Bullets... not the metal kind

Oh what busy-ness lately!

So, I'm going to keep this short, because it's been some long days lately, as things are starting to pick up.

1. My roommate is back from Korea! How exciting!! It was nice to see a light on when I got home tonight.

2. I got some packages that I had shipped over here (thanks Mom for mailing them!)... I wasn't at home when they first tried to deliver them, and so they left a note. Yuiko helped call and set up a time for them to deliver it. When I got home that afternoon, I had another note (from the 2nd box)... so when the guy came, I was really excited to receive my package! BUT, what really made my day was the fact that I showed him the other note, told him, IN JAPANESE, that there were two boxes. He offered to come between 7 and 9pm, but I told him that I would be leaving at 7:30, so he said he would come before 7. All this was in Japanese, and I was pretty excited.
Unfortunately: he brought by my roommate's box, who had also had one received. But, he brought it, and that means that I wasn't wrong in my communication, he just brought the one addressed to her instead of to me.

3. Yuiko took me to the doctor so that I could get prescriptions for the medications that I normally take. Let's just say that the health insurance program here rocks. Also, at one point the doctor cracked a joke, saying that for the entire prescription I would pay the equivalent of a good meal here... and the man just kept laughing and laughing. Actually, watching him laugh amused me way more than the joke did.

4. The other night, we had life group at Machida, a station about 15 minutes by train here. We ran by the store to pick up some stuff, and I was the last one to check out. When I came out, there was no one there! Apparently, they were in the store next to it, waiting for me. But I thought they left me. So, I entered the train station, somehow found my gate and everything (which I almost walked past, because nothing looked familiar until something that's somewhat common caught my eye (granted, I've only been here 3 times before, and never in this part, at least that I'm aware of), but I found the train that I needed and made it!! I was kinda proud of myself. Anyhow, they texted me when I was getting on the train asking where I was, and they eventually ran and caught the same express since it didn't leave for a few minutes... though we didn't ride in the same car.

5. There are 18... yes, 18 vending machines between my house and the nearest train station... which is a 10 minute walk away. And those are the ones I counted on bike, not trying to look on the other side of the street. So, there may be more. But, they sell everything from hot and cold coffee, water, tea, sodas, cigarettes and just about anything you can imagine. You will never die of thirst in Japan... unless you don't have money.

6. Tomorrow I have an interview for teaching an English class at a YMCA. I'll be interested to see how that goes.

7. One of the young people, who is becoming a leader and is basically in charge of translating, told me that my Japanese is at a level of being here 2-3 months. I know that doesn't sound like much, but it made me feel good, and it's better than nothing! It'll start picking up more, especially as I hope to be in classes soon!

I think I'll leave that for now, and I hope that I'll be able to blog soon. Normally, I'd try to blend this all and make it smooth, but it's a miracle that I'm getting it done tonight, and this fast.

SO, lo and behold, I'm finally off to bed.