Bret and I are lucky, lucky ducks

Welcome back to our blog! Moving, job training, etc has been a bit tiring, so I haven't posted anything for awhile. Here's the update on our new situation and new diggs. Bret and I had no idea what to expect when we accepted the jobs in Shikoku teaching English for a private company that can't be googled (type in GEM school, you get nothing. Well, nothing relevant). We knew we were taking over a couple's jobs and moving into the apartment, but we didn't have any pictures, or even too much of a job description, so it was a bit daunting traveling all this way and not knowing what to expect. Luckily, everything is amazing and has exceeded our expectations tremendously. We can't believe how big our place is (compared to our Tokyo apartment, it's a palace) and everything is neat and clean and has been great. It could have been bad! Lots of the teachers at GEM school have horror stories of when they moved into their apartments, and the previous tenants left it in a dark, muggy/moldy, and garbage filled state. Chris and Courtney, the aforementioned couple have also been amazing to us, showing us the entire city, where to get everything, and are also training us this week. My first training day was yesterday and it was a lot of fun. Japanese kids are the cutest, and I'm going to have to work on not laughing at their mannerisms/shenanigans. The older students who do private lessons are also really great. It was sad watching them say goodbye to Courtney, though! Well here's the apartment, I'll try to take and post some pictures of Saijo soon.


Our living room is so big! That couch was 40 bucks. At a store. Yes.

"You guys want a free fountain thingamajig?" "YES"


Every cupboard/storage unit pictured in this post is chock full of free stuff. This one is packed with dry staple items, like pasta, oatmeal, coffee, tea, etc. We love Chris and Courtney


Kitchen. We inherited the fridge and cupboards FULLY STOCKED. We can seriously live for a month on all the stuff that was left.

First off, I love the windows in our apartment. You can't beat the floor-to-ceiling. Second, the bed is a dream compared to it's previous counterpart. Twin bed > single bed. I've already told this story a million times, but our bed in Tokyo was nearly unbearable. The first couple of nights I tried to get Bret to put the comforter on the floor to sleep on instead, but he wouldn't. One night I was so uncomfortable I slept on the floor by myself. So yeah, I am very happy with the entire sleeping situation here. Oh, and apparently the bed, despite being a huge upgrade from the Tokyo twin/slab of granite mess--is broken/missing something, so we're getting a NEW bed and mattress soon. I feel spoiled.


Our computer desk area. I know I'm saying this about everything, but when Bret and I first saw the apartment, I couldn't believe they weren't selling/taking this desk. It's huge, really space effective, and in immaculate condition. It's also amazing to not have to balance my laptop, cooling pad and mouse on teeny tiny tables, or my bed, which is what I did before.

Desk, closet. Chris and Courtney left all of their shelving and organizing things, so we have drawers and things now (picture this closet devoid of all plastic shelving. It's just a big shelf, and impossible to keep tidy when you have two people's wardrobe's crammed in it. That's how we lived in Tokyo for two months...)


Bathroom, laundry area (which in Tokyo was shared with 4 people, but now we have our own)