Tuesday, February 8, 2011

Chapter 41 – The Last Mile (T-Minus 4)

Here’s what my to do list has been like this week thus far:
Monday: Load car with bed to give away. Go to City to pick up certificates of residency, certificates for Seal stamp. Go to Bank at lunch time, fill out more paper work for 1 hour, convert USD to yen from overseas accounts, Call Internet Provider to give notice of move. Call Landlord to see if he wants to keep anything of ours. Drop off bed at friend’s house. Play hockey late night hockey (this is my reward).

Tuesday: Still trying to get hold of ISP. Transfer money from US to JP. Hopefully it will all arrive on time. Coordinate final site check visit. Add blog entry.

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Saturday we had a preliminary site check where we nitpick about any scratches to walls or caulking that needs smoothing, mosquito screens that don’t slide easily, etc. There are quite a few little nicks here and there but our site manager was present and helped mark all the areas for fixing with little pieces of colored tape.

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We really couldn’t to see how the lighting would turn out. I think the overall effect surpassed our expectations. I think Lara summed it best as “Pinch me, is this really happening? Is this really our home?”. Earlier in the day Kawata-san our site manager and Sakamoto-san our architect were standing outside in our bedroom garden and were looking at the house with air of pride. Kawata turned to me and said “This is great home. It’s rare that people take the time and energy these days to build something this beautiful.” And it struck me that they had invested much of themselves in this project as well. Nothing like appreciating a job well done.

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Stay tuned for a video walk through for our next post.

7 comments:

  1. Looking great, I wish it was me. We are not far of starting our journey into the building world.
    I see you have a built in oven or is it a microwave, either way very nice, what make is it?
    Thanks Terry

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  2. Oh it looks FANTASTIC! You must be so happy.

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  3. Hi Terry,
    Good luck. A lot of work but you will really reaping the fruits of your labor. It's a built-in Microwave and Convection oven.
    It's a Miele 5040BM:
    http://www.miele.co.jp/product/el-oven/el-oven_func.html

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  4. Martine, Thanks. Hope all is well down under.

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  5. I like the island with glass backed IH stove top, noticed it a few times on the "Before After" reform show. Nice touch. The lighting looks beautiful!!

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  6. Totally off topic but since you brought it up, where do you play hockey?

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  7. The house looks great! I have just gotten through your entire blog. It has been an amazing source of information for me. My wife and I are talking about building a house here soon and you have really helped me understand all of the areas that are involved with a new build, and what to look out for.

    I am not sure if you will even see this, but it has been 5 years since you wrote your last entry and I was wondering what your thought are about us the house now? Is there anything you wish you did differently? Any kind of update would be welcome! Cheers!

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