supa

The other I went on a mission via my bike. We’re having a beach barbecue on Saturday and I want to bring something that’s somewhat American. The trouble is this: my main area of expertise (??) in American cooking falls more in the baking category. Ever since childhood I’ve been making cookies, brownies, and the like. Here in my apartment there is no oven, so all week I’ve been searching for no-bake recipes. I found about six and listed ALL the possible ingredient options, knowing it could be quite a challenge to find them. Thus my bike mission took me a bit further out of town, to the shopping plaza with a “foreign foods store” [it apparently sells mostly booze] and a slightly bigger supermarket. I quickly dismissed the foreign food store b/c

A. I was afraid I would be a spectacle in the small room (grocery stores feel much less obtrusive), and
B. One glance in the store confirmed what I had been told and I was afraid to walk out of the store having searched but found nothing to purchase, since none of the recipes I found required Jack Daniels.

Thus I wandered the aisles of MaxValue grocery store for about 20 minutes without puting a single item in my basket. What I guess would be considered the baking aisle had only about 5 things I recognized. Flour, salt, and sugar were available in huge quantities… but what about cocoa? Or chocolate chips? Oatmeal, maybe? None to be found… as I was about to settle for milk chocolate candies (chocolate is chocolate; it’s all getting melted down regardless of formJ), I found a box of cocoa. Victory!! What a completely unreal experience; I have never in my life gone into a grocery store and been unable to find a single thing I wanted. I couldn’t even really ask anyone for assistance since I wouldn’t be able to understand their response, even if I knew the Japanese words for the items on my list…

I rode home, cruising down this huge hill. I could see a completely gorgeous, star-filled sky everywhere I looked. It was a great reminder that this new, sometimes scary and overwhelming experience is a source of joy, excitement, and adventure, despite my grocery store conundrums!!*

I have avoided watching much tv here; I never watch tv in the states anyway, and I feel like I hear enough Japanese at work and it would be frustrating to hear even more. I flipped through channels this afternoon and caught glimpse of an American playing ping-pong on the CNN channel. I paused, thinking I might hear a tiny bit of English! Wouldn’t you know- they had a Japanese voice over so the English was drowned out completely! I guess that makes sense in theory [after all, I AM in Japan], but it drove me nuts. I would never have thought these little things would make such a big difference in how I view my daily life…

Lately I have been desperate to hear the voice of someone I love. There are plenty of English speakers here; and plenty of people whose voices I genuinely like. It’s just not the same, though, as I’m used to talking with my top 10 people on a regular basis. The lack of internet apparently drains me more than I realized… I’ll have to settle for emails and facebook messages at least till August 27^th (that’s when the company is allegedly coming to hook up my high-speed connection). Big shout-out of thanks to my parents for responding to my request for an international phone call!

Anyway, thanks for reading. I am always up for comments/ questions/ suggestions/ etc. so please send an email if you have any feedback. [nelson.kelly.ann@gmail.com] *LOVE.LOVE.LOVE.LOVE*

[original BRAND maybe?!?!]

[i think the hope is that by wearing enthusiastic, happy, excited diapers, the children will grow up to be genki in all aspects of life :)]
[looking for those advantageous angles~!!!!]
[train station and my apartment in the background-- the tallest building you can see]