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I've actually just stayed in a lot. Part of it was staying off my ankle, part of it is minimizing encounters with the no-sidewalk zone. Also I've had a 3BR house to myself for the past week, so I was enjoying that! Another guest finally arrived today, though.
Highlights:
* A secular book Meetup I found at the last minute, which was discussing 3 books 2 of which I'd read before (Lies My Teacher Told Me, Sapiens). The discussion was tons of fun.
* Foster Botanic Gardens. Only went for half an hour before closing time (so free!) but seemed pretty cool. Not huge but decent size, and very well labeled. $5 to get in, vs. free in Australia, but hey cheap. Not like the $20 museum.
* 7-11 here is more like the ones in Japan than the ones in Australia, even some of the same products. I finally had some of their hot food and the siu mai, "pork mash" here, was suprisingly good! I liked the yakisoba too. The egg roll didn't leave a huge impression but I may try again. No bathroom, unlike the Japanese ones. That 7-11 did have more groceries too, like bread, milk, and some meats.
* I met up with an alum for lunch, had a pretty good conversation.
* I bought some discount seafood, the tuna (I'm pretty sure, wasn't actually labeled) smelled funny but tasted fine when cooked. Then I made some very tasty shrimp.
* Experimented with making pancakes from scratch, unleavaned, just flour water egg oil salt. It was... edible.
* I entered my first Wal-mart. Hey, they usually don't enter city cores or transit zones, but there's one downtown here. Man it's big. Has one of the few public bathrooms in Honolulu.
* W told me about finding imported Shinto shrines here, and I found one. Probably the same one. Engrish lives: "How to pray... crap your hands."
* Night sky above my house can be moderately dark.
I've also walked a lot around downtown and Chinatown, as I do. This has not really been a highlight. Chinatown is pretty Skid Rowy, lots of empty stores, lots of homeless people. Sitting seems an invitation to bizarre interactions. Outside the shrine some guy with his face covered biked up and asked if I wanted to buy something. He wasn't very intelligible, and I was mostly flinching in "go away". Then yesterday I was reading outside after eating a meh bento, and this guy sat down, flipped open a book, and asked me to choose a chapter, for no intelligible reason, until I fled. Beyond that, it's just not been all that exciting.
I did find a passport place right after that though, so I now have photos to renew with.
Highlights:
* A secular book Meetup I found at the last minute, which was discussing 3 books 2 of which I'd read before (Lies My Teacher Told Me, Sapiens). The discussion was tons of fun.
* Foster Botanic Gardens. Only went for half an hour before closing time (so free!) but seemed pretty cool. Not huge but decent size, and very well labeled. $5 to get in, vs. free in Australia, but hey cheap. Not like the $20 museum.
* 7-11 here is more like the ones in Japan than the ones in Australia, even some of the same products. I finally had some of their hot food and the siu mai, "pork mash" here, was suprisingly good! I liked the yakisoba too. The egg roll didn't leave a huge impression but I may try again. No bathroom, unlike the Japanese ones. That 7-11 did have more groceries too, like bread, milk, and some meats.
* I met up with an alum for lunch, had a pretty good conversation.
* I bought some discount seafood, the tuna (I'm pretty sure, wasn't actually labeled) smelled funny but tasted fine when cooked. Then I made some very tasty shrimp.
* Experimented with making pancakes from scratch, unleavaned, just flour water egg oil salt. It was... edible.
* I entered my first Wal-mart. Hey, they usually don't enter city cores or transit zones, but there's one downtown here. Man it's big. Has one of the few public bathrooms in Honolulu.
* W told me about finding imported Shinto shrines here, and I found one. Probably the same one. Engrish lives: "How to pray... crap your hands."
* Night sky above my house can be moderately dark.
I've also walked a lot around downtown and Chinatown, as I do. This has not really been a highlight. Chinatown is pretty Skid Rowy, lots of empty stores, lots of homeless people. Sitting seems an invitation to bizarre interactions. Outside the shrine some guy with his face covered biked up and asked if I wanted to buy something. He wasn't very intelligible, and I was mostly flinching in "go away". Then yesterday I was reading outside after eating a meh bento, and this guy sat down, flipped open a book, and asked me to choose a chapter, for no intelligible reason, until I fled. Beyond that, it's just not been all that exciting.
I did find a passport place right after that though, so I now have photos to renew with.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-06 09:56 (UTC)From:You let the mixed pancake batter sit awhile before cooking? Sorry they weren't tastier, I don't have special secrets there.
We rather liked . Definitely something we worked in to our kids being educated in US public schools.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-06 10:04 (UTC)From:I'd thought about Lies as a gift before, but I guess the kids were in Chile then. Now that they're back, I should order it.
no subject
Date: 2019-12-06 10:15 (UTC)From: