We’re back from the second night in front of the gravestone. Today we spent relaxing around the house, eating fresh guacamole, and studying here and there. Around five o’clock Kuniko’s sister dropped by after shopping in Osaka, and all three of us went to Kuniko’s parents’ house, and then on to the gravesite.
This time it was still light out, so it was easier to get there. I was a bit more familiar with the routine so I was able to hold my end up OK, and after paying our respects at the gravesite, we headed back to the aunt and uncle’s house to pay our respects at the altar.
After we took care of that, the uncle produced two big trays of sushi out of nowhere, and insisted that we sit and eat. It was apparent that nobody else had known about this, so it threw our dinner plans off track. He was quite insistent, too – making sure that we couldn’t escape.
We sat down, and he kept coming in with more food and drink for us, and once we got started eating he left to sit with his wife in the other room – they were eating dinner in there and watching TV.
It was an odd bit of hospitality, but the sushi was pretty good and the beer was cold, so we enjoyed it. We ate a lot, and finally got up to go. They came out to say goodbye and to pack up the food that we couldn’t eat so that we could take it with us.
From there we went back to Kuniko’s parents’ place and ate some of what our original dinner was supposed to be, and Kuniko and I took home some leftovers to help out. We watched a little baseball on TV, and then had some cake and hit the road.
Tomorrow is kind of a weird day for me – I’m supposed to go to work technically, but actually I think I’m not really expected there. Not only is it still kind of a holiday, but they are waxing the floors, so if I do go I won’t be able to sit anywhere and I’ll be unable to take advantage of the air conditioning. On Thursday Mr. Yamamoto said that I shouldn’t come in, but technically he’s not really in authority. So, I think I decided to stick around here and hope for the best. We’ll see how it works out.
