Day 17 & 18 Shopping with the NATG Women
by Donna Charles on Thursday, March 25, 2010 at 4:00am
Today was a day that we just took it easy, took the bus to FDK Mall and shopped around. Went to the grocery there, I picked up a couple of items at the store. Sun is shining and we basically just enjoyed the day together walking around and talking about meeting Becky who lives here with her husband Chris. Chris works at Honda and is stationed over here for 3 years. Total they have been here 9 years and are loving the experience. We ate dinner at Chef Bob's with a group of guys that had to work late and that ended our Monday. When we arrived back to the hotel I received a phone call from Belinda telling me Becky had called and she will pick us up in the morning at 9:45am. We decided we would go have our hair cut and maybe even a massage.
Everything went as planned Becky arrived and picked up Belinda and I. When we got in her Honda Fit there was another NATG lady and her name was Sue. I really don't know either of them so it was nice making some new friends that live here and know there way around and can speak some Japanese. They told us we were going to Bell Mall and away we went watching Becky drive the car amazed me she drove it with no problems. Steering wheel is on the right side of the car where in Ohio thats where the passenger sits. Driving on the left side of the road when in Ohio we drive on the right side of the road is hard for me to accept. I just know it would take me a while to learn to drive in Japan is all I'm saying.
We got to the mall and headed directly for a beauty salon called Aphrodite. The place was big with lots of men and women cutting hair and giving massages. We made an appointment for noon and took off from there to head to a massage parlor located in the mall. Becky made an appointment for Belinda and Belinda went right in for her massage. $40 for 40 minutes is not bad because the Japanese people always give you good treatment and service.
While Belinda was getting her massage Becky, Sue and myself took off to explore the mall, ended up in a 100 Yen store and spent the 40 minutes in there. Bought a few things for the grandkids in there and some hard candy.
Waited outside till Belinda came out Becky showed me a display of bells and they chime every 1/2 hour and then every hour. Beautiful display of bells and they play beautiful sounds. : -) Belinda comes out and is so relaxed she can't hardly keep her eyes open. We all laughed at how relaxed she was. She said she felt like jello and loved the experience, hot oil and they massaged her whole entire body. : -) This is something I will do again I did it already but the lady never touched her hands on my skin at the Grand Spa. I want the experience of hands on with oil : -) I have 3 more weeks so I'm sure it will happen for me too
We are hungry and only have 20 minutes to eat, we went to a place that served all the bread you can eat. YUM YUM I'm a true born bread lover, could make a meal out of it LOL We ordered a beef salad and then while waiting for the salads to arrive we went up too the bread bar an helped ourselves yes oh yes I love bread. We got our salads and hurried up and ate and then headed for our hair appointments.
We arrived and they ask for u to take your wallet out of your purse and give you a pretty little purse to put it in. They take your handbags and store them for you while you are being pampered. : -) We each sat in beauty parlor chairs together. The place was a great location everybody seemed happy that worked there. : -) Becky is the one who done most of the talking explaining what we wanted done. Belinda's hairdresser spoke pretty good English and mine didn't speak any : -( Pretty quiet since I couldn't talk to her like my hairdresser at home but oh well at least her concentration was on my hair :P I could tell she was a little nervous my hair is thin and she wanted to make me happy. Time to wash my hair now, believe me its not just a hair washing. They massage your hair for quite some time and then wash your hair. Once that is completed its back to the station, she starts to cut my bangs and my hair. A girl comes over and sits on a stool on wheels and puts oil on my hand and gives my hand a GREAT MASSAGE then slides around us and MASSAGES my other hand. This is such a wonderful experience is all I can say, i sure don't get this treatment in OHIO that's for sure and if I did it would cost me more money this treatment comes with every hair cut :-D Both hands are massaged and she has finished cutting my hair. She sends me over to the wash bowl again where I get another head massage and she washes my hair again. wow wow wow.......... : -) All I can do at this point is smile what an experience this has been so far. Back to the station again and then she combs my hair and the next thing you know she is massaging my neck back and shoulders OMG wow wow wowoooooooo I never expected more massages I am feeling like butter just so relaxed and happy as can be. Thanks to Becky for picking us girls up and giving us this wonderful experience. : -D
Well i am finally done with this wonderful experience and before i go I have them take off one of my nails that got broken. Thanks ......Head out of the mall and take off to a mall called JOYFUL HONDA!! Belinda was like so glad to be going here they had a first floor of nothing but crafts which included lots of stuff for her scrapbook she will be making of this Japan trip. We all had fun helping her pick Japanese looking paper out.
Belinda made her purchases but not in a quick manner you see we took the paper out of the folders and so there was no barcode or price on each sheet of paper LOL The lady had to back and find each paper and get the price WHOOPS LOL
Time for a coffee break, Becky took us to a coffee house called the Preston Cafe and wow this place is very nice with a Italian design. When we all were seated we noticed a wooden laundry basket sitting at the end of our table on the floor. Becky told us that's where you place your handbags and packages what a cool idea!! We all ordered capachino's, when they arrived they had 2 small cookies on the plate. They did a wonderful design in the foam on top look at pictures to see what I'm talking about. Enjoyed each others company sipping on our caps. : -D
Now we are going to the pet store to see the animals. The first thing I see is a machine that you can use for your pets. Now for $5 you can put your pet in this machine that washes and dries your pet. OMG I have never seen anything like this ever. This machine is great for pet stores and great they they let people bring their animals in to be cleaned. On to see the animals now, all i can say is wow again the price of animals is outrageous. I saw a chipmuck for sale for $70 that's right I said $70 LOl
Becky has a surprise in store for us now, we take off and grab a view of the mountains on our journey to the next location. She took us to a used clothing store where she took us straight to the kimono's. A lady who worked there asked me if i wanted to try one on. Becky said go ahead and so i picked one out and the lady helped me get it on. what an experience is all I can say I felt like a princess, like a million bucks and just plain happy that I have on a ceremonial kimono which is very elegant. Thanks again Becky for making this a great experience. : -)
Time to go home its dark and 7pm........
Dinner tonight was at a place called the Wild Barn, we ordered hamburgers and fries, fries were great the hamburger tasted like mushy meatloaf GROSS LOL
