Andrew worked through the night, and the apartment looks great. He even took out all the trash, and really straightened up the place. It was a pleasant surprise. Unfortunately, he couldn’t get all his stuff in, so he’s going to have to ship some to Australia.
I went into school and practiced English with Miss Kageyama. She had made sandwiches for herself, me, and Mr. Hayashi, so we sat around during lunch and had some great sandwiches. These were primo sandwiches. Crust cut off, small slices of bread around the edges to make sure none of the insides came out. There was a mix of egg salad and tuna salad with ham and cheese. I’m not sure how it worked out that we got a free lunch, but I wasn’t complaining.
Afterwards, we went into town and I opened a bank account. Initially there was a delay while I had my personal stamp, called a “hanko” made. The stamp is used for all banking transactions – my signature is not considered to be a reliable form of identification. I asked Mr. Hayashi about that – anybody could get a hold of my stamp, but not many people could forge my signature. He just shrugged – it’s the way it has always been done. Now my account is open, and I’m ready to start putting paychecks in there.
In the afternoon the apartment was inspected by the landlord, and it was deemed habitable, so I’m all set. I spent part of the evening moving things around, but it will be a long time before I can get it all the way I want. I leave for a teacher’s seminar in Yashiro tomorrow, and I’ll be there until Friday afternoon. I’m just going to have to wait for the weekend to really get organized.
I found the nearest large mountain, so naturally, I’m making plans to climb it. There is a shrine on the top – bonus! I’m aiming to climb it on Saturday or Sunday.
