Address and Adjustments

First, an address. I should get internet this Friday (a good x-mas present), and then I will upload some little images to print out as labels with my address. Here is the address in roman letters:

Erich Fleischbein
646-0025
Wakayama-Ken Tanabe-Shi
Mikonohama 1Cho-me 20-9
Oohira Manshon # 7

646-0025 is the zip code. Ken means county. Shi means city. Manshon is from the English word “mansion”, but it don’t mean huge house, it means small apartment. So anyone that wants to send me anything can send it to this address.
Also, my temporary phone number is:
011-81-090-3655-8125
It’s the school’s cell phone, but I'm the only one using it. 011 is for an international call, 81 is the country code for Japan. You can get a great deal on phone cards at www.phonecardonsale.com. I used that when I was in the USA, and a $20 lasted 20 hours.

Second, Adjustments. Anytime one moves somewhere there are adjustments. Moving to the other side of the country is a cause for major adjustments. I’m not complaining, because I’m having fun, but here are a few that I have had to make.

1. DRIVING-I am almost totally adjusted to driving on the left side of the road. It doesn’t take too long, remarkably. I have only turned into the wrong land once I think. Fortunately the clutch brake and gas pedals are the same, or I’m sure I would be dead or maimed by now. The only thing I still have a problem with is turn signals. Every time I try to use my blinkers my damn windshield wipers go off. More about the car later (not mine, it’s the company’s). The thing that sucks the most is that I ALWAYS feel lost. I have realized that it is because I grew up and lived in some of the world’s youngest cities. Tulsa, Kansas City, Springfield (Missouri) and Denver are all based on a grid system, an X and Y axis and are at the most 300 years old. The streets here, however, might be about 1000 years old. Some of the British guys I work with will say, it’s just a straight road to “x”, but in reality it is only as straight as a string of intestines (or maybe the string of tubes that make up ones testiclees). It may wind all over the place, but 'straight' means that like bodily organs, there is just one entrance and one exit. Worst of all, the streets don’t have NAMES. U2 sang about “where the streets have no names”. I think they were referring to Japan. I figured this out the first time I got lost here. REALLY annoying when you get lost.
2. PIZZA-It’s good, but it has corn and fish eyes on it.
3. OLD FRIENDS-I met some old friends that I haven’t seen in over 5 years. Mosquitoes. I hate them. We have them in Missouri and Oklahoma, but not in Denver cause the altitude is too high. Whenever I go to Oklahoma, its around x-mas so I never see them then. They aren’t hibernating in Japan this year. The weather is very unusual I am told and evidently it is because of the typhoons this year (or maybe the typhoons happened because of the overly warm weather). It has never hit freezing since I have been here, and because of such those bloodsucking bastards are still awake. At least they are as slow and dumb as I remember. Easy to kill. And tasty.
4. NEW FRIENDS-I was told that every chance I get, I should put my futon mattress outside in the sun; to kill the mites. I haven’t seen any mites yet, and evidently I don’t want to. Mites hide in your bed and eat you unless you kill them with the light. Seems to me that if you don’t want animals in your bed, you shouldn't put your bed out side with the stupid animals. But, I figure that this is an old country, and the people here know their country better than me, so I guess ill be doing what I am told.
5. TRASH-there are about 15 trash days a month. The days are divided into burnable, plastic, can, and landfill days. Having 3 or 4 small trashcans to separate your trash is just weird, but it isn’t that hard after you get used to it.
6. TEMPERATURE-the temperature outside hasn’t been near freezing, but it can still be damn cold at night. The miracle of Japanese architecture is that without insulation, the house can remain cold even when it is 60 degrees Fahrenheit outside. It isn’t just a style custom that causes Japanese people to wear slippers all the time, its NECESSARY so your toes don’t fall off from the numbing temperatures of the floors.
7. CONSERVATION-when I was younger, my grandpa yelled at me a lot for forgetting to turn off the lights and electricity. Thank you Papa! I am using that discipline now because if you forget and leave your heater on all night it can cost you 5 dollars. Multiply that by thirty, then add the electricity for light and everything else. I was told that the water is cheap, but then again it SHOULD be because I can SEE THE FREAKING OCEAN since we are on a FREAKING ISLAND. Everything else is expensive. I’m surprised there isn’t an air, breathing or farting tax. People here even turn off their car lights and engines at stoplights. Really weird.

Well, enough whining for now. I love going out to karaoke bars and impressing people with the Japanese songs I know. It can be an expensive habit though at $2 a song. Made some good musician friends to play with and I am going to jam with them on Wednesday. They even have a practice space. The students are all great; the young ones are all just as eager to learn as the old ones. This school has a very good following.

I’ll write again next weekend. I have a vacation coming up from the 23rd till January 6th so it would be a great time to come visit me.
Ta-ta...
Mine.
Erich von Meatleg