Back to Work!

Golden Week is over now, and I went back to work for a whole two days before my weekend rolled around.  Friday and Saturday were both very light days, with a total of four classes between them, so mostly I spent a lot of time preparing for next week's lessons.  I'm not going to turn down paid days off, but it will be easier to get a flow going when I start working full weeks.

I spent a lot of time during Golden Week exploring all the stores in my area to find things to make my apartment more comfortable, notably the kitchen.  I've been able to do a lot of cooking, which is a challenge in my little kitchen, but it has been a good way to have some food other than Japanese food.  It's also a lot cheaper than going out to eat all the time, obviously enough!  I bought a lot of noodles and brown rice in bulk, and so far I've cooked Italian, Thai, Indian, and Japanese dishes.

You would not believe how hard it is to find some things, such as measuring cups and a pot holder.  Every store in town sells garam masala, but only one place sells curry powder, and so far I've only found coconut milk at a different store.  I only know one place that sells napkins, but they only come in a package of 12 and I have no need for that many!  I'd like to find a bathroom scale that has both kilogram and pound options, though since I can't read the packaging I don't know if any of them do that.  I may just have to buy a kilogram scale and learn the conversion.

I also walked to everything that looked interesting on Google maps, and got some nice pictures of some beautiful scenery.  Unfortunately, the two main places I wanted to see – the ruins of an old castle and a park – were both closed because of earthquake damage.  I got a lot of exercise, at least, and it got me out of my apartment for a little while.

The Internet connection I'm borrowing here is very spotty, sometimes fantastic and sometimes nonexistent.  I had a 24-hour period where I couldn't get online at all, which was only made more frustrating by the fact that, at any moment, it might start working again.  I'm seriously thinking about getting some sort of smart phone when I get my alien registration card just so that I can at least check my email on a regular basis.  I'm not sure yet if I can afford it, but it would be nice while I wait for a stable connection to be set up, and it would surely have other apps that would be very useful here.

I did take advantage of some of my free time last week to record a video tour of my apartment using my new camera.  It may be quite a while before I can upload it, though, because at 828 MB there's no way my current connection can handle it.