Antoine and I met up in Kobe today, and enjoyed some sunny weather. The crowds were out sightseeing, and so we stood around in from the movie theater where we usually meet and just watched people walk by. We caught up a little bit, and then decided to jump on the train to Amagasaki and hit Costco.
As we got out of the station I was looking for a taxi, and instead there was a bus there with the Carrefour logo. Carrefour is right next to Costco, so we jumped in and got a ride for free. We just stepped out of the bus and walked next door instead. Probably a little uncouth, but I’ve spent enough money at Carrefour to feel no guilt whatsoever.
This was the second time I had been to Costco, and so I knew a little more about what to expect. First we ate some giant pizza at the snack bar in the front of the store (seafood pizza? no thanks) and then we grabbed a cart and walked the aisles. I discovered a couple of things that I didn’t see last time, like Rosarita refried beans, and French’s yellow mustard. Antoine was pretty happy with what he was finding – some shaving supplies, DVD-R’s, and various snack foods. He fell under the Costco curse and spent around $130. I spent only $30, so I felt like I had accomplished something.
Antoine carried his stuff off with him, and I shipped mine home, since I had a large box of charcoal that I didn’t want to deal with on the train. To get back the Carrefour bus was nowhere in sight, and since we didn’t have any Carrefour groceries it would have been a little awkward anyway. We saw some foreigners from Costco getting on a bus that looked like it’s ultimate destination was the train station. It was 500 yen a person, but I did some quick math and figured it was cheaper to take a taxi. We walked over to the side of Carrefour and waited about 10 seconds for a cab to come by. It 730 yen to take the cab straight there, so we saved on the bus and we got there quicker.
I got home around 3:30 and I started slicing things up for a sushi dinner. I had planned on cooking my own eggs for the inside of the sushi rolls, but I had found a slab of precooked eggs at the store for only 100 yen. I was a little worried at the store because the kanji on the package didn’t say “egg” – only on the back in small type. When I cut it open I found out why – there were fish cooked into the egg slab. Yikes! So, I cooked my own eggs.
Tomorrow it’s back to school – a two day week for me. It’s been so long since I’ve been there that I forget how many classes I have and what ones they are. I may have to show up and do some scrambling!
