Well, Saturday was relatively productive in terms of unpacking. The boxes are all unpacked, and other than getting rid of some rubbish, pretty much everything is put away somewhere. There are a pile of pictures/photos, etc that need to be hung somewhere. I'm not sure where they should go, and since I can only be wrong on this, I decided to wait till Sonia gets here.
The bedroom is clean and tidy, with the mattress on the floor, mattress protector washed and dried, and clean sheets on. The thin duvet we bought in Ikea in HK is on it, with a blanket over the top. That way I don't need the air-con switched on all night.
I've hooked up the TV and DVD player, and a guy came yesterday afternoon to connect up the cable TV. A few channels in English, but most of them are in Japanese.
Still need to get a piece of furniture for the kitchen so that the oven can be taken off the cardboard box it is sitting on. I haven't used it yet, for fear of making the cardboard box so hot it either catches fire or collapses.
Work seems to be going well. HR, as always, is useless. They seem more interested in deciding and enforcing idiotic/stupid/senseless policies than looking after the "human resources". What is it about these people? It's not just this company - they generally always seem to act the same. I wonder what goes on in their minds?
Oh - forgot to answer the quiz about wattages. It's the sandwich maker - draws 2400 watts. Closely followed by the iron at 2000. Then it's down to the coffee machine (1200), before dropping steeply to the remaining appliances: rice cooker (780), bread maker & blender (500 each), kitchen aid mixer (300), and coffee grinder (250). By comparison, the TV draws 150 and the DVD player all of 9w. The Stereo amplifier and CD player don't state their wattages, so I guessed by taking the amplifier output of 80w per channel, doubling it, and adding a bit.
So far I have an 1100w transformer in the lounge to run the stereo, CD player, TV and DVD player. That might be overdoing it - I think the total watts being drawn if everything is on it probably around 450w (TV 152 + DVD 9 + amplifier 180 + CD 100), so the transformer is probably more than enough. Problem is not knowing how much the amplifier and CD do actually draw. I am thinking I am probably ok to get a 600w one, and move the 1100w transformer into the kitchen for the appliances? I have a 3300w one on order to be used in the living area - enough to power the sandwich maker, iron, coffee machine and grinder (not all at once). Bit of a bummer that the sandwich maker will be used on the bench where the coffee machine is, but it's not worth getting two big transformers. FYI, the 3300w transformer is worth about USD500. The transformers do work both ways, so we can use them when we (eventually) move back to NZ and need to run the fridge, washing machine, or oven on NZ power. Japan is 100v - not even the same as US at 110. Trust them to find a way to be different from everyone else.
Enough - that is probably more than most of you ever wanted to know about power wattages and transformers!
Sunday, February 21, 2010
Friday, February 19, 2010
They're taking over!
The boxes, that is. The moving company delivered our "stuff" yesterday.
I had an important steering group meeting to run at 8am in the morning (people calling in from UK and US, so this is the best time). Then it was straight out the door and back home, from where I'd left about 1.5 hours earlier!
They started by bringing most of the boxes inside and stacking them in piles in the different rooms. Then once that was all done, started unpacking. Only a couple of minor pieces of damage - a knock on the end of one of the cabinets, right down by the floor at at the back. Probably not worth fixing, although we'll see what the insurance company does. Also a foot broken on a chest of drawers. We ended up with all of the feet removed and it now sits on a piece of wood.
Possibly the most concerning is the mildew on the leather couches. And on the dining chairs. Not sure how we fix that. The chairs could be reupholstered if it comes to it, but the leather? I guess I have a job this weekend - find leather cleaners (ever tried to do that when you cannot read the writing?) and see if I can clean them up.
However, it's nice to have something feeling a little less like we are living day-to-day. I managed to get the stereo hooked up last night - big transformer to boost our 110v up to 230-240v. Sonia is still in Bangkok, so hopefully before she gets here I will have a chance to sort most of the things out and get the coffee machine running, etc.
Pop quiz: what appliance uses the most power (as in watts)? This is important because the transformers are rated to different wattages. Answer comes tomorrow or the next day...
I had an important steering group meeting to run at 8am in the morning (people calling in from UK and US, so this is the best time). Then it was straight out the door and back home, from where I'd left about 1.5 hours earlier!
They started by bringing most of the boxes inside and stacking them in piles in the different rooms. Then once that was all done, started unpacking. Only a couple of minor pieces of damage - a knock on the end of one of the cabinets, right down by the floor at at the back. Probably not worth fixing, although we'll see what the insurance company does. Also a foot broken on a chest of drawers. We ended up with all of the feet removed and it now sits on a piece of wood.
