29 08 2004
Nattou curry rice. Despite the somewhat unappealing exterior, it's
really good.
My studying motivation has picked up again since I last wrote, and
I've gone back to studying every day. Partly due to crazy sleeping
habits during the holidays and partly because I'm unable to accomplish
anything after work, I've taken to waking up early and studying in the
morning. It really helps.
Yesterday on my lunch break I walked down to the local big department
store, which is the place I tend to buy my lunch from, as they have
some pretty good sushi there (and the occasional decent salad). While
paying for my sole item, I was hunting around for the correct coins
and I accidently dropped a 1 yen coin - the rough equivilent of a
cent. The girl behind the counter looked at me briefly and I said to
her "ichi en dake" - "it's only 1 cent (so don't worry about it)". I'm
not sure if that spurred her on, because much to my chagrin she
started hunting around underneath the counter for it. And she kept
hunting. I was trying to pluck appropriate phrases from my memory to
get her to stop - "ii yo" (it's fine, really), "kamaimasen yo" (don't
worry about it), etc. Eventually I just resorted to "sumimasen" (I'm
sorry (you're taking the trouble to do that)).
After she couldn't find it on her side of the counter, she came around
the other side and started poking about on the floor. After a minute
or two she finally stood up triumphantly, and presented me with a
slightly dusty, though still legal tender, 1 yen coin.