Move to Maryland

As most of you know I have finally moved back to the US to start a job in Arnold, MD. I have been working two weeks now and been in the states for almost three.

One of the common question I get is, "Do you have or feel some culture shock?" That is a tough one for me because I figured I go back to the states once a year to see family and do other stuff and I thought I remembered what America was like and how people acted. That is mostly true but there are still surprises every once and a awhile.

The first night I was in America i stopped by a grocery store to pick up some necessities. The first thing I did was put my basket on the belt to the cashier. In Japan you put your basket on a stand and the cashier rings you up putting your purchases into another basket. The cashier in America was not impressed.

There has been other little things. I caught myself bowing from time to time when saying sorry. Not seeing all of the taxi cabs around. Also seeing all of the big SUVs. There were some in Sendai, but they were the exception not the rule. Going to my first Ikea store, which may not be American but it is somewhat mind blowing. Sometimes switching back to Japanese for some automatic phrases. Now that I have a cell phone it is a little bit odd now that anyone can call me. While in Japan I had to call everyone because the cost to call Japan was pretty high. By the way if anyone wants my cell phone number send me an email and I will send it to you.

One big change that I have needed to get use to is the size of my new apartment. I think the old apartment was the size of the master bedroom in the new apartment. Also I have a much better view from the new apartment. Here are some examples.







Now if you can compare this to the view from my old apartment in Sendai.


So i have moved up a little bit in the world. I also moved into a two bedroom apartment so I have a spare room that I don't use and a a bunch of space that I don't use. I also own a car for the first time in four years, so now I need to pay attention to gas prices again.

Thats all for now.