My new pad...

Hi all.

Here are a few shots of my new apartment. Its about 10ft and about 30 ft long. I am on the third floor with a south facing window. I am about 1.5 miles from my office and I have a 7/11 just down the block. If you know Japan you know that at least every fairly busy street corner has a convenience store. And trust me, they are convenient. I just went down and bought an ice cream - green tea flavor and some minutes for my cell phone.

I thought I might sit down tonight to jot down a few words. We’ll see how it goes. I made some pasta puttanesca tonight. Anchovies are easy to find here, and I thought capers might be tough, but they seem to be in every supermarket. My lab mates found out I like cooking a bit and took me to かろっと or carrot supermarket - a mix of Japan and international cuisine. Interesting to see what you can find here. Surprisingly, there is a lot. I have a bottle of Cholula on my counter top; however, the right beans are tough to find and I will be making my own tortillas here soon. But, for the most part I can eat what I do at home. Although it takes me three times the amount of time in the supermarket translating the labels. Well not always, my Japanese is not that good that I understand what I am buying. Soon I hope, soon. Speaking of, I was there tonight, a supermarket and a ひゃくぇん store - the dollar mart. Amazing what you can find there. Seems as if necessary and unnecessary little plastic items are cheap; fresh produce is what is expensive. China is close and flat land far away.

So I’ve bored you with a few ideas of cooking and shopping, but maybe this says it all. This is where I am at – the day to day. I want the independence that understanding provides. I want to know where the grocery store is located, where the best and cheapest apples can be found, and how to ask for a measuring cup for rice. That was my challenge for the evening. I did it by the way yet I did not need to utter a misprounced word of にほんご。Plus, the kind woman at the counter spoke faultless English. She asked me my address, and I drew a blank. “You should know your address in にほんご。” She's right. I do know though. It’s rare to find someone in Japan at the supermarket that speaks English like she does. So, I had to ask. She lived in London for some time, and this is what moved me to relay this story, she said to me, “life happened and I find myself at this store checking groceries.” There’s a story there I hope to know, with time. When I return to スパーアクス (Super Arcs) I will select her register. Without her I would not have found out how to get a members card and a gift for using a cloth bag after 10 uses. For me, it’s who you know, ‘cause you don’t know.

Oh darn, I was suppose to write about my apartment and the photos I have taken so far, of which there are not that many. That will just have to wait, I am tired and I need to post this thin gruel before it's too late.