Experiment #1

Today, I decided to make some food on my own. I call this an experiment as I was afraid of the outcome myself. Now, I know for sure that there is nothing to fear. I could almost buy every single ingredient except for one. Guess what? No, it was not paprika: it was caraway. I was hard pressed to leave paprika out of my recipe but I am pleased to tell you that paprika potato is not out of the scope at all. See the documentation of the result below. Codename: 'Pörkölt and Dumplings'

The miso factory

After waking up at half past nine without any special reason I decided I need to take a rest so I joined the group going to the 八丁味噌 miso factory. It was great decision I have to tell. I took some pictures so that you can see how the miso is made here on Okazaki.

My chair at the dormitory was not very comfy, I really wanted to get a new one. After yesterday's meeting I headed straight to the shop but as the meeting took longer than expected, the furniture shop was already closed by the time I got there. I had more luck today so now I have a new chair.

Apart from watching the latest Stargate Universe episode the only thing planned for today is drinking the sake I bought. I am not familiar with the different kinds of sake so I asked one of my teachers to help me out. I was suggested to by 大吟醸 sake which is supposedly drinkable without heating. I can't wait to open the bottle. The label on the box says: 'A bit above the high', thanks for the translation Sho!

One busy week

This weekend did not have any adventures for me. It seems that I am starting to settle down in my life in Japan. I already have most of the things I need to get by: bank account, mobile phone, work permit and some local knowledge so when I need something I know where to go. The only thing left, is to learn as much Japanese as I possibly can. From now on I will concentrate my efforts to the  preparation for exam of my choice.

The exam is going to take place on December 6. Having slightly more than a moth of time I thought it was necessary to rearrange my timetable. I bought two nice handbooks that will hopefully guide my me through the most problematic parts. The first one contains assessments to measure progress while the second one was picked according to the preliminary results of first. At least now I know that the probability of success is not zero after all. The avatar of the paragraph says: 'to read' which is my weakest skill as of now. I have fairly good listening and speaking skills, but as only listening is present in the test I can only use that one to bias the final outcome.

Do you remember Reiko, who had birthday the week before? After seeing that others were taking pictures as well, I decided to take part in the action instead of the commentary. Luckily, I got hold of the pictures. Many thanks to Pekki! After some struggle with the upload service, it is finally available in Picasa. See for yourself: