10 posts tagged “apartment”

Anna's on her way.  I've got the tickets for This Is It.  So excited!

I checked the website this morning and the 2pm show is already half full!  Anna said last night she wanted to eat Thai for lunch today but then we wouldn't get to the theatre til 1pm or something and I didn't want to get stuck at the front or worse, have the movie sell out.  The next show is at 4:30pm but she has to be in Meguro by 7.  I had to use my credit card, which I don't like to use here because I have to pay exchange but they raised my credit limit again.  Surprise, surprise!  It's still stupidly low for someone with a six-year credit history (I guess?) but it's still more than enough for me.  Even if I don't manage to pay it off before I leave Japan, I can still buy my ticket home and bum around China for a few weeks.

Last night ended up being really fun.  I can't wait for Ginny and Anna to upload all the pictures.  I wasn't even going to dress up but at the last minute (in the shower an hour before leaving the house) I realized I had all black clothes so I could be a mime.  The first thing Anna says to me when I get to Andrews is, "Oh!  Are you supposed to be French?"  Close!  I borrowed Ginny's beret and heaped on the eyeliner and that was it.  Pretty good, for me.  Anna was Courtney Love, Ginny was a Shinigami from Bleach and Andrew was Captain Jean-Luc.  Oh yes, he went all out, it was amazing.  We got stared at very much on the train and some guy in Harajuku actually whiped out his phone and goes, "Samurai!" and takes a picture of Ginny.  It wasn't so awkward once we got to Harajuku and we were greeted foreigners and Japanese people alike with Happy Halloween greetings.  If only our salaryman friend in the park hadn't been dying beside us, it would have been a perfect night.

In other news, I don't have to move.  My landlord replied and said cuz I'll only be here another 6 months, I just had to pay the contract renewal only.  Such a relief!  I also had to my regular rent on top of everything so that would have been really painful.  There are nice people in the world.

Wasn't on TV. LAME. They totally were angling for the Yamanote party, I knew it.  From what I could understand, they made it out like it was completely the fault/idea of foreigners to party on the train and that this random crazy holiday is the import of foreigners.  The comments at the end by this ancient fart were like "What's with those weird costumes?  Japanese people would never do that."  UGklajdfakj shit like that makes me so angry to live in this country.  You're 75 and set in your ways, dude.  Pull your head out of the ground.  You want this holiday?  Take it all, do it 100%.  You can just pick the parts that you like.  If you want Hallowe'en, you take the kids knocking on your door in cute costumes asking for candy as well as the punk ass bastards egging your house and TPing your trees.  That's reality.

Got a new bed from Ikea~  It didn't arrive until 4, as usual, and then I find out that I need a hammer to put it together.  So I had to run out for that but it's all good. It's not as short as I thought now that I have my futon on it.  The other mattress even fits underneath so I can hide that shit away.  Yeeah! 

My fucking batshit neighbour came calling last night.  I thought she figured out whatever the fuck her problem was or moved out since it's been a month or so since she bugged me last. 

I was at home, watching the Olympics and Dane Cook, my new man crush, and chatting with Yvonne when the door bell rings.  I go and check who it is -- it's that fucking lady from the third floor.  I didn't open it becuase why should I?  I can't understand what the fuck she wants and it only makes me angry.  It was nearly 10pm too!  What the hell?  Even jerk off people selling shit stop knocking around 8 or 9.  I thought she would go away (having the TV on doesn't mean I'm actually home, or maybe I was in the shower) but she rang twice more before getting the picture.

AND THEN.

AND THEN.

She came back this morning.  The door bell rang so I got up to check who it was -- maybe I was getting a package no one told me I was getting and they're delivering or something.  NO.  That would be fine but it's this crazy bitch again!  I checked the clock before crawling back into bed.  It wasn't even 8am yet!  Are you freaking insane?!  She tried to catch me once before work and I clearly didn't have time to talk to her then, so what makes her think that this time would be any different?

