Nesting

I have managed – through immensely useful internet tools and word of mouth – to find most of the furniture that Shawn and I will need for our apartment. Last week I bought a bed, fridge, kitchen table, shelves, desk, coffee maker, nabe cooker, and camping bed from a woman who is downsizing in preparation for her final year of her masters after which she will return to Hungary to work. I got a small TV for free from another PhD who had been given a bigger one so she didn't need the small one any longer. Last night I picked up a couch, washing machine, vacuum and some dishes from an Ethiopian man who just finished his PhD and will move to Germany this weekend to start a new research project (he charged me practically nothing for this stuff too).

The rest of the little things that we need will be easy to find and I now finally know where the “recycle shop” is (=second hand store). I haven't been there yet, but I am sure that I will find what I need and more there because in Japan, it isn't fashionable to buy second hand goods. So these stores end up full of really great stuff for cheap so I am looking forward to a trip there for other little things that have come to mind lately. Of course I also know where Ikea is and can fill the space with things from there is I can't source things anywhere else.

We can't move into our apartment until November 20th so I will have to store these things in our labo (that is the Japanese word for lab) until we can move in. Good thing Japanese furniture is compact. I am not totally sure that my supervisor is ok with this arrangement, but like most Japanese people, if he is upset about it, he sure isn't saying that to me.

Shawn will arrive on November 14th (only 19 days until he is here!!) and we will meet in Tokyo because I will be there at that time for a meeting. I am a bit worried about the Tokyo subway system, but I guess I have a couple of weeks to get my head around how to navigate it. For those of your interested, here is a schematic map of the subway in romanjii (=english characters) for ease of reading. We will spend a couple of days in Tokyo in a hotel there before coming back to Sapporo, so Shawn's first impression of Japan will be the rat race of Tokyo. It will be interesting to see how differently he feels about things than I did. Most of the people who I have met in Sapporo are not big fans of Tokyo and the fast paced life there.

I will leave this weekend for my first field sampling trip. We will go to the eastern part of Hokkaido to a place called Doto. There is a marine research station there that is associated with Hokudai so we will stay at the research station and do 5 days of sampling. Like BC, the low tides that we can use to access the research plots are at night in the winter so we are in for a few cold nights out on the rocky shore. I am looking forward to seeing the research station and the research plots. So far, the students have assigned me the easy jobs to do, not because they want go easy on me, but because you have to work and write notes very quickly to get the work done before the tide comes up again and none of them want to work with me in English. Here is a map of the area that we will go to - the number 44 on the map is roughly where the sampling sites are.

This will be my last blog until I am back from field work. I am told that there is no internet connection at the research station – well at least no internet connection that is worth using. I will post photos and stories from the field on my return next week!