Lots of things

I finally have some time to just chill. I started volunteering at Yadoya guest house this week and my training has been taking up the majority of my time. But I shall now do my best to recount my steps.

Last Saturday, I went to a jazz festival and a famous Japanese woman performed. I can't remember her name, but her English was flawless and she spoke it with a British accent. The matsuri was in Nakano, but I think it was around Namabukuro station.

I haven't been using the AC as much - it's either cooled off or I've gotten used to it. I'm thinking that I've gotten used to it, at least partially. Sweating doesn't seem to burn my face as much as it used to.

Sunday, I picked up my bicycle. I had to ride it from near Oshiage Station to Nakano. It was only 9 miles, but it was around 36C (97F) that day and humid as hell, so it took me about 2.75 hours. I had to walk up the hills because I had heavy stuff in the baskets and I was using large roads - which have lots of shops and are therefore crowded at any time of the week. There were also several festivals I had to bike/walk through. I took only one real break, for 5 minutes, to cool down and eat ice cream.

Tomorrow is my second orientation. It's supposed to be about general life in Japan, so it may be stuff I already know, but it got me a day to do my laundry as well. I plan on using a laundromat so I don't have to wait for my clothes to dry - jeans can take hours.

 In order to save money, I have switched to cash. I'll use credit as a reserve - it's not as cheap, but it helps me keep track of my spending much better...which keeps me on budget. Even living out of a konbini, I can make it on just 1000 yen a day. This is especially important because the exchange rate is getting worse - by a lot. I think I'm going to try to save more money so I can go places.

Today, there was a matsuri (festival) in my neighborhood. I biked past it on my way home from volunteering - it was only 5 minutes from my house. I had seen them cleaning up the park and building the stage this past week, but I hadn't seen any fliers saying when or what it was. I'll upload a video when I get some free time. It may be as early as tomorrow.

I won't go into details, but today something happened to me that could be quite serious. I'm not sure what the outcome will be, but I'm going to talk it over with someone to see what course of action I should take. I'm perfectly okay and no physical harm has come to me, but it could be...nasty.