so many of you probably already know this but last year my friends and i went to nagoya. we had one day left on our jr passes (train passes) and so we came here and ate spicy chicken wings - something nagoya is famous for. it was a lot of run... but for some reason i could not get the name of the city right. i called it nagano ALL NIGHT! even when i was trying, and focusing, i got it wrong. anyway, i found it amusing and quite fitting, that i ended up here in nagoya.
its day 2 here already. time is going by so fast! i have thus far: navigated my way through nagoya airport (no small feat), figured out how to send my luggage to my new apartment, taken a taxi, checked in and out of a hotel, gone grocery and home goods shopping, and purchased my train card. buying the cleaners made me a bit nervous. i read the labels very carefully so i didnt end up trying to clean my toilet with toothpaste. ^_^" also, learning what food is cheap and what food is expensive was a bit of a learning experience. obviously japanese food is cheaper and imported foods are more expensive, but also learning what is in season here and what the local specialties are is important. i found cheese today at a reasonable price... sooo happy! ^_^
i must admit, all the experience ive had with ECC thus far has been great. my housing agent worked for ECC and has been in japan for 16 years. he started as an english teacher and knows a lot about the company. he was coworkers with the person who hired me... so theyve known each other for quite some time. bruce (my housing agent) picked me up from the hotel i stayed at my first night. i had omiyage in hand (omiyage = gift)! i bought some sees chocolate at the airport... ^_^ anyway, he picked us up then took me to the ward office so i could get my alien residency card (wooohooo! i am an alien!!!) ... then we met the other 2 people in my training group. bruce took us to this bigger store/market with lots of stuff. they sell bikes, household items, etc. and so we got our first round of supplies. thrift stores are often a good place to find things here... theyre called recycling stops. i got a dresser for my apartment. my apartment came fully furnished but it didnt have enough space for my clothes!! so i got this dresser for about $30! bar-gain! then bruce left us... but he also is working on getting our permanent internet connections set up, which is really cool. i dont know any housing agent that does that much for a tenant!
so now im in my new apartment. ill take pictures as soon as i can clean up a bit. >.<" as soon as i got settled here, the luggage place brought my luggage to me and things havent quite gotten to where they need to be... also, trash in this place is serious business. trash goes out every day of the week but we have to recycle EVERYTHING in different groups... suuuuuch a pain!! here is a brief explanation if youre curious : http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/dailyliving/housingandsettlingin/garbage.htm <---tres complicated.... in other words, i have trash EVERYWHERE! like seriously, i cant figure out the trash (ok, i havent really read the info yet)... so i havent thrown anything away. lol.
my apartment is fairly large. its larger than what i expected. i have a full size bed, 2 love seats, a table with 2 chairs, a dresser, an armoire and some small shelves. my kitchen is a kitchenette. i have 2 burners, a toaster oven, a microwave, and a fridge. my fridge is like... the size of 2 mini fridges. i dont have an oven. my bathroom is roughly, 1/4 the size of a normal bath in the u.s. my bathtub is 1/2 the size of a bathtub back home. LITERALLY 1/2! i can touch the ceiling with my hands (easily). im pretty sure kurt (or anyone over 5'5) would be uncomfortable... i know i am! but its doable for now. i have a solid heater and a/c for when it starts getting hot/humid, so i figure thats all i need!
i am right next door to a flower shop. going one direction i have one market and going the other theres another market! within 2 blocks theres a movie theatre (its currently showing 50/50 which i really want to see but i am afraid to see it cause i dont watch sad movies...). i live roughly 7 min away from the train station. did i mention there are like 500000 restaurants on my block?? i live smack in the middle of downtown nagoya! city center is one block away! its fantastic!!! ^___^ and its sooo pretty!! the christmas lights are out and everyone is dressed in coats... i <3 it!
what else... my coworkers seem nice. one lady is from australia. she speaks funny! ^_^ i keep forgetting her name... but im sure ill learn it. shes married and a bit older than i am but her husband supported her coming here to fulfill a dream - which is awesome! the guy is meh. hes quiet and i cant tell if hes anti social or shy, but so far i dont have a read on him. hes from los angeles though... pasadena actually. i wont say more cause he'll probably read this at some point. ^_^ um... im in training starting saturday for 2 weeks, then i have a week of work and then its the holiday! ^___^.
random things:
there are no birds here. no bird noises, no bird poop. why are there no birds here??? i know there are birds in japan! ive seen them!!
