I made Nicky this little goat from scratch, using Japanese instructions- I’m so proud of myself!
Well,
Tuesday was the big day~ Nicky’s last day in Hamadayama, and our
subsequent eight-hour bus ride to Kyoto starting at 11:00pm. Nicky had
to leave her house in Hamadayama by 3pm, so I headed over there after
school with Erin, who offered to help us lug all the heavy stuff. We had
lunch at her apartment before the inspection officer came, which is
when I gave Nicky her goat charm too, and then began the journey of
lugging all of Nicky’s stuff to the train station. Of course, at the
halfway point, we realized that we were still going to have to lug all
of her stuff through Shinjuku station to the meeting point, so flagged
down a taxi and paid the $30 for the trip to Shinjuku.
This turned out to be the best thing
we could have done, as it only got harder from there. We had to wait on
the corner of a street in Shinjuku for six hours in the heat, though
thankfully I had gotten some bug spray so we didn’t have to deal with
the mosquitos too. For dinner, I found a curry takeout place and got us
each a small indian curry with naan and iced chai, though the chai was
kind of off in flavor, like a Glad plug-in had been dropped into the
kettle or something. In any case, we found out at 10:30pm that we had
been waiting on the wrong corner when a couple of nice guys asked if we
were okay. After moving to the proper area, we waited a little longer
while the bus staff got the bus ready- Nicky found a praying mantis on
the sidewalk, and after it allowed us to watch its peculiar dance (which
strangely resembles a traditional Japanese dance), it spread its wings
and proceeded to attack Nicky’s face! We had a good laugh over that and
then grabbed her luggage to board the bus.
Willer Express is basically what you’d
expect. A bus crammed full of people you don’t know and curtains to
block the light so you can sleep. Every two and a half hours, it stops
so everyone can use the bathroom- I was reminded of the roadtrip my
family went on when I was younger, since I was pretty well adapted to
the ride down there. I could sleep, and was in pretty good shape when we
got to Kyoto, if feeling a little dirty and groggy. I don’t think Nicky
had the same sort of experience ^^;;;.
We finally got to meet Iwai (our
landlord) at 7am on Wednesday. He had kept telling me his car was small,
but I wasn’t expecting the Porsche he drove up in.... Thankfully we
were able to fit all of Nicky’s luggage into his car, before he drove us
to our new apartment. I unfortunately forgot my camera, so couldn’t
take pictures, but the apartment is nice in its location, if the
premises themselves are a little cramped. Our apartment is 23m, but
there isn’t a closet, or a veranda, so we’ll have to live a bit
creatively with our space. We’ll also have to figure out where to put
our luggage all year. But, for the price we’re paying, it’s cozy and
livable, especially since what we wanted is the experience- the
apartment is just a place to sleep. We certainly got what we asked for.
The apartment is ten minutes from Doshisha by bike, and a block away
there is a fun street market, just like Sugamo’s. You can walk pretty
much anywhere in Kyoto from there too, so I’m excited. Also, Iwai will
let us keep pets, so Nicky and I are thinking of fostering a cat.
After we went through the contract,
Iwai offered to show us around Kyoto. He bought us some mochi at a small
shop nearby that was super tasty, and explained where the post office
is, how to sort our trash and so on. (Japan has a crazy recycling
system). Afterwards, he graciously let us return to our apartment to
take a nap- I think we must have looked very tired, because he suggested
we take a nap pretty strongly. We crashed after taking a shower for
about three hours, which unfortunately only felt like twenty minutes or
so, since when I woke up, I had that really bad dehydrated feeling.
We had time to kill before I would
have to go back to Tokyo, so we forced ourselves up at around 4pm to go
exploring again. The recycle shop (think thrift store) where we were
looking to purchase some furniture only took cash, so we had to make the
journey to the Citibank in the downtown area before we could buy
anything. On the way we stopped at a police box for directions, and the
officer there was very helpful in pointing us in the right direction. I
was really proud of myself today, because we found the Citibank without a
map, in a new city, and on so little sleep without getting lost at all.
On the way to Citibank, we found three
separate bike shops and found one place that was selling used bikes for
only $60 a piece. They took Visa, so we each bought a bike to save on
train and bus fares for the rest of the year. I got a cute orange
bicycle and Nicky got a light green one. We also went back to the
recycle shop and bought three different shelves, and then we went to the
dollar store to stock up on everything else household related. All we
need now for furniture is a standing closet and maybe a shoe rack.
When we got back to our apartment, we
discovered that the shade wasn’t going to be strong enough to block the
sun when it rises in the morning, and since Nicky has been having a
really hard time sleeping, getting new curtains became a priority. Nicky
was looking really beat, so I ventured out on my own this time to get
curtains. I found this shop a couple of blocks away with a really nice
woman who helped me find a curtain that was both on sale and large
enough (I need to learn the meter system...) I took my prize back home
and put them up for Nicky, and finally feeling like she wouldn’t be
needing while I was gone, I allowed myself to relax for the last few
hours I was there. We had a dinner of ramen, milk tea and takoyaki
(fried octopus, mm!!), and then spent an hour or so going through a
furniture catalog before I grabbed my duffle to head back to the station
for the ride back to Tokyo.
I almost didn’t catch the bus because
I’d gotten so used to Tokyo trains that come every four or five minutes
(Kyoto trains only come every 30 minutes), but did manage to get there
just in time to board. The ride back was pretty painful, as I didn’t get
much sleep at all and I didn’t feel comfortable relaxing next to a
person I didn’t know. By the time I got to Shinjuku at 6am, I was wiped.
However, I still had class to go to, so I stumbled over to the train
and then to Mejiro, where I walked to campus, put on some makeup to hide
the fact that I hadn’t just fallen off a bus, and napped until my
classmates arrived. I managed to make it through class, and then came
home and just slept.
I really can’t wait until I get to stay in Kyoto permanently!