Furnished!

When Colleen and I went to Nitori, we used our bikes. It was about 55 degrees outside, but still, we went with our bikes.

Always.Use.Bike.In.Kyoto.

it's the way of life. However, not when you are going very very long distances - i.e. from Kyodai to Kyoto Eki. Phew! I did that and I got all icky and sweaty because it was cold so I was wearing layers, and then I slowly took off the layers as I got hot.

But when we went to Nitori, all was well. All was even better when we finally got there; it's on the western side of the city, and I live on the eastern side. It's even further past the koto shop that I went to when I got my koto picks. When Colleen and I got there we were amazed - it's like a shopping mall! And Nitori is right there!

So we walked in and OoOoO...it IS like Ikea! Cheap furniture, good quality for students. I began to tick the things off my list:

1) Comforter (I have the one Mayuko gave me, but I really needed another one, so cold!) - check
2) Two pillows - check
3) Pillowcase (already had one) - check
4) Mattress - check
5) Desk - check
6) Chair check

Not check - storage rack thing. I am not going to use the television that came with my apartment, as I need a cable wire to get the signal. I normally do not watch alot of tv anyways (yes I know the listening practice is good for me but I can get that listening to Japanese podcasts) so that means I only need one horizontal surface, for when I get my "oben renji" (oven range - a microwave that also acts like a grill, oven and toaster!). So, I will stack up all 4 of my plastic drawers, get a wooden cutting board to put underneath the oben renji and there we go.

Colleen pointed this out to me as I was looking at the desk options that I had - one was a regular table with one drawer and the other was a slightly smaller table but it came with a chest - both were same price. Colleen goes to say, "You can put your dried goods in the chest and then you dont have to get the storage rack." I kept on thinking, "What am I going to use a chest of drawers for? I already have my school stuff put away."

So Colleen saved me 2,990 yen. And I think that shipping is free - nothing of the sort showed up on my reciept, and in true Ikea-ish fashion, I assembled the furniture on my own. Good thing I noticed the other week that the Shop 99 (100 yen supermarket) on Kawabata and Marutamachi has screwdrivers, pliers and hammers.

Collen and I brought back my comforter and pillows on our bikes. Have bike, will carry. we stopped at Shijo for some dinner at Nakau - the fast food-ish place Deena and I went to my first week, where you put your money in a machine, push a button for what you want to eat and then you bring the ticket to the counter. Next to sushi-on-a-conveyor-belt, students have two good places to grab some dinner on the cheap. Afterwards, we went to Ogawa Coffee, this really really AMAZING coffee shop on Sanjo. The barista there drew a dog into the foam of my cappucino and it didn't taste like burnt Starbucks. Nuff said. I will go there from now on - it may be a bit more, but the service and quality is so worth it.

So my furniture came on Monday, a half hour before the scheduled delivery time. Good thing I was home already! Colleen and Ingram came over to help assemble the furniture, and celebrated the fruits of our labors with Dominoes Pizza. I never knew I missed pizza that badly, I practically attacked it and devoured my portion. So we pigged out and used my new furniture and jsut had fun. So now, I have furniture. My legs and back are crying with relief. I have gotten used to the futon (which is now cut up so it can fill the gap between the bed frame and my mattress) but sitting on the floor for extended periods of time is something that is more difficult for me. I have bad knees.

Nonetheless - dum da de dum! My apartment (or at least the bed/table area):