What I Ate Today: I Try Over and Over Again for the Textbook Unobtainable

As I wrote yesterday (scientifically today, though), I went to a bookstore to buy a textbook.

I struggled a bit to find this place. But this place, Kinokuniya, is actually near Sapporo station and is so large that it's easy to find. It seemed to have millions of books, and I thought I could finally get my textbook.

How nice it is! An English sign for foreign books corner. Well, it was all. The number of books they had there was merely a thousand or so, I guess. I'm of course not sure about the exact number, but I can tell you that the number was not too large. Except novels, which about the half of all foreign books were, each categories had only tens of books, and it means that it was unlikely that I find the book I was looking for. First attempt ended in failure.

So I googled another bookstore in Sapporo. It said that there is one at the other side of Sapporo station.

On the way was Aka Renga (赤レンガ, means Red Brick), the former city hall of Hokkaido. Nice building and garden. But I had no time to travel today.

Sadly enough, I in the end failed to find the other bookstore. Instead, I found yet two other bookstores in the south of Odori Park. Well, one was certainly no more. There was a restaurant or something on the address where the bookstore was supposed to be in.

Having skipped lunch, I rode my bike for more than one hours, looking around to find a bookstore. By the time I failed for the third time, my body was crying for some food.

So I went to Lawson, a convenient store, or, rather, combini (コンビニ）, as Japaneses call it, and bought a menchi katsu (メンチカツ, deep fried mice meat）and a can of milk coffee or cafe latte. Then I parked my bike on a park nearby. The park, Soseigawa Park(創成川公園), divides Sapporo into Nishi(西, West) and Higashi(東, East).

 Here they are. The text on can reads 'milk taste'. Does it mean that it's cafe latte (cafe au lait), or coffee flavored milk? Regrettably I don't remember the taste, so I can't tell :(

Though, the taste of menchi katsu was really great. The warm, full-of-meat fry was for me like a cup of black tea for captain Scott. What is surprising, I just realized, is that its price was just about 150 Yens or less!

Anyways, the last bookstore I went to today was just one block away from the park. It's Maruzen, a huge bookstore. As I remember, it was a 5-story store. Need more explanation?

So unfortunate am I, though, that I failed again. They didn't have any stock left. Well, I couldn't admit my defeat, so I asked the clerk to look for it. They promised to check tomorrow whether their store in Tokyo has it in stock or not. If they have, I can get it in one week, and if not, they can order it from overseas, which will take about a month. If the case is the former, I'll get my book here, but if it's the latter, I'll just get used one from Amazon, which costs 8,000 Yens and takes about a week. Why on earth the professor chose it as a textbook? It's impossible to get! The university bookstore, nor other large bookstore don't have it in their stock. Maybe the university library has it, but that's a way I don't like to choose (I want books to be 'mine' so that I 'can' do anything with it, though I mostly don't do anything but some notes.)

Tired, I wanted to have a soup curry (スープカレー）, which is a popular food in Hokkaido. 

 

The restaurant's name is "Minami Indo Curry(南インドスープカレー）." As I know, soup curry is a food of Sapporo, or Hokkaido, so it sounds a bit ridiculous. Well, I'm not an expert in it at all, so I might be wrong.

There was only on clerk. He received orders, cooked, and helped me pay. Tight as the space was, I could feel at home. The lighting was not too bright, nor too dim, and the interior was a bit vintage and distinctive with fans decorated here and there. The price was just about the average, I guess. It starts from 900 Yens.

I ordered a chicken curry with Jumbo Shrimp (大海老), and the pungency was like 4 out of 10. There was warning that from the step 4, it might be very hot. But that's for Japanese people who don't usually enjoy spicy foods, and I'm a Korean who often enjoys them like others. It was not too hot, nor too soft. And, to borrow from a Korean expression, it was cool (even though the taste itself is 'hot', at some point, it feels 'cool', ironically. Same can be applied for bathwater.). 

The shrimp topping was expensive, so I had to add 350 Yens, which made the total 1250 Yens. But it was not at all expensive I felt. So satisfying was the meal. :D

On the way back to my dorm, I bought some snacks for tonight and tomorrow. I have much to read for class next week... so it's necessary. The chips are same as that from yesterday, but I wanted to try some different drinks. Today, I drank the milk tea with tapioca, and was deeply disappointed. How can a milk tea taste like protein supplements? But Caramel Corn was still awesome. 

Now I gotta continue reading Marx. I never thought I'd read Marx on my own, but things went that way. I was supposed to read a 17-page guide on Marx's Capital, I guess. Naja, it's good to read a classic.