Our House and Cold Nights

Our Blue house

Ben and I got a good nights sleep last night. We haven't really had a chance to get more than about 5 hours of sleep, since last weekend. So we were positively exhausted.
Ben and I love our house, and our town. The people are so kind, I love the mountains, and we can walk almost everywhere. We're still missing some essentials, and we have no furniture, but we have a bed. I am still in shock that Mr. Kurobe is just lending us a refrigerator and a washing machine. We are extremely grateful. He helped us set them up today. They work great, so I'm really happy.

It's a triangle

Ben and I live on the second floor of a triangular blue house. Our reputation precedes us around town, people know that we are the two americans living in the blue house. We have been met with nothing other than complete kindness. People invite us over for hot meals. People walk up to me on the street and just ask if theirs anything they can help me with. People around town go out of their way to come say hello. Ben and I feel so welcome here. I'm so glad we moved to Japan, and we're extremely lucky to have been placed here.

First dinner in our house

It's been difficult to get situated here. It's a small town, and their aren't a whole lot of shops. There isn't a single furniture shop... even the locals think it's weird. Ben and I have been having picnics in our house. We don't really need furniture, but it would be really nice.

Our house is really pretty, it has dark wood floors, and is situated so that all day long their is sunshine pouring in. The kitchen is really big for a Japanese kitchen. We have one western style room, which we are going to make our TV/hobby room, and a Japanese style room, which is our bed room. The Japanese room has tatami mats on the floor, it's really cozy.

 The view from our house is fantastic. their is a little bit of farm land just outside of our place, and we can see all the mountains. It was rainy today, so I'll have to take another picture when it's sunny.

Western Room

Japanese room.

Despite how much we love our house, it does have a dirty underbelly. It is so cold. There is a heater in  the kitchen, but it doesn't work very well. Even if we wanted to heat our whole place with it, it just isn't powerful enough. Japanese houses are built with no insulation. Japanese houses really aren't built to last. They are really shoddy construction. But they keep you dry and safe. Ben and I can't deal with the cold especially because their is no place to get warm. Ben and I can't sleep well when we're really cold, so at night we move our bed into the kitchen, where the heater is so that we can sleep better. We still need a ton of blankets, but at least we can sleep.