All good things must come to an end...

Today I went to city hall to pay my monthly rent. My supervisor told me I had to pay a "neighborhood association fee" of about $40. It's sometimes frustrating to just be told these random fees and not really be able to understand them or ask about them, but I guess that probably happens in the States, too. As one of my ALT friends always says, they're paying us a lot to do a little, so these fees aren't really that bad. While I was with my supervisor, she pointed out new name plates on the six parking spots. I hadn't seen them before she pointed them out (I'm not sure the exact day they were put up). Anyways, I couldn't help but wonder why my name plate was put in a spot other than the one I have been parking in for the last ten months. I immediately thought that the reason for the name plates was because "someone" wasn't happy about where I was parking my car (the closest spot to the road). But the thing that is most confusing is that the spot I have always parked in is unmarked now. Maybe I'm just being sensitive, but I've heard about other indirect ways of communicating in Japan. So, now I have to nagivate into a different parking spot, the one that so eloquently says, "ELIZABETH," in Japanese, on a bright white sign. I wonder what'll happen if I keep parking in the same spot...maybe I'll have to try it...: )