Free TV, TV costs and Frugality

Since Tokyo we haven't really been up to much. The weather has changed quite a bit. Instead of the hot and humid crazy days we have cool mornings and evenings, nice afternoons, and cold nights. All in all, Murakami weather is kind of a mix between Oberlin and Raleigh. It's not as rainy as Oberlin, although it definitely rains, but it's also not as sunny as Raleigh.

I transferred our monthly savings back to America pretty early in the month. Unfortunately, after the expensive weekend in Tokyo, that might not have been the best plan, but we are having a "fun" time trying to live as frugally as possible. I've been making tons of inexpensive food at once so we have leftovers and Brian won't have to buy food for lunch either. Only two weeks until pay-day! I would say we'd have no problem except that we are supposed to pay the bill for national television this month, I just don't know when it's due. Thankfully a teacher is helping me figure it out. Some other things have come up too like paying for a hospital visit, a Japanese exam, and we also have to go to Niigata and get re-entry permits so we can come back to Japan after Christmas break. It will all work out though. =) (Quick note before anyone asks:  the hospital visit was pretty routine and no big deal, so don't worry - Brian)

I'm also knee-deep in applying for graduate programs. I hope I'm mostly finished with my essay, but we will see after my mom and I go through it this weekend. Then I will pass it along to Brian. Anyone who wants to take a stab at it let me know! I appreciate as much help as possible! After finishing this one for Duke, I need to work on the one for NC State, but I think that will just take a bit of re-working the essay, so it shouldn't be as difficult. I've been communicating with Duke on how the financial aid works there and they get all of their fellowships through the national government, which is both good and bad. Good because only US citizens can get the fellowships and they usually to have a 1:1 ratio of foreign to US applicants. It might be bad because of the current economic situation. Thankfully the program is very small, so if I get accepted, I hypothetically should have a decent chance in getting a fellowship. My recommending professors have a little less than a month to get the letters of recommendation in, so I think everything is going pretty well. I'm going to send off my transcripts in the next couple of weeks as well. I should hear back from Duke in the beginning of March, but I won't find out from NC State until probably late April or May.

Because we have been a little low on cash, we've been finding free things to occupy ourselves with on the weekends. Two weekends ago we had an NCIS marathon of season 6. We're also having weekly dates with our friend to watch the new NCIS season 7 episodes. Southpark starts again this week so we might have to have a weekly Southpark viewing night too! =) Last weekend we introduced our friend's boyfriend to Southpark with a few different episodes and the movie. I think he enjoyed it overall, but he thought they spoke pretty fast, and while his English is very good, it's still hard for him to understand everything. (I don't understand all the words in it either). This weekend we are hoping to spend time with our married friends watching Eddie Izzard Dress to Kill. We have also been listening to Going Postal by Terry Prachett on tape every evening.

I signed up to take the Japanese proficiency examination on December 6. I don't know if I'm the only Murakami ALT signed up yet, but I have quite a bit to study, so I asked a fellow Japanese English teacher if she would like to be conversation partners. We will see how that goes. I hope some other ALT's decided to take it too so we can all study together.

I think that's all for now! I hope my English wasn't too bad! I've been a bit scatterbrained recently!