(no subject)
What's going on with me right now:
1) I've moved in to a new place in the city, since it's now summer holidays and the dorms are closed.
2) I have a never-ending cough of doom!
I really like the new place. The location is great-- it's right in the middle of Osaka, close to everything. There's a subway station entrance literally 20 metres away from my door. There's a huge 2-floor supermarket (groceries first floor, living goods second floor) about 100 metres across the street. There's a convenience store 30 metres in another direction, with a small 100yen shop attached to it. (I've yet to find a large 100yen shop nearby, but tomorrow's another day.) There's lots of little boutique cafes around the area too. I'm surrounded by large buildings on all sides, so while I don't get a view, the building is in shade pretty much all day long so it's reasonably cool inside, which is great because I don't really have to worry about cranking up the electricity bill using the air conditioning in summer.
Took a walk around the area today, got to know the city a little better. I've been to most of the major cities of Japan, and I have to say... I really love Osaka the best. Don't get me wrong, I'm not viewing it with rose-coloured glasses. There are still aspects of Japan that I could definitely do without. But I've still totally fallen for Osaka. I'll do a post on why later.
Back to the apartment.
It's pretty much a shoebox, but that's okay for now. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some shelving for cheap (500yen) and put them around the place so I actually have storage space to put stuff. (Food. Books. Etc.) Still need a coffee table or something I can eat at. Eating on the floor isn't all that fun. Kitchen needs a surface to prepare on-- it's pretty much just a gas stove and a sink.
Have a futon here too, which is great, I super love it. I've gotten pretty used to sleeping on a futon these past few months, though to be honest it never really bothered me to begin with. My bed back home is fairly hard, so it's no harder than that.
I ran into my real estate agent today wandering around town, she invited me to a party on the 26th of next month. Suppose I can look forward to that! As soon as this stupid cough/cold-thing has left me I'm looking forward to meeting new people in the area and making friends and searching for work. Otherwise it's gonna be a pretty lonely 3 months all by myself! (I uh. I don't know if I have the money anymore to visit people outside of Osaka like I said I would...)
Also met my landlord today and gave him a requisite "please-look-after-me" gift in typical Japanese fashion. He seems nice! Best of all, my area has NO TRASH SEPARATION RULES! HOORAY! (For those not in the know: trash separation rules in Japan differ from area to area-- like local council areas-- and MOST areas have insane separation rules, such as "burnable garbage," "non-burnable garbage," "PET bottles," "glass," and so on and so forth.)
What else did I do? Oh. I found a place that sells delicious savory crepes. Had a hot melted cheese + chicken teriyaki + lettuce crepe for brunch. (Wasn't early enough to be breakfast.) It was mouthwateringly good. I also won two little ... cat plushie thingies ... in those crane games/UFO catchers. I'm getting better at them! Not great yet, though, haha.
So that's been my day. Sorry for not updating recently... I really need to do a catch-up post on the last few months. Maybe now that I suddenly have an abundance of free time, I'll get around to doing it. Peace out!
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.
1) I've moved in to a new place in the city, since it's now summer holidays and the dorms are closed.
2) I have a never-ending cough of doom!
I really like the new place. The location is great-- it's right in the middle of Osaka, close to everything. There's a subway station entrance literally 20 metres away from my door. There's a huge 2-floor supermarket (groceries first floor, living goods second floor) about 100 metres across the street. There's a convenience store 30 metres in another direction, with a small 100yen shop attached to it. (I've yet to find a large 100yen shop nearby, but tomorrow's another day.) There's lots of little boutique cafes around the area too. I'm surrounded by large buildings on all sides, so while I don't get a view, the building is in shade pretty much all day long so it's reasonably cool inside, which is great because I don't really have to worry about cranking up the electricity bill using the air conditioning in summer.
Took a walk around the area today, got to know the city a little better. I've been to most of the major cities of Japan, and I have to say... I really love Osaka the best. Don't get me wrong, I'm not viewing it with rose-coloured glasses. There are still aspects of Japan that I could definitely do without. But I've still totally fallen for Osaka. I'll do a post on why later.
Back to the apartment.
It's pretty much a shoebox, but that's okay for now. Tomorrow I'm going to buy some shelving for cheap (500yen) and put them around the place so I actually have storage space to put stuff. (Food. Books. Etc.) Still need a coffee table or something I can eat at. Eating on the floor isn't all that fun. Kitchen needs a surface to prepare on-- it's pretty much just a gas stove and a sink.
Have a futon here too, which is great, I super love it. I've gotten pretty used to sleeping on a futon these past few months, though to be honest it never really bothered me to begin with. My bed back home is fairly hard, so it's no harder than that.
I ran into my real estate agent today wandering around town, she invited me to a party on the 26th of next month. Suppose I can look forward to that! As soon as this stupid cough/cold-thing has left me I'm looking forward to meeting new people in the area and making friends and searching for work. Otherwise it's gonna be a pretty lonely 3 months all by myself! (I uh. I don't know if I have the money anymore to visit people outside of Osaka like I said I would...)
Also met my landlord today and gave him a requisite "please-look-after-me" gift in typical Japanese fashion. He seems nice! Best of all, my area has NO TRASH SEPARATION RULES! HOORAY! (For those not in the know: trash separation rules in Japan differ from area to area-- like local council areas-- and MOST areas have insane separation rules, such as "burnable garbage," "non-burnable garbage," "PET bottles," "glass," and so on and so forth.)
What else did I do? Oh. I found a place that sells delicious savory crepes. Had a hot melted cheese + chicken teriyaki + lettuce crepe for brunch. (Wasn't early enough to be breakfast.) It was mouthwateringly good. I also won two little ... cat plushie thingies ... in those crane games/UFO catchers. I'm getting better at them! Not great yet, though, haha.
So that's been my day. Sorry for not updating recently... I really need to do a catch-up post on the last few months. Maybe now that I suddenly have an abundance of free time, I'll get around to doing it. Peace out!
This entry was originally posted at Dreamwidth.