Japanese "Serendipity" - A Pony From A Gourd? セレンディピティは「瓢箪から駒」？

Japanese follows English.　英語の後に日本語が続きます。

This is an example of serendipity or "a pony coming from a gourd (瓢箪から駒; Hyotan kara koma)," a Japanese saying!

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Last Saturday I went to a hospital early morning for a regular health check up. As the hospital is a university hospital, it’s always crowded and so the test usually takes about two hours, one and half of which are waiting time. That day, I put my laptop into a backpack, planning to write blog posts at a coffee shop after the check up. The test finished at around 10:30 a.m. and it was at about 11:00 a.m. I arrived at my favorite coffee shop, finding that the wifi service there was unavailable, which meant I couldn't write there.

Having got up early, taken blood and other tests, and carried my laptop around in the rain only to find the destination useless, exhausted me. I even went to another coffee shop, asking if I could use their wifi service for free, but just found again that they only give free wifi service to a specified carrier's users. I trudged home and took a nap.

It was 3 p.m. I was woken up by my husband and asked where we would have dinner. Fully recharged, I was starving and wanted to eat something good, like tapas-style small dishes with wine! So we went to Kirin City at the Tokyo Station.

Kirin City is a Japanese restaurant chain of the Kirin Brewery group. So, it's natural for them to serve a variety of tasty beer, but they have nice wine, too. As a non-beer drinker because it's bitter, at the restaurant, I always enjoy wine and their monthly changing dishes ranging from pickles, nuts and salad to sausages, grilled beef, ajillo, pasta and pizza!

At around 6 p.m., we finished a bottle of red wine, making me feel so good and happy, but at the same time feel something was missing, something that fills not my stomach, but my heart... Yes, art! And luckily, Tokyo National Museum, usually closed at 5 p.m., was still open until 9 p.m. that day!!! (For how much I enjoyed the night museum, read this!)

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This means:
(1) If I hadn't bring my laptop to the hospital, I would've written and had dinner at home. I wouldn't have gone to the museum;
(2) If wifi at the coffee shop had been available, I would've been there for at least three hours, had dinner at a nearby restaurant, and walked back home; or
(3) If the museum had been closed, needless to say we would have gone straight back home.

Because I'd carried my laptop around with me, taken a health check up and been exhausted, and wifi connection had been unavailable, I ended up taking rest at home, fully recharged, eating dinner near the Tokyo Station, visiting a nearby museum, and ultimately encountering beautiful Chinese lute and mirror and other treasures. (Click here for the lute and here for the mirror!)

It's like "a pony coming from a gourd (瓢箪から駒; Hyotan kara koma)" or the occurrence of an unplanned fortunate discovery or SERENDIPITY!!

東京駅八重地下で夕飯食べて上野公園と東京国立博物館を楽しんだことは先日書いた通りですが、実はその日は大変でした｡｡｡

朝から病院で検査検査。しかもカフェでブログ書こうと思って雨の中PC持って出たのに、肝心のカフェがWifiトラブルで結局帰宅するはめに｡｡｡ もうへとへとでいつの間にかお昼寝してました。でもそのおかげで回復し、東京駅八重地下キリンシティで飲んで食べて、急に「芸術の秋」に目覚め、東京国立博物館の正倉院展を楽しもうってことに！

瓢箪から駒？ Serendipity? うん、そういうことにしとこ～（笑）。単語しっかり覚えました。