Settling In

Today was pretty chill.  This morning, Shan, Becky and I went to city hall (or whatever it's called) to apply for my Alien Registration Card.  We then headed over to SoftBank to see if I could get a cell phone yet.  Apparently I have to wait until I pick up my Alien Registration Card in two weeks (although a couple of people have told me that all I need is a document proving that I applied- I will have to look into this).  And then we went to a drug store.  So different from America...  Since I just got here, everything here is super interesting to me, even the mundane stuff, haha.  Anyway, after that, the three of us, along with Carol, went to lunch at Casa Mia, which is basically like five seconds away from the Center, where I had asparagus and bacon oil pasta (and apparently by bacon they meant ham, but whatever), which was super good!  Since apparently this blog is also a food blog, I took a picture.

After lunch, Shan and I took a walk down to the beach, which was only like a ten minute walk.  It's the bay, not technically the ocean, but same thing, right?  The weather was gorgeous today, and there's a really nice path, so I really enjoyed it.  I have a feeling I am going to frequent this place.  I've never lived this close to a body of water before, and I am super excited about it.

When we got back, Shan got her stuff together and left to go back to Osaka, and having no obligations for the rest of the day, I proceeded to do what I do best: spend time on the Internet.  It was actually nice to be able to spend my afternoon that way.  It kind of helped me feel normal and connected again, you know?  Then Becky made stir fry for dinner and Carol came over, so the three of us ate together, which was really nice.  Then later on, I joined Carol for part of her class with three high school girls, which was fun.  After that, I met a couple of ladies that I think Becky teaches, who don't speak much English but are really sweet, and it was good Japanese practice for me, talking to them.  I am going to love this job, I can already tell.

My other accomplishment for the day was finally cleaning my room and putting all my stuff away.  I felt pretty good about myself, so I decided to take pictures, lol.  And while I was at it, I took pictures of the rest of the apartment, so you all can see how I'm living here in Japan.  It's actually a really nice place, and I like living here already.

Walking into our apartment.  Leaving your shoes outside, of course.  I wish my Converse were loose enough that I could slip them on...

My room is almost immediately on the left when you walk down that hallway.  It should look quite a bit different of the picture I posted yesterday, while it was still a disaster...  It's small, but I like it.  Also, the bed is so big.  My bed at home is a twin.  I don't know what to do with all that space!

lol, can you tell I've made it my own?  Some of the stuff they gave me though, like that little picture frame, the snacks, the tiny bonzai, and the little plate of food.  They're erasers and they're super adorable!  Inside that desk, they also left me a Rilakkuma planner, pen and pencil, and a few other things.  I was pretty excited!  How well they already knew me even before I came, haha.

Yup, definitely Amber's room.  (I'm sure I'll put up my posters soon enough to really complete the classy look that I'm obviously going for.)  And now you all know what kind of deodorant I use.  Awesome.

Look at the cute stuffed ebi sushi!  It was on my bed when I arrived.  <3  The little bookshelf next to the bed is perfect.

Coming out of the hallway, this is immediately on the right.  Dining room table, and beyond it, the living room. The tv is really nice~

The rest of the living room.

The kitchen, which defies everything I've heard about tiny Japanese kitchens, except that of course there's no dishwasher or garbage disposal.  But other than that, it's as good as any kitchen in America.  I should learn how to use it...

The bathroom!  It's not really one room though, it's...an area?  There's no door to this here, it's just past the kitchen and around the corner.

The toilet has its own tiny little room.  It's a Western toilet (obviously), but pretty different from American toilets.  But I think I'm gonna become a fan of heated toilet seats pretty quickly, although they kinda caught me off guard at first, haha.

This is immediately to the right of the mirror.  There's a curtain though, for when you come out of the shower. See our washer?  And dryer??  It's pretty rare to have a dryer in Japan and I was not expecting one, so I am pretty excited that I don't have to hang my clothes to dry.

And here's the...shower room?  Bath room?  idk.  But it's also really different from America.  In Japan, you take a shower first in the open area (see the nozzle on the wall?), and then, once you're clean, you get into the bath.  I mean, I don't do that, but that's the idea.

And that completes the tour of my new home.  I'm really loving it here, both in this apartment and in Japan in general.  My town is great.  :D  I'll have to go exploring sometime soon.