Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Settling In

The guest room...with most of our suitcase collection.
Now that we've all arrived safely in Japan we can get settled in the apartment.  When we flew over for our look-see trip we were able to leave six suitcases at a friend's apartment in Tokyo (Steve and I could each check three bags).  On our flights to move to Japan we brought another three suitcases each - so we had twelve suitcases worth of stuff at the apartment.  I went to a lot of Goodwills to find large suitcases (and we borrowed some from our friend in Japan, too).  Steve figured (correctly) that I'd like to do my "nesting" and so he left most of it for me to put away - which didn't take too long.  Our 1000 sq ft feels quite spacious right now!  There will be another few hundred cubic feet of household items arriving, maybe in January....hmmm, I'm getting a little nervous about fitting everything....
My welcome home flowers - love the Orangina bottle vase.  Orangina is 
currently Steve's favorite drink.  I like the Lemongina better.
   


Steve had already made a trip to Ikea to order some of our furniture, such as a couch and dining table & chairs.  He had it all ready for me when I arrived! We needed to make another trip to pick up some more necessities.  I didn't know you had to bring your own bags or purchase them, but we got away with only two bags worth of stuff, plus a few items for delivery. 

Customer service was wonderful!  We wanted a TV stand but they said it was out of stock.  I asked if I could pay for it and have it delivered when it was back at the store, but they wouldn't do that.  You also cannot order it on the website like you can in the US.  They told me they'd take my name and address, and when it arrived they would deliver it to me and I would pay then.  Steve and I walked away certain we'd have to make the hour trip back to Ikea to purchase it, but four days later it showed up at our door.  Luckily I had the cash to pay - they wouldn't accept credit cards.  Still, wow!

Steve had also made a trip to Costco to purchase our TV (US Costco membership is good in Japan), so with the help of some friends in the US, we were all set to watch the Tennessee Volunteers beat up on South Carolina!  The picture's not bad considering we're watching from 6500 miles away.  Technology is awesome!
The TV - before the TV stand


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2 comments:

  1. Pedal Sew LightlyDecember 16, 2015 at 10:56 AM

    I like your soda bottle vase. Those Ikea bags come in handy. We used one this weekend to haul our clothing to our RV. They fold up small if you follow the folds and stow out of the way until the next time you need them. Spending time in our RV makes me want to live small, except for my sewing space! I wonder, will you be a small space convert after three years or will you need to spread out again when you are back in the USA?

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  2. SheilaDecember 17, 2015 at 3:43 AM

    The soda bottle vase is Steve's handiwork! I'm not sure how I'll feel when we get back to the US - for the most part we're fine now, except when Steve has a 6am or 11pm conference call. There's no place he can talk and I can sleep simultaneously. We'll also see once my sewing machines arrive! We have already adjusted a bit. When we were apartment hunting, we went to one that was 700 sq ft smaller than our house (and almost twice the size of our current apartment), and decided it was too big!

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