Conversation and comforts

Yesterday was rather nice. I had agreed to go to an English Conversation group with one of the students from the Skyland class. She had been pretty helpful to me, so I figured although I get paid to talk English I would do this as a favor to her, and I might meet a few expats there. As were walking up these steep steps in a very narrow stairwell, she says "Oh, it costs 2000 yen ($20), is that okay?" Well, no not really. I am pretty broke and will be for the rest of the month. Another expat comes up behind and tells us it doesn't cost gaigin anything, and we get a free drink out of the deal. Whew! It only lasts a couple of hours and I actually ran into one of my students and someone else I had met. So nice night, eh? Even better than that...I went into the little specialty foods market and found black beans and tortillas. It cost me 238 yen for the can of beans and 258 for 5 tortillas the size of a saucer, but I don't care. Alas, I don't think I will ever find sour cream. And I found Sprite. Haven't had a Sprite, 7up or Sierra Mist in a month. And as I type this I am listening to Morning Edition on NPR over the internet. You can't believe how happy these few things have made me.