Home Sweet Home

Please join in and dance a jig with me! Because... we have a house! Officially! We signed the contract yesterday, handed over just shy of $11,000 in cash (which is a really big wad o' cash in yen) and were handed back pretty keys!

Tomorrow morning we leave the hotel and head to our new home. After a few small mishaps along the way, all of our furniture and clothes have now arrived in Japan and will be joining us at the new home tomorrow. The delivery people will even unpack everything for us so I just stand around and direct traffic. I am going to give my couhc a big fat kiss hello when they unwrap it. And let's not forget my bed! More kisses for it too! I have missed them all so much. Then I am going to hang up all of my clothes, go out back, and burn everything in my suitcase that I have been wearing since the end of June. It's going to be a lovely day in Japan.

The house is in Zushi of which we have been told is the Beverly Hills of Japan, but I don't totally see that. It's a resort area though and only a 20 minute walk to the beach. Even better, it is only a 5 minute walk to restaurants galore, markets and two train stations to meet all of our exploring needs. There is a sushi restaurant a block away for the nights I refuse to be a good wife and cook a meal. We even have a yard! Something I haven't had in years. I wonder if I still know how to mow. There are gardens surrounding the home which I am allowed to plant in to my heart's desire. We have two floors and three bedrooms. So all of you naysayers who mocked and said they would visit and just sleep on the floor of our hotel room, you can stuff it. The home has lovely dark hardwood floors throughout and a bright white, tiled kitchen. No tatami rooms or shoji screens as the home is brand new and definitely more Western in style than Japanese. I know I really wanted the tatami room but the more I thought about it, the more I realized we probably wouldn't use it. You can't put heavy furniture on it and how often would I really get Kimono Hubby to sit on the floor and eat dinner? Plus, as Kimono Hubby stated, we are still American even if we are in Japan. So let's just be American. I'm good with that.

The street is about the size of an alley back home which amuses me to no end though I will probably freak out the first time someone tries to pass me. We sadly do not have the Mt. Fuji view we dreamed of. As we searched for homes, it became very apparent that views like that are few and far between unless you want to live in some highrise apartment building of which I definitely don't. So we choose a home with views of the mountains over the neighborhood. I can't wait to sit quietly in my room and stare out at the beautiful country that surrounds me... in awe that I am really here... living this new and wonderful life.

Like I said, we are going bright and early tomorrow morning. While we will have our computer, we will not have a hookup until next Monday so I will not be available online for a few days. Please talk amoungst yourselves until that time and rest assured that I will have all pictures ready to go next week when I am back online. In my new home sweet Japanese home.