It all evens out.

We signed up for Skype's "call one country as much as you want for $6/month" plan, and got to pick a phone number. It's cool that that's offered (we can also receive calls, but only when we're logged in to the program), and it's even better because there is no delay and the sound quality is better than your average international phone call. Or maybe it just sounds that way on an iPhone, I don't know.

The hilarious part is that my user name shows up on caller ID instead of my real name. I don't have a good handle on who's reading this blog consistently, but if you don't know me that well, my user names have historically been absolutely nothing like anybody's real name.


People keep asking us how expensive Tokyo is. It's all relative. If you live in a small town in the midwest, it's freaking expensive. But then, we lived in the DC area before we came here, and it's pretty comparable. Some things are less expensive, some things are more. Example: A beer in a restaurant might run you $5, but you can get fresh sushi for $2. As far as I'm concerned, it evens out. The random street vending machines vary, but it's typically about $1.25-1.50 for a can of whatever you want. The cans are smaller than in the states, but they're more convenient, the variety is astonishing, and some of them are even warm (read: almost too hot to touch, but they stay warm for a darned long time). Again, it kind of evens out.

Side note: I've discovered that if my stomach is a little upset, a can of milk tea is exactly what I need. Something about it is both delicious and soothing.


I'm having mixed feelings about eating fish. The decision to start was essential to my survival and will continue to be until I can read labels and learn to identify what is vegetable and what is not (it's a lot harder than you'd think), or at least be able to ask someone and understand the answer.

I'm not able to identify subtle flavors, and most of it falls under my internal categories of "fishy and chewy" or "fishy and squishy." Pureed tuna is kind of delicious, at least accompanied by vegetables in maki (the kind of sushi with seaweed around the outside), but I don't get the big deal about scallops.

You know that feeling you get when you're about to jump off a ledge that's just a little higher than you'd like? Where you just have to take a deep breath and do it? That's the feeling I get every time I eat fish.


Today's project - researching real estate, contacting agents and agencies, and looking into home loans. Evidently not a lot of people buy houses and those that do have married a Japanese citizen and at least one of them speaks/reads Japanese. We're charting new territory here.

I hate to make a post without pictures, and I was going to share something from the Florida trip that I hadn't gotten to yet, but I can't figure out where I put that thumb drive. Another time.