Epic fails and exploring

It's Sunday night now, and I'll getting ready for bed.  It's only 10PM, but I'm actually quite tired.  I walked around A LOT today exploring the town.

Mass time by myself- You remember when you were little and you "played church"?  Surely I'm not the only person that did!  Well, that's how it felt this morning.  Since I can't physically go to church, I want to get in the routine of devoting an hour each Sunday to "Mass time."  I woke up around 8AM, so I decided that I would "go" to church when I normally do back home, at 9AM.  I got dressed for church just like I would back home and got on my laptop to read the Sunday readings and Liturgy of the Hours.  It felt weird to just read out loud to myself.  Any interesting ideas on how to jazz up my "Mass time" to make it seem more real?

Epic fail- I washed clothes today.....well, kinda.  Despite the fact that I know how to operate appliances, cook, and wash clothes, it's almost like starting over since everything is in Japanese.  After a few unsuccessful attempts at starting the washing machine, I finally got it to begin washing.  Yay!  However, about 15-20 minutes later, it beeped like it was finished.  I knew there was no way it could be done, so I went to check on it.  When I lifted the cover, I saw my clothes in standing water.  :(  I pushed a few more buttons, and the water drained.  However, the machine never went through a spin cycle, so I had to wring each item.  The next thing to do was figuring out how to dry my clothes.  It's soooooooooooooooooooooooo humid here, so getting anything dry is next to impossible.  Luckily, it's very breezy.  I decided to place my shirts on hangers and put them on my clothes line outside.  Two problems: 1) Yunomae's weather has been schizophrenic the past couple of days.  It's sunny, cloudy, rainy, cloudy, rain shower, sun out, cloudy, rain, rain.  Just when I thought my shirts were getting good and dry, it would rain.  2) My clothes kept blowing off the line.  I'd have to go outside every once in a while and pick up shirts off the ground and try again.  Epic fail.

Exploring- I was able to walk around A LOT today.  I left the house around 11AM in search of my host family's house and the supermarket.  Luckily, I found the supermarket easily and quickly.  It was like finding the holy grail!  It's not too far from my house, and I can easily walk or bike there.  I want to find my host family's house for two reasons: 1) I need to give them their gift for allowing me to stay there my first night.  I couldn't give them anything when I stayed with them because all of my omiyage gifts were in my checked luggage, which i didn't receive until Thursday afternoon.  2) One of my friends that teaches religion classes was interested in showing and telling her students about my experience at the Buddhist temple.  I wanted to walk back to the temple and get pictures of the inside.  I walked and walked and walked today.  Apparently, I walked in the wrong direction because I never found it.  I know it's on the hillside.......but there are a lot of hillsides here.  :)  I actually really enjoyed the walk because people see that I'm getting out and about in town, and it allows me to find things, such as the super market!  My mission for this week: find host family's house and Buddhist temple.

Cooking and cleaning- I made my first cooked meal today.  Once again, appliances are in Japanese.  I don't understand.  :S  I wasn't sure about the gas stove, either.  I tried to use it yesterday, but the flame never came on, and since it's gas, I was very concerned about screwing up and blowing up, lol.  Ian was able to show me what to do via skype.  (I heart skype.)  It wasn't much, but I made ramen noodles and added boiled vegetables and fish.  Tonight, I cleaned up a bit.  I didn't have to do much since I usually don't leave big messes.  I washed the dishes and swept the floors.  I miss my roomba that would clean the floors for me.  :(

COKE- I celebrated my first successful week in Japan by drinking my big 500 ml can of Coke.  It was a happy little celebration for myself.  :)

That's all for now.  For those of you reading this in America, please eat a big, fat, greasy burger for me.
-Melissa-