As I type this my fingers are jumping over hurdles of books, stationary and empty CD covers. My hands are navigating streets lined with papers and perfume and even a dragon bought in Thailand, just to get to the keyboard. My room is a mess and my house is a war-zone of different factions fighting each other. I think the tools and camping gear is launching an attack on the stuff-I-want-to-give-to-the-hospice-shop pile but I am too scared to look. The hammer and four nails that just rolled defeated into my bedroom is probably not a great sign.
Why oh why did I keep clothes that I last wore in my final year of school. Was I so sure that I would drop two sizes on my diet of coke, cheese and eating chocolate sauce out of the bottle? Also what is with all the magazines, did I really think that one morning I would wake up and want nothing more than to read a car magazine that is four years old.
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| My fridge in Japan: yeah I still love myself some cheese. |
Other than the insane amount of packing that I have been doing I have also stumbled across some valuable information. I have made contact with the person who has been living my future life for the past few years. My predicate is a Canadian girl and has been kind enough to fill me in on what I have signed up for. My apartment seems ideal and it is very close to everything a girl could want. I am 45 minutes walk (ha ha ha, I am sure this will happen) and 7 minutes train ride from my school. To get me there even faster I have bought a little blue Honda who I have christened “Keisuke Honda” after the soccer player who also looks good in blue.
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| Not Keisuke, but the car we traded him in for. |
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| The car I wish I drove |
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| Me freezing in good old Keisuke |
My landlord has been magnanimous enough to replace my tatami mats and give the place a good once over but this comes at an interesting price. For two weeks I will be living, eating, reading, offending, butchering the Japanese language and sleeping in a Buddhist temple. It really is not every day that you are extended an invitation to live with a Buddhist monk and his family. I am very excited but desperately nervous about the whole experience. I would not be surprised if the first thought that crossed your mind after reading this paragraph if you know me well, was that if there is one person that could benefit from a touch of Zen it is me. Anybody who has witnessed me being defeated at any computer game can attest to the absolutely beautiful tantrums I can throw. I have seen two year old toddlers turn to their friends and whisper, “oh she’s good”.
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| My first apartment in Japan! |
The town itself is nothing short of the business. I have been placed in Hiji, Oita which is close to the ocean, the mountains and my best friend. Ducky and I will be running riot in Japan and painting the streets of Hiji pink. My new home is the birthplace of Hello Kitty World and so Ducky is sure to drag me to the holy shrine of her religion. I will not say too much about my school for fear of that sort of thing being frowned upon but I will say this, the poor kids will need to learn how to say, please slow down miss, really quickly. I have heard that their new teacher is a tad on the chatty side.
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| Hiji |
It is best that I get back to packing now, since I think I see the photo frames building a rudimentary shelter out of computer boxes to shield themselves against the coming invasion of the crockery. Wish me luck.
