Week 28

Despite being a terribly hot week here in Osaka I still managed to have some fun while not getting sun-burned.

Last Tuesday I woke up with the desire to go out exploring and the idea that I hadn't yet been to Kyoto's Eiga-mura (Movie-village). I got to JR Kyoto station with relative ease and decided to walk across town to the small street-car terminus that led the rest of the way to Eiga-mura. In the "it seemed like a good idea at the time" category, I underestimated the unrelenting force of the sun bearing down on me and by the time I arrived outside my destination I had no energy left to go inside (also the entry fee of 3,000yen was a bit steep). Instead I turned around and took the closest train back to Osaka. I disembarked at Osaka Station and took a look around the newly opened Osaka Station Plaza. The 'North building' is really nice and includes several roof-top gardens with spectacular views of the North side of Osaka. I also stopped by Osaka's newest Krispy-Kreme doughnut shop in the basement but in the grand tradition of such new shops in Osaka there was an hour wait to get in so I grabbed a bagel at the empty shop across the way instead.

Wednesday was a laundry/clean the house day but as I got all my chores done before noon I went and practiced karaoke for a few hours in the afternoon before coming home and watching movies the rest of the day. My electric bill is gonna be pretty high from all the AC I'm using this month, but it's worth it. (I've also discovered that my apartment is a heat-trap that is routinely 3-5 degrees C above the outside temperature.)

The work week went pretty well with a day of rain cooling things down on Thursday. I received my first 'observation' of the year yesterday and got generally good feedback. It's always nice to hear, "You're doing a good job, keep it up."

In a rare alignment of calendars I got to see my girlfriend twice this week. Friday we met up, ordered a pizza, and watched an old Studio Ghibli movie. Saturday we went over to two of our friends' apartment for dinner. My girlfriend, one of our friends, and I recently celebrated our birthdays. In addition the two friends recently go married, so we had a general celebratory dinner party. The food was outstanding with spare-ribs in a soy-sauce based sauce and some sort of mushroom and pasta-gratin. Much merriment was had by all.

Looking forward this week: I may-or-may-not go see a baseball game tomorrow depending on if a friend can get an extra ticket. A new Studio Ghibli movie comes out this weekend (which I'm excited for.) And next Monday is the first national holiday in almost two months and will be a much needed respit from my terribly hard-driving schedule.