I thought of some other things to write about: It's very frustrating to live in a Japanese apartment building- at least mine anyway. The building has nothing in the way of easy living. There is no heat, so I have a smelly kerosene heater- which I'm quite fond of (as opposed to freezing).
The water heater is gas and has to be turned on before each time hot water is needed (actually I leave my pilot on all the time, which is a no no, because of earthquakes and gas explosions, etc.). It's a small heater, very loud, and takes awhile to heat the water. My toilet is in a separate room from my bathtub and shower, which are in a separate room from the sink and mirror.
My small (everything here is small- the stove, the refrigerator, the height of the mirror) washing machine is stuck in a corner, very hard to get at, and I have to turn on the gas and light my stove every time I want to use it.
All right, enough bitching...I said before that I spend a lot of time at K's, which has really helped, because I've decided that I really hate being along. I help them out around the old homestead and that makes me feel good- I hate the thought of leeching on to them for my needs and giving them nothing in return. We've eaten out together 3 or 4 times (we've hit Kentucky Fried Chicken, and other pseudo American places), I read the Japan Times and watch t.v. at their house too (after reading back through this I sound like I'm about eleven).
I don't have a t.v. or radio yet. I've looked in stores and they are really expensive (everything here is, since the dollar is so low). The Japanese have this wonderful thing called a "gomi" pile, which is actually just a big trash pile. All of the trash has to be separated and put out on different days. One day might be burnables, the next, metal, and the next "gomi" or big items: furniture, appliances, etc.
That's not so great, but the great thing is that the Japanese don't believe in anything being second hand, so they just throw things away. If they buy a new television, they'll throw the old one on the "gomi" pile, even if its perfectly good, because to give something used to someone else is considered an insult. I got a bicycle out of the last "gomi" pile- granted it's old and ugly, but in perfect working order. I think next "gomi" day, I'll try for a t.v. and maybe a table or two...
Well, I should write a few letters now, even though this is giving me writers cramp. It's amazing how important the mail has become to me again. When I went away to college it was important, then I moved back home to live and student teach, and it didn't really matter- it was just nice. Now the mail is my life. I really don't hear anything about America at this point (except about the presidential race- and I didn't care about that in the states). I did hear that Robert Joffrey died when I was in the electronics department at Sanyo and a CNN broadcast in English was on one of the t.v. floor models. Anyway, mail has again become important...let's leave it at that.
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