This past week has been Reading Week. Reading week is a week off from school lectures and most activities to allow students the chance to read course materials, catch up or begin assignments, and to meet with tutors about final projects.
We did work some on our projects, with mixed results. In our tiny flat it is tough to get work done without a desk and table, or any type of chair. Your seat options are the love seat, the bed, or the floor.
Before getting any work done, however, we decided we needed a break. Friday evening began with salsa dancing at the salsa society.
Brandon dancing in blue, Emily taking the photos.
Saturday we felt we needed to get some work done, so we spent a couple of hours working and soon we decided we needed a break. Work was too tough and it was a week to have fun. We went to the bonfire night fireworks (see previous post).
Sunday we went to church in the morning and Salsa club met one more time.
Monday involved picking up a free mirror, taking it on the bus, and a very 'reflective' walk from the bus stop to our flat. Brandon played games with the gaming society before we were off to eat sushi and go to a pub of a Finnish classmate. On our way home from the pub we went to the £1 store and stocked up on cheap stuff. We also stopped off at a library and got Emily signed up for a library card. All and all, a busy day.
Tuesday was spent meeting with tutors and group members for future projects, playing board games and going to an Okinawan traditional music performance for the Vice-Governor of Okinawa. We are getting good at navigating places without a smart phone. Fast fact: The US still has quite a few military bases on Okinawa.
Wednesday Emily went to see the Book of Morman for £20 (front row tickets) while Brandon was stuck at home reading and going to choir to sing Russian sacred choral music. We were invited by a local pastor to his house for dinner that evening and got to meet his lovely family.
Thursday nothing special took place, some shopping, some group meetings, and some studying.
Friday we gathered some friends together to make use of a groupon at a burrito place downtown. After living in a small town for 5 years, you forget that groupons are available and can be a good deal. When we finished eating, we wondered the streets in search of a game store on our way to our final destination. The guys we were with were all from the board game society so we needed to kill some time. Having the guys from the game society came in handy at our final destination, a museum treasure hunt. We split up into teams (Emily and Brandon were on different teams) and made our way through 5 small museums to uncover clues. Once at the final destination we had to unscramble the clues and Brandon's team was the first to do so, thus earning a prize of a £10 gift card to a book store in town.
The Treasure hunt ended in the Museum of Zoology, hence all the dead things around us!
The winning team and their prizes.
And the not so winning team
Saturday we spent cooped up in job training all day. The good news is that we can now work for the university and get paid £10.57 an hour. That equates to $16.91.
We are now 1/6th of the way finished with grad school, time to get to work.
