Home Improvement Program

Just like how we got to making a home more and more like OUR home when we first got our flat in Singapore, the okusan (wife) is constantly on a Home Improvement Program as she has more free time on her hands.

The little kitchen looks tidier, food ingredients are piling up, buttons are sewed onto curtains to keep them in place, and we're beginning to find structure in rubbish disposal. And guess what ladies and gentlemen, the newest addition to the kitchen is my most prized possession to date of...ta da! A breadmaker! Woohoo.

Right now as I am typing, the latest member of the household is in the process of churning out a chi-zu furansu loaf (cheese french). It's just the sophomore effort after a successful first coffee loaf but I have every confidence in my new member that just set us back by about S$150.

We've also been travelling further with another new member. S$3,300 Daihatsu Mira Gino has taken us to the city's ONLY mall to, of course, shop and purchase Mr Breadmaker, amongst other things. It has also liberated us from the proximity of just kono (this) minimart, sono (that) supermart, ano (that one over there) Daiso, and limited cyclable eateries. We still try to take the faithful bicycles where we can though, as a form of exercise. They were afterall, all we had at the beginning.

School's been routine. From the Hello song, to Story-time, to Toilet time, Sports Day practice, Bento time, Tidy- up time, and when the weather permits, 'Who wants to go outside and play?!'. There has been no proper lessons since term started as they have been practising for their Sports Day, which is a MAJOR event for schools in Japan. They spend the entire month of August rehearsing and practicing for it, even halting daily lessons to run through the drills again and again and again. Wong-sensei's Sports Day is this coming Saturday while mine's gonna be on the following Saturday. Check out the photos in these 2 weeks.

There's every sign that autumn's creeping in (it IS officially autumn). The summer sun's still scorching and relentless in the day, refusing to budge and back off a little but it's setting earlier (though still climbing up as early as 6am) and the use of the fan at night has been redundant since 2 weeks back. As I look forward to cooler days, there's an inner wintry dread. Those long, cold, gloomy days in Shanghai when the sun's already down by the time I set off for home at 6pm. The days of waiting for the bus in the freeze and feeling that I could absolutely die from the icy draft. Even the thought of assorted winter wear and the rare opportunity of putting on my boots again can hardly lift my spirits to welcome winter days and winter nights.

It's been more than a month in Kochi for now and we're still enjoying every bit of it and having fun. Apart from youchien classes in the morning, I'm also teaching English conversational classes to a retired principal and soon, to a current junior high school English teacher. All these makes up time and life here (apart from the income). We've also started Japanese conversational classes every Wednesday to catch up with the angmos around us who seemed to have an easier time picking the language up than us. Ganbaranakerebanaranai!