My LeoPalace Apartment

So I've been living in my apartment for a week now. I've finally unpacked everything and organized it, but I still have yet to decorate. What I'll write about is just the way things are set up and how it is to live in a tiny little Japanese apartment and how I've had to get around with out a car.

So first is the bike. Yes I've had to buy a bike to get around. In a bigger city I'm sure that I could have gotten around to my schools by taking the train. In my city though 3 of the schools are within walking distance so I bought a bike to get around more quickly. I also got one so that I can pick up stuff and not have to carry bags around.

Keeping in the style of only driving silver or grey vehicles, I now own a silver bike.

Now let's take a photo tour of my apartment. It's small so there really isn't much to see, but here's a quick look at how I will be living for the next year.

So first you walk in through the door and this is the view that you see. On the right is the shower and washroom on the left the washing machine and the kitchen.

This is the shower room. With a little hint of Toronto.

This is the tiny little kitchen. I've got a sink, a stove top, toaster oven and a fridge.

Next you enter the main room/bedroom.

On the right under my bed is this very spacious walk in closet. That would make a great home for a little hobbit.

I have a loft bed that I sleep in and it has a little cubby section to rest my head.

I have a balcony as well. This is the view that I see when I look out. It's not much but at least I have that for fresh air and to hang my clothes to dry.

This is the view of my apartment from the balcony.

I also now have a new cell phone that I am using to keep in touch with work and with the people that I've met. I wanted the deep blue colour, but they didn't have any available so I went with purple over the boring black or white.

June 20th - It was bound to happen...

So as anyone who has moved far away from home knows you do get homesick. It can be the smallest thing that sets it off and then you are gone and the desire to get something familiar covers all and you hate the situation that you are in. For me it happened the day that I moved into my apartment.

It had nothing to do with the space or the little city or the fact that I would be on my own in a city with no one who speaks English. This is coming after spending almost two weeks in Osaka with my fellow English-speaking teachers so I had people that I could speak with and be always understood. It had nothing to do with finding my classes (3 of which I have to bike to – which is awesome because I am going to get so fit not driving places).

It had to do with the fact that I had no internet connection!!!!!!

GASP! WHAT! OMG!!!

These were the first things that I experienced. I had been told that my apartment would come equipped with internet. Well it has Internet, but I needed a password to connect to the network. This was something that I didn’t have, so I started freaking out. I discovered that I could only connect to gmail, but nothing else.

So immediately I was emailing my supervisor to see if he knew what I could do, but nothing that he gave me helped. I didn’t get angry at that – there is only so much someone can do without seeing the computer and not really knowing what is going on.

So I got more and more frustrated and sent home an email saying “This is the first time that I feel like quitting and coming home.” Yes I kind of got to that point in my anger that I wanted to go home.

After that I sort of unpacked and put everything I brought into the middle of my floor to unpack, but I was still to angry so I grabbed a Chu-hi (vodka and fruity drink) and went to bed.

It didn’t get any better the next day. It was pouring rain and showed no signs of stopping. So I thought I could get some stuff done in the morning. I was up early and headed to the bank. Unfortunately when I got there I was missing a form that had some information on it so I couldn’t do that. Then I found out that there was a typhoon warning for the area so all my classes were cancelled, but I still had to go in to do an office day. So I had to walk 30 minutes in the rain to my school where I spent the next 5.5 hours working on lessons and just getting familiar with the area.

When that was over I headed back to the empty apartment. Where there would be no one to unwind with and no Internet to connect with people back home.

So all of that combined made it the worst day of my year in Japan. I did break down and cry three times. Once on my way to the school, the other time when I got back to the apartment all alone and frustrated and the third time when I found the card and letter stuffed into my suitcase by mom. It really hit me that I was missing home and that I wouldn’t see some people for a year.

But then I realized that I should organize my stuff from the pile that I had left on the floor from the previous night. So I put on my Broadway/Musicals playlist and got to work. I went through and sort of arranged my stuff into places that I knew they made sense to me and made lists of things that I needed to buy to make it more organized and more like home (not that it could ever be, because home has Mom & Dad, Isaac and Jorge and Ebony and all my friends who I miss so badly). But the good thing is that giving myself that task I started to miss home a little less.

Then something awesome happened I was able to use gmail chat to talk with home. So I spent a good hour on there chatting with Mom and realizing that things will get better. The nice thing too was that it finally stopped raining. It really brightened me up… and so did watching Robert Downey Jr. playing Iron Man when it was time for me to go to sleep.

So I’ve had one period of missing home and missing the comforts that come easily from having lived in the same place for 24 years.

But as always I will miss it.

I hope you didn't mind this kind of sad whiny blog, but hey it's life and that's what happens.

