You can take a girl out of graduate school but . . . .

When we aren't visiting temples, shrines, and eating fabulous food, we are often solving apartment problems. The apartment is adequate, but minimal. The kitchen is equipped with a two burner gas stove with a small grill (no oven), a toaster oven, a microwave, and a small refrigerator. There are 3 large plates, 2 small ones, 3 forks, 3 knives, a spatula, a wooden spoon, and one very large sharp knife; a small pot and a large one, a small frying pan, and a colander. Imagine the TV show - what kinds of meals can you make with this equipment? But I'm doing okay. So far I've grilled a pork tenderloin and chicken breasts, made some fried potatoes with garlic, and, of course, pasta and noodles.

Another apartment problem is the lighting. Each room is lit with a very bright fluorescent light in the ceiling and, aside from a desk lamp in the study, that's it. If any of you know me, you know how I feel about bright overhead lights! Easy to fix, right? We'll buy a floor lamp for the living room. Not so easy. Floor lamps aren't a Japanese thing. In fact, subdued lighting rarely occurs. I was talking to Natsumi about looking for a floor lamp and she laughed and said that most Japanese homes just have the bright overhead lighting, that when she lived in Seattle and her parents came to visit, they couldn't understand why her place was so dark.

We've looked and looked for a floor lamp and found only one possibility in Midori but it's out of stock and would have to be ordered. Then, I passed by a secondhand store (sort of like a Goodwill) and found a small lamp for 950 yen (about $10). Then I took 2 empty appliance boxes that were stashed in a closet, covered them with a shawl I brought with me, and Voila! Shades of brick-and-board bookshelves in grad school! But, we can now both sit and read without the overhead fluorescence. It may not look like much to you, but, trust me, it's a big deal. The small picture above is a reproduction of "Catching Cat-fish with Gourd" from Taizo-in.

As you can see here, Bill's problems are now all solved. He's found the Cubs on TV (once in a while) and a Starbuck's on the river in Kyoto.

My other daily problem-solving is teaching. I'm struggling with how to present the material to students who may not easily understand everything I'm saying in English. And, there's a ton of material to choose from. For example, I have one class, 90 minutes, for "Civil Procedure"--right, that 4-credit law school course. So, what do I choose and how do I present it? My predecessor, Jeff, kindly passed on all his teaching materials, and they're a huge help, but I still have to create each class as my own. Vitually everything I say has to be on a powerpoint so the students can follow me; then I send them the powerpoints after class and they can study and review from them. Still, my current philosophy is that I would rather have them come away from each class really understanding a couple of concepts rather than my worrying about "coverage." My present plan for Civil Procedure is, after a few PPTs on jurisdiction, dividing the class into "Plaintiff" and "Defendant" and then walking them through the procedure, explaining on PPTs what requirements and choices exist at each stage. Thus, "Plaintiff" will have first to file a complaint, then "Defendant" files an answer or a motion to dismiss, etc. I'll be "Judge" so they can see how the judge moves things along. I have a sample complaint and answer that we use in Legal Rhetoric that I'll give them and we'll go from there. Just an idea at this stage. Stay tuned.

Gotta run--got lots of PPTs to make!