my house key is weird. ill post a picture soon... but i dont really get how it works. it looks fake. ^_^
today my coworker and i were heading to her place so she could change and since our apartments dont have any walls (NO WALLS EEK!) i waited downstairs in the entryway. turns out she never made it upstairs cause her super was there waiting to talk to her about the trash. so they talked for like ten minutes or so and she came out of the trash room and waved to me... so i did that wave/bow/smile thing the japanese do to indicate hello/yes im still here/ its fine that i am still waiting, etc., and so she heads up to her apartment to change and the super comes out to me and asks me if i speak japanese, to which i reply "a little." then he goes on to tell me that i look like ive lived in japan for a while and wants to know how long ive lived here... random! so i told him that i studied japanese at university... so he goes on to tell me that he is impressed (which i think is a standard phrase to say to foreigners who can speak any japanese).... he said that he had to explain the trash to her because its complicated. then he goes on to tell me his name and that if she ever has problems or has questions that we can ask him and that i should come by the apartment so he can explain things to me first and then i can translate them for her... interesting conversation in japanese! lol. im just glad i understood all of it. hehe.
to that end, my japanese is holding up fairly steadily. i am shocked (and relieved) that it came back to me so easily. i owe my senseis for that. they were obviously ah-mazing if they got me to learn japanese! lol.
and so with that, i end this blog. i think i wrote enough to give you an idea of what ive been doing here in the last 48 hours or so. its been a whirlwind.
its day 2 here already. time is going by so fast! i have thus far: navigated my way through nagoya airport (no small feat), figured out how to send my luggage to my new apartment, taken a taxi, checked in and out of a hotel, gone grocery and home goods shopping, and purchased my train card. buying the cleaners made me a bit nervous. i read the labels very carefully so i didnt end up trying to clean my toilet with toothpaste. ^_^" also, learning what food is cheap and what food is expensive was a bit of a learning experience. obviously japanese food is cheaper and imported foods are more expensive, but also learning what is in season here and what the local specialties are is important. i found cheese today at a reasonable price... sooo happy! ^_^
i must admit, all the experience ive had with ECC thus far has been great. my housing agent worked for ECC and has been in japan for 16 years. he started as an english teacher and knows a lot about the company. he was coworkers with the person who hired me... so theyve known each other for quite some time. bruce (my housing agent) picked me up from the hotel i stayed at my first night. i had omiyage in hand (omiyage = gift)! i bought some sees chocolate at the airport... ^_^ anyway, he picked us up then took me to the ward office so i could get my alien residency card (wooohooo! i am an alien!!!) ... then we met the other 2 people in my training group. bruce took us to this bigger store/market with lots of stuff. they sell bikes, household items, etc. and so we got our first round of supplies. thrift stores are often a good place to find things here... theyre called recycling stops. i got a dresser for my apartment. my apartment came fully furnished but it didnt have enough space for my clothes!! so i got this dresser for about $30! bar-gain! then bruce left us... but he also is working on getting our permanent internet connections set up, which is really cool. i dont know any housing agent that does that much for a tenant!
so now im in my new apartment. ill take pictures as soon as i can clean up a bit. >.<" as soon as i got settled here, the luggage place brought my luggage to me and things havent quite gotten to where they need to be... also, trash in this place is serious business. trash goes out every day of the week but we have to recycle EVERYTHING in different groups... suuuuuch a pain!! here is a brief explanation if youre curious : http://www.nic-nagoya.or.jp/en/dailyliving/housingandsettlingin/garbage.htm <---tres complicated.... in other words, i have trash EVERYWHERE! like seriously, i cant figure out the trash (ok, i havent really read the info yet)... so i havent thrown anything away. lol.
my apartment is fairly large. its larger than what i expected. i have a full size bed, 2 love seats, a table with 2 chairs, a dresser, an armoire and some small shelves. my kitchen is a kitchenette. i have 2 burners, a toaster oven, a microwave, and a fridge. my fridge is like... the size of 2 mini fridges. i dont have an oven. my bathroom is roughly, 1/4 the size of a normal bath in the u.s. my bathtub is 1/2 the size of a bathtub back home. LITERALLY 1/2! i can touch the ceiling with my hands (easily). im pretty sure kurt (or anyone over 5'5) would be uncomfortable... i know i am! but its doable for now. i have a solid heater and a/c for when it starts getting hot/humid, so i figure thats all i need!
i am right next door to a flower shop. going one direction i have one market and going the other theres another market! within 2 blocks theres a movie theatre (its currently showing 50/50 which i really want to see but i am afraid to see it cause i dont watch sad movies...). i live roughly 7 min away from the train station. did i mention there are like 500000 restaurants on my block?? i live smack in the middle of downtown nagoya! city center is one block away! its fantastic!!! ^___^ and its sooo pretty!! the christmas lights are out and everyone is dressed in coats... i <3 it!