I swear, if she comes back one more time (and I bet she will) I'm actually going to tell her to fuck the hell off in any language I can manage.  Maybe she'll get the idea.

Today has just been the crappiest day ever.  I had 3 classes - 1st year and 3rd year were doing my lesson plans, the fifth time around for me so I was really hating them by that point.  And then I had to teach 2nd year solo.  Oh yes, alone.  Kaneko-sensei has been away since last week but no one has told me what happened.  Even if he's deathly ill he'll still come to school so I'm thinking it's an accident or family emergency.  Either way... I had to teach by myself.  I teach 4-5 or sometimes 6 classes of elementary kids every Friday who for the most part can't understand a thing I'm saying... but 2nd year of Jr High makes me nervous?  Well, fourteen year olds can talk back.  There was another Japanese teacher there for "support" but they are as useful as the elementary teachers.  I had Ohara-sensei with me today, and all the kids are scared of her so at least they weren't rowdy and fucking around during class.  But I have to do it 4 more times...

On top of that, there is a speech contest coming up so Nakamura-sensei asked me to look for some stories for the student doing it, and to do a lesson plan for the conversation elective on Monday, and I had to decide on something for grade 6 tomorrow... it was a busy and stressful day.

On top of that... BUGS.  I took a shower tonight and when I stepped out I saw this black thing on my kitchen floor and knew even without my glasses that it was a monster roach.  MONSTER.  Fucking like the size of my index and middle fingers together.  There was some screaming and flailing and crying involved but I managed to trap it and stun it with my laundry bucket and then throw it outside (along with my waste paper bin... I'll rescue that tomorrow).  I don't have anyone to do it for me....... so I have to suck it up and do it and then cry about it later. 

I hope that tomorrow goes without any stress or problems.  I get a bit of a break because one class is a week behind so I'll get to do two different lessons instead of five of all the same.  And it's the last week of term so I won't be back there until September.  Ahhh summer vacation starts next week! 

I talked to Yuka and I am probably going to go visit her in Osaka during the first week of August! :3

Okay, anyone who knows me knows that I cannot deal with bugs.  Of any kind.  There is major flailing, screaming, jumping, running, and sometimes crying.  I'm not kidding.  It is going to be a very long summer.

I just dealt with my fist roach of a resonable size and a monster fucking spider.  There are flying things in my room at the moment but they like the light of the screen so I can lure them to certain death.  Akljgal;kjdfads I feel like I have things crawling all over my skin.  I dropped the box I managed to trap the roach in on the way outside because I could feel it freaking out inside.  I flailed it out near the garbage but there was some smearing inside so I abandoned the box.  Alkjgalkfjdsfgadsfjg DDDD:  NOT COOL.  DNW.

And I can't just ignore them and hope they go away cuz I don't want those bastards crawling on me in my sleep.

I need to blog about Tanabata, which was today.  I keep forgetting that daikon recipe too.

I got my camera back today.  Finally.  Tried out a new recipe and am so full, it was so good.  I rented some CSI: Miami so I'm going to vegetate and bask in Horatio's glory until I get sleepy.

My not-so-new-anymore desk.  And all of my crap.

I translated this recipe from Japanese.  In Japan, they have adopted "hamburg steaks" from hamburgers.  Usually they come with some side dishes like corn or a few "fried potatoes" (french fries) or on rice.   And Japanese people put eggs on everything.  I have realized I'm allergic (or something) to eggs unless they are 100% cooked through, I skipped the fried egg topping in this recipe.

Hawaiian Hamburger Steak Bowl (2 servings)

Ingredients:

A          Ground beef & pork*        200g
A          Salt                                2/3 tsp
A          Pepper                           To taste
            Egg                                1
            Dry Bread crumbs           4 tbsp
            Onion                             1, half minced, the remainder cut into thin slices
            (Button) Mushrooms        ½ package, cut into thin slices or 1 can of mushrooms, drained
            Flour                              1 tbsp
B          Ketchup                         3 tbsp
B          Worcester Sauce            1 tbsp
B          Bullion                           ½ cube
B          Water                            200cc
            Salt, pepper                    To taste
            Olive oil                       

*In Japan, because beef is so expensive (about $2-3 for 100g) grocery stores produce this ground beef/pork mix.

