Call Me Maybe

I like that song: “Call Me Maybe” by Carly Rae Jepsen (2012).
It’s a cute song.

The meaning of the title is like, “If it’s okay with you, call me!”

But I had misunderstood the title.
I thought it meant “Call me, baby” for a long time.
Oh…

“Call me maybe!”
→ Call me… maybe…?
→ Never call me!!!!

Actually, my husband hasn’t called me since he left São Paulo.

Are you serious? One week has already passed!

What a mess!! There is his beautiful wife alone in Gotham City, lol.

By the way, he has AirTags for his suitcases.

That means I can find his location on the app easily.
However, I don’t want to check it.
I want to keep our boundaries and respect his privacy.

If I found his location in Kinshi-cho or Kabuki-cho,
I would suspect him of cheating…

My favorite proverb: Ignorance is bliss.

カーリー・レイ・ジェプセンのCall Me Maybeをよく走ってる時に聞きます。

可愛いですよね〜

気が向いたら連絡してね！って意味です。今知りました・・

ずっとコールミーベイベーだと思ってた。

連絡してね！

連絡してね！！

連絡してこねー怒

日本に一時帰国した夫から

一切合切の電話がありません

可愛い女房がこんな危険な街に一人で暮らしてるといふのにw

ふと思ったんだけど

夫ってエアタグ持ってるんです（もちろん合意で情報共有してる）

だもんで「探す」アプリで夫の居場所は一発で分かるんですが

トーコさんいくら夫婦とはいえそういうの見るのダメなんですよね。。

プライバシーはお互い極限まで守りたいタイプ。

追記　東京　特に新宿の夜景が一番好きです。

イカの季節

São Paulo está na melhor temporada de lula agora.
Não perca!!

É uma ótima oportunidade para comer lula de alta qualidade, igual à do Japão.

Comprei bastante, embalei e guardei no freezer.

Falando em filme plástico, a qualidade no Brasil não é muito boa…

Isso é um problema comum entre japoneses que vivem no exterior.

A gente sente muita falta do filme plástico japonês, como o Saran Wrap e o Kure Wrap.

A qualidade do filme plástico japonês é incrível.
É resistente e fácil de usar.

Sempre que uso o tipo brasileiro, eu fico estressada.
Me dá muita irritação!!

Às vezes, outros expatriados me davam filme plástico japonês quando voltavam para o Japão.

Fiquei muito feliz.

Pensei: “Tem certeza? Isso é um verdadeiro tesouro! Você é muito generoso(a)!”

Hmm… acho que eu também estava meio exagerada!!

（英文はこちら↓）

São Paulo is in the best season for squid right now.
Don’t miss it!!

It’s a great opportunity to eat high-quality squid, just like the ones in Japan.

I bought a lot of it, wrapped it, and stored it in the freezer.

Speaking of plastic wrap, the quality in Brazil is not very good…

That’s a common issue among Japanese people living abroad.

We really miss Japanese wrap, like Saran Wrap and Kure Wrap.

The quality of Japanese wrap is incredible.
It’s durable and easy to use.

Whenever I use the Brazilian kind, I get stressed out.
It drives me crazy!!

Sometimes, expats gave me Japanese wrap when they moved back to Japan.

I was really glad.

I thought, “Are you sure? This is such a treasure! You’re so generous!”

Hmm… I guess I was kind of crazy too!!

サンパウロで日本のイカと同じくらい厚みがあって美味しいイカが食べらる時期が今（だと思う！）

３月とか４月かな？

多めに買って

ラップして冷凍保存。

ラップ・・・

海外に住む日本人なら

誰もが頭を悩ませるサランラップ問題です。

日本のクレラップとかサランラップって素晴らしいですよね。

厚みがあってサッと切れて。

サンパウロのラップなんて

使った瞬間から「お前はもう死んでいる」レベルでグダグダになるんですよね。。

日本の駐在員さんが本帰国する時に

お下がりでもらえたら嬉しいものがサランラップですもの

「いいのかい？そんなお宝を頂いてしまって！！」レベルです。

追記

AIに私の書いた英文をポルトガル語に変換してもらいました。

３ヶ国語話せたら素晴らしいのになあ〜っていつも思っています。

世界は広い、でも決して遠くはない。

I missed the exit at the station.

The São Paulo metro isn’t that difficult.
It’s easy to ride and transfer.

Personally, I find the Tokyo metro complex.
Especially at Yotsuya Station and Tokyo Station.
I think both are really hard for foreigners to find the right exit.

Thinking back, there were a lot of tourists from all over the world on the train (from Shinjuku to Tokyo).

Fun fact: I once stayed in a serviced apartment in Shinjuku for a month when I temporarily moved back to Tokyo.

That apartment was mostly for foreigners (not only foreigners, but mostly).
My neighbors were all foreigners, even though I was in Tokyo… my brain was confused. lol

By the way, I haven’t seen many tourists on the São Paulo metro.
Do most tourists use Uber instead?

Of course, I know São Paulo’s public transport is not as safe as Tokyo’s.
Tourists might be concerned about that.

In fact, the company my husband works for doesn’t recommend that we use public transport because of safety issues.

I ran into a funny man from Japan at a fancy restaurant two weeks ago.

He really stood out because of his clothes.
He was wearing a “hachimaki” on his head.

He managed to order coffee in English.

My husband asked him, “Can you order coffee?”
He was really surprised and said, “Wow, are you Japanese?!”

Of course, we felt the same way.

For him, this was his first trip to Latin America.

He was almost 70, but he was really tough.
He liked traveling to many countries using local trains and buses.

That’s cool.

