The San Diego Chronicles - Day 3: Comics and Katsudon

On time today. That's a good sign.

Today the students got placed into their various classes, and as I suspected, they were divided up between the two lowest levels.

You can only do so much to teach conversation to students, after all.

No activities planned for today, just a free afternoon. One of the students had found mention of a Japanese supermarket in SD, and a bunch of the students planned to go out there. (Geez guys, you're here for 10 days and you're already looking for Japanese food? Sheesh.)

I went along, because I was interested in what this place was like, and I didn't trust those guys not to get lost.

So we hopped on a bus and headed out. After we got off the bus, we managed to wander around lost for about half an hour until we finally found the place. (We were on the wrong side of the highway.)

Quick side note: The International House was really cool, because they provided us with transit passes good for all of the trolleys and all the buses. Of course, this was included in the program fee, so we actually paid for them, but still...

The students went nuts in that supermarket. "Oh look, such-and-such candy!" "Oh look! Such-and-such magazine!" And they were sooooo excited when the girl working the register spoke Japanese to them. Most of them had ramen. I had katsudon,a pork cutlet rice bowl. It was decent.

After that, we caught the bus back to Old Town, and then I hopped on another bus and went to The Comic Gallery, a comic shop recommended to me by former San Diego resident (current Izumo resident) Jason.

I used to be a huge comic book collector, but once I came to Japan on my exchange all those years ago, I lost an entire year's worth of story lines and was unable to follow along once I got back. I pretty much lost interest in buying monthly comics after that. (My focus shifted to trade paperbacks, but that's another story). I still enjoy comics, though, and I figured that San Diego should have an interesting comic book shop or two, so I asked Jason which one he thought I should go to. He sent me there. (They send him a shipment of comics every month.)

Cool little place. I picked up a couple of things and then caught the bus back to Old Town. I walked around, looking for someplace to get dinner. Then I spotted it.

Georgia's Greek Cuisine.

Greek food? Wow! Living in Japan, you forget there are things in the world like Greek food. (I'm not saying that to be rude...it's the truth.)

Well, that decided it. I went in and had a nice meal with a nice bottle of Greek beer. (It wasn't bad...) Then it was on the bus and back up to Hillcrest.

Just for the record, let's take a look at San Diego dining versus Muroran. Hmmm...three nights in SD: sushi, Cajun food (HOB), and Greek food. Muroran? Ummm...yakitori?

I think I like being in San Diego.