With a couple of free days on my hands till classes start next week, I was prepared to spend lots of time in Downton Abbey (courtesy of Amazon Prime Video), comfortably sprawled out on the only piece of furniture we currently own – the bed.

Alas, it was not to be. I was barely past the intro of Season 2’s first episode when the unthinkable happened – I ran out of data. Watching videos doesn’t eat up my quota, but once I’ve used 6GB browsing and Skyping (Skype was the main culprit here – I completely overlooked the fact that Skype eats data, I used it like I was using the phone), my Internet speed is capped and becomes too sluggish to stream videos.

The sudden loss of a modern housewife’s best friend had me getting out of bed, taking a shower, and loading the washing machine. With nothing left to do, I put on my Converse shoes, grabbed my sunglasses and shoulder bag, and went for a walk…

…to T-Mobile. Where I learnt there was nothing I could do get my high-speed Internet back except wait till the next billing cycle.

So I decided to really go for walk. It was a lovely afternoon, and there were lots of people strolling along the streets, shopping and eating and talking on their phones. People don’t really jay-walk here, but then drivers respect zebra crossings.

After wandering around aimlessly for a while, I decided to conclude my walk with a visit to Trader Joe’s. It’s a good thing we’re currently only capable of microwaving food, because there were lots of ingredients pleading with me to buy them. I told them that their time would come, and headed over to microwave meals. Trader Joe’s has an amazing Asian microwave meals section. According to one of the TJ workers, who came up to me when he saw me scrutinising a packet of Trader Ming’s Chinese Style Pork Buns (3.99$ for 4), the Asian section is their most popular section.

“Do you need help?”

“Oh no, thanks…I’m just amazed that you have these!”

“Let me see, I don’t actually know what these are. How do you cook them?”

“Huh? Um well at home we steam them…”

“Oh so they’re like dumplings!”

“Uh. Yeah.”

I put the packet of char siew baos in my cart, next to the bibimbap and wan tan soup, and rolled away.

---

I’m back at the apartment. I’ve put the groceries away and folded the clothes.

I’ve blogged.

I’m going to go down to the lobby and see if their wifi can handle Downton Abbey.

If not, well, I guess I could read a book and have some Ben & Jerry’s. I’ve had some leftover pizza, but, well –

There’s ARFI.

Jenna