moving?...

since about october, i've been debating whether or not i should move. at first, i was spending money like crazy between buying stuff i needed for my home, renting a car, car insurance, rent, setup fees for this and that... by october, i was still bleeding money, so i talked to Murase-san, one of the ladies (er.. the only lady) that works in my BOE. after informing her that i had a slight interest in moving, she and another guy in our office convinced me that it would probably be a lot of trouble and money to move (key money, moving expenses, cancellation and startup fees for my phone, internet, etc). so after that, i kinda gave up on the idea of moving, and resolved to make the best of my situation.

first, a few things i need to explain.

- of the 9 of us ALTs on the island, i have the highest rent at 50,000 yen/month (a bit less than $500/month). the least expensive, from what i've heard, is around 9,700 yen/month (roughly $90/month). that's kind of a big difference. of the 9 of us, 2 of us live in privately owned housing (me and aaron), while the rest live in either high school or city-owned buildings. because the buildings are owned by the city or whoever, rent is significantly subsidized, so everyone ends up paying between $100-$200/month on rent. unheard of in the states, yeah?

- if you all remember, the new school year starts in april here, causing a massive shuffle of not only teachers, but city workers too. this means that if city or prefecture-owned apartments open up, it'll most likely happen between march and april. if they're filled up by april, you have to wait till next year before you'll really have a chance to move into cheap housing.

so, back in october, there weren't any city-owned apartments open, so i had to just suck it up and deal with my beautiful, yet expensive, home. however, the end of the school year rolled around, and Murase-san asked me if i was still interested in moving. it turns out that there was a prefecture-owned building about a 4 minute walk from where i presently am, that looked like it would be losing its current residents.

due to population and economic decline in Tsushima, the prefecture has sent fewer and fewer prefectural employees to the island. foreseeing less and less use for the building, Nagasaki-prefecture sold the building to Tsushima-city. so now city employees (like myself) get first dibs at 6 suddenly available apartments.

over my spring break, i actually got to take a look at the open apartments. if i were to move, i'd want a second floor home. my korean CIR friend, Sujin, was already set on moving, and had already decided which apartment she wanted. the apartment everyone was thinking i should take was the one next door to Sujin, which at the time was still occupied (but that guy has since left). after a LOOOOOT of thinking and mulling over the pros and cons, i decided that i valued comfort over money (that place was realllly old and about half the size, if not smaller, than my current place).

however, yesterday, me, aaron, jayne, sujin, and kim-sensei (a korean woman who teaches at jayne's high school and lives directly above jayne and is also good friends with sujin) had a potluck party at sujin's newly spruced up apartment. and i have to say, she did a very good job with the place. she really cleaned it up and turned it into a very liveable place.

which got me thinking. maybe i could do the same thing. hmmmm....

so after yet another round of deliberation yesterday, i finally decided that i want to move after all. rent is only 10,000 yen (less than $100!!). and this being sujin's 3rd apartment in this last year (she's all about saving money so she can travel), she assured me that it costs nothing to switch addresses for my phone, internet, etc). feeling a lot better about that, i went ahead and told Murase-san that i want to move after all. gosh am i a terrible person or what. *shaking head*

i found out today that the apartment is still available, but what i was worried about all day was whether or not i could break my current contract. my baker neighbors are AWESOME and the sweetest people in the world. i feel so guilty wanting to move, but yanno, you got to do what you got to do. i could tell by rereading my contract if i had to stay a year or if i could move before the end of the year... rather than asking Murase-san to ask them for me when i see my neighbors multiple times a day, i decided to be a grown-up about it and tell them myself that i was thinking about moving.

i can honestly say that i've had to say some challenging things in japanese, but this by far was the most difficult. having to explain to your landlords that you're thinking about moving because you still owe a disgusting amount of money in college loans, even though you really like your current place, but really need that extra bit of money each month... not easy. and trying to probe them for whether or not it's possible under my contract to move without having to pay for the rest of the year... it was indeed a very delicate subject.

nonetheless, i did the responsible thing and told them my reasons, and found out that i can indeed break the contract. excellent.

i have no idea when yet, but it's looking like i will move. stayed tuned for more news on that.

one more interesting tidbit. my predecessor actually lived in a different apartment when she first got here, but it was supposedly really small and really expensive (like 40,000+ yen/month). she stayed there for 6 months before finding out about my current apartment and moving in. granted it's an awesome apartment surrounded by a beautiful garden and a spacious (yes, chieze -- spacious) parking lot, i feel like a smaller but cheaper apartment will suit me. i spend all my time upstairs in my bedroom anyway. the only time i'm downstairs is when i'm cooking or eating dinner. and i hate dealing with all the random bugs that appear downstairs. this is why i'm all about moving to a second floor concrete apartment, which i'm hoping will be less hot in summer and less cold in winter (it doesn't seem to make sense, but jayne and aaron live in apartment buildings, and of the three, my apartment consistently has the most drastic temperatures).

i kinda wonder though... between me and my predecessor, if i move, that'll be the 3rd apartment in only 4 years that this position has existed. from her perspective, i'm sure she felt her successor would thank her for the amount of space gained for the money we pay. but from my perspective, i feel like my successor will thank me for the amount of money s/he will be saving (in the words of my dad, i can afford more food. spend $10 instead of $5 on dinner. count on my dad to target food references when talking to me... *sigh*). which brings me to a question i have for anyone who's reading this:

would you rather have a pretty pimp aparment that's only 2-3 years old for $500/month, or have an apartment that's half the size, old, but only $100/month?