 
Directions:

1. Combine A in a bowl, kneading well until sticky. 
2. Add the egg and bread crumbs continuing to knead well, then add the minced onion and mix well.
3. Divide into 2 equal portions and using your hands coated with olive oil, make the meat into patties.  Let rest in the refrigerator for 10 mins.
4. In frying pan heat some olive oil, cook the hamburgers over High heat.  When both sides have a nice grilled colour, take the hamburgers out.
5. In the empty frying pan, stir-fry the sliced onion and mushrooms with olive oil until the onion starts getting soft. 
6. Over Low heat, sprinkle the flour over the mushrooms and onion and stir-fry until the flour is well combined.
7. Add B, mixing well.  After bringing to a boil, return the hamburgers to the pan.  Cover with a lid and fry over Low heat for about 5 minutes.
8. When the hamburgers are plump and fried, season with salt and pepper. 

* Place rice in a bowl, top with baby greens, the hamburger, mushrooms and onions, sliced avocado, and an egg fried sunny-side up.

The hamburger bowl was delicious.  It could have done with some lettuce or spinach for crunch but it was rich and tasty.  I made 3 burgers because I bought the bigger size package of meat, but I should have just gotten the smaller and made 2 because there isn't enough sauce for 3.  The avacado adds a nice butteriness to the meat.  I highly recommend you try it!  I fucked up and used potato starch instead of flour (blonde moment of the day) but it tasted fine.  The flour just acts as a thickening agent anyway, as does starch.  I should have diced the onion that went into the burgers finer because they were still a bit crunchy.  But this is a definite repeater.

So, the maelstrom that was Nova is finally over and the dust is beginning to settle.  I've moved out of the Nova apartment in Abiko to a one-room (literally) place in Kashiwa.  It's small by Canadian (and even Japanese?) standards, at a whopping 16.36m^2.  It's probably smaller than those Marine Drive studios actually.  But I like it.  I'm getting some furniture delivered tomorrow so I'll be able to make this place feel more homey tout suite.  I've got a kitchen that consists of a mini-bar fridge, one electric burner and sink with a 2 shelf cupboard above.  I cooked dinner for the first time tonight and it took a lot of planning an maneuvering, deciding what to cook first.  Beside the kitchen, next to the door, is a closet that is meant to house a washing machine, which I will probably never buy.  Right now, it's where I chuck my dirty

laundry and store my suitcase.  There is a geta hako (lit. geta box; geta are traditional Japanese slippers) or shoe cupboard on the other side of the door, next to the shower room.  It's a tightly packed bathroom, essentially.  Everything gets a bit wet when you take a shower because there is no curtain (I should probably get a tension rod and curtain for that purpose).  There's a bit closet that fits my clothes, extra futon (for guests) and assorted crap that I brought/accumulated over the last 3 months.  It's on the ground floor, but I still get a balcony to hang laundry and survey the street.  Even though I'm only a 10 minute walk from the station, it feels like small-town neighborhood Japan; what Japan should REALLY look like.  I guess?  That's what Andrew and Yvonne said.  There is a convenience store on the next street, and a laundromat up the road so I'm pretty set.  Anything else I could want is 10 minutes away.  I haven't explore the area too extensively yet - I've been up to my eyeballs in errands and meeting people and running around.  I went to one of the big malls in Kashiwa today and picked up some furniture (all I have to my name is a futon and plastic set of drawers) which is being delivered tomorrow.  Pictures to follow tomorrow.

