Things I Didn't Expect

1. Hanging laundry to dry doesn’t bother me. I would periodically hang our laundry to dry in Chicago, but I thought I would just dread doing it once I had no choice. As it turns out, it’s quite the opposite. I don’t have any other option, and it’s not a big deal.

2. I’m not craving American food. I thought we would definitely be making at least one McDonalds run a week, if only to be in a familiar environment and be able to order food and know for sure what we would get. In fact, I am having to try pretty hard to eat Japanese food. Tokyo offers so much in the way of international dining, that we’ve eaten Japanese only a handful of times. Also, I’m not having any trouble finding any products or produce in the grocery, so cooking at home is no problem. There are a few things that I miss – not necessarily things I can’t find here, but rather things that I consider grossly overpriced – such as herbal tea. Luckily, herbal tea is light, so I’m sure I can finagle a care package at one point or another.

3. It’s really warm here! Geographically, Japan is quite far north. Tokyo is further north than Seoul. But, there must be something about being on the ocean and the winds or something, because it is bordering on tropical here for this Midwestern girl. This October – highs in the 70s, lows (at night!) in the 60s. Everyone keeps telling me that winter will be SOOOO cold – you know, around 0 degrees – CELCIUS. Come on! 32 Degrees in the winter??? That’s like a heat wave where I come from! And, rumor has it that January and February are the two sunniest months of the year. I’m gonna be throwing a party all winter long!

4. Culture Shock has been minimal. Moving to Japan, a place so different from the US, I expected to go through a period of culture shock. Maybe I speak too soon, as the newness hasn’t really worn off yet, but culture shock hasn’t been a problem. Maybe it’s because Tokyo is a big, modern city, not unlike Chicago, and maybe it’s because I can easily access so many foreign things, but I’m not really overwhelmed by the Japanese-ness of it all. The worst part has been the language barrier – which I DID expect.