My apartment.

Hellooooo. Welcome to my little Japanese apartment! It boasts a long balcony, a bomb shelter door (for when the soviets invade???), and Japanese style floors and doors.

I spend nearly all of my time cleaning this place, and disinfecting, and killing bugs. Like, HUGE AND NASTY bugs!
I had tatami mites in my tatami floors that were biting me, and I have had 3 big roaches that fly, and 3 baby roaches... 2 huge spiders, and countless gnat-looking things. Not to mention the pigeon problem on my balcony. And the bugs here are bold. They fly straight for your face on purpose. Just last night, when I was originally making this post, a roach sauntered out from behind my curtain like he owned the place. We dueled for a good 15 minutes or more. I would spray, he would hide, I would move the curtain, he would run. His little legs made the grossest sound ever when he shuffled across the tatami!!! EW EW EW. He was writhing in misery beneath my little sofa (which I moved to the living room area) and I could hear him thrashing around...he ended up dying right next to my sofa. But he had as many false endings as The Return of the King...every time I thought it was over, he thrashed around or tried to turn over. SICK. And to think, I used to sleep on that very same floor! What if there wer roaches crawling over me in my sleep and I had no idea?! Jamie had an extra bed frame, so now I sleep in the small room with the desk. I actually moved the desk to the small room, so my apartment looks a little different than these pictures.

Besides the bugs, there is a lot of mold and grime. Jamie helped me buy a serious mold killer that works really well. And I've bought a ton of dehumidifiers and such.
Still, this place is a work in progress. It won't feel like a home until it's bug free and has some real furniture. I've been pricing sofas and curtains, but it seems like every time I find something I really like, it's expensive. Dad once said that I have champagne tastes on a beer budget, and that certainly seems like it's true. Is $600 too much for a sectional sofa? I really really really like it...... :)