House Hunting, Part 1

When we found our home in Seattle 4 years ago, I never thought I'd have to house hunt again.  It seemed like it took so long to find the right one.  But, eventually, just when we were ready to throw in the towel, we did!  We fit so nicely in it and it brought us a lot of joy.  Now we have to find something new.  And when you live in another country there are different standards of normalcy and expectations.  This means we won't find a similar home.  We have to come up with new things that will make us happy within the parameters of Japanese housing.

There is a certain level of coming to terms with reality and having to compromise when you're house hunting.  Separating dreams from reality can often be humbling.  I know I won't have a large amount of land to plant and tend, but I'm hoping for at least some place I can either plant or container garden in.  I'm more than aware that I won't have the same size kitchen, but can I find a kitchen that even has an oven?  At what point am I trying to find a place that will be comfortable for me versus just being an American brat with American standards?

Today we met up with a realtor for our first day of house hunting.  The first house we saw made me giddy with excitement.  It was so nice and beautiful.  Then, the flaws started coming to light - limited air conditioning and heating that we would have to pay to install.  Would it be worth it?  The next house was super tight and almost confining.  The third house had very little outside space - something very important for me.  And on and on.  We visited 7 possibilities today.  By the end we were all quite tired and ready for a nap.

We talked and limited it down to 2 possibilities.  Tomorrow we will head out and look some more.

Once we got back to the apartment, I got busy with cooking dinner.  It took me longer than expected because I'm basically cooking in someone else's kitchen.  I needed help to figure out the oven because all the buttons are in Japanese, which I don't read.  I have very limited ingredients, so dinner was very basic.  It seems silly, but I found myself getting upset at the sheer amount of waste coming out of my kitchen.  Each item from the store is wrapped in plastic - salmon, carrots, daikon, and 2 packages of mushrooms.  Thankfully the bell peppers and sweet potatoes weren't individually wrapped, but every new package I opened had a little bit of plastic or bottle cap to be tossed as well.  Suddenly, I was missing our chickens so much as they would have enjoyed the peels of our veggies and the salmon skin (one of their favorites). 

Looks like housing isn't the only thing I have to adjust my expectations on.  I think a good night's rest would also greatly help.