i'm sitting in my temporary apartment. definitely temporary for it is far from everything that i want to be near to which makes me of course more tired and depressed. in the end it will work out but it is one more thing to worry about. the first thing i did after murata-sensei left was strip out of my suit and put on the simplest coolest clothing i could think of. i am soo hot. its just insane. i'm sweating out of every pore. monique said it was bad but optimism told me not to believe her, "i'll be fine, i can handle anything". and yes i can handle it but i was already sick of it in portland. but anyways, murata-sensei is very very nice. her english is great! she already gave me a great gift of my hanka (signature stamp). it has two kanji on it that sound out to lewis (sorta) and it means owner of fort or small castle as she chose them. very cool. kakoii! this probably cost anywhere form $50 to $100, so gaa. very very nice. she is going to take me to the supermarket by bus to help me figure out how to do that tomorrow when i have to go to the BOE (board of education) induction ceremony. i feel bad and have no idea how to say that i am interested in looking at other apartments. this one is on the second floor. there is a dining room, tatami room/bedroom and bath. it is all filthy, not realy that bas but not the way i would expect any 'new' apartment to be. i can't believe that it wasn't cleaned before i got it, but it is cheap housing. the flight over here was bumpy. i sat next to a very nice girl, rose, from the u.k. she and i talked politics and background of each-other and boys. i'll see her tomorrow at the induction ceremony. i feel like it was a completely different day, but this morning i called mom. got to catch up on where i am and what's going on. i woke up around six and packed the little i still needed to and fed the myspace addiction. breakfast i finally figured out and ate mostly honey-do and french fries. i talked to a nice kid from hawaii who's going to gunen (i think). he'd been to hiroshima many times and loved it. we traded info. i checked out with my roommate, did all that stuff then took the bus to haneta airport. murata-sensei was the only one at the airport in hiroshima, which was great, and helped with my very heavy bag. we drove by the school and then to the apartment building. being two floors below her for this first bit is great but i just can't imagine staying here, but i think that will be okay. i just need to start looking and maybe come up with some money for key money (like a deposit but soo much more). now i'm going to run upstairs and give her omiyage (gifts) and hopefully take the bus out successfully. i'm so happy to be here, but i'm starting to get really nervous about all the details.
so i'm listening to moldy peaches-lucky number nine and i'm starting to feel okay. well kinda. murata-sensei is taking me out to dinner with her family. i'm very grateful. we went to the grocery store and i had no idea what to buy. i got some expensive fruit--although the bananas were still cheapest which is annoyingly useful. being environmentally and world conscious here is going to be a lot harder than in portland. i also got yogurt, again not organic, probably lots of sugar and artificial crap. japanese snacks. bottled water. and some bread. plus band-aids at the hyaku-en shop (dollar store) for my sad blistered and cut foot. (iron and wine came on and i miss the people who i used to listen to that with). the bus ride to and from the store was challenging just because i kept zoning out. i can definitely find it again but i'll have to pay attention. i'm feeling more negative now just because i'm realizing how little japanese i know and that maybe i shoulda studied before hand. then again i'm also realizing how much my host mom held my hand and how little i really had to do on my own. also i'm not going to have internet till i move of course but even then it'll probably take a month to set up. so this blog is probably very outdated. also calling people is very hard right now because i'm near anything. a pay phone is quite a walk and i won't have a cell phone or the amazingly cheap yahoo bb (ip phone) for quite some time. mad am i negative ned right now. i guess i'm in that part of the culture shock. the down i miss home stage. silly as that is being the forth day, but it feels like i've been here for at least a week.
dinner, it was good. murata-senei's husband is also a english teacher. they make a very attractive couple and their kids are cute, a little chubby, but cute. we went to the kind of place i'm always afraid to go to, but it was good. it as a resturant chain with a photo menu. i had cold udon with shredded radish and other very japanese stuff and a side of rice with tiny raw fish. too much food, but all good. they kindly paid and then took me to a su-pa (supermarket) so i could get an alarm clock. they were impressed that i opened the back seat for the kids wih out being asked and mr. murata bought me my clock. very nice! the whole time o was feeling off because of the beer with dinner, but it was good. we also looked at air conditioners, the cheapest was $500. i really don't want to pay that, but i might have to. then the rice cookers were around $50. we'll see about all this later. grr i wish i was in my permanent place. they then took me home and now i'm here (post-shower). murata-senei oned me a fan so i'm not totally dying but its probably still around 90F. i need to crash. another big day at the induction tomorrow.
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