Welcome Gift

Sunday was terribly rainy and bleak.  We chose to spend the day at home, in jammas, no deodorant, unpretty.  The only step I took Sunday morning toward looking human was to brush my hair because as much I love a lazy day, I do not like the caveman look that I sometimes sport as I roll out of bed.  So, that was Sunday.  Of course, that was the day that our neighbors chose to knock on the door and introduce themselves.  Super awesome.  I did the, "You get the door, I need to put pants on" move. (I was actually already wearing pants, they just didn't match...at all.)

Anyway, the neighbors were very nice and spoke decent English, which was a pleasant surprise.  What I wanted to tell you was something that blew my mind, again.  (The same thing happened in Utazu but I'm not sure if I blogged about it.)  The new neighbors brought us a gift!  Not because we are new, but because they are.  That's a custom here, when you move into a new apartment you are supposed to take a gift to all your new neighbors - the immediate ones anyway.  I guess it's a way to be able to introduce yourself to your neighbors, and maybe a way to apologize for all the noise that happened when moving in.  Anyway, it was very nice.  The first time we received a box of sugar packets (kind of weird right?) and this time a box of Japanese cookies.


A quick note - our new neighbors work in Tokyo, which spreads from one end of the earth to the other. It's crazy big. Anyway, the man commutes to work for 2 hours, door to door, each way.  The woman, 1.5 hours each way.  And, this is normal!  Several of my co-workers have similar commutes.  I feel so lucky that I  have only a 15 minute commute, which is when I am walking slowly...

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