日本へ来て、疲れました！

Been having a really rough jetlag the last two weeks, but it’s been great fun. This is a pretty long post, but it more or less wraps up this time regarding being a new student in Japan.



Darling and I have begun settling in at our very own japanese apartment. Hasn’t really sunk in yet but it feels nice so far. We even have hot water and internet and a rice boiler (bought used for 4000 yen - and it’s awesome)

I really like the food here. We’ve been trying to cook our own for the most time, and (obviously!) the exotic asian food contents are really cheap here. Unfortunately, many of the given things in the western kitchen are conversely really expensive, including flour, sugar, potato chips and even pizza, meaning that there’s been quite a turn-over in my diet lately. Though thinking about it now, it doesn’t seem to be an entirely bad thing.
Some fruits and vegetables, like apples, onions, carrots, etc., are a lot more expensive as well, so we’ve been trying out some weird ones that I’ve never heard about. Juice and bananas are on the other hand also quite easy on the wallet so that’s basically been our breakfast since we got here (along with freshly cooked, pure as snow, white rice with an occasional tamagoyaki).

The school is nice too, everything so far has felt like repetition; the teachers seem actively engaged with their work (supposedly because all the students are here because they really want to, as well as them getting properly paid). I’ve used the extra time to practice kanji, the supply of them seems endless. More or less, I’m able to understand around 600 or so and that’s barely enough to partially recognize what’s written on signs, boxes, etc., everywhere. 自転車 (bicycle) and 焼き (grilled) seem to be the most common ones.

Compared to the cold, cold climate back home, it’s really hot out here. When we arrived, it was just after a crazy 40 degrees celsius, and we were sweating at about 28. It’s been cooling down this week though, but snow and ice seem so far away.

The size of this city keeps amazing me. We’ve been walking to school and back most days, and it takes this slow-walking couple 2 hours to get from our relatively central apartment to the really central school. I’m really more used to walking 2 hours to get from home to the city central at all! There are loads of 24 hour shops and restaurants in our neighborhood, we live one block from a huge department store and have like three great temples just next to us.
Took about a week to memorize the address. I guess it’s harder to find locations out here in general..

The camera I got to borrow sort of crashed so there won’t be many pictures from here, I suppose. Been sort of interested in the Canon Powershot S90 but despite it’s awesome sensor it hasn’t really been upgraded in a year, which is like forever in camera years so I thought I’d wait until a nice, high ISO model appears. (S95 uses the same sensor so it doesn't really justify the price difference - HDR mode and HD video seem like a slight processor or mainly a software upgrade)

Vending machines are funny, by the way. I’ve seen neckties, batteries, tobacco, beer and even larger wine bottles available. And soda too. Interestingly, it doesn’t have to be that expensive, in some locations we’ve spotted 50cl of cola at supermarket-cheap 100 yen (or like 8 sek).
Speaking of buying things, I haven’t been able to find a single store selling lego, with the exception of a used toys shop. That makes me sad :(



All in all though, I’ve had a really great time here so far. Gonna start writing more regularly, but we still haven’t settled in to a full extent.

..Darling's hair has a lovely scent!