I’ll start from about where I left off - back in August I was just getting used to my surroundings here.  I am still continuing to deal with the various issues that come up when you’re responsible for a house.  I weeded the entire garden of 4-foot tall weeds, along the way coming across many species of large bug, small frog and even a snake.  Kinda makes me miss the Hartford squirrels.  Since evicting them from their native habitat a few of the critters have decided to strike back by squatting illegally in my house.  So far the biggest one has been a lizard in my shower (which I would normally accept, but since I think he was after the roaches in my shower, I think we have a little issue).  Now that all sounds pretty bad, but it’s teaching me the importance of keeping a clean house, and that you do get what you pay for when your rent is about $150 a month!  Anyway, back to my garden, which has put me instantly in favorable light in the eyes of my neighbor, named “Itai”, which is the same word for “hurt”, so I’m glad I’m on her good side.  After clearing out the weeds and churning up the soil with a hoe (yes, a hoe - I kind of like the manual labor thing), I laid down some grass seed which is coming up nicely.  I also dug a square hole for bodies, I mean, rocks (getting all Zen style here) but have yet to fill it, so thats the next project.  The interior of my pad is still pretty bland - kind of a yellowish brown, accentuated nicely by the ubiquitous Japanese flourescent light, but the tatami mats got replaced, although unbeknownst to me at the time, it was at my own cost.  My reaction upon being informed of the several hundred dollar price tag (which will convieniently be subtracted from my monthly paystub) was “So what if they had ants living in them, they looked fine to me!”

Ah Japan.

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