Still moving

Boom.

Boom boom boom, come check out my new room.

But there seems to be something missing....

Oh yeah, EVERYTHING.

And where does one go when everything is missing?

BOOM!

Ohyes.

In true IKEA fashion, it is not very centrally located. However, I needed stuff, and I couldn't be bothered looking more than one place. Also, I've been wanting to check out Japanese IKEA just for the lulz.

Turns out that except for a few regional differences, it is exactly identical to every other IKEA in the world.

Seriously. Even the meatballs.

Only difference is the currency.
And the amusing furigana. "Miitobooru"

This Japanese kid in the café line in front of me was literally jumping up and down singing "mi-to-bo-ru! mi-to-bo-ru!". He was very very excited about meatballs.

I went the same day as my moving, so I started with the food. And what lovely food it was.

Polarbrød. For reals.

After that I don't even need to show you pictures. You know what IKEA looks like.

The only thing was the tatami and the futons. They were new.

IKEA tatami room furniture. I don't think they sell the actual flooring though.

IKEA futon.

Plenteous stuff was bought. The really impressive thing is that I didn't even know that plenteous was a word until after I made it up. I surprise myself sometimes!

About thousand NOK of stuff. I was feeling splurgy.

But it was only after I checked out of the main store that I discovered the true treasure hidden away out here in IKEA Funabashi.

The food. Oh my god they have The FOOD!




KNEKKEBRØD!

SILD!

PØLSE!

MED BRØD!

It's way too early for this but when Christmas rolls around you can be damned sure I'll come back out here to buy

And oh my sweet mother of cheezhus

*heavy breathing*

Such familiar. Much home!

Kjöttbullar is the Swedish umeboshi.

Peace out.

I've moved (again again)

HAH! A post!

For the fifth (and, I hope, last) time since coming to Japan, I've moved into a new apartment. And this time I think I've hit... well, not the jackpot. But I'm pretty damn pleased anyway.

It actually happened on Wednesday and Thursday, because I decided a day of overlap would be a good thing. So yup, for 24 hours I actually had two rooms in Tokyo. Pretty cool!

Since I might have indulged in the ocasional stuff-byuing I can no longer carry all my belongings at once, so I knew I'd have to make two trips.

The first round. Pretty much everything I own except some shoes and other misc that
wouldn't fit. In retrospect I probably could have distributed the weight better.
This first load was waaaaaay heavier than the second....
I AM SMART!

It was a very manual kind of moving. As in, I carried all my stuff on the train.

It was a little awkward.

Hello.

Especially when it started raining on my second trip. Thankfully that second load also included my umbrella.

Guess what I don't have any pictures of that. I dare you to try to balance a suitcase, a backpack, a pillow in a plastic bag, an office dustbin that just wouldn't fit in any carrying-aid that at this point you're seriously considering using as a hat and an umbrella that you're holding way far back because your computer is in that backpack and it is more important than your hairstyle or whatever AND THEN take a selfie. Seriously, try it. I didn't, because I'm just lazy that way.

First impression: Wall flowers. Also, the pocket om my bag is strangely adorable
in this picture.

Suffice to say that I was a little relieved (and a lot tired) when I finally finished hauling to my new home. I was also rocking a bit of a throat infection at the time. Add a low fever to the rant above and imagine how you'd feel.

Now I know, I know. I asked for help, and then I never even bothered publicising my choice.

Well, I'm sure everyone has been shitting nails waiting for my big reveal, so here goes:

After more or less unanimous advice, and also after listening to my own gut instinct, I decided to go for Number 1. I'm glad I did. Even though the room is about half the size of my previous crib and yet more expensive. Even though we're six ladies sharing one bathroom and one laundry machine. Even though my air conditioner is a bit leaky (edit: fixed). It's super cosy, and Location. Oh GAWD, the LOCATION!

It's like I'm finally actually living in Tokyo!

Look at that! LOOK!

Nine, NINE, NIIIINE!! train stations within a fifteen minute walk radius, one of which is literally the otaku heart of the world. Direct line to work, no transfers! I can eat at a different cheap joint every night of the week without walking for two minutes. I can run to Ueno park or a riverside park for a free scenic workout on the weekends. When I realized I wanted a new towel I WENT ACROSS THE STREET TO THE TOWEL SHOP AND BOUGHT ONE.

