Being here for a month, it feels less like a vacation, less like a one-week-free-for-all and more like a protracted study abroad, with just enough time to get settled before I’ll be plopped back on a plane and drugged with jetlag until I stumble back intoNew England. It’s been a week and a half (I had to check a calendar because I had absolutely no clue how long it had actually been) since we arrived. Nearly everything takes getting used to, and reminds me ofJapanin its other-landliness. From funny-shaped plugs to separate faucets for hot and cold water (aka, scalding and freezing as it only comes in those temperatures) everything is familiar, but not quite. The refrigerator is tiny like in my apartment inJapan, and I like being able to place things on top of it. The shower is a precise science – you’ve all seen those pie charts, but this is worse. Even the tiniest nudge turns the water from skin-peeling hot to arctic, and it often inches up to the former while you’re inside. The bath is better, but the water is brownish green when it sits in the tub. I’ve been assured it’s perfectly safe and clean, but I dream of my deep, clear ofuro instead.
The most dramatic appliance so far has been the washer. After reaching critical laundry levels, I volunteered to was some socks, as it had been raining for days and the sun had finally shown itself over our drying line outside. After fiddling with some buttons and dials, I heard the sound of water and it seemed to be humming happily, so I went back to my novel in the bedroom. I popped out for a snack to find the kitchen covered in water. Preliminary inspection revealed a geyser spouting out of the water draining tube, and after a few pathetic attempts of plugging it, I smashed buttons until the machine shut off. I tried to mop, but as I lamented to Paul, “There isn’t even a thing to wring the mop with, so I was just pushing water around the floor!” (Later, I realized you can wring mops with your hands. I am a terrible person and a prat.) After unreturned phone calls and whining, people showed up to suck up the water (..it had dried 2 days ago?) and finally to fix the washer. We hung the laundry and it dried by the next day, the only fatality my mini-Che sock that a bird had pooped on.
In all, great success….!!
More of the house:
Living room!
Kitchen!
And lemon and avocado trees live in our yard..!!
