Today was moving day! I am writing this from my new home in Numazu, Japan.

The mover arrived around 9:00am. He was a huge, muscular guy with terrible skin that couldn’t speak any English. We managed to decide where to park the truck, and then started loading all of my stuff. He was easily carrying my heavy boxes of books while I struggled and tried not to fall down the stairs. I got my room inspected, said my final goodbyes, and we set off for Numazu.

This was my first time to travel to Shizuoka by road. It was a very different experience than Japan Rail. The mover and I were able to have a very basic conversation on the road, thanks to my limited Japanese ability and my Japanese / English dictionary. The highlight for me was the GPS Navigation system. I am a fan of all fun technology, so I was thoroughly entertained by the map updates and the recommendations of places to stop, gas up, or eat along the way. I also had a good laugh when the GPS started up and said “Let’s Practice Safety Driving”. The term “safety driving” is one of every English teacher’s biggest pet peeves, right up there with “go to shopping”.

Japanese addresses are not terribly useful because of the lack of street names. We entered my new address in the GPS, but it got lost and directed us to a loading dock next to a factory of some sort. Thankfully, The Penpal and I had scouted my new apartment a few weeks ago, so I was able to give some basic directions and we eventually found it. The mover was impressed that I had a Japanese girlfriend. Go me!

We eventually found the apartment and unloaded all of my junk. My new home is a three bedroom apartment in a building called Ooka City Plaza. I have two roommates – Azeroth and Palmer. Azeroth is an American who works at Fuji branch, and Palmer is a tall, bald Australian who works at Numazu branch. So far they seem pretty cool.

In the evening The Penpal came over to check out my new place, and we went out for food together. So far I really like my new place! More details to follow.