This month was going to be a bit of a holiday for me.  My new job at IES wasn't scheduled to start until December so I got a few part-time stints teaching and a few private lessons and was going to sit tight.  However, IES called me and needed a substitute teacher immediately for some elementary schools, at Y12,000 a day, so I jumped on it.  Kept me busy, and got a feel for this ALT job (although, junior high will be different).  That finished on Friday, so now I get a 2 week break before starting for real.  It's going to be busy though: now that I've moved, I have to change my address everywhere, including city offices and get a new gaijin card and set up house.  I've got a bit of training for the new job also to do, but will only be 1 day next week.

Yvonne came out this weekend to celebrate her birthday with me and Andrew.  She's got a JET conference today, tomorrow and Wednesday, but came a bit early and we went to the Oedo Onsen Monogatari in Odaiba on Saturday night.  An onsen is a Japanese hot spring, or communal bath.  It was awesome!  This place was decked out to look like the Edo period and everyone wore yukata.  We didn't get to go to the outdoor baths, since it was too late, but we stripped off and tested out all the different baths.  Unfortunately, there wasn't any co-ed ones, so Yvonne and I had to ditch Andrew for a while.  We took ridiculous pictures, of course, making total asses of ourselves.  On Thursday, Yvonne and I are taking a trip to Nikko.  We're staying 1 night, and going to hit up all the sights there.  It'll be my first real trip in Japan, outside of Tokyo.  I'm so excited!  It's only going to be about 100$, and right before a national holiday so we got a pretty good deal.  I'll have loads to write about!

After getting back to Kashiwa yesterday afternoon, Yvonne helped me get a haircut since I was long overdue.  The guy asked me if I dye my hair because he said it looked damaged.  WTF!  This is the first time in years that I actually don't have ANY dye in my hair so it should be healthy as a baby's bottom.  But hairdressers in Singapore used to say that to me all the time too, "Your hair feels dry".  I think he was full of crap.  And besides, how many white customers does he work on?  Fool doesn't know what he's talking about.  Pssh.  Anyway, I played with my camera and got carried away with taking pictures.
 

After 24 hours of travel I finally made it.  The flight from SFO to Narita was 10 hours, and we even arrived half an hour earlier than scheduled.  No problems with customs or immigration, everything went smoothly.  We even got fed on the plane which was nice.  And the food was actually GOOD.  It's been so long since I've had edible plane fare.  They played some movies which were... meh.  Some random one with Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins (Fracture?), In the Land of Women and Blades of Glory.  Just a way to pass the time.  Minimal turbulence (they seemed to turn the seatbelt sign on at the slightest tremor), no screaming children or babies.  Actually there were lots of ojiisans (grandpas) on the flight, or at least in my section of the cabin.  I lucked out on this trip: on both flights had an empty seat next to me, and an aisle so I could stretch my legs, and on the SFO-NRT flight was in front of the emergency exit so I didn't have to worry about squishing anyone sitting behind me. 

If I had thought Nova didn't really have their act together before arrival, there was no doubts now.  I got off the flight, waited a ridiculous long time for my bags to come off (probably because they were the first on), and went out into arrival hall and expected to see a big Nova sign and someone to meet me but no.  I wandered around, almost plowing over a few people with my cart, and then decided to ask the girl at the information counter.  So she took my name and paged for my party.  Then Jenna, who was on my flight from SFO, found me and we wandered around looking lost together.  About half an hour later, we paged again and found Justin, the other guy on our flight and the three of us crowded the lobby together.  Finally, Jenna and I went to get some change and make a call to the office to see what was up.  After several futile attempts at dialing the number on a Japanese public telephone, this American lady helped us.  So finally we got through to the office and they said the guy meeting us would be there in 10 minutes and told us to wait near the baggage delivery service.  John, an aussie who works in the personnel department, showed up and we sent our 2 suitcases off, an hour and a half after landing.  Then we trekked to another terminal, carry ons in tow, to meet more people.  Long story short, we dicked around Narita airport for 4 hours in total, waiting to collect 3 more people arriving from all over the place.

