle shop on the way home that had this little old man sitting there.  I used my hand signals and since it was a whim, hadn't prepared any vocabulary. Fortunately, we were able to communicate but he would rattle in Japanese, and I just kept saying, "はい", "hai."  As he spoke, I figured out that we were waiting for another person.  I figured it was probably a younger person that may be able to get the basket off of the shelf, which was probably about two meters up.  I was able to pick up a couple of things in our conversation like, where I was from, if I was living here, and I told him I was a teacher at the Christian Academy in Japan in Higashi Kurume.  After about five minutes this other man bicycles up with two bicycles, and he's the one we're waiting for, but he's not a whole lot younger and not much taller either!  They were both probably about 1m 30 cm.  So the "younger" man steps on a chair and can reach the bottom of the stack of baskets, takes them all down and pulls one off, attaches it to my bicycle and  ¥2500 later, I'm bicycling home.  I wish I would have thought to take their picture, but here's my bicycle with the basket. 

So, now you know, I just couldn't resist sharing about this great experience!