Old house, new house

Wow, I haven't finished a blog post in several days - it's hard to keep up with the action!

Our furniture arrived last Wednesday, and I was swept up by the busyness of unpacking and organizing. (Which still isn't done, oh well). I want to show you where we live now, and to compare it to our house in Seattle.

Here's Seattle: a 100-year-old house with lots of color inside and out, a minivan and a big, green backyard. Plus fantastic views of the Cascade Mountains and Lake Washington.





Our Tokyo house is a few years old and triangle-shaped, with beige stucco on the outside and oatmeal-colored wallpaper and beige wall-to-wall carpet on the inside - totally bland, which is standard for expat rentals. The only bright color in the picture is our red mailbox.



And here's our Tokyo living room and kitchen - which look more like our apartment in New York.




We are relieved to have our rugs and paintings to brighten up the house and soften the expensive, insane-asylum decor.

Done and not done

Accomplishments from the first two weeks in Tokyo:

1. Both kids are in fantastic schools
2. I've taken the bus and subway - and I'm walking around the neighborhood enough to find shortcuts
3. Finding cheaper shops, where Japanese people shop, to replace the expensive expat haven, National Azabu Supermarket
4. Successful separation of our trash into "burnable", "unburnable" and "recyclables" - and putting the right trash out on the right day

What I still need to do:

1. Buy a mop, broom and serious cleaning supplies
2. Open a bank account (it takes weeks to receive necessary immigration papers)
3. Get money from an ATM machine with my WaMu bank card
4. Find the Tokyo equivalent of Mutual Fish, Seattle's best fishmonger

What I miss most about Seattle:

1. Our big, green backyard
2. Friends we really know, who really know us
3. A house with colorfully painted walls
4. Driving a car to buy groceries
5. Trader Joe's and Whole Foods
6. A disposal in the sink
7. Views of the Cascades and Lake Washington from my office

What's better about daily life in Japan:

1. Thin plastic containers and the use of soft plastic or paper to replace the heavy, hard plastic that dominates American grocery and beauty packaging.
2. Smaller, more rational food portions.
3. Milk, ice cream, cookies and chocolate taste less sweet.
4. Seeing and trying new things