Settling in

The past few days have been pretty busy. I've now moved into my dorm room at Somei House. I share a common area and bathroom with twelve other people, and I've already met two of them. Even with our limits on each other's languages, we're managing to communicate efficiently. I also went out bowling last night with a friend I met here last year (also from America) and his friends. It was a decent start to my social life here.

I also spent plenty of time yesterday shopping for things. The university supplies everything apart from food, linens, and dishes. I only had to go to four places: Yamada Denki for electronics, Nitori for linens, York Benimaru for food, and Daiso, a 100-yen store, for everything else. Speaking of York, they're owned by Seven & I, which is the same company that owns the convenience stores, of which there has to be one every kilometer in this city. (I checked; there are 14 of them in Aizuwakamatsu alone.)

I also met with a foreign personnel advisor here at the university yesterday. I received my inkan for legal transactions, and also met with a representative from Gulliver, which is like Carmax in the states. Their cars were pretty far out of my budget, and because they don't buy from auction, the prices are higher. (Oddly enough, they'll sell the car to auction if they can't get it off their lots in more than three weeks.) The cheapest one was 5 man over my budget, and even with the shaken, I'd have to pay for shipping all the way from Kyushu. The rep was also not from Aizu, but from Fukushima City, which is well over a hour away. I felt bad that he came all that way, but I still need to pay for shaken and insurance.

I've decided to start looking for the car in dealerships farther south, as Eunos Roadsters or Atenza wagons aren't very common in Fukushima. Worst case scenario is that I have to go get it myself and drive it back up north. But if that's what it's going to take to get it, then so be it. I can wait for a deal. Most of the stuff that I need has now been picked up anyways.

To close, here's the tag that was on my room key at the Onyado Toho.

I'd better get used to the typos.

-wp