Carol Reports that....

Hi Everyone,
Little by little we’re getting our feet wet, tomorrow our shipment gets delivered!!!!! It will be great to actually have our own place. We spent some time this afternoon there measuring and thinking, the kitchen is actually (gasp!) smaller than DC and about the size of our miniscule ones in Mexico. We will survive. Speaking of survival, this jet lag thing is something, still can’t seem to get more than about 3-4 hours a night, then drag all day. Hopefully, this old organism will get with the global time thing soon. Bill did some more exploring while I took a nap this afternoon, and we took a good roundabout way home this afternoon, taking in lots more of the neighborhood. We are struck by the quiet for such an urban setting. There’s no New York-Chicago honking, yelling, things smell quite good except for the fish, etc. cooking, but Italian food is quite popular here, so you then pass by garlic and tomatoes. We had dinner in a Japanese (or Buddhist) style vegetarian restaurant last night and discovered that if it says they are open 12-10 they mean everyone is OUT THE DOOR by 10:00 promptly! I’ve never been served a meal in such a speedy fashion! They were literally mopping up around us and gave us the bill BEFORE the meal was served! Whew! Nevertheless, the food was delicious and quite reasonable and a lovely setting, it’s also quite reasonable @$10.50 and $12.00 for a 6-course dinner. There was a lukewarm sesame seed, fruit and something drink to start, a fabulous salad with aloe leaves, asparagus, tomatoes, fresh okra, lettuce, corn, sprouts , several kinds of crunchy beans and a wonderful Japanese dressing (I wish they bottled it!) Then soup with melon, sand fruits(?) , etc., and our choice of 9 entrees. I had wild mushrooms, noodles, basil and veggies, Bill a sort of stew of all kinds of unknown vegetation with chestnuts and a dark (could it be the FORBIDDEN rice we get at home?) , then---a lovely plate with 2 bing cherries, a slice of melon, pear, ????fruit, and a small bowl with sort of tapioca soup with more fruit unidentifiable. All in all, quite tasty and filling and probably just good as heck for you too!!! Despite all the books we had read, nobody stares ( openly at least!) at us, although I’ve seen a couple of nicely mature gentlemen react to my hair. Except at TAS, we’ve seen no one with light hair yet (or no hair Bill adds) . I did, however, find an Aveda shop, not salon, in the mall, and they gave me the address of the Aveda salon so I may not have to dye my hair. I am seriously thinking about having them spike my hair, it’s so adorable on the kids. OK, maybe that’s a little young, but the people are so attractive and so far we have been treated with great courtesy. Hope everyone is well, we’re trying to get some pix on the blogspot since we don’t have our own set-up yet, but they should be coming soon. Bill thinks he has figured out how to do it without causing a problem on our hosts’ computer.
Love to everyone,
B & C