Tuesday, August 29, 2006

Our new home in the paddies

Well, here we are -- Tachiarai-machi!
Small. Very small.

Here we are! And yes, that's a basket on my bike - thanks to my predecessor. We went promptly to the store to buy Will a bike this day too. Good investment, very good.

See all that rice? Can you see it?
It is pretty though... pretty hot!!



Typical weather around here for August I'd say.


And here is our new home. It's just one floor, and two rooms plus kitchen, hallway, toilet room and bathroom. That's our towel hanging outside - we have a washer, and everyone hangs their clothes out to dry here, which is nice.


Our full house.


Looking down the street.


This is the view looking left out our windows... very typical architecture of the area. Some of the end roof tiles are very detailed. Also, check out the tree in that person's yard- they all look like that in this neighborhood.


This is the view directly across the street. The view to the right looks about the same, except there's a barber shop. If you really want me to, I'll post that photo too, but let's get on with it for now!


Ta-Da! Luckily we have this lovely western-style toilet!


Here is our kitchen, right when we moved in. Since then, it's a little cleaner, but you get the point.


And here is the building where I work. Why the sign is in English, I'm not sure, but... hey, it's the Dream Center, who can complain? I will be spending alot of my time at the junior high school just down the road, but this is where I'm officially based.

And finally, two more images, and then we'll do some more posting later on.....
This impresses me. Some of them are even colored. That's right, it's a man-hole cover.

And let's all have some lime-tasting water. See where it takes you?

With love,
Serenity & Will




5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Great to see photos. Helps put us there with you. I really noticed how clean the area looks and guess I was surprised. What a wonderful website/blog. Look forward to your cont'd updates. Dines

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...looks a LOT like California: the rice paddies are similar to Yolo County, and the huge cumulo-nimbus clouds reminds me of the weather over the Sierras.

It's starting to cool off in Folsom, guys - only 94*F today. :o)

Love the blog - I'll pass it along to everyone at LIFE news!

Take care!

--- S :)

P.S. I'm very VERY impressed with a) how clean the streets are; and b) the manhole cover. Maybe you could do a coffee table book about them...

Anonymous said...

Hi guys. Thanks for the photos. Such a great way to see and know what your life in Japan is like. Send photos of your living room and bedroom. What do you buy at the grocery to cook at home. How about hamburgers and french fries? When we were in Japan we got quite a craving for them and would always see Americans in the MacDonalds in Tokyo and Takaoka. I have a feeling you wouldn't be caught dead in a MacDonalds. We're going to get our little camera installed soon and we'll try to coordinate a time to contact you. Miss you....

Anonymous said...

Hmmm...looks a LOT like California: the rice paddies are similar to Yolo County, and the huge cumulo-nimbus clouds reminds me of the weather over the Sierras.

It's starting to cool off in Folsom, guys - only 94*F today. :o)

Love the blog - I'll pass it along to everyone at LIFE news!

Take care!

--- S :)

P.S. I'm very VERY impressed with a) how clean the streets are; and b) the manhole cover. Maybe you could do a coffee table book about them...

Anonymous said...

Great to see photos. Helps put us there with you. I really noticed how clean the area looks and guess I was surprised. What a wonderful website/blog. Look forward to your cont'd updates. Dines