An exciting Thursday night in Osaka

So what exactly does the life of an expat teacher living in an exotic foreign land look like? In Japan is it all sushi, cherry blossoms, sumo and geisha girls?

Just to clear up any misconceptions about my high flying lifestyle let me fill you in on the highlight of this past week. On Thursday night, wait for it, I went to... Costco. Yes, Costco, on a school night none-the-less, was the high point of my week. Most people have been to Costco and know it for jumbo packs of toilet paper and more bread than you can eat before it goes mouldy. Well, it's no different here. In the land of small homes and apartments you can buy one tub of ice cream that will completely fill up your equally small freezer.

What makes Costco a great Thursday night out? Well first of all it's not Costco on a Saturday morning which is mayhem- carts and people everywhere with children running wild. Secondly going with others means that I don't have to take 3 trains and walk for 15 minutes to get there, double that to get back and then have my groceries shipped home. Laundry detergent, flats of juice all those heavy things taken care of. Plus a selection of familiar foods - cookies, Reece's Pieces, cheese, all those healthy things. Yum. Add pizza for dinner and what more could you want?

Thinking about this makes me think of a telephone call I had with my dad while living in London. There I was in this city that I'd loved since I visited when I was 18. I was teaching most days and probably had been there just long enough so I'd done most of my initial touristy things and had settled into a routine. I started to tell him about my week but there was nothing to tell really. I'd worked that week, had a quiet weekend and didn't have much to report from this far off land. It was just a regular week. It felt disappointing not being able to tell of some adventure, somewhere I'd been, something that I had discovered. It was just life. It was a bit like that this week here.

I may be in Japan but I work, eat, sleep and not every week is momentous. The same things that people do all over the world. And here, where not everything is familiar I don't feel ashamed of saying this little outing was a high point. Next week there may be something more exciting to report.