Living in Shizuoka...

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I’ve finally got the internet hooked up! I’m now re-attached to the world! My mobile not working here has really annoyed me but I’m getting used to it not ruling my life! I have been here for nearly 6 weeks already. The weeks go fairly fast which is good because I really look forward to the weekends. Having a full time job, I have never appreciated weekends so much as I do now!

Well what can I say about Japan…apart from: there are vending machines on nearly every corner, girls wear miniskirts in the middle of winter, the kids eat with chopsticks at kindy, the trains are superfast, you spend a quarter of the day taking your shoes on and off, and it is still FREEZING COLD!!! There is so much to tell, I’ll start with our house or flat - or shoebox! It’s ironic because the type of building we live in is called a Mansion!


I live with a 26 year old girl named Belinda on the second floor of a 3 storey very ugly building. I nearly died when I first saw it! Belinda has been here since last April and will leave at the end of March. We get along great, luckily, and she has shown me around the city and given me hundreds of tips about living in Japan! Our place is pretty basic and old. My room is at the front, it’s quite small and tatami mats cover the floor. I sleep on a couple of futons on the floor. Futons are just thin mattresses.

In the kitchen, we have a microwave oven, rice cooker, hot water thermos (that continually boils water for tea/coffee), stovetop and pink fridge! The toilet is pretty normal, and thank god for that! The worst thing about the house is the shower; well you can’t really call it that. It’s just a nozzle on a hose with pressure no stronger than the kitchen tap-which is also a funny contraption!

We have a lounge room with a heater, TV (not that there is anything in English ever on) and a DVD player. We usually watch DVD’s (hired from the local rental shop) on my laptop in the lounge room sitting on chairs with no legs- they look like car seats haha!

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Photos

The Mansion!
Here is our ugly building - underneath is a karaoke bar (which I can sometimes hear at night when I'm trying to go to sleep), language tuition school and hairdresser.

Shoes off
It wouldn't be a Japanese house if you didn't take your shoes off!