I'm an Alien

It's my 2nd full day back in Tokyo and I'm feeling a bit tired!  I'm glad I bumped up my flight by one day because it's made a big difference in my settling-in.  I remember how to get to the train station and how to buy tickets, etc., however I've found that I've forgotten how to use the electric appliances in our apartment!  Other things I've noticed:

1.  Slow cookers/crockpots do not exist in Japan.  They cook rice, rice only and do a darn good job of it by the price of some of them! 

2.  Girls still look chic and amazing in the freezing winter.

3.  Fur really does make you warmer; it especially cuts down on the wind chill.

4.  I've forgotten what little Japanese I had so intensively studied.

5.  Adam's negligence of the refrigerator lead to a horrifying discovery.  The eggplant I found had it's own colony developing.  

6.  I want to buy everything. 

But most notable for today:  I applied for my Alien Registration Card!  It's just the first step to becoming a permanent resident here...O_o

Otherwise, I've mostly been adjusting the recent bachelor pad into it's previous decency.  Lots of cleaning, organizing, laundry (4 loads so far!), grocery shopping, unpacking, furniture/home shopping, and did I mention cleaning?  

I needed to take a bit of a break so I made myself a delicious dinner of chicken, soup and roast spare ribs.  The chicken came out so much better than anticipated!  Mom would be proud.  I even made the sauce to go with it.

I'm not sure what to call this chicken...it's not Hainan chicken but it's similar. Boiled and served with brown rice, bok choy, and the homemade ginger sauce. No photo but I also made a pretty good soup after with the chicken stock, carrots, onions, dried dates and berries and salted turnip.

Grilled pork spare ribs with garlic salt, pepper and fresh thyme. I'm not sure if its the oven in Japan but I haven't quite got it down perfectly like Mom and Amah's.

I feel that sort of limp exhaustion now that I've laid down.  I'm just going to blame it on the weather, the walking, or the jetlag.  Or all of the above.