Mountians, Tree Houses and Technology

I made it. I spent the few days at training just south of Tokyo (near Yokohama) then jumped the train to Matsumoto. It's been a crazy few weeks with many little problems (some of them not so little), thus the delay in updates, but overall I'm happy with how things have turned out. The trip out here was pretty amazing. I got on the train (not quite a shinkansen but damn close) and rode that for almost three hours through the mountains, and I do mean through. Getting here was cool, but it was already dark so I couldn't see the scenery when I arrived, but the next day I got up and on my walk into work (that's right I started work the very next day) I realized that the town is completely surrounded by mountains, any direction you look you can see mountains, about half of which are snow capped, and they're quite close too.

The apartment is small. Now don't get me wrong, I was quite prepared to live in a small apartment, but was looking forward to having a space where I could still cook and relax. This place is about half of what I expected though. the kitchen is all but non existent, it takes up part of the wall in the 'entryway' of the apartment (shared with the washing machine), the other side of which is the bathroom and shower. I don't have an oven, which I hoped for but hardly expected or even counted on, and I only have one electric burner/hot plate, and the refrigerator just barely beats out your average hotel room fridge,, but on top of that there is almost no room for storage of food and such. Then there's room, not rooms just the one. I was thinking that I would have a living room and bedroom, no matter how small the two may be, but instead there is just the one main living area with a loft for the futon (Japanese style, not American futon) and no room for anything but. Now all of this is rather frustrating, but doable, not ideal, but I can manage (after all I'll be spending much of my time out of the apartment anyway), however the real kicker is that I was told that the apartment would be furnished, promises were made of table and chair, sheets, futon, dishes and all other necessary accouterments. When I arrived in the apartment I found myself looking in on an empty living area, save for a chair (no legs just a padded floor level frame that would lock at different degrees, but was broken so it could only hold 180, 40, and 60 degrees) and a small coffee table that reaches a height of about one foot off of the ground. the futon was old and stained and only had one set of sheets that were... less than appealing. The first week of living here was much like the nights that I spent in the tree house that my brother and I built in our back yard, except if I remember correctly the tree house had insulation. I have since contacted the head office and complained, a lot (the gas had accidentally been shut off in my apartment that night due to miss communication between the head office and the gas company and I was cold, the gas heat the apartment as well as the water!). the next day action was taken by the head office and a few days later they sent someone up to help me out. A real table and chair was bought, along with a new futon, sheets, pillow, and toaster oven. I then went out and bought some shelves and drawers and have gotten reasonably comfortable here, though it still seems like a tree house.

After settling the various mishaps with the apartment, I went out and set up a bank account and got me a phone. The phone companies are a bigger pain here than I remember them being in America too! to get a phone, I not only had to buy the phone upfront (which was expected), but I also had to sign up for a bunch of ridiculous extras for the first month. I kept telling them I just wanted the basic package, but apparently new accounts have to come with all of the bells and whistles for a month, which costs over 4,500 yen more than the package I wanted. Even so, the phone is pretty awesome! I can watch live TV, do the whole internet thing, make video calls, and a lot more (I'm not yet sure of all the features, the guide book is in Japanese and I'm still making my way through it).

All problems aside, I have been enjoying the last few weeks more and more. The drama of the move is settling down and I've been getting comfortable in my new surroundings. I have managed to make myself a regular at a local Spanish bar (yes, Spanish bar in the middle of Japan), which isn't as bad as it sounds. The thing to do after work in Japan is to go to a bar for a bit and hang out with the other regulars, and since past GEOS teachers have been going to this bar it's the obvious choice for me. The bartenders and regulars are really cool and we all partied quite well for the holidays. After bar time they were asking everyone to leave, but asked the adult GEOS teacher, Chris from England, and myself to stay. Then a few more regulars showed up and we had the bar to our selves for over two more hours, and drinks became free (so all in all, good time had by all), although it still wasn't quite up there with the night we went to karaoke until 5am and worked the next day, a tough day! Along with the friends I have also been introduced to some new foods including basashi and inago (horse and grasshopper respectively), and am eagerly awaiting the first bites of kujura and fugu (whale and blow fish).

It's definitely been an adventure, but I think that the adventure is just beginning!