Arriving in Japan

Who said moving abroad was easy?

To cut a long boring part of the story short, I sat next to a complete muppet on the flight, so the Steward gave me a bottle of Moet! Will be saving that for when I go out and reunite with friends on Thursday and Friday.

Then came the accommodation issues. I get to Fontana to find out that despite making an appointment with my agent to move in, he’s gone out to show someone a flat. After an hour of waiting someone else drives me there but informs me that I have no gas, no hot water and no internet, despite having booked the room over a month ago.

The room was something else. It was grubby and tiny – they were very clever with the photos online! The balcony doors were held closed with duct tape, and they do not lock. The rest of the room was grubby, the one storange unit was broken, it’s full of spiders and smelled like someone had died in there. After 10 minutes I got back on the trains to Fontana and staged a sit in waiting for my agent, saying I wanted to swap.

Tiny tiny room, this was all of the floor space

This space was taken up entirely by my futon when rolled out!

The tiny tiny grubby kitchen

Once my agent had turned up, he was actually very good and very nice! He sorted me out to move into their new building 4 days earlier than everyone else is allowed to, so I only had to spend 3 nights in the awful room. (I’m spending two in a hotel). So, this room will be a lot more expensive but hopefully much nicer. Pics to follow when I move in!

It was a public holiday today so I couldn’t do any of the useful stuff I had planned like getting my Alien Card, mobile and bank account. So I revisited the old favourites on the Yamanote line. Tomorrow, all of the above. Yosh!

Goodbye, WBS

On Friday I left my job in the MBA team at WBS.

I’ve spent over a year in my first ‘proper job’ and have to admit I’m sad to leave just when I felt like I actually knew what I was talking about…

The team gave me a lovely card and some Yennies – my task is to find something that will remind me of the MBA team and brighten up my little apartment! When I’ve bought something I’ll post it on here for everyone to see.

Bye Bye WBS

So now it’s the final countdown. I’m spending the last few days doing important and grown up stuff. I have my shiny new visa, the third Japanese visa in the same passport and it’s so pretty!

Working Holiday Visa

My Yennies were delivered yesterday, and I’ve just booked myself a cushy extra legroom seat (I can use ‘cushy’ for Virgin Atlantic’s economy class!). But in my Yennies I had a little surprise… who is THIS guy?

2000 Yen Note

I have only ever seen 2000 Yen notes in the UK. In my whole year living in Japan other than the first few I’d gotten rid of, I never ever had one. I wonder why this is…?

My last few days will be spent trying to fit my whole life into 23kgs, and having some fun with my family, friends and boyfriend. See you all on the flipside!