… and we’re moved. As it will be another week before I have my Yahoo BB! internet account set up in this apartment, I am cautiously “borrowing” a neighbor’s signal. I’ve passed some of them in the hall; they seem nice and I’m sure they wouldn’t mind. So I’m buying next month’s book club selection on amazon.co.jp, researching gardening tips for what will be my beautiful new bay window gardenette and updating friends, family and blog.
It was a brilliant relocation, a far cry from our spastic taxi-and-subway move to Korea Town last February. This time around we were smart; Sean’s friend from the dojo knew where to rent us a truck for cheap and, since he has his International Driver’s License, kindly offered to drive it for us. The truck turned out to be large enough to fit all of our junk, including our bikes, so only one trip was necessary. When we arrived at the apartment, our new landlord and his co-workers sprang from their office to help us unload. With 6 of us, the whole unloading process took 10 minutes, after which Matsubara-san did his best to explain the utilities in his labored English. Matsubara-san’s English is slightly better than my Japanese, so any conversation we have is unintentionally hilarious. I’m studying constantly for my 3-kyuu exam now, so my head is swirling with new grammatical forms which I don’t hesitate to try out at any opportunity. Yesterday’s discussion was very informative: he told me that the water bill is to be paid twice a month and I told him that Sean and his friend were slow to come therefore many move items, many heavy suitcases but Sean is skillful. After some backtracking, we discovered that Matsubara-san meant to say that the water bill is to be paid every two months, not twice a month, but for my part, no backtracking was necessary because I meant exactly what I said.
It has been raining all day, the apartment is still in disarray, and the poached internet connection is wildly unreliable, but I consider yesterday and today a success nonetheless. After the move was completed, Sean and I took a trip to Konan – cheap houseware goods emporium extraordinaire – to buy some necessities and then took a walk around our new neighborhood. There is an Italian cafe next door to our apartment and we decided to make it the site of our celebratory dinner. A pizza, bowl of scallop and pesto spaghetti and fried clam basket later, we hit the Supa Tamade on our block to buy some late night snacks (beer) and then returned to the apartment to assemble our new drawers and watch some DVDs. Munching on potato rings and “ganache” choco cookies, we noticed that there was moonlight streaming through our lovely bay window. It cast a beautiful glow on our glasses of beer.
This morning, my eyes popped open at 9 o’clock – my first real morning in 8 months. In the sunny kitchen, Sean and I greeted each other with pleasant hellos instead of grunts and marveled at what a difference morning light made in our mood. When I left the apartment, it had already begun to sprinkle but that didn’t deter me from humming to myself on the bike ride to the 99 yen store. There is a large, beautiful tree-filled park 10 minutes from our apartment, as well as a gym and an internet cafe. I took refuge from the drizzling rain in a sushi bar, where I enjoyed a lovely and very reasonably priced nigiri set; luscious slabs of octopus, eel, tuna, salmon, shrimp, egg, yellowtail and snapper artfully arranged on a wooden tray. The sushi chef asked me if it was okay to put wasabi in my sushi. I took the opportunity to reply “It’s all good,” with the new grammar I learned yesterday.
I bought plates, cups, house nonsense and dirt at the 99 yen store. I plan to plant basil, lavender, mini daisies, parsley and edamame today. Because I can.
Omedeto on the move, Liv.