Possibly the most concerning is the mildew on the leather couches. And on the dining chairs. Not sure how we fix that. The chairs could be reupholstered if it comes to it, but the leather? I guess I have a job this weekend - find leather cleaners (ever tried to do that when you cannot read the writing?) and see if I can clean them up.
However, it's nice to have something feeling a little less like we are living day-to-day. I managed to get the stereo hooked up last night - big transformer to boost our 110v up to 230-240v. Sonia is still in Bangkok, so hopefully before she gets here I will have a chance to sort most of the things out and get the coffee machine running, etc.
Pop quiz: what appliance uses the most power (as in watts)? This is important because the transformers are rated to different wattages. Answer comes tomorrow or the next day...
Tuesday, February 16, 2010
Of underwear and milk
Well the underwear came out as it went in - just cleaner. No shrinkage, at least not that I can tell.
And the milk is apparently fine. I waited a day to check, but the cereal has been fine each morning.
And the milk is apparently fine. I waited a day to check, but the cereal has been fine each morning.
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Appliances
Well, have any of our thousands of dedicated readers (ahem!) ever been in the position of needing to purchase major home appliances in a foreign country (Canada does not count)? We have in the past week, gone out and bought a fridge, washer/dryer, and today a combination microwave and steam oven.
All very well, but there might be all of 3 words in English in all of the 3 manuals - and those are the manufacturers' names (Sharp, Toshiba, and Toshiba, so really just two). However, as Sonia has pointed out, Toshiba has "Leading Innovation" plastered all over their manuals, so I guess I should alter my previous statement - there are 4 words in English.
But Transgoogleation is a wonderful thing. We've just spent the past hour figuring out how to use the manual settings on the oven to microwave, grill, steam grill, bake, and steam bake. While we are not in a position to make the most of the other 30-odd automatic cooking menus, at least we will not starve.
And the washing machine seems to be doing an ok job of it's first tentative load. All socks and undies that we can afford to lose if we've managed to push the wrong button. Maybe Lauren needs new underwear (these could come out smaller than they went in!).
The fridge seems to be cooling things. Will tell you more once we try the milk tomorrow. It does have 7 doors, so we are not 100% certain that the milk is in the correct place... Popsicles anyone?
All very well, but there might be all of 3 words in English in all of the 3 manuals - and those are the manufacturers' names (Sharp, Toshiba, and Toshiba, so really just two). However, as Sonia has pointed out, Toshiba has "Leading Innovation" plastered all over their manuals, so I guess I should alter my previous statement - there are 4 words in English.
But Transgoogleation is a wonderful thing. We've just spent the past hour figuring out how to use the manual settings on the oven to microwave, grill, steam grill, bake, and steam bake. While we are not in a position to make the most of the other 30-odd automatic cooking menus, at least we will not starve.
And the washing machine seems to be doing an ok job of it's first tentative load. All socks and undies that we can afford to lose if we've managed to push the wrong button. Maybe Lauren needs new underwear (these could come out smaller than they went in!).
The fridge seems to be cooling things. Will tell you more once we try the milk tomorrow. It does have 7 doors, so we are not 100% certain that the milk is in the correct place... Popsicles anyone?
Thursday, February 11, 2010
Not at the end of the tunnel, rather the lights that we bought today and installed in the living area. Not being quite sure whether they would work (everything is of course in Japanese) we only bought one fitting and three lights. But they do work, so tomorrow night it will be another trip to the shop to get another one of the same.
Installation is another story. Not because it is technically difficult, but because we do not have anything here to stand on. Other than each other. Andrew tried very hard to get Sonia to perch on his shoulders, but as she is not a bird this proved rather difficult. In the end we reversed roles and Andrew sat on Sonia's shoulders.....she tried to remember not to tickle his knees!
Anyway, said lights are up and we are one step closer to having a home rather than a house.
Installation is another story. Not because it is technically difficult, but because we do not have anything here to stand on. Other than each other. Andrew tried very hard to get Sonia to perch on his shoulders, but as she is not a bird this proved rather difficult. In the end we reversed roles and Andrew sat on Sonia's shoulders.....she tried to remember not to tickle his knees!
Anyway, said lights are up and we are one step closer to having a home rather than a house.
Sunday, February 07, 2010
Apartments
Ok, so I have spent a few nights in the new apartment. The air-bed is working ok, although not as comfortable as a real bed.
The supermarket downstairs has turned out to be a very good one. Of course most of the stuff is Japanese, and I cannot read the labels. But it is a bigger supermarket than I have seen around here, and has a good range. And the prices are more reasonable than the one I used to go to in Azabu-juban.
