Settling into my apartment

Saturday, August 25, 2007

Woke up at 6am, took pics of my apartment and finished unpacking while listening to Beres. In Japan they are big on garbage disposal, so I took some time to sort my garbage into burnables, cans/steel, bottles, paper/cardboard & cloth etc. I spent time figuring out how to call home, called mom and spoke to nieces. Called Dad and he was on his way home from work and called me back. He stayed on the phone for 28 minutes and 15 seconds...this is a record for him! For those of you who don't know he always rushes me off the phone. This is a sample convo:

Me: Hi, what you doing? How are you?
Dad:Fine, I'm at work...okay you finished?

LOL no joke, so I was quite impressed. Then called TELL(Tokyo English Life Line) to figure out how to make a local call to Khaleelah.

Then sorted through stuff left by my predecessor, spoke to Khaleelah, went grocery shopping with my supervisor. Spent 13, 672￥(approx. $130 CAD) on groceries and 16, 712￥on things for the apartment. Got back to the apartment, installed my new towel rack, fried some Shumai and ate my first meal in my place with some pineapple juice. Then put together the paper towel rack before having a nap until about 6pm(5am previous day EST). Just after 8pm I went back to bed.

Sunday, August 26, 2007

Woke up @6am after fighting to stay asleep for what felt like hours...this is really the land of the rising sun. Watched Cosby show on dvd, did some cleaning, ate some frosted flakes then watched more Cosby. Sorted through stuff in the closets, cleaned the kitchen, seasoned some chicken, boiled and ate more Shumai. Dad called and talked for 5:43...yes I feel the need to document the length of our calls now lol. I made some pasta, ate and watched more Cosby. Organized my earrings, scrubbed the shower/tub from top to bottom with VIM, washed my hair, got dressed and headed out to explore Aioi on my bike. I found the 100 yen shop(dollar store) and went crazy! Two hours and $30 later, I left with about 30 items. Got home and while locking my bike, I met 2 guys from the Phillipines named Elmer and Sarudo. They are fairly new to Japan as well. I got inside at 7pm, lit some incense and read on the couch for about an hour before going to bed at 9:30pm. Dad called at 10:30pm(9:30am) to ask what the password was to unlock my cell phone and then I went back to sleep.

Monday August 27, 2007

Woke up at 6:10am(5:10pm) and tried to fight it by putting my pillow over my head to no avail...put in Ray Robinson cd, got out of bed, got ready to go to BOE for 9am. I had a breakfast of scrambled eggs and toast. I left the house at 8:35am. I got to the BOE and was sitting down in front of Rokudai-sensei by 8:45am. We went over my contract and then walked across to the Aioi city office to apply for my resident id card...better known as the alien registration card but I don`t like how that sounds lol. Rokudai-sensei and Sakane took me to another grocery store(Max Valu) and showed me where things were that I may need. I was going to buy watermelon, but they told me to put it back because their boss brought some in and they would give me some. We got back to BOE, I said goodbye to everyone and I was free for the rest of the day. I rode home, 5 minutes later Rokudai-sensei brought me the watermelon and waited until the NTT cable guys cane to set up my TV...only Japanese channels for now but it is better than a snowy screen. I gave him some pineapple juice, he insisted on washing his glass, which I later took out of the strainer because I wasn`t satisfied with the running water and hand washing technique that he used. After everyone left, I stripped and fell asleep for 2 hours on the couch. This place is HOT like fire!!! Woke up, ate and headed out to do more exploring of Aioi for about 2 hours. I went to the flower shop and bought 2 plants, went to co-op(grocery/dept. store) bought a few things and got home at 6:50pm. I cooked some stew chicken and made some rice. After I ate and had some watermelon Mom called and we spoke for a while. I washed my hair and twisted it while watching the world`s track meet in Osaka. Went to bed at 11:30pm.