Monday, October 15, 2012

There are many things I thought I couldn’t live without.  I was wrong!

A dishwasher- A large stainless steel sink, a blue plastic bowl, a scrubbie, and a dish drainer work just fine.  Luckily, we don’t have that many dishes to wash any way!

  An electric mixer- A wire whisk works!  I needed to make whipped cream for banana cream pie the other day and I didn’t have and electric mixer, so I got out a big bowl and started to whip the cream.  I whipped a minute with my right hand, then a minute with my left and after switching back and forth for 7 minutes, voila! Whipped cream!  It wasn’t easy, but it worked!

Large cookie sheets-They wouldn’t fit in my little microwave/toaster/oven anyway!  I made cinnamon rolls early this morning.  I just had to bake them in four different batches in my glass 8 x 8 and my pie tin.  I had to do the same thing with the cookies I made last week.

TV-I definitely thought I couldn’t live without this.  I had a hard time for even a week here and there when I gave my students the “Turn Off the TV” challenge, but I have proven that I can get along without TV just fine.  We listen to music on my MP3 player and read a lot of books on our Kindles.

Washing Machine-This is probably the thing I miss the most.  I have to do the laundry in the bath tub.  First I fill up the tub with a little hot water and soap, and then I add the dirty clothes.  Then I get in and stomp around on them for about 5 minutes.  Then I rinse them and wring them out.  The wringing out is the hardest part!  Then I hang them on the line outside to dry.  I would take a picture of this process, but I am trying to keep this blog G-Rated!

Car-After walking to two grocery stores and a fruit stand my feet were starting to ache.  I asked Scott if he could go get the car to drive me home.  He said as soon as he got a car he would come and get me.  I decided that I would be standing there a long time, so I just walked home with him.  It’s good exercise and it makes it possible for me to keep eating all the good desserts I keep making!

 Here is a picture of our apato from the front side.  We are on the third floor, last apartment on the right!

This is the sign stating that we live in Eki Mae House 3.  You can read that right!  Especially the 3 part!

Eki means train station and Mae means in front of.

Our apartment from the side.

 A rice field ready to harvested!

 Our Sunday afternoon walk through the forest down by the beach.

A tree with enormous fruit!  Too bad they aren't ripe yet!