One Person`s Junk is another Gaijin`s Treasure

I have moved to my new apartment, if it can be called that. Just about everything except my own room is shared. Well I`m paying around 150$ CND for an apartment, if anything it feels like renting a place back home in Victoria. Regardless it is comfortable, although slightly cold since its a traditional style Japanese place with tatami mats and no central heating. Sorry I still don`t have pictures, soon!

Students do the some very strange things to surive no matter where or how. It could be bringing an empty water bottle to school (or two) and filling it with iced tea in the cafeteria when staff aren`t looking. Or it could be biking around the city on large garbage removal day for goodies to pick up and use in your own house. A Japanese person`s junk is treasure to a gaijin student scraping by in an expensive place like Kyoto. An abundance of flee markets and "recycled shops" (which is just another name for a thrift store) is not at all surprising since 10% of Kyoto`s population are students.

Grocery shopping is not at all like hopping off the bus on your way home at Safeway or Thrifty Food`s for supplies lasting a week. Japanese people love their supermarkets and convience stores, there`s almost always one around the corner. Grocery shopping is done everyday here. Meats, breads and most perishables last a day or two at the most. Cook that meat right away or it`ll turn as green as sewer sludge! Suitably, bread comes in bundles of 4-5 slices and meat in 100g packages usually. What? Where is the package of 8 chicken breasts? Where can I find the 3-loaf set of bread? Sorry, no Cosco shopping here.

Adapting to lifestyle here is one of the most intriguing things about international student life. In the process you discover many things uncomparable to home and perhaps that is the draw for adventurers looking to always grow. There is a certain lure and charm to the society and lifestyle here. It is what has drawn me back here once more and something I hope to understand a little better on my way home some time from now.