Preparing for the semester has been a bit challenging. I only had one of the three books I assigned for my course, and the book co-op only had one of the books—the one I had brought with me. I didn’t have a schedule to tell me the holidays, an orientation, or a faculty guidebook. This week, little by little, everything got worked out. One of the books came in the one box of books we have received, and the coop got the other one in, so I could purchase another copy. Do not ask me why I mailed the books instead of carrying them with me!! Honestly, I though mailing books in July would be plenty early. The new media rate the post office has is cheaper, but definitely slower! We have gotten a box of clothes we mailed from Seattle, about five weeks AFTER we mailed books from Galesburg. Anyway, the syllabus was done before 6:00 tonight; I am all prepared for Friday and Tuesday next week, and I am looking forward to teaching the course. And I have all three books!
Some of the trials and tribulations have not yet been worked out, but we have made progress. I do not have an ID yet, so I can only read material at the library. The ID will be 3-weeks in coming, so I am running a little low on patience related to library use. I would have liked to have used it weeks ago!
We also have yet to get our wireless Internet connection at the apartment. We are very happy to have DSL, but only one of us can use the Internet at a time. Since we have been in Tokyo, we have been trying to work out the kinks. The good news is that Japan Study is going to pay for our DSL each month, but the bad news is that it will be at least one more week before the wireless will be connected because we still do not have the account number or the password to allow us to connect the hub. David had a wireless hub sent to Tina and Lorrin, and one of them graciously sent it to us, so David would have instructions in English.
David is working away each day at learning to read labels! He started with food labels, and he is quite good (although not speedy) at reading labels. He has now moved on to other items. Tonight he bought bleach (a diluted variety) and drain cleaner. (Japanese drains are not made to handle hair like David’s and mine—too long and too much of it!)
The temperature is lower these days, too. We still don’t need jackets when we go out, but sleeveless shirts are not quite enough on some evenings. We actually stopped using the air conditioner a week or so ago and now even need a thin blanket at night.
Glad you’ve finally gotten your books, Mom! Sorry about the ID–so frustrating I’m sure.
It’s funny–a year ago wireless internet access seemed like such an extravagance, and now it seems indispensable!
Can’t wait to see you guys soon at Nippori station!
Yeah, wireless is pretty key — as I sit in class during break reading my email and reading my parent’s blog! I also typed an in-class writing instead of writing it on paper, and will email it immediately to my professor! Pretty neat! 😉