A friend asked for another supermarket picture post but I found something as soon as I stepped out my door.

A delivery truck for Yamazaki bread.  I thought the retro styling, so 1950′s America, was interesting.  Heck, they have it all the way down to the light haired, blue eyed girl munching away.

Nom.

Ken says I bear a resemblance to Q-chan, a vintage manga/anime character.  He’s a ghost that likes to make mischief and steal other people’s food.

I know Ken’s not alone in this because I heard some of my students saying the same thing under their breath.  Other than both of us having big eyes I don’t see how we’re alike at all.

My friend Valerie from Germany is visiting and we’re having a wonderful time.  Today we visited the small zoo by my house.  My favorite exhibit was the penguins – they were playing with the kids.  No, really.  The penguins raced the kids the length of the tank, doing little jumps out of the water while they were at it.  As soon as the kids left the mad swimming stopped.  If a really small tyke stood by the wall they came to visit.

Cutest thing ever.

Just got my (eight!) stitches out today and all looks good.  Especially since the report came back on my mole and it’s not cancer!  Woo!  She said everything quickly and while I understood it all I’m not sure if she meant “benign” or “precancerous”.  When I go back in two weeks I’ll try and nail it down.  Either way the thing looked scary so I’m glad to have it out of me.

In other news we’ve had a ton of earthquakes here!  A decent sized one hit Shizuoka earlier this week and while there were injuries I don’t think any deaths were reported.  It did have a 50 cm (roughly 20 inch) tsunami though, oooo.

Other small tremors have hit throughout the week, including a larger one that woke me up at 5 am.  Those are the good earthquakes, though – everyone is asleep in their (hopefully) well built homes.  I’ll take that over a lunchtime quake any day.

Tonight I’m off to Yokohama and tomorrow my friend from Germany is coming to stay for a few days.  Can’t wait!

If I ever need material for the blog I should just go to the supermarket.  Today – cuts of beef.

Isn’t he cute.

Surgery went well – I love my doc and my hospital.  Just about everyone in dermatology is female, really good vibes there.  A couple of points I wanted to write down before I forget:

- In the States a doctor says, “This shot might sting a little bit” to get you ready.  There’s usually a “might”, “maybe”, “could” or other hedge.  Here in Japan my doctor said, “This is going to hurt.  Prepare yourself for it.”  It did and I did.

- When all was said and done the nurse held up a tiny bottle of liquid with a thing in it.  “It’s your mole!  Wanna look?”  It’s thicker than I expected.  I paled.  “Guess not,” she replied.

- I learned a new word I love – 消毒 (しょうどく、shoudoku).  Literally erase-poison… disinfectant.  So.  Cool.  I love this language.

Tomorrow I go back so the doc, Fujida-sensei, can make sure it’s healing well and show me how to change the dressing.  It’s a 9 am appointment so I’m planning on treating myself to a breakfast out afterwards.  Tea and pastries, I’m thinking.

Tomorrow I have surgery to get that scary mole removed.  I can’t say that I’m looking forward to the procedure but I am looking forward to having it over with.  This six week summer vacation I have is betting split up five different ways and I want some solid me time.

Even if I won’t be able to lift my right arm.  Pesky stitches.