Peanut Cream

Peanut cream: a food as disgusting as it sounds, I made a horrible and rookie mistake last night in the super market when I was trying to buy peanut butter to make a simple sandwich for lunch today. My father will be ecstatic to know that I recently devised a budget for myself, and thus am in a state of hyper-awareness regarding where I can find the best deal (a trait my mother can relate to haha). So, last night I was carefully combing through the super market, trying to make the most economically logical purchases possible. I knew I wanted to bring sandwiches with me to work, but as cheese and lunch meats are basically non-existent, I thought the old American standard, peanut butter, would have to do the trick. I meandered over to the sandwich spread aisle and am horrified at how expensive a jar of skippy peanut butter is. So my eyes wander and I see what I am sure is a Japanese off-brand of the American version (mistake number 1: Japanese people don’t eat peanut butter, why would they make a cheaper version to compete with the import?). I do a few calculations and realize that two jars of the Japanese brand is the same price and the same quantity as one of the Skippy brand. I felt a bit smug walking away with such a great deal.

Two hours later I decide to give my find a little taste. As I open the packaging I realize immediately that something is terribly wrong. The shine is wrong. The way the paste lays in the container is wrong. Uhoh. So I give it a little taste. Ufda しっぱいした! (complete failure!) I look at the packaging and realize I didn’t read it carefully enough- I bought peanut CREAM, a sweet, plasticy filling for some pastries or for Japanese people who don’t know the difference. At first I though I would try and stick with my purchase- I paid good money for TWO containers, after all. So, today at lunch I will be eating a peanut cream and banana sandwich. Wish me luck. Ugh, such a rookie mistake- I’ve been here too long now to tolerate such carelessness with label-reading!

Haha other than my wild adventures in price comparison, the week has been good. Abbey and I had dinner last night with two new friends of ours and we are planning to camp with them and their friends in October on one of the islands. There is a big marathon there during that time, so there will lots going on and lots to do and see.  Yesterday I also attended my first Japanese fire drill. It was the first time I have ever seen something actually lit on fire during a fire DRILL. Once all the students were evacuated from the building and were in the schoolyard, the teachers lit a barrel with oil in it on fire. Then another teacher clumsily extinguished it with a fire extinguisher. It seemed really unnecessarily dangerous and a bit dramatic, but it made my day more exciting!