Exploring Ashikaga

(the view from the bridge)

So, I think that I have had a relatively productive couple of first days. I found the grocery store and bought some provisions. Enough to tide me over for a while, anyway. All of the vegetables look amazing and really clean and fresh. Carrots, daikon radish, broccoli, enoki mushrooms, bean sprouts. I bought some scallions to make a stir-fry with, but they are really big and tall, like leeks, and I couldn't fit them in my wee baby refrigerator, so I had to cut them up.
I still haven't found where to get the city-designated burnable trash bags that I'm supposed to be using for my burnable trash. I have other trash bags that I've been using for my non-combustibles. All of this trash sorting is probably going to drive me nuts after a while.
I picked up some tissues, toilet paper, shampoo, aaand some plates, cups, chopsticks and other kitchen stuff, like a frying pan and a spatula, knife (which I already cut myself with) and a cutting board.
It really is hard to get by without all of those little things! Especially if you want to cook for yourself! I hate going to restaurants by myself (although today I found a conveyor belt sushi place up the road that I will probably hit up now and again), and I'd rather cook anyway. I made myself some rice and a veggie-stir fry tonight. I don't have any seasonings.. so I just used soy sauce.
Not far from conveyor belt sushi is a Recycle shop! It's just like an American thrift store. They have EVERYTHING. I was seriously considering getting a pair of used Chuck Taylors and a rice cooker. They also had these awesome beer glasses with a Mazda 'Familia' and the Mazda logo screen printed on them. I have to admit, I kind of wanted them too. I'm going to see how I fare without the rice cooker and the Mazda glasses for a while, but I will definitely be back at the recycle shop soon. I want to check out the used CDs and LPs.
Yesterday I found a big shopping center that is about 4 blocks from one of the train stations here in town. Its a massive mall-type thing. Kind of expensive, but if you need anything they've got it. I found the 100 yen shop, too. Great for clothes hangers, drying racks, scotch tape, aaand nail polish remover.
So.. other than buying things I'm going to need and walking around alot, I've just been hanging out in my too-cool-for-school apartment and reading stuff for work and some magazines I picked up... if anyone wants to write me letters, please feel free. I would love some new reading material and some mail! Hit me up on my e-mail, and I'll send you my address.

mata ne!