Everything is in Japanese!

I finally arrived in Tsuruga yesterday.

The hotel I stayed at the night before had a complimentary “traditional Japanese breakfast” in the lobby in the morning. What is a traditional Japanese breakfast? Rice, fish, and soup apparently. Along with coffee. The rice was pretty good, especially after dipping it in the soup. Truth be told, I was so hungry by the morning that I would have eaten anything I think. But, either way, not a bad breakfast.

After breakfast I had to meet Bruce who took me to the train station because I had to take an hour and a half train ride from Nagoya to Tsuruga at 10 am. It was actually a really nice ride. Some of it was scenic, some of it was like taking the train in America, it goes through all the crappy parts of town. When we came to one town two thirds of the way through the trip, everyone on the train got out of their seats and rotated the seats to sit the other way. What?!!?! The train goes backwards after that town, I guess it must be the end of the line right there, so everyone turns the seats so they are sitting forward. All these little things the Japanese think of to make their lives more comfortable are really neat and interesting. Another thing like that, on the streets and in the train station there are rows of tiles on the floor that have three raised rows that look like little parking spot bumpers, just running down the sidewalk and in the station. Apparently, they are for blind people, to warn them they are getting close to the road or to the wall in the case of the train station. Lots of little things like that, just the inventiveness and thoughtfulness is amazing.

I was picked up at the train station by my manager, who speaks very little English so we were miming to each other the whole walk from the train station, and was taken to my apartment. The apartment is small, but not super small. I can live here for a year.


This is what it looks like when you first walk in the door.



A small hallway with the kitchen and bathroom areas off to the left, and the main living area/bedroom directly ahead.

My bedroom, messy from unpacking. Notice the closet which is the biggest closet I have ever had. There are a set of drawers in the bottom to put stuff in, as well as a shelf above the rack to hold stuff as well. Notice also the short black table. There is a seat against the wall to sit on when using the table, but it is gross, so I don't see myself using it too much. The person I am replacing left a lot of stuff for me. A TV (thank god for tv, especially when I don't have internet) and that table to the right of the picture (that has my hat on it) along with several chairs. Also a calander, a Japanese-English dictionary, some cleaning supplies, and other various stuff. Oh, and a bike! Apparently my school is a little far for walking, so yay!

You will notice in the left hand corner closest the corner of my bed.

Here is the bed. Notice the tv on already. There is storage underneat the bed, so Mom, that is where I can put my suitcases. Another cool storage thing is the steps leading up to the bed.

Closed

Open

Pretty neat.

Close up of the kitchen area

That fridge is tiny. Notice how it barely is higher than the stove/sink behind it. Yeah. Unfortunately that means I can't buy lots of groceries at once, rather I will have to shop for a day or two at a time. Oh well. Or I could just eat out all the time. That is the better idea I think.

My huge stove/sink area. Above is a cupboard full of dishes. The description of my apartment from Geos led me to believe there would hardly be anything in it, but I guess over the years people accumulate stuff and just leave it for the next person. Works out for me. And the next guy too!

Here is my awesome washer. I was told they are usually on the balcony, which I do not have. And there is no dryer. Must remember to ask where I am supposed to hang clothes to dry. Very important.

The bathroom. Which is actually split into two rooms. I appreciate that.

The toilet room/closet. It is tiny in there. Notice the faucet on top of the back of the toilet. when the toilet is flushed water automatically comes out of there to wash your hands with. I am sure it is clean water, but it is still going to take some getting used to. Also notice the grungy towel. That is the other thing the previous teacher left me, filthy disgusting towels. If I didn't know already, it would be easy to tell a guy was staying here last. Must go buy new towels. I don't even want to touch those old things.

The bathroom shower part. It is hard to get a good picture of this because the hallway is so narrow, can't get the whole thing. Basically it has a sink and a tub. Did I mention how deep the tubs are in Japan? They are a bathing society, so all of their tubs are really deep. Seeing as how dirty that tub is, I can't imagine I will be having many relaxing soaks in it. The entire room is a wet room with a drain in the floor. There was a shower curtain on the tub but the guy took it. Of all the things he left behind, he didn't leave his shower curtain? Odd. Will have to find a place to buy one of those sooner than not as well. You might notice that the shower head is connected to the sink. There is a little lever that controls where the water goes, sink or shower. Not bad. And good water pressure in Japan. Yay! I hate taking a shower with no water pressure (Mom/Dad I am looking at you) it just makes me feel wet, not clean.

So, that is my apartment. I got in about noon on Sunday, and promptly went to sleep until 5am Monday. Well, I kept waking up because I couldn't figure out the air conditioner. It would work for a little while then turn off. So I kept waking up drenched in sweat because the apartment was so hot. And of course all the buttons and the instruction manual are in Japanese so I couldn't figure out how to operate it properly. I will ask my manager today.

I feel like I missed an entire day, because well I basically did. But even more so because I am now on Monday and it is still Sunday back in the states. Hopefully I will become acclimated to the time difference quickly and be able to sleep normal hours.

Today I get my first look at the school where I will be teaching. Hopefully I will also go by some shops because I would like to get some food and other things for the apartment before too long.

Did I mention Japan is freaking hot? Well it is. And humid. I have been wearing a long sleeve shirt because of my tattoos and I didn't want my trainer and manager to judge me on them before I started, but that is going to have to stop. It feels like a Baltimore August here. I haven't really been around Tsuruga too much yet, but it doesn't seem like a huge place, which is nice, and it is really green. I will have to take my camera with me when I go out today. I believe Bruce mentioned that I am close to the beach. How close?