What the Heck is that Noise?

Last night we were watching a movie when suddenly we heard a loud whistling tone. It kept getting louder and louder, leading us to run around to different windows to figure out where -- and what! -- the noise was coming from. I began to get a bit more frantic in my search, wondering if a factory was going to blow up or if it was some kind of earth quake warning I hadn't heard about.

In the end, it turned out to be nothing of the sort. It was a yakiimo truck selling roasted sweet potatoes! I ran down and took the video above (which is very poor quality, but can give you an idea of the sound we'd been hearing), and then bought a sweet potato for Chad and I--a whopping 500 yen!

The price was worth the experience I guess--it was cool to be able to take a picture of the guy's truck and get a sweet potato randomly at 10:00 at night. The guy even whistled to his dog to come to the front window! Then again, Chad pointed out that by buying a sweet potato from loud truck-on-the-move, I had also encouraged the guy to repeat his sales on other nights. 

 This is the back of the truck where the roasting is done--and where all the noise comes from!

Our great, big sweet potato

 Delicious as the sweet potato turned out to be, I sure hope Chad isn't right about that noisy business coming up our little mountain again!

My Broken Boy

Well, now that his momma has been informed, it's safe to let everyone know: Chad broke his foot last Wednesday playing futsal. Apparently breaking his collar bone in November playing Aussie Rules Football wasn't enough to make him take it easy!

 

I do feel sorry for him though. Not only does he have to deal with all of the things anyone with a broken foot would, but he also has to deal with living on a mountain. Anyone who has visited our apartment knows that getting to and from it is no no joke. We live up several flights of steep stairs and hills, and after all that, our apartment is on the 3rd floor of our building. Getting down from our apartment to the subway the other day took about 30 minutes (when it usually takes less than 10!). In the picture above, you can see Chad, dripping with sweat, wiping his face with my Totoro hand towel. That wasn't even to the bottom of the subway yet! (I told him he could just go ahead and hang on to the towel for now.) He physically cannot make it up to our apartment when he's coming home, so he has to take a taxi. That's right! CHAD IS TAKING TAXIS! The man who hates taking taxis.


...Not that he has a choice.

Anyway, the thing that I find most notable about this situation is Chad's amazing good humor. He can't play sports, he has to hop to get around unless using crutches (which is also pretty tough), and can't even get home without a taxi. But through it all he has been so positive and --mostly-- cheerful. That's one of the many things I love about him.

Do the Dishes!

When we got back to Japan earlier this week, we were happy to be greeted with a sparkling clean apartment (it actually smelled newer and nicer than when we first moved in!). In a desire to keep up with cleanliness, we decided to do the dishes as soon as we finish using them. And so far, we've been doing a pretty good job! Every time we're washing them, we say to each other, "Let's keep up with this!"

A clean sink is a happy one!

And so, without intending to, we made a new year's resolution. I always seem to be making resolutions, but while we were at it for new years, we decided to make another one. The entire time we've lived in Japan, we haven't decorated our apartments much because 1) there isn't much you can really do with a tiny apartment, and 2) we always told ourselves we weren't going to stay very long. Although those things still hold true, we figure we can at least do a few things to make our apartment a bit more comfortable while we're here.

We've hung our weekly meal plan board, a super cute clock Chad's mom got us from a 300 yen store when she visited last May, and a calendar. (Yes, I know we need a new calendar and that it's time to take down the Christmas touches. Actually, while in the states I meant to print this cute, free-to-print owl calendar, but somehow I forgot!).

We've also started to put up more pictures, like these fun ones we made at Oddsides during the Ugly Sweater Party when we were home. We had a few up, but we've decided it's time for more!

Other resolutions include being healthier, reading more for fun (I've started a list of books read in 2012 on my pinterest), doing more artwork, going for walks as often as possible, and appreciating every day! Do you have any resolutions?