apartment done!

3 weeks later, my apartment is finally complete! my shower room walls have magically transformed from prison cell grime to blinding white. for once, the shower room is well lit, and at night when the light is on, the room is ultra bright. i love it!

many thanks to aaron, who stuck it out with me for 5 hours painting and repainting the walls and ceiling. it's not the most professional thing you'd ever seen, but if you saw what was there before, you'd realize just how dramatic the difference is. (pictures coming as soon as i upload them to my comp)

can i just say, i LOVE my apartment. there are so many things i love about it, including:
- it's all on one floor, so no climbing stairs to grab stuff or going downstairs to pee
- it's concrete, which means less bugs
- huge closet
- better bathtub. my old one was marred by memories of cockroaches on my first night, so i never used it. this one though, no bad memories, and it also has a function to keep the bath water warm
- water heater over the sink, so i have HOT WATER to wash dishes
- more shelves to store dishes, cups, pots and pans
- a second sink (in the shower room), so i have a sink especially for brushing my teeth
- the kitchen is next to the tatami bedroom, which means i can cook and enjoy my tv at the same time
- my balcony has an overhang, which means less clothing getting soaked by the rain (my former one has no such covering)
- i'm on the second floor, which also means less bugs
- a SHOE CLOSET!!! ridiculous!
- did i mention i'm saving like $400 a month?

there are, however, a few downfalls...
- it's half the size of my old place
- i have to pass through the shower room to get to my toilet
- my toilet spits out an insane amount of water (environmentally unfriendly), even on the "small" setting (as opposed to "big" setting)
- everything i do now takes place in my bedroom/tatami room, which means more frequent cleanings
- everything at the moment jusssst fits in my place... if i gain too many things to take home, it's going to become an issue with space
- it's on a semi-steep hill, which equates to my huffing and puffing everytime i walk home from "downtown"
- at the moment, it still reeks of paint in the shower room

all in all, a very good move. thank you to everyone for your advice, and sorry it took me so long to decide.

not much else is new except that this coming weekend i plan on going sea kayaking for a second time. if it's as awesome as the first time i went, i'm highly excited about it. my first time going was less than a week after my arrival in tsushima. till this day, i still have not felt more perfect water than that day at sea. you seriously couldn't tell if you hand was in the air or in the water. the water was a perfect temperature and it was a beautifully clear and sunny, which just the slightly breeze. this time around, it'll be 7 of us: the northern trio (ollie, master lees, and rob), the southern trio (me, aaron, jayne), and sujin, my new next door neighbor and korean CIR friend.

the following weekend is going to be busy, but a blast. after 2 years, i will make my triumphant return to kansai! saturday i'll be visiting my host family, sunday will be a ***HANSHIN TIGERS*** game at KOSHIEN Stadium, and mon thru wed will be a JET conference for all ALTs recontracting for a second year in Kobe. it's going to be soooo sweet. my host sister is pregnant [again], and it's going to be weird seeing her daughter, Ayasa. Ayasa was born while i was staying with my host family, and to have my host sister (Sayoko) pregnant again, except this time with a little girl running around the house, is going to be a blast of deja vu mixed with confusion. i am truly saddened though that i won't be greeted by Baru-kun, my host family's [former] dog, who passed away a month and a half after i moved out to tokyo. he was a truly awesome dog.

work fatigue has caught up with me.... many of my elementary schools have decided to up the number of classes i have (making my first month back at school very frustrating and angering). 8 elementary school classes in 2 days is not my idea of fun, despite all the ADORABLE children i teach. my vocal chords are without a doubt taking a beating these two years during my stay. i fear i'm going to sound like chain smoker by the time i get back with all the talking/yelling over a full house of kids i have to do every week. we'll see.

that's all for now. tah tah!