packing

the day before the move

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It was the day before the move. Time for packing everything including basic necessities. I unscrewed the table legs and removed the drapes and the venetian blind from the windows. After packing the stereo, inside the apartment was weirdly quiet and I heard my own voice reverberate.

When I had the last dinner at this apartment with my partner on a small folding table and remembered many good things that had happened or come in here, tears suddenly rolled down my face and I couldn’t stop crying owing to the beer and a spell of lack of sleep. But I knew I couldn’t afford to be sentimental. I had to evacuate this apartment by noon the next day. It seemed undoubtedly impossible to finish packing and cleaning the place by then. A hectic, sleepless night awaited me…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

move out here

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I have only three days to go before I move to my new apartment. I’m already exhausted from packing. Once furniture is moved, the dirty wall or mold appears and the thorough cleaning is also necessary.

A mover came today to pick up some pieces of my furniture. To me, they looked like supermen. They carried heavy objects down the stairs so easily. One of them had been even determined to carry down my electric piano by himself until I begged him to do it with his co-worker. Compared to them, I’m nothing. Moving just a few things tires me out and makes my muscles stiff. I don’t know how unstably I’m moving, but I have bruises all over. After I settle in my new place, I’ll exercise and strengthen my body – that is, when I finish all the packing and cleaning and move out here in time for the deadline…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

move out of this inconvenient life

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Since radiation leaked from the nuclear power plant and I refrained from going out, I’ve been consequently able to speed up my packing for a move to my new apartment. My strong wish to move out of this inconvenient life impelled me to pack eagerly without lingering.

But as the temperature has risen, the scheduled blackout hasn’t been carried out these days. Also, the amount of radioactive materials in water supply has declined drastically. I was beginning to feel that I could slow down packing when a kid of the crazy neighbor family resumed shooting hoops on the street. The family set up the basket facing the street so that the kid plays on the busy street between crammed houses. That’s why I call them crazy. The noise he makes by bouncing a ball is loud and extremely annoying. I’ve complained about the noise by a note several times. He stops playing each time, but starts again a couple of weeks later.

I was about to regain a comfortable life here and the noise began to disrupt my life. This must be another sign to move out quickly…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

pay more money

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By the contract, I have to give a month’s notice to move out the apartment I currently live in. If I move out in the middle of April as I planned, I need to send written notice by mid-March. But I’m not sure if my packing is finished in a month. Actually, there’s no telling when it’s done.

 　　I’m busy enough with my daily life and adding packing to it as an extra routine has been almost impossible for me. In fact, my packing has been going at a surprisingly slow pace. My own schedule has gradually backed me into a corner and sometimes I have an urge to cancel a move itself altogether. As I began to sag, I decided to postpone a move for another month until mid-May, to make packing easier with plenty of time. It’s the third postponement from my original plan of a mid-January move. It means to pay more money for the rent, but it can’t be helped…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

threw away my past

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As I’ve been packing my stuff to move out this
apartment, various things of sentimental value
to me have come out from the back of the
shelves. I’ve lived here for nine years and
forgotten about most of them since I stored
them away. Some are no longer useful, but
when I clear them out, I feel as if I threw away
my past. That makes me melancholy.
Occasionally, I find some money. It’s like I
get a bonus for packing, but it’s simply what I
stashed by myself in the first place and not
what I newly gained. Mostly, what I find are
numerous room slippers and old broken
appliances. I don’t understand why I kept so
many slippers without using. Packing and
moving requires a great deal of labor and time.
Worst of all, the broken appliances appear one
after another and discarding them is costly. I
have to pay for each one of them just to
dump…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

His big secret

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While I was packing my stuff to move to my
new place, I inadvertently dropped a scale
model of a Formula One car yesterday. It’s a
McLaren MP4/6 with Ayrton Senna in it, and
handmade by my American friend who made it
for me and gave me as a gift a long time ago.
A rear wing, a front flap, a mirror and a
steering wheel came off. The model is so
elaborate and the repair seems to require
delicate work. I’m not so confident of repairing
it as good as it was, and felt depressed.
I talked about it to my partner later, and he
hinted it had been already broken before I
dropped it. When I asked him what he meant,
he guiltily confessed that he had once dropped
it by himself a few years before. Because the
damage was on the opposite side of the
display, he hadn’t told me that to this date. His
big secret was out. I felt a little easier to find
out that I was not to blame. But it remains
broken all the same…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

Audiobook : Japanese Dream by Hidemi Woods On Sale at online stores or apps. Apple, Audible, Google Play, Nook Audiobooks,  43 available distributors in total

My junk

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Photo by cottonbro on Pexels.com

I can’t throw things away. Because I’m easily
attached to my belongings and also I’m thrifty,
I keep things for a possible future use, just in
case. As a result, my tiny apartment has
become even smaller with junk such as wornout

clothes, cracked shoes and sundries that I
don’t know what they are for anymore.
As I’ve started moving to my new place, I
realized how time-consuming packing all the
junk was. Packing one cardboard box a day is a
maximum addition to my daily life. So, my
moving process is horribly slow. With this
speed, I can’t even imagine the day I finish
packing everything into boxes will ever come. I
feel like it lasts forever. But the longer it takes,
the more money I end up spending, because
I’ll have to keep paying the rent for my old
apartment. My junk, which I’ve kept to save
money in the first place, took advantage of my
weakness and began to take money away from
me…

Episode From Surviving in Japan / Hidemi Woods

there’s no telling when it’s done

Hidemi WoodsLeave a comment

By the contract, I have to give a month’s notice to move out the apartment I currently live in. If I move out in the middle of April as I planned, I need to send written notice by mid-March. But I’m not sure if my packing is finished in a month. Actually, there’s no telling when it’s done. I’m busy enough with my daily life and adding packing to it as an extra routine has been almost impossible for me. In fact, my packing has been going at a surprisingly slow pace. My own schedule has gradually backed me into a corner and sometimes I have an urge to cancel a move itself altogether. As I began to sag, I decided to postpone a move for another month until mid-May, to make packing easier with plenty of time. It’s the third postponement from my original plan of a mid-January move. It means to pay more money for the rent, but it can’t be helped…

lowest-price hunting life

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The most exciting time of year has come for a lowest-price shopper like me. Apparel stores had done their clearance sales for winter clothing and they started selling what were still left unsold at the incredibly low prices to get rid of them. It’s time for me to shop winter clothing for next winter. The other day, I found fleece jackets which prices were 90% off from the already discounted prices. I bought a couple of those at 40 cents each. Even in my lowest-price hunting life, it was a record low for a jacket. I also got a down coat at $28, marked down from $80. I bought several other clothes at such immensely reduced prices as well and felt so exhilarated. At the end of the day, I’ve got a lot more winter clothes at home although I’m in the middle of moving to my new place. More time for packing and cost for moving has been added…

I feel as if I threw away my past.

Hidemi WoodsLeave a comment

As I’ve been packing my stuff to move out this apartment, various things of sentimental value to me have come out from the back of the shelves. I’ve lived here for nine years and forgotten about most of them since I stored them away. Some are no longer useful, but when I clear them out, I feel as if I threw away my past. That makes me melancholy. Occasionally, I find some money. It’s like I get a bonus for packing, but it’s simply what I stashed by myself in the first place and not what I newly gained. Mostly, what I find are numerous room slippers and old broken appliances. I don’t understand why I kept so many slippers without using. Packing and moving requires a great deal of labor and time. Worst of all, the broken appliances appear one after another and discarding them is costly. I have to pay for each one of them just to dump…