TOWEL SHOP.

PWN.

Turbulence

So my situation at the moment is this:

I'm preparing to exit todai. That means I have a bunch of courses to wrap up, which means a bunch of assignments for which the assesment criteria are completetly foreign to me. (For the record, I also have very little knowledge about how to collect my alleged "credits" at the end of it all). At the same time I need to wrap up my research activity, where all I can really say is that "Hey, I read a lot, and have this kinda plan of this thing I'd like to both check out and improve, because I pretty much know it won't work but it's a starting point so yeah thanks for the fish and I'm out." Somehow I've got to make both a scientific report and a presentation out of this during the course of next week.

I also have to move house, because a non-todai student cannot keep staying in a todai dorm. This means that I have no idea where I'll be living a month from now, and I'll be spending a large ammount of time next week visiting various appartments and share houses trying to make all the hard desicions that need to be made.

I've also got my family visiting in about two weeks. I'll spend a fortnight traveling Japan with them, which is totally awsome, but since I've planned the entire trip I'm completely terrified that I might have forgotten a night of lodging or ordered a train on the wrong day or something.

I'm also terribly dressed for the occasion. The climate has gotten pretty tropical, and my wardrobe of summer clothes is lacking at best. I've tried to go shopping in Japan but I just keep failing to find anything that will fit my awkwardly European frame. So I sweat around in jeans when it's 30 degrees (Celsius, duh) and 90% humidity, and on top of everything I don't even have the privilege of feeling stylish.

What I'm trying to say is that I'm really, really restless. My life is about to change a lot again soon, and I can't say if it makes me more excited or terrified. Terrcited? Excitified? I'm dealing with it mainly by focusing every bit of concentration on the remaining loose ends (of which there are /a looooooooot/) and trying very hard not to succumb to what will either be a never-ending fit of giggles or a serious panic attack.

The main life lesson here is that change is hard and scary, and I don't really know how to deal with it. The best I can do is to keep trying really hard, and write a metric shit-ton of to-do lists.

I've moved (again)

Goodbye, dorm!

Goodbye tiny bathroom.

Moved in with a nice older lady living very close to central Tenjin, within walking distance of GenkiJACS. Got myself a Japanese style room and everything!

Hello tatami!

This time, my host mother speaks very little english, so I'll be forced to practise more Japanese. I suppose it is really a good thing, but it's also kind of scary since I still in no uncertain terms absolutely suck in this language! 

The lady used to run a coffe shop,
and guests used to leace umbreallas.
Mi かさes su かさ, if you get what I mean.

A room with a view and a staircase, but no pond.

Gotta keep it short today, going out for okonomiyaki yummyness in about two minutes.

But yeah, things change. Maybe I'm changing with it. At the very least, I'm getting better at sitting on the floor!

I've moved

Due to several circumstances, I've moved away from my initial host family and am for the moment staying at a dorm. Let's make one thing perfectly clear; I was neither thrown out nor did I leave because I didn't like my host mother and her family. The decision was mutual, and arriving at it was the longest roundabout game of "it's not you it's me" I've ever been a part of. I am a bit sad about it, but sometimes life just happens, and I'll deal.

In the mean time, dorm life! I now proudly present to you:

The worlds smallest bathtub:

I mean seriously.

Look at this thing.

LOL!

A fake bed (let's face it guys. That is a futon on a table and there's no two doubts about it.)

A pot noodle vending maching. Forgot to get a picture of it, and am too lazy bum to go out and do it. But the noodles were great!

A social and generally awsome kitchen area:

I came in, and got cake.

The noodles (my dinner) are from the noodle-machine. The wine is from the same lady who gave me the cake.

So, my situation actually does not suck at all. I'll probably stay here for no more than a couple of days, until the people at GenkJACS can find me a new host family. I would probably be totally fine staying here longer, but since Tokyo is going to be all about the dormin', I really want to keep trying the homestay thing.

Is all good. :)