My Apartment!

Sorry for the lack of updates, but I have indeed made it to Japan safe and sound.  I do not have internet access at my apartment yet, only at work, and don't have a ton of extra downtime there, either.  However, per my mother's request, I have at last made a video tour of my apartment for the masses.  There's also a few pictures of the views from the window; unfortunately, when I made the video, it was around 8:00 PM, so you couldn't have seen anything outside.

View from my bedroom window; at the bottom of the picture is a concrete "shelf," which I believe used to be the balcony for my apartment.  Now, my so-called balcony is just the metal frame thing that is blocking your view (though I can step out and stand on the base of it, so it's not just bars).

Views from my dining room window, and my first real "I'm in Japan" moment.  It had just finished raining, and you can see the mountains in the distance, over the tops of the buildings and the train track.

I do feel as though I'm very lucky in terms of my "window direction," because my windows open to the East and South.  Those are the two least-populated areas of the town, particularly the eastern view from the dining room, so I get better views of the mountains and other more scenic "stuff," as opposed to just seeing building after building after building, which is what you get to the North and East.

I wish that I had more exciting updates to offer, but to be honest, life has been pretty decent overall.  I've had three small-ish after-shock earthquakes, which don't feel small at all to a girl from Texas, and was awake for two of them.  The one last night actually woke me up, which is a pretty impressive feat in and of itself.  In more reassuring news, everyone at my school has been incredibly helpful, and I'm slowly settling down and getting adjusted to it all.  Nothing exciting has happened yet; I haven't seen anything magical or awe-inspiring or entertaining.  I don't have any hilarious or touching stories about the kids I teach.  I haven't made any missteps so major that I've wanted to leave the country.  I haven't even cried that much.

I have, however, met some darn adorable kids; I've survived going shopping at a supermarket on my own.  I've eaten more ramen in the last week than I had in the entire year prior, and have acquired a microwave.  I've survived three earthquakes, sorted and taken out my trash (a trying experience in Japan) on my own, and even experimented enough with my washing machine to wash several loads of laundry.

In other words, I think I'm doing alright after all.