A Free Cafe, Ramen, and 3-on-3

A Free Cafe

Last weekend, I went to the Cambridge Public Library. The building is well-designed and modern. Anyone who lives in Cambridge can get a library card once you show your ID such as a passport and verification of your address. The number of books is much less than libraries in Harvard, but you can read new books, academic books, newspapers such as the New York Times and the Financial Times, magazines such as the Economist and Foreign Policy. Since there are a lot of chairs and desks, you can pick up the books which interest you, sit down at a desk, and read them. In addition, bringing food is possible, and many people read books while eating, which surprised me a lot because in Japan most libraries don't allow visitors to eat food or drink. 

I like Cambridge Public Library, because it is like a free cafe with a wealth of intellectual materials. Since I have not been given a Harvard student ID, I can't use libraries in Harvard yet. Thus, I will go to Cambridge Public Library and enjoy reading a lot of kinds of resources until then.

3-on-3

On Saturday evening, I went to a nearby basketball court inside an apartment complex called Peabody Terrace, which is only a three-minute walk from my apartment, and played basketball with a fellow Japanese classmate at HKS. I was happy to find several outside basketball courts around Harvard because in Japan we don't have many places outside to play basketball. At the courts, not many people were playing, but several guys gathered eventually and we had the numbers to get a three on three game going. Our side was an middle-aged American guy, my Japanese fellow, and I. The other side consisted of three high school students. The atmosphere was appropriately loose and appropriately serious, and I had a lot of fun. I have been playing basketball for sixteen years since I was a junior high school student. Until recently, I was not sure if I could play well in the U.S because Americans were tall, strong, and highly skilled. But I found I could play well and gained confidence. I would like to continue playing basketball here in the U.S., hopefully with my HKS classmates, and build ties with them.

H Mart

There is a convenience store called CVS right in front of the Harvard Square Station and I can buy almost everything I need to for a daily life, which is good, but the only shortcoming is I can't buy fresh food such as vegetable and fruits.On Sunday, I was happy to find H Mart, which is near the Central Square Station, only one station from the Harvard Square Station, and sells Asian food. I found that without using the subway, I can go to H Mart within ten minutes from my apartment by bicycle. On the other hand, H Mart mainly targets Korean, Japanese, and American who are interested in Asian food, and I can buy everything I need to cook Japanese food, such as fruits, vegetable, kimchi, canned fish, soup, instant ramen, and so on.

Ramen

There are several restaurants inside H Mart, and you can eat Japanese ramen there. I have been cooking by myself since I arrived in Boston, but eating Japanese food outside of my house was a great relief. It was a comfort food. I ate yasai ramen (yasai means vegetable in Japanese). It had the orthodox soy sauce taste,which Japanese likes, and I found it delicious.