...and 18 Hours Later

OK, so I lied.

I said I wouldn't update for a couple weeks because that's how long it takes to set up an internet connection in Japan. However, this update is brought to you by my new mysterious nieghbor across the street who has neither masked nor keyed their wireless router. Thank you stranger. you'll never know how much I loved you.

Since I overslept this morning, I woke up at 9am; getting a nice solid 3hrs of sleep. I felt a little bad because I didn't get to say goodbye to Alisha before she left for work. I tried when she poked her head in my room this morning, but all I could manage was a "gruggnuggh," or possibly a "hummbuhgh." Either way, I don't think that really constitutes a 'goodbye.'

The entire trip took us 3 hours and 15 minutes. Not bad considering we made three stops, missed a turn or two, and spent 20min wandering my neighborhood and cursing the map for being ambiguous, pixelated, and covered with japanese characters that did neither of us any good. We eventually found the splotch on the map that represented my apartment, said quick goodbyes, and then Drew hurried back home to teach his weekly lesson.

Mah new digs!

Note: I'm living in the complex behind the bushes, not in the bushes themselves.

Since it was 1pm and I wasn't scheduled to move in until 4pm, I wandered around my neighborhood a bit and quickly found my local convenience store, conveinience-ly located 200m from my house. I also located a shrine where I did a Shinto prayer ritual and offered up a little thank you to any local spirits that might have been on-call for the afternoon shift.

When 4pm rolled around I met with the company rep who was in charge of helping me set up my apartment. She gave me a non-pixelated map of the area marked with all the important locations a stranger would need; town hall, post office, grocery store, and...um... cake shop. A part of me thought perhaps the person in charge of maps took one look at my picture, saw my size, and thought, "Oh, we should probably mark the cake shop."

After a 20min translated lecture from the gas man on the proper usage and dangers of natural gas, I signed some forms, got my apartment and car keys, and was left to my own devices.

Once I started unpacking I realized that the cat, Zephyr, had also decided to say goodbye by leaving me a note. It was short but sweet; only instead of paper he used my nice jacket, and instead of ink he used pee. Huh. I will have to make sure return the sentiment in his food bowl when I go back to visit.