The weekend was fairly uneventful... As much as it sucks to be anywhere without money, it sucks to be in Tokyo even more.  My first payday is October 5... until then, I'm stuck doing nothing fun.

So I will finally talk about why I like to call this the "Cockroach Chronicles" (just for you, Rebecca!!).

As many of you know, I have a pathological fear of roaches.  I'm not sure why - I guess that's why it's pathological.   I remember one time walking down the street in Venezuela (in sandals) and seeing something on the sidewalk beside my foot.  I jumped back in terror, thinking it was a cockroach, but when I looked again I was relieved to see it was only a scorpion.  Alas, this is the strength of my aversion to the little suckers.

I know that it's very hard to find a place to live without cockroaches in a city like Tokyo, so I figured I would have to live with them.  I was pleasantly surprised to find that the house we rented was rather roach-free.  BUT, our real estate agent decided he wanted to lend us a cooking range (in Japan, this means a little 2-burner gas powered beast).  As with charity anywhere, the recipient often has no choice in the matter, and should be gosh-darned pleased to get what they're given.  This is (she says bitterly) pretty much the attitude a lot of Japanese people have towards foreigners.  So, Jacob (my roomie) and I were the "grateful" recipients of this ancient, filthy appliance, that came complete with its own little family of - you guessed it!  No more roach-free home for Allison!!

Eventually, we had enough of living in fear (me with my fear, and Jacob with my fear), so we bug-bombed the downstairs of the house.  Jacob then took the offending stove apart and cleaned it thoroughly, and I breathed a provisional sigh of relief (knowing full well that they may be hiding elsewhere, having had a couple of weeks to spread out).

And then, the incident happened!  Here, no one is really safe from the migration of just about anything, due to the close proximity of houses to one another (my back yard is exactly 1 foot across, but I have a tree!).  As I was leaving for work one morning last week, I picked up my umbrella that was leaning against the wall in my "genkan" (entranceway) so I could have some measly protection from the downpour that was happening at the time.  I stepped outside, opened the umbrella, and out fell a GIANT roach!!  It sat there for a couple of seconds, then trotted off across the street to terrorize the neighbours.  I prefer to think it came in from outside, rather than it coming out from inside the walls. 

It's been a week since then, and no further incidents.  I now keep my umbrella tightly closed and up on a shelf.  And I watch carefully where I step.