The world is vast.
But it’s not that far. You can go anywhere you want.

I said to him, “Welcome to Brazil, and good luck!”

久しぶりに最寄駅じゃない駅で降りたので出口を間違える。

あれ？

トーコさん駅の出口を間違えやすいんですよね笑

東京駅とか難易度高いよね。外国の人は難しいのでは？

東京の電車に乗ると

特に新宿〜東京は本当に外国人ばっかりだなあって思います。

外国から日本に帰ってきたのに

いつも使う新宿のアパートは右も左も上も下も外国人だったりするので

ちょっと脳がバグる笑

ここは何処？みたいに。

サンパウロの地下鉄ってあんまり外国人観光客乗ってるイメージないんです。

みんな移動はタクシーなのかな？

やっぱ「サンパウロ＝危ない」っていう刷り込みというか・・・

まあ刷り込みじゃなくて本気で危ない時もあるから正解です。

追記

NYCのメトロの方がぱっと見の治安の悪さと汚さは上だと思う。

サンパウロのメトロ、綺麗です。

ブラジル生活でどうしても慣れない事

As I was about to take a bath yesterday, I realized there was a water outage.

Wow… Damn it!!

Power outages, water outages…
Unfortunately, that kind of thing is quite common here.

It is what it is.
I used baby wipes to clean my body and went to bed feeling uncomfortable.

On the other hand, my husband is enjoying the hot springs in Japan.
He’s staying at a fancy hotel near the ocean.

Wow… what a difference between heaven and hell!
Of course, I’m in hell lol.

By the way, I really miss the Japanese bathing system.

In most cases, bathrooms in Brazil are not separated into different spaces for the shower (or bathtub) and the toilet.

That style isn’t very popular among Japanese people.

I’ve gotten used to it because I’ve been living abroad for about seven years.
I’ve accepted it.

However, there’s one thing I still can’t get used to — the toilet system in Brazil.

Actually, you can’t flush toilet paper here.
So we have to throw used toilet paper in the trash.

I hate that… It doesn’t feel hygienic.

I think the water infrastructure here is quite old and underdeveloped.

Even though the Brazilian government collects a lot of taxes from citizens,
why is that? Where is the money going?

I think the reason the infrastructure isn’t well developed is political corruption.

I hope this country has a better future.
But honestly, I don’t think the situation has improved much over the past 20 years.

昨日

さーお風呂入って寝るか！と思って

蛇口を捻ったら

まさかの断水w

ひとりだし気がつかなかった。

うわーマジか・・

サンパウロは停電、断水このあたりは

フツーにあります。

しょうがないので赤ちゃんのお尻拭きシートで体を拭いて

そのまま寝ることに。

一方で日本にいる１２時間の時差のある夫から

ピロピロリーン

日本海を眺めながら高級旅館で温泉に入ってる模様。

まさに天国と地獄！

日本のお風呂が恋しい。追い焚きとか神。

ユニットバス生活はなれたけど（アメリカもそうでした）

どうしても慣れないのが

なんと ブラジルはトイレの紙が流せないの！

横の小さなゴミ箱にいれるのが本当に嫌！！！

未知との遭遇ぅ その②

Today is market day!

I went to the vegetable shop again.

My favorite staff member recommended some beans to me today.

They looked like a fancy toy.

Their color was a vibrant pink!

What are these?

I had never seen them when I lived in Japan.

She showed me the inside of the pods.

There were beautiful pink beans inside.

Wow, amazing!

I asked her, “How should I cook them? Like edamame?”

She said, “Okay, madam, I’ll ask someone about it.”

I thought she was going to ask Sergio, the shop owner.

But surprisingly, she asked another customer who looked local.

According to that kind customer,

“It takes 3–4 minutes to boil them.”

Just in case, I asked Sergio the same question.

He said, “It takes 10 minutes.”

Hmm…

I googled it, and it said, “It takes over 15 minutes.”

It also said that if you eat them raw, you could get food poisoning.

Finally, I asked ChatGPT.

It said, “It takes 30 minutes to boil them.”

Are you sure? That’s too long!

Hmm…

Which one should I follow?

I’m struggling!

(Side story)

In the end, I boiled them for 20 minutes.

They were nice and had a great texture.

I made a carrot salad with the beans.

The seasoning was simple.

First, I added olive oil, then salt, vinegar, a little grated garlic, and herbs.

I appreciate the shop staff every time.

They’ve changed my boring daily menu.

Thank you!

さー

今日も今日とて

タニマチが八百屋に来ましたよ〜

さっそく件の店員さんがですね

「トーコさん！！おはよう！　今日はこの豆よ！！」

っていうじゃな〜い

うわあ難易度高ーい

つーか

このピンクなに？

これ時々見るけど食べられるの？って思ってた豆を

今日は推してきます。

なんなら片手に花束をもってきてくれて

トーコさんのことが好きすぎて、歓迎かな？って思ったら

「今日は紫蘇の花もあるから！！！」って。

ありがとう。。

紫蘇の花、、あ、でも醤油漬けにすればいいのか！

じゃなくて

豆ね。

「これ、、枝豆と同じように茹でればいいのかな？」って聞いたら

「聞いてくるね！！！」とダッシュ

あれ？セルジオ（店主）に聞くんじゃないのかな？と

聞いた先は

まさかの

お客人！！！！

ローカルのブラジル人女性が丁寧に教えてくれたみたいで

「３、4分茹でればいいよ」とのこと。

ちなみにセルジオは「10分茹でるんだよ」

ネットは「15分煮ないと中毒になるよ」

Chat GPT 「30分茹でるよ」

さー

詰んだぞ、おいw