Beautiful Imazato

Alright, here it is, as promised. These are not award winning pictures, but I thought y`all might enjoy seeing where I`ve been living. The apartment that the crew moved into after the first exciting week was in just about the quietest place you could think of in the city. The neighborhood is called Imazato, and, as you can see, it`s pretty residential. This is the apartment from outside. Pretty luxurious, huh? We were all thankful to have a place to stay, but we were also thinking that we`re definitely earning our stars on this trip. Inside it`s actually quite nice. New tatami mats, very clean, and some fun decorations from Marisa, the girl who let us stay at her place. That`s Jeff in the living room (or the second bedroom :) Here`s the actual bedroom, which has an actual bed. Pretty rare for Japan, most people sleep on thick bedrolls on the floor called futons. We bought two of those for the unlucky couple who`d be camping in the living room. On the first night, Jen, Kevin, Jeff and I all played Scrabble to see who would get the bed for the first week. Jeff and I lost. Here`s the kitchen. It was pretty small, I`ll admit, but it did the job. And this is the shower and bathroom (the handle on the right is the toilet closet) Pretty awesome!! It took some adjustments to get used to smaller living (Jeff and Kev definitely had to learn to duck doorways) but we learned to maximize space using the glass and wood dividers. It was fun! We also made use of the roof, which was so awesome to have access to. Here`s the gang chowing down in style. The neighborhood was really convenient and the people were pretty friendly. We lived right next to a covered shopping street. This place had everything, from clothing shops and hats and shoes to a pet store that sold crickets. Also, used furniture and second-hand pottery, plus tons of little eateries and markets. Everyone rides bicycles right through the mall and they play Hawaiian music all day long, making the whole place seem just slightly surreal. They also have these crazy looking paper decorations everywhere. But, enough about the mall. Many of the houses have beautiful potted plants outside of the front door. It really brightens up the area and makes up for there being no trees. These really made me think of my mom, who was nervous about downsizing to an apartment and losing her ability to garden. See mom, no matter how small your place is, you can still have a garden! And, I hope to get my own little garden started at my new apartment! That`s right, Jeff and I found a new place, and we`ll be moving in next weekend. So, stay tuned for that. Take care and love to you all! -Erin