{"id":36,"date":"2011-06-06T10:26:36","date_gmt":"2011-06-06T10:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/laurelraab.com\/?p=36"},"modified":"2011-06-06T10:33:20","modified_gmt":"2011-06-06T10:33:20","slug":"rel-in-a-nutshell","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/?p=36","title":{"rendered":"‘Rel in a Nutshell"},"content":{"rendered":"

Someone suggested I talk more about how I feel about living in Japan and the changes it’s brought to my life, so I thought I’d do this fun entry I just came up with:<\/p>\n

*10 Things I do now that are completely normal, but never did before moving to Japan*
\n1. Washing brightly colored clothing in the sink and hanging on the patio to dry.
\n2. Hand washing all my dishes, pots, pans and silverware
\n3. Swiffering\/sweeping almost daily because lint\/fibers are more noticeable on all wood floors.
\n4. Checking a train schedule before leaving the house
\n5. Cooking every night
\n6. Sewing my own curtains so we can stop using blankets to cover windows!
\n7. Looking RIGHT before crossing the street
\n8. Bowing to others
\n9. Buying only what I truly need (hey, this apartment is tiny!)
\n10. Being completely reliant on either walking or the trains. No cars here!<\/p>\n

*9 Foods I miss from home*
\n1. My mama’s banger casserole
\n2. A steak burrito from Ooba’s in Seattle
\n3. a turkey avocado sandwich from Jimmy John’s
\n4. Taco Bell
\n5. a chicken pita from Pita Pit in Seattle WA
\n6. Biscuits Cafe in Sherwood OR
\n7. DIY frozen yogurt shops
\n8. Sushi Hana in Tigard, OR
\n9. really good Chinese food, but to Japan’s credit I haven’t put a lot of effort into looking<\/p>\n

*8 Things I LOVE about Japan*
\n1. Everything is new and different. yes, still! Restaurants, cities, stores, everything!
\n2. Yakiniku (grill your own meat restaurants)
\n3. Listening to my iPod and zoning out on train rides instead of driving and dealing with other drivers
\n4. Tokyo Disneyland\/ Tokyo DisneySea!!
\n5. Being forced to walk everywhere, especially to get food. It makes the thought of hopping in your own car and hitting up a drive-thru seem like an insane lazy luxury of America!
\n6. The mix of new technology\/industry and natural\/historical architecture and beauty. It always impresses me as I walk through a street of sky scrapers, only to round a bend and encounter pagodas and shrines.
\n7. Reading and eavesdropping- I try to read whatever I can get my eyes on, and normally with Dan’s help we read ads on trains, menus and street signs. I try to pick up what people around me are saying but they just talk to fast! Sometimes I grab a keyword or two, but I have a lot of practicing to do!
\n8. Vending machines. Dan and I have grown fond of casually eying a machine we pass to see what beverage it has to offer, from soda to juice to coffee.<\/p>\n

*7 things I took for granted in the States*
\n1. a dish washer
\n2. square footage in my home
\n3. owning a car
\n4. late-night dining options
\n5. Less populated areas. I never knew I could get claustrophobic until I am walking or riding the train and it’s so crowded I can’t see the ground!
\n6. Shopping malls
\n7. Arts & Crafts stores<\/p>\n

*6 things I love to do on weekends*
\n1. shop for whatever’s on the list- groceries, household stuff, stationery, etc
\n2. trying new restaurants- this past weekend we had a delicious Italian feast in Chofu. Pictures coming soon!
\n3. jogging on the park- Dan and I found a loop that’s about a quarter of a mile, so we run laps together
\n4. exploring new towns or attractions that I’ve found online
\n5. Spoil Penny- We can get her nails clipped here at the local pet shop for $6! We’ll pack her up in her carrier, walk into town, and while she gets groomed we pick up anything she needs- toys, food, treats, litter, and there are always adorable puppies on display looking for a home \ud83d\ude42
\n6. Sometimes just be lazy- Dan and I will pop in a dvd welcome a breeze from the patio and relax with a board game or drink<\/p>\n

*5 things I do while Dan is at work (probably what I get asked most)*
\n1. The usual internet stuff- check email, blog, Facebook, read other blogs I enjoy, catch up on any major American news
\n2. Housework- since our place is so small, it takes effort to keep it clean. A pile of clothes now blocks a walkway and a couple dirty dishes fills our tiny sink. So I sweep, scrub counters, clean the bathroom and shower, dust, do laundry, sort trash for distribution, and whatever else needs to be done.
\n3. Job and volunteer hunt. I’m passively looking for a job, but it’s hard to find something here that will accommodate my desire to travel internationally a couple times a year. I have started looking for volunteer opportunities and am having good luck with that. I will post soon on my first volunteer assignment!
\n4. Cook- now that I’m over the stove daily, I spend a lot of time in the kitchen trying new things and perfecting dishes Dan and I like.
\n5. Other misc activities! Sometimes I’ll take my time doing my nails to try a new trend, I enjoy knitting and crocheting, working on puzzles, catching up with a tv show, learning about whatever is holding my interest currently- right now it’s designing my own stationery, greeting cards and scrap booking \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

*4 things I envision myself having issues adjusting to when back in the States*
\n1. Understanding every conversation around me. Right now I live in a world where I don’t know what I’m hearing, so it’s just background fuzz. I imagine when I go home and understand everyone the world will seem very loud.
\n2. Riding in a car- I rode in a car for the first time in 2 months recently and it was claustrophobic and it felt like we were going way too fast!
\n3. Giant meal portions- I’ve finally adapted to being satisfied with petite meals. Hopefully this will keep me away from value menus at fast food restaurants!
\n4. Tipping! At least I hope I don’t forget to. It’s not a custom in Japan to leave gratuity.<\/p>\n

*3 things that peeve me*
\n1. Being woken up to by construction every morning. Welcome to city living!
\n2. The staring. Regardless how many trends I partake in or how comfortable I become in getting around, I’m still a white girl with western clothes and giant eyes and that warrants some gawking wherever I go. Some days I don’t mind, but on those days everyone has where you just don’t feel like you look good, you just want to say, “what? stop looking at me!”
\n3. Adjusting to the market here- I can find plenty of good eats and ingredients at the grocery store, but they’re not what I’m used to. What do you mean you don’t carry Betty Crocker cookie mix? Goldfish crackers? Lean Cuisines?!<\/p>\n

*2 things I couldn’t imagine experiencing Japan without*
\n1. Dan
\n2. Penny<\/p>\n

*And the one thing I miss the most from home*
\nBeing able to see friends and family any time I want! 2 months down, 3 months to go til I see them again \ud83d\ude42<\/p>\n

And also, because pictures make everything more fun, here is Penny wishing she was in Hawaii
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Someone suggested I talk more about how I feel about living in Japan and the changes it’s brought to my life, so I thought I’d do this fun entry I just came up with: *10 Things I do now that are completely normal, but never did before moving to Japan* 1. Washing brightly colored clothing […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[36,5,55,76,11,40],"class_list":["post-36","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-america","tag-dan","tag-family","tag-friends","tag-japan","tag-penny"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=36"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":38,"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/36\/revisions\/38"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=36"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=36"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/penniestoyennies.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=36"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}