At the moment I still have no furniture or cooking utensils (or eating utensils for that matter). This means that breakfast is tending to be Tullys (a Starbucks equivalent) with coffee and a bagel sandwich (which has meat and cheese). Lunch is usually sushi or some equivalent from the supermarket close to the office. And dinner is a range of ready-made snack meals (salads, sushi, etc) from the supermarket downstairs.
I have the phone going now, and the Internet - both as of yesterday. The laptop is sitting on the floor in the corner of the empty living area (as am I while writing this). It has turned out to be a very sunny apartment - very warm, despite snowing twice in the past week. It faces south-east, so it gets sun from first thing in the morning until early evening when the sun disappears behind neighbouring tower blocks.
We have one of the toilet seats with jets - to "wash up" when you're finished. All the instructions are in Japanese, so I will have to take a photo and ask someone at work to explain what button does what. Imagine that conversation, remembering that mostly these are people I have just met.
We got an email from the moving company saying that our stuff will arrive "soon" and asking for some paperwork. Not sure what "soon" means exactly, but hopefully we should have everything delivered in the next week.
The supermarket downstairs has turned out to be a very good one. Of course most of the stuff is Japanese, and I cannot read the labels. But it is a bigger supermarket than I have seen around here, and has a good range. And the prices are more reasonable than the one I used to go to in Azabu-juban.
At the moment I still have no furniture or cooking utensils (or eating utensils for that matter). This means that breakfast is tending to be Tullys (a Starbucks equivalent) with coffee and a bagel sandwich (which has meat and cheese). Lunch is usually sushi or some equivalent from the supermarket close to the office. And dinner is a range of ready-made snack meals (salads, sushi, etc) from the supermarket downstairs.
I have the phone going now, and the Internet - both as of yesterday. The laptop is sitting on the floor in the corner of the empty living area (as am I while writing this). It has turned out to be a very sunny apartment - very warm, despite snowing twice in the past week. It faces south-east, so it gets sun from first thing in the morning until early evening when the sun disappears behind neighbouring tower blocks.
We have one of the toilet seats with jets - to "wash up" when you're finished. All the instructions are in Japanese, so I will have to take a photo and ask someone at work to explain what button does what. Imagine that conversation, remembering that mostly these are people I have just met.
We got an email from the moving company saying that our stuff will arrive "soon" and asking for some paperwork. Not sure what "soon" means exactly, but hopefully we should have everything delivered in the next week.
Monday, February 01, 2010
Moving
Well, this week is the week. On Wednesday I move to the new apartment. Without any furniture or household stuff. I do have 3 big suitcases of clothes and junk that has not been shipped up. But no fridge, washing machine, cooking utensils, plates, glasses, etc. We purchased a cheap duvet, sheet, and pillow on the weekend (from Ikea HK), and I bought them up with me on Sunday.
I managed to borrow a blow-up mattress from someone at the office. I have not inspected it yet, so I'm not 100% clear whether it is a single or larger. If single, then I am a little concerned about where Sonia thinks she will sleep when she arrives on Sunday. The floor? With her pillow but no duvet? When it is snowing outside? Not sure how this is going to work, but since I have to go to work on Monday, it will not be me on the floor!
Trying to figure out the logistics of buying a washing machine and fridge. Except that it's not clear whether they are able to run on NZ voltage. So do we end up having to sell them before we leave (incurring the inevitable loss)? I think tomorrow will be yet another trip to Akihabara to ask the sales guy about the voltages required for the appliances. After reading up on the manufacturers' websites (Japanese pages translated through Google) I am pretty sure that they only work on 110v. Which is a problem. Wait and see what happens in part 2 of the story....
I managed to borrow a blow-up mattress from someone at the office. I have not inspected it yet, so I'm not 100% clear whether it is a single or larger. If single, then I am a little concerned about where Sonia thinks she will sleep when she arrives on Sunday. The floor? With her pillow but no duvet? When it is snowing outside? Not sure how this is going to work, but since I have to go to work on Monday, it will not be me on the floor!
Trying to figure out the logistics of buying a washing machine and fridge. Except that it's not clear whether they are able to run on NZ voltage. So do we end up having to sell them before we leave (incurring the inevitable loss)? I think tomorrow will be yet another trip to Akihabara to ask the sales guy about the voltages required for the appliances. After reading up on the manufacturers' websites (Japanese pages translated through Google) I am pretty sure that they only work on 110v. Which is a problem. Wait and see what happens in part 2 of the story....
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