We finally got going around 6pm (we landed at 1:40pm) and took the train to Ueno station in the northern part of Tokyo which took an hour.  2 of the people with got sent off on the Shinkansen (bullet train) to Sendai in the northern part of the island, while the 3 of us left got on the subway to go to our final destinations.  After about 30 minutes on the subway I reached Abiko station and met my roommate(s) Hannah and Jen and Jen's boyfriend Tom.  Jen and Tom are moving out on Monday since their year is up so she's not "really" a roommate of mine, I guess.  She's really nice though, I'm going to inherit a bunch of stuff from her when she goes.  She's from New York but is going to travel around China for a couple weeks before going back to the States.  Hannah is from Wales and has been here 6 months but is terminating her contract early since she doesn't like the job.  Honestly, she didn't really endear me when she wasn't where she was supposed to meet me when I got off the train at Abiko station and was really dumping on the job.  I know the rep Nova has isn't great, but you're on the bottom of the bottom rung in a huge national corporation so of course you're going to get treated like crap.  I won't let her negativity get to me though.  I haven't even started work yet!  She's been pretty nice though.  They invited me out to the izakaya (bar/restuarant) last night but I was too tired and sweaty to go anywhere.  And since I had thought that my luggage would arrive at home the same day I did, I didn't have any other clothes in my carry on.  All I wanted to do was shower, get some instant noodles and go sleep. 

So the three of them went out and I popped down to the 7-11 on the first floor (score!) and got something to eat and then shower and tried to pass out.  We've got wireless hook up here (which is so strong any better than the crap connection I had in Vancouver) so I sent out an email letting people know I was alive and tried to sleep.  I barely ate any of my noodles since my stomach was in knots and was sweating buckets from the heat and humidity.  I was used to the heat in Singapore but I've been totally declimatized since I moved away 6 years ago.  It'll take a while to get used to it.  It's not bad but when you're already feeling crappy it makes sleeping kind of hard.  I tossed and turned for a few hours and finally got my stomach to settle around 1am and finally fell asleep.  I woke up around 5am (and consequently rolled over and went back to sleep), and then again at 9am and got up.  Read through this mountain of paperwork Nova gave me about starting work and getting settled until my luggage arrived at 11am. 

So, that was a pretty mundane and boring update I'm sure.  I've more or less gotten unpacked and settled.  I ventured out for a walk around the neighbourhood in search of a plug adapter for my computer and ended up finding this wicked electronic store called KS (like Future Shop) and got a cord but the end that plugs into the AC adapter is different.  But Jen gave me hers (I think she gave it to me anyway) so I can at least get my computer charged up.  Andrew wants to meet up tonight, maybe go to Shinjuku or Shibuya and hang out but I don't know if I'm ready for that adventure yet.  I don't have a phone yet so I have no way of contacting him if I get lost.  Well, payphones I guess.  I'm going to make him meet me tomorrow and he can help me get a phone and bank account set up after Hannah takes me to City Hall to apply for my gaijin (foreigner) card in the morning.

If you made it this far down, I applaud you.  Here are some photos as a reward!

I finally got my housing assignment today!  I was going to send them a nasty email in the morning if I didn't have something in my inbox since they said "2 weeks prior to departure" blah blah blah... Anyway, I will be living in Abiko-shi, Chiba-ken!  (Shi=City, Ken=Prefecture)  I'm so excited.  I have 1 roommate from the UK and the other room is currently empty so we might be getting another girl later (or maybe not?  Who knows!).  I'm super excited since its close to Tokyo so I can go see Andrew and other friends with a relative degree of ease.  It is in the GTA (Greater Tokyo Area) at least.  I guess its like living in Brampton again, in relation to Toronto...  Except it'll probably be easier to get to Tokyo than it ever was to get to Toronto.

Some Wikipedia links, just because (and yes, I know that Wikipedia is the paragon of accuracy):
千葉県　Chiba Prefecture
我孫子市　Abiko City