I was just at a cafe (finally) reading the 木曜日にはココアを and I am loving it. I thought the little short stories would be stand alones, which would be sad as I loved the first story, but starting the second one it seems to still be at the same place but from another character’s point of view which is a relief.
What I am loving about the first story is the girl the protagonist is talking about, she comes in every Thursday at the same time, orders hot chocolate regardless of the weather, and then reads and writes a letter in English. The narrator is amused that she would be sending letters in this day and age, but also impressed that she can use English, and we follow his thoughts surrounding this girl and his one-sided crush on her.
Why am I loving this? Because at the start of this month I signed up for penpalooza, a penpal project started by Rachel Syme on twitter and I have been writing and sending so many letters (have yet to get a reply but that’s the charm of snailmail). I have always loved letters, reading them, writing them, but in this day and age I haven’t had anyone to write to. Everyone I know can be reached online so writing a letter seems redundant. But I find it very exciting to write letters to people I don’t know yet. But that maybe I will after some letters back and forth.
I can’t believe it’s already November and I haven’t finished half of my tsundoku pile for this autumn, I even bought yet another book here the other day when I was killing some time at the bookstore.
I am little by little decluttering and starting on the 大掃除 (spring cleaning but for new years, a Japanese tradition) that needs to take place before this year ends. I want to get rid of anything that I don’t want to bring into the new year. As it stands now, I will be starting a new job in January, and so it is a great opportunity to declutter my home (and life) to fit with this change.
My blogging will be as it is now, here and there. I’m hoping to get a lot of reading done over Christmas break, maybe even get started on Little Women, it is still taunting me from my bookshelf.
I had a beautiful time with Darjeeling earlier today, she settled on my lap as I was having a little break in my armchair, and wanted cuddles for almost half an hour before she decided to fall asleep, still on my lap. This warmed my cat mom heart so much I almost wanted to cry, I was so happy.
Diary of a Norwegian in Japan 