料理する and my upcoming homestay experience

As I had briefly mentioned previously, I am on a mission to cook more. Since I made this resolution I have been trying to cook one meal a day. I can definitely tell you one thing: after eating food that has been cooked, cups of ramen noodles start to look a lot less appetizing. Here are some of the successes that I have had so far:

Omlette

Pasta with Butter, Basil, Garlic, and Spices

Homemade Curry

French Toast with Maple Butter

So far the only thing I have to complain about is the lack of an oven. I don't know why, but the Japanese people do not like to bake. The kitchens in the dorms come fully equipped to do most Japanese cooking, but this involves mostly fried food, soups, stews, and other dishes that only require the stove top. For someone who likes to bake, this is a difficult concept to adjust to. The good news: I'm learning a lot of new and easy ways to cook things. The bad news: I'm not sure how healthy the fried food actually is for me. But hey, you can't say I didn't try!

On an unrelated note, my homestay starts tomorrow at 3pm. The family that I am staying with is a couple in their early 50s. They have two daughters who are grown up, married, and living separately. I have been told that no one in the family speaks very much English so I will need to learn how to circumvent the vocabulary I do not know, or learn a lot of new vocabulary. It will take me around 40 minutes via bus and bicycle to reach the academic buildings each day, so I will need to get used to getting up at around 6am to get to my classes on time. I'm not sure yet if my host family will have internet access, so my updates to this blog might be a little more sporadic that usual. (I know what you're thinking. Hush. I know I am bad at updating.)

It is very daunting to contemplate what this experience might be like, but I am excited to push myself into unknown territory and I hope (and think) that I come out relatively unscathed. I look forward to getting to know my family, stretching my Japanese skills as far as I can, and trying every new cultural opportunity that may come my way.