Osawa Homecoming

(Un)surprisingly enough, I don't have the best of luck catching the last train. As of this post, I've missed three trains, leaving me with options to either walk home or find a place to stay until the trains start up again in the morning. It's only been a week. However, after attending a small party near my old university, I lucked out and was able to stay over at my friend Ohannah's apartment (a much better solution than the 24/7 internet cafes I usually frequent). Ohannah lives rather close to where I used to live during my time as an exchange student, south of the university in Osawa. As such, I was hit by a wave of nostalgia as I passed by the familiar homes and businesses I had seen every day on my way to class. Even the local supermarket, Gourmet City, triggered flashbacks of the mundane grocery shopping that I enjoyed.

Strangely enough, many of the day's highlights were food related. After shopping for brownie ingredients, I watched Ohannah don a green coat as she cooked up some homemade dumplings, doing her best to dodge the splatter of hot oil.

I ate the delicious dumplings, using my old eating utensils and sitting near my old kotatsu and rice cooker (most of my belongings ended up going to Ohannah when I moved out of my apartment). Much of the afternoon was spent baking, and I was put to work mixing brownie batter. As I'm pretty much hopeless as far as baking techniques go (e.g. folding), much of my work was fairly inefficient. Luckily, since Ohannah is a master baker of sorts, the brownies were completed despite my shortcomings, ready to be handed out to her friends that were graduating tomorrow.

Shortly afterward, to my delight, dinner at Sushiro was suggested by Ohannah's friend, Jaycee. This conveyor belt sushi shop, located only five minutes from my old apartment by bicycle, was one of my favorite places to go whenever I needed a sushi fix. Snagging a strategic seat near the kitchen, we were able to get first pick of the sushi that slowly moved by. Grabbing plate after plate of salmon, tuna, and other rolls, I soon had a sizable stack of plates next to me marking my accomplishment.