Adulthood

All day the wind has been preparing for the typhoon that is supposed to come.  The office at HPAC has advised us to be careful during our commute tomorrow, and to bring in all the things from the balcony, including the rod from which we hang our laundry.  They tried to tell us this in the committee meeting the other night, and our translator stumbled over the last part.  It's true, in English we don't really have a word for that object; or rather, it's a drying machine. 

I went to the river to practice Tae Kwon Do this morning and fought with the wind for over an hour.  I came home, hungry and in need of pancakes.  I've never made pancakes in Japan, and realized that I didn't have any baking powder, and would have to use olive oil instead of butter, and soy milk instead of cow's milk.  It reminded me of the time that my brothers and I wanted to make pancakes but didn't have any flour, so we smashed up Cheerios.  The dog wouldn't come near them.  Lesson learned, but not really; always look for a solution.  Luckily, this morning my pancakes were a little flat and a little olivey, but otherwise, they filled the hole the wind had blown threw me.   It was a new beginning, one that inspired a purchase of baking powder and canola oil.