This post is long, but it's a few days' worth

A Few Days In

I'd first like let you all know that, while I tend to be a member of the grammar police in day to day life, that doesn't apply here. I type as a think, in a free-flowing, full of errors and strange tangents, manner. Hope that's not too annoying, because I'm simply too lazy to both write these blog entries and edit them...

So it's Friday the 5th here, and we've been fairly busy so far. Here's a rundown of the last few days:
WEDNESDAY was pretty much just getting here, meeting our American friend here who hired us and has been our guide, a bit of dinner, a trip back to our appartment (with a stop at the corner store nearby), and that's about it. Our apartment is pretty warm (temperature's about 29 degrees right now, and it's MUGGY. Reminds me of Montreal in July/August. We made a quick trip to the cornerstore to grab some drinks (Tropicana grape, water, and a happy little Star soda (pictures below). Laura crashed almost right away (about 8.30) while I tried to stay up a little longer trying to adjust my sleep schedule; I made it about 1 hr (cut me some slack, we'd been up for about 22 hrs). 10.30 came around and our doorbell rang. A LOUD DOORBELL. A household doorbell, that, thanks to our 200sq ft apartment was not even 12ft from us. I get up, go to the door, and there stands a 20-something Japanese fellow (I know, who'd-a thunk it?) and he procedes to explain to me that he's delivering the Japan Times and trying to collect for the subscription costs (this is all in Japanese mind you, though the paper's in English). I let him know that I have no clue what he's talking about, he points to a name on the subscription form (in Japanese), I further demonstrate my inability to help him and finally close the door as it dawns on him that he has no hope in hell of getting any money from me. Then we go back to bed.

Thursday: We woke up and left in search of breakfast, which consisted of Tonkatsu (breaded pork), hamburger (complete with processed cheese. YUM!), a strange hashbrown-like thing (tasted alright and still alive), rice, gyoza (pork dumplings), and a mandarin fruit cup suspended in jelly (it's still in the fridge). This was all found at... 7-11! Yes, Japan has an abundance of 7-11s here. The story we heard was that the company went bankrupt somewhere else, and felt that the Japanese market would welcome them with open arms. That, and they were cutting their losses by selling the signs and franchise rights in Japan.

After breakfast we chilled for a while until we were picked up. From there it was a multitude of errands. First we went to City Hall and filled out our Alien Registration forms. We met a couple of fellow Canucks. The woman has been here for 12 yrs, the guy 5. She's an admin for a school in Tsukuba, and he's a teacher at said school. They turned us onto a couple of useful resources, told us to meet up with them when we're settled, etc.

After this we went and met up with our friend again (someone else was helping us earlier). We went to the liqour store, where we purchased wine, spaghetti, sauce (meh), and a corkscrew. From there it was a quick wander through the mall, which included a gander in the 100 yen store (if you guessed that that's a $ store, give yourself a prize). THEY KICK OUR DOLLAR STORES' ASSES!

Had lunch at a burger place (very good), checked out the Capcom Arcade (mostly crane games and little kiddie gambling machines. They get them young here), and a bakery, where we picked up bread to go with dinner and what I've termed 'Pancake Buns' for breakfast.

Next on the list were cell phones. Softbank is the company the school deals with mostly, and while the phones tend to be a bit bigger than ours back home (I know! Who knew?!?), I think they're more streamlined and stylish. And, apparently, so does Cameron Diaz. She's everywhere a Softbank ad is. Turns out we won't have our phones for a while until our visas are dealt with. Sad, sad, Brian and Laura.

The rest of the evening was pretty much dealing with our house. The realtor's office took quite some time, and I was nautious by the end. Turns out friend's living with us (joke) as we don't speak Japanese. Should be fun. We then went for burger I mentioned earlier (sorry, I forgot about the realtor until now).

AFTER all that, we went and looked at the house. It's nice, though the staircase scares Laura. It CREEPS HER OUT. As do the shower room (not the toilet) and the Tatami rooms (two of them). She blames YOU Caitlin! The living room is fine though, which is where we'll be spending most of our time anyways. We have a tool-shed, and a bicycle. Both are the landlords, but we are free to use them, as well as the tools.

Dinner and bed.

Friday: We were picked up by Yoku, went to the bank with Ken, and found out that we couldn't yet open an account. Turns out we need our Alien Registration cards first. Went home and puttered. Our friend picked us up later and we went for dinner at his favorite Soba restaraunt. Good, but I wasn't quite in the mood for it. I'm sure I'll like it more next time. Though I wasn't overly thrilled with the Soba noodles, the Sake was GOOOOOOOD! I had cold sake, and what we were told just before leaving Canada really is true. Sake outside of Japan. Is. CRAP. It was one glass (about a shot glass and a half) for around ¥800 (just under $8) and though that may sound stingy, it was an excellent type of sake (very dry) and the way they present it to you makes up for the price. They bring the glass and a small wooden box. They but the glass in the center of the box, un-cork the bottle and pour QUICKLY. The sake then flows over the top of the glass, and fills up a good portion of the box. They do this to demonstrate beyond a shadow of a doubt that you are getting the full amount (the glass) that you paid for; and then some. I look forward to going out with him and exploring many varieties of sake, as he is well versed in the multitude of brands.

It's now Sunday, and all we really did was run errands. Laura has already posted about what we did Saturday so I'll skip those details. I'm going to stop typing now so that I can finally post this 3-day blog entry (both in what it covers and how long it actually took me in finishing it. Though to my credit, my laptop died on me and I lost Thurs. and Friday).

Cheers.