A house, a home, a life

Don’t look now, but I may be that crazy lady driving on the left side of the street in the bright yellow car, singing her little heart out to some Susan Werner or Great Big Sea or Old Blind Dogs.

Enjoying my obscure folkie CDs in my car is just one of the perks I’m now enjoying thanks to all of our stuff arriving last week. We’ve now gone from looking like this:

To this:

And from this:

To this:

To get to that stage, we had to deal with all this:

We’re still working on it. Tonight’s project is getting artwork up on the walls. Later in the week we’ll hang curtains. This may not be all that exciting of news for you, my gentle readers, but for me, it’s a pretty big deal. It’s another step — an important one — for settling into our new Japanese life.

We’ve been doing a lot of settling in, lately. Liam started school last week. He’s attending an international Japanese kindergarten where they teach in English but also do some instruction in Japanese. I’ve started my job hunt for real, looking for positions both locally and online. (Looking to hire a writer who produces sparkling prose of the caliber found on this blog? Get in touch!) I’m meeting each week with a few Japanese locals and helping them learn conversational English. Language studies go both ways: Wil and I have started a Japanese class. This week, I even hauled out my musty workout clothes and tried out a few exercise classes. Naturally, each of those steps has helped bring us into the sphere of others here. I hate being lonely — don’t we all? — and it’s good to keep meeting new friends.

Making this house into a home has been gratifying. The base and Japan are out there, ready to be explored, but for this week, it’s been nice to feather our nest. I’ll fill you in soon on more of our Japanese adventures — we had a great day in downtown Tokyo about two weeks ago — but for now, join me in savoring this moment of typing these words at my own desk, on my own chair, with my own music playing softly in my ear.