October 1st -- The day everything happened

October 1st – The day where everything happened

October 1st was a BIG day for us!

It was Miklos’s first day of work. However, he does not currently have an actual project that he is assigned to. So, stay posted to find out exactly what he’ll be doing!

A little bit about his work—Miklos is working at the Institute of Transformative Bio-Molecules (ITBM). It is an international, state-of-the-art research facility that was built in 2012, and it is affiliated with Nagoya University. Many labs are housed in this research facility, and all of the research is connected to plant life, as there is a lot to be learned about plants. ITBM was built to attract researchers from around the world, which explains why the working language in the facility is English.

Check out some photos from Miklos’s first day of work! They start by showing Miklos waiting for and boarding his bus. This will not be his permanent route, as we will move into a new apartment soon. A lot of the photos are awkwardly cropped but you can see how beautiful the building is. You can also spot Miklos sitting at his desk. Towards the right of his desk there are floor to ceiling windows that look down on the actual lab space located the floor below.

While this was Miklos’s first day of work, there was one big task that needed to be done—apartment hunting! The ITBM staff put Tori and Miklos in touch with a new Relator who specializes in helping families find apartments that allow cats. The agency is called “Black Cat,” at least that’s what it translates to in English. Although it was Miklos’s first day of work, ITBM staff scheduled apartment viewing for Tori and Miklos mid-afternoon, making for a nice way to ease into the first day of work for Miklos.

The Relator lined up 5 apartments to be viewed. When Tori and Miklos saw the 3rd apartment, the search ended. They fell in love with the apartment! The apartment was recently renovated so it includes some items that are not so common in Japan, such as a dishwasher and quite a bit of storage space—in particular 2 closets in the hallway. This may be odd for an American or European to wrap their mind around, but really—it’s not common to find these things here. Finally, the search has ended! Woo!

The funny part about this round of apartment hunting is that the apartment that we found and want to move into is actually located in a building that we had already seen. Our first week here we attempted to apartment hunt on our own, and used an English based website to aid our search. We found an apartment that looked beautiful in photos and arranged to view it. After seeing it in person we were both extremely disappointed. So, when we learned that our Black Cat Realtor was showing us another unit in the same building, Miklos turned to Tori and asked to skip it. Tori insisted that they check it out anyway. Good thing we did, because it's exactly what we want!

More than likely the units in the apartment complex look different from one another pending the last time they were renovated. It doesn't

seem that they were renovated around the same time. The unit that we're hoping to move into was renovated so recently. We would be the first tenants to live in it since the renovation, and that, in large part, is where the attraction lies to this particular unit.

Check out some photos from the apartment!

Such an exciting day, and yet, there’s more! Tori received an email today from the YMCA. The email stated that she was hired to work part-time as an English teacher. She is extremely excited for this opportunity! Interestingly, she will actually have her first class tomorrow evening! She’ll be working with students between the ages of 7-10 years old. Good luck, Tori, and congrats to you!