Beware of Fine Print

So I got a call about the apartment saying, "We got accepted for the contract. And oh yeah, we each need 300,000yen for the downpayment." Cue me blinking and calculating how much time I need to pull monies from my account. I've only been able to get about 100,000 out of my US account and I've been fighting a pitched battle with BOFA to transfer my money over HERE. Their Safepass site sends me in circles with no f***ing end in site! So I thought I'd get a week to get this together... doable but only just. Until... I'm told today that we need it by "sometime this week" and now it's something like 350,000Yen. *Silent Panic!* Keep in mind that 1 yen is roughly the equivalent of 1cent.... So... considering it takes three days to transfer... I'm screwed. For this to work, I'd have to use all of my salary (about 10,000 is going into my account tomorrow) plus all of the money I have in my second account (ie close it), plus any money I've managed to get from the ATM so far....... Anyone getting the impression that I'm annoyed yet?

I talked with my housemate and we both agreed to try and nail down a deadline that the realtor needs a payment by. I'm praying that it's Friday or Saturday, as that will give me enough time to pull a substantial amount out of my stateside account. This from a country where a landlord can refuse to rent to you just because you a) you look funny, b) you have the wrong color skin/ethnicity/Nationality/or otherwise are some kind of alien, or c) you have really, really bad halitosis. Optimism tells me the ones that refused us were a or c, but I suppose with red hair and green eyes, they may be tipped off with the whole "alien" thing. I guess I shouldn't complain, since my Korean co-worker who has been here since May only just found a place, and I'm told that if I was Korean, Chinese, or Fillipino(a) many of these places wouldn't rent to me at all (one of the only good things about being American in this country).

WHEW! In the meantime, getting in touch with people out here in attempts to not go insane when my friend goes back to school in Hyogo later this week. I'm really digging my coworkers, and there is one in particular that is incredibly friendly. Got to chat with one of the guys that I have a mild attraction to as we left work at the same time. I wish I'd realized I had almonds in my teeth prior to leaving work. Ah well.