Eating out.

He got a call from a restaurant downtown - Okaasan had been in there recently and eaten a meal...but hadn't had enough money to pay for it, so she'd promised to come back later with the money....and had never come back.


THIS is one of the (many) reasons it is good she is living with us now. Otherwise the Sapporo economy would nosedive as she left a trail of unpaid bills around town.


We usually only give her Y1,000 - Y2,000 for random shopping and snack buying. This is only about $10 and it is more than enough for the kind of snacks/magazines shopping she actually needs to do for herself. If we give her more all sorts of foodstuff gets bought and left in her room for days and starts to rot.
If she needs more money for bigger purchases (pants/flowery scarfs/tea pots) she asks for the money.


I'm constantly surprised that she accepts us doling out money to her like this - in fact she often asks me for the cash because Yujiro has told her that if he isn't around - she should ask me. She tends to forget the first part of that information and even if he and I are both there in the kitchen - she asks me! He gives me a stash of money to dole out to her...slowly.


The not-having-enough-money-to-pay situation may also explain why sometimes Okaasan comes home looking really unhappy and we wonder what happened while she was out. Sunday night was that I think - at 3 pm here she was all smiley and chatty - by 6.30 pm after a trip out, she was almost silent and complaining about her tooth pain...and not eating. Maybe she ate went to that restaurant, had the embarrassment of not being able to pay and then came home with a vaguely not-happy mood.
We don't know.


Anyway - Sapporo is such a kind city it is wonderful that restaurant owners will let old ladies pay later on meals eaten - and remember to keep the telephone number of the old lady customers! This restaurant is a branch of a chain that Okaasan used to use in Saitama and she often goes there - so they know her.


And finally: Culture Quiz.
Which doorstop object is a sign in Japan that here-be-gangsters?
a) The plastic sandal?
b) The ceramic cat with tattoos?

Holding pattern...

Okaasan seems ok...but not great.

I had a very silent lunch with her yesterday. She answered when I made conversation. But very simple, short sentences. There was no laughter or lightness.
I really had to work it - trying to think of things to talk about...such hard work. A lot of silent eating.
Was I super-sensitive and imagining it? Was she really in a "down". It really felt it.

Finally I spied on some gift chopsticks left over from the party that were in the table. They have instructions about how to make orgami from the chopstick wrapper.
Perfect.
I got it out and started trying to make an origami cat or something on the table. Okaasan ate her food and watched me, commenting several times that "I've never heard of a cat, I can make a crane, and maybe a frog, I've never heard of making a cat. It's Japanese culture, I can make a crane..."

But it got me thru the rest of lunch. Finally when she'd finished eating I could threw up my hands in real and acted frustration about how cack-handed I am at origami - and we could get up from the table and wash dishes.
Lunch done.

Later in the day she seemed better. Chatted about the cats. Borrowed some money and went for a walk. Went out to vote. Ate dinner with us...not super-chatty but ok....

The sofa is still relatively clear. So clear that Okaasan could even curl up ON the sofa last night at one point. She usually sits and lays down on the carpet.

I worry though that this mass moving of all the reassuring stuff will upset her equalibrium generally and that somehow it will be connected in her mind with Amanda/BBQ/chilidren coming into my room...and that I will be the focus of her negative mood.

Today is raining. Yujiro's job was cancelled. Today is hula dance day. Maybe she won't go. And tonight our Couch Surfer has invited the 3 of us out for a last night sushi dinner....

We'll see how the day goes.


Oh - and Spain won the World Cup. What on earth will we do now between 5 am and 7 am every day???

Oh - and I have just got my new glasses. Have official "aged into mid-life" by getting my first bi-focals. Makes me feel woozy to wear them.....