Next up a little bit about the apartment and a photo of my sweet new wheels!

AND NOW A BONUS UPDATE!!!

I GOT THE INTERNET SORTED and NOW I AM FULLY BACK ONLINE!!

June 17th - Shitennoji Temple, Tennoji, Osaka

Today as my last day in Osaka before I move to Niihama I decided to adventure out to Shitennoji Temple.

I got there and it was sweltering and there is very little shade, but I toughed it through and ventured in through the gate. This monk was there standing as people entered.

The reason I chose to spend my last day going to the Temple rather than going shopping or spending it in the metropolitan area of Osaka is because of the significance of the temple to the history of Buddhism in Japan (something that I studied in school).

Shitennoji Temple is the oldest Buddhist temple in Japan having been built in 593 AD under the orders of Prince Shotoku. Prince Shotoku had travelled to China and brought back Buddhism. He fought with others in power to introduce the new school of thought into the country to fit in along side the established Shinto belief system. He was successful and Shitennoji was built to commemorate that.

The temple is venerated to the Bodhisattva  Kannon who is associated with compassion. Unfortunately I was unable to get pictures as it is Father's Day and many were at the temple having services. (A little side note the camera company Canon derives it's name from Kannon)

As I made my way through the main gate I saw this statue:

This is of the Buddhist monk Shinran Shonin - the founder of Jodo-Shinshu (Ture Pure Land) school. He believed that by invoking the name of Amida Butsu (namu Amida Butsu) one could be reborn in the Pure Land where enlightenment was inevitable.

After passing the statue of Shinran I found a little alcove of trees and in among them was this statue of Jizo.

The temple also had a couple ponds - all that were filled with turtles. Some swimming and some soaking up the heat and sun on these platforms. Seriously all the turtles amused me, especially the ones that were sitting on top of each other almost hitching a ride.

The thing that I love about Japan in the summer is the Hydrangeas. They are my favourite flower and can be found growing in gardens all over Japan. So don't be surprised if there are more posts with pictures of these beautiful flowers.

Another part of the Shitennoji Temple is The Garden of Gokuraku-Jodo. The garden is located to the west of the main temple and to get to it one must pass through a gate, it symbolizes the Western Pure Land of Amida Buddha.

The form the garden is constructed in is based on a fable. It has two rivers - Fire and Water. The Water River is meant to symbolize a greedy mind and Fire River symbolizes anger or holding a grudge. These two rivers represent a "living hell" and that the path between is the way to Paradise.

There are two Waterfalls in the garden. The one on the right is Yakushi, the left is the waterfall of Buddha.

The two rivers come together at a pond that represents Paradise. In the centre of the pond is three stones. The largest representing Amida Buddha and the smaller his two attendants.

After spending a couple hours in the heat at the Temple and Garden I walked back to the train station. On my way there I stopped a park area where I found a couple of guys sitting together playing a little acoustic guitar. Then it was back to the hotel and very nice air conditioning!!

Here's a link to more photos on my Facebook: Shitennoji Temple

Also next blog post may finally have some stuff about my apartment and maybe a little about what it's like to teach!

June 2nd - Nagoya Castle

Today we explored Nagoya Castle. A few more of the teachers arrived and they came with us on our adventure to the castle.

We left late in the morning and took the subway from Hongo (our suburb) into Nagoya and from there found our way to the castle.

We had a little fun taking photos outside of the Castle

Nagoya Castle was constructed under the orders of Tokugawa Ieyasu as a fortress within central Japan and to protect from attacks from the direction of Osaka. The castle was completed in 1612 and flourished until the Meiji Restoration.

In May of 1945 in the midst of WWII air raids on Japan most of the buildings of the castle were burnt down. However three corner towers, three gates and most of the paintings of the sliding doors survived the fire.

The castle now serves as a museum showcasing the buildings along with different artefacts that survived the fire and also detailing the history of the castle.

You can also try and pull the weight of a stone that makes up the base of the castle. I was pretty good I would be able to pull 40kg of stone by myself.

Or take a photo on the replica of the gold dolphins that adorn the two corners on the roof of the castle.

They also have a show that has Tokugawa Ieyasu describing why he needed and wanted to build the castle. I could understand what was being said, but someone was kind enough to give us the main point of the show.

 

Day One - June 1st

I arrived in Nagoya late the night before, my flight was delayed by an hour, so I wasn’t really able to explore the small suburb of the city when I arrived.

I was shown to my residence – which I will only stay in until the 4^th because then I move to Osaka to finish my training.

This is the small room that I was given for the first few days of my stay in Nagoya.

After I settled in I met up with two of the other teachers who are doing there training here in Nagoya. We wandered around a little and explored the area.

Not much really happened as we were all still fighting jet lag and so we saved our adventure for the next day.