what else... my coworkers seem nice. one lady is from australia. she speaks funny! ^_^ i keep forgetting her name... but im sure ill learn it. shes married and a bit older than i am but her husband supported her coming here to fulfill a dream - which is awesome! the guy is meh. hes quiet and i cant tell if hes anti social or shy, but so far i dont have a read on him. hes from los angeles though... pasadena actually. i wont say more cause he'll probably read this at some point. ^_^ um... im in training starting saturday for 2 weeks, then i have a week of work and then its the holiday! ^___^.
random things:
there are no birds here. no bird noises, no bird poop. why are there no birds here??? i know there are birds in japan! ive seen them!!
my house key is weird. ill post a picture soon... but i dont really get how it works. it looks fake. ^_^
today my coworker and i were heading to her place so she could change and since our apartments dont have any walls (NO WALLS EEK!) i waited downstairs in the entryway. turns out she never made it upstairs cause her super was there waiting to talk to her about the trash. so they talked for like ten minutes or so and she came out of the trash room and waved to me... so i did that wave/bow/smile thing the japanese do to indicate hello/yes im still here/ its fine that i am still waiting, etc., and so she heads up to her apartment to change and the super comes out to me and asks me if i speak japanese, to which i reply "a little." then he goes on to tell me that i look like ive lived in japan for a while and wants to know how long ive lived here... random! so i told him that i studied japanese at university... so he goes on to tell me that he is impressed (which i think is a standard phrase to say to foreigners who can speak any japanese).... he said that he had to explain the trash to her because its complicated. then he goes on to tell me his name and that if she ever has problems or has questions that we can ask him and that i should come by the apartment so he can explain things to me first and then i can translate them for her... interesting conversation in japanese! lol. im just glad i understood all of it. hehe.
to that end, my japanese is holding up fairly steadily. i am shocked (and relieved) that it came back to me so easily. i owe my senseis for that. they were obviously ah-mazing if they got me to learn japanese! lol.
and so with that, i end this blog. i think i wrote enough to give you an idea of what ive been doing here in the last 48 hours or so. its been a whirlwind.
Your apartment sounds awesome and huge. Side note about ovens: I have yet to find anyone that actually has one (admittedly my sample size isn't scientifically rigorous but still). The 3LDK luxury apartment I'm renting a room in doesn't even have one -- we work the convection microwave if we need to (I guess. I've only used it twice). Anyway, your neighborhood also sounds awesome. And oh the joys of Japanese garbage sorting. Glad to hear you've hit the ground running with your Japanese language skills intact :D Yaaaay you're here! Let me know once you're all done settling in and have some free time, I'd love to come visit!
ReplyDeleteHeehee! I'm so happy your happy with your apartment, and yayyyyyy Nagoya!
ReplyDeleteTrash is fairly easy once you understand the sorting. It's the days it comes that's the issue. In Kyoto, paper and cardboard are picked up at combustible trash locations before 9am by a truck with a jingle. Pet bottles, cans and glass bottles are put in clear bags and go out on a different day than every other plastic (including styrofoam) which use the same clear plastic bags.
Combustibles are in yellow bags here and go out twice a week. But yes, separated garbage cans in the best way to go imho. XDDD
I want to come see you too!!!! Christmas is so pretty in Japan T.T
thanks shelby! i like it all except for the bathroom! lol. otherwise plenty of space for me. hrm, well that explains the lack of oven then! i have a toaster oven about the size of a piece of toast. lol. i wont be baking anytime soon though... yea! this area is super nice! i love the sounds of the city... theyre so full of life! my japanese skills have thus far impressed me since i am painfully shy and filled with anxiety over speaking it. lol. its nice that my responses come so naturally. maybe i am just terrified of the senseis? lol. and yes, once i get settled id love to have you over! also, i really like yokohama so id like to plan a trip out your way too! ^____^
ReplyDeleteand ariel, yea... i read the trash thingy... just sooo much work... lol. we have 3 colored bags. red, yellow and green. they do 2 colors twice a week and then another color on fridays... and paper gets sent to the collection site...? i have a few bins in my apartment, which will help once i actually get up the energy to do it. lol. my housing agent said he takes all his trash back to osaka cause its so confusing/detailed here. >.<" its a learning process i guess... lol.
and yes ariel, seeing you is top priority! obviously, kyoto is fantastic. ^_^
ReplyDelete