Of Washing Machines and Plastic Seals

***This post was supposed to go out last night, but I couldn’t get the photos uploaded because I was backing up some files.***

When I first started this blog in Vancouver, I wasn’t sure what I would be writing about once I got to Japan. I wasn’t really sure that I would have anything to write about at all. I guess I’ll just have to take things as they come.

I woke up at just before 5:30 this morning -- probably still because of the jet lag, although I seem to be feeling better during the day. I spent quite a while last night unpacking, putting things away, washing the dishes that were provided with the apartment, and buying odds and ends. Because I had so much free time this morning, I thought that I’d put a load of laundry on while I washed another set of dishes (I’ve been doing them in spurts). The washing machine is an interesting appliance as it is a washer and a dryer in the same unit. I can’t read any of the symbols on it, but I do know a bit about what each knob supposedly controls. I was pretty proud of the fact that I started a load with very little problem.

Once the load of laundry finishes, it dumps the water into a very shallow basin directly below the machine. While I was doing the dishes, the first cycle finished and the sound of the water being released caught my ear as virtually every sound in this apartment is new to me. I thought something sounded a bit odd about the sound of this running water and decided to wait and see what sort of Japanese technology has been put into place in order to make this sound. As it turned out, we have this sound in North America as well. It was the sound of a shallow basin filling very rapidly and quickly overflowing all over my apartment. Lucky for me, I had only set the load for 44 litres and not the largest 47 litre configuration. I am also fortunate that the floors are made of some sort of laminate and that I had recently hung my bath towel that I brought from home nearby. In lew of a proper mop, a bath towel holds quite a bit of water.

As it turned out, each of my drains has come with a plastic seal that is hidden behind a plastic filter. This plastic seal makes any drain quite useless until removed.

Because I had woken up so early, I still had time to go for a jog to the nearest 7-11 to buy some bottles of water (I don’t think it’s wise to drink to much tap water when first moving to a country on the other side of the world – and I’ve been drinking a lot of water). I also cooked some rice and tofu for breakfast, finished washing the dishes, hung the laundry and had a shower before work. It was a productive morning and I learned a lot.

Included in this post are a couple of photos I took in a bit of haste this morning of my first home-cooked meal in my new apartment and a self portrait of myself just moments before leaving for my first day at my new place of work. I will write more about my apartment and iwaki soon.