April 27th Getting there!

So tomorrow is the BIG day when we sign our contract on our apartment and about $7,500 dollars later we walk out with a key to our new home! 

Yes, renting apartments here is very expensive. A 450 sq. ft. apartment will cost about $1800/mo. Why does it cost so much to move in? it costs so much because everyone gets a piece of the pie, the management company, the realtor, the owner gets a whole month rent as a gift, there is key change fees, and the guarantor company as well. And we get to do it all again in two years when the lease expires, even if we stay in the same place! For those of you who give to world missions you can now see how costly it is to send foreign missionaries so Thank You all for your faithfulness! The next step will be buying furniture and appliances, we've been checking some furniture stores etc. and getting some ideas. After being homeless for 6 months and living out of suitcases we are REALLY ready to get settled in our own place!
We went exploring our new neighborhood the other day, turns out that we managed to settle ourselves into what is known as College town and also we are within walking distance to the neighborhood where we want to plant the church! Since our initial target focus group will be college students (as they have the most free time and likelihood of speaking English) this is perfect. The neighborhood is great and we're going to love it there for sure!  There is a couple of grocery stores within walking/bicycle distance and the large Inokishira park is in walking distance too!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Inokashira_Park  How cool is that?!
On our wanderings we stopped in a shoe store in Kichijoji to get Gary a pair of shoes . I found these crochet shoes in the men's section. Japanese men's shoes have a much wider selection of styles and colors than American shoe stores, it's pretty cool.

 

Yesterday, we stopped by Musashi Koganei on the way back to the house and we went to the food court in the mall to get something to eat for dinner. I decided I wanted a cheeseburger combo from the burger place but I also felt like a small bowl of fried rice from this one place that makes it really well. I pointed to a picture on the menu thinking I was ordering a small bowl of fried rice with a small soup. Boy was I surprised, the photo on the menu was definitely really small!

I must have looked confused because the young man at the counter showed me I was supposed to take the two large spoons and stir the egg into the rice so it would cook and make the rice. If you look closely at the pic you can see the recipient the rice is in is cast iron .. it was sizzling hot and cooking everything right there. It was actually pretty neat and the rice was delicious though I looked like a pig with two full meals! Gary helped me with the rice and we ate it all!

 

That's it for now. Today, I plan on staying home. We have tons of stuff to do tomorrow and my feet can't handle anymore walking , they need a break!