So i have been in Japan for three weeks already and away from home for a month. It seems like much longer, but in a good way not the it feels like so much longer and i want to go home way. I feel adjusted, kinda, i thought it would take me longer than this.

Last week i got to go to Osaka for 2 days for training in head office. The days were really long and we do not get paid extra for the extra hours. Plus, i didnt get to do or see anything to the trip was kinda a bust. what i did get out of the trip was an interesting thought, i want to go home. Not home to America, but home to Okayama. I realized how much i love living in this city and couldnt have asked for a better placement. Osaka is a really big city and it might be nice to visit again to do some sightseeing, but i wouldnt want to live there. So at the end of the second day i found myself saying to the other teachers, i just want to go home and get some sleep in my own bed.

It wasnt all bad though...it was nice to get to talk to the other fairly new teachers and compare war stories. I got to find out how other schools run and get some more dos and donts that we have all found out through trail and error. also i used the train system and didnt get lost!! one of the other teachers was someone i trained with so it was nice to see a familar face. Thats all i really have this week. its been kinda boring as far as major events are concerned. Today i am going to go shopping so that should be an adventure and tomorrow i need to find city hall so i can pick up my alien registration card.

so most of this was written the old fashioned way, pen and paper, while i was exploring today.

so right now i am sitting on a bench in Korakuen garden, one of japan's most famous gardens. Its really beautiful and peaceful. Im trying to get out of the sun though, its brutal. I just finished getting lost in here for nearly an hr (on purpose). I just let myself walk where ever my legs saw fit to take me. It was the most amazing thing, i felt for the first time since i got here utterly content. there was nature around me and i was free to go where ever i wished. now i sit here waiting, waiting for the sun to set and the lights to come.







it seems like everywhere i go in japan i cant help but compare a little to back home. here there and many small streams to cross so there are little bridges, i use the term loosely, because they are more like stepping stones with no rails. back home people would never allow this, someone would fall and someone would get sued. i think japan has us on this one. as i was sitting here writing this, the cutest little girl just past me in her white and hot pink yukata. it made me smile.
so thoughts on life in japan. right now i dont see vast differences. the main difference is being away from everyone and everything that i know. i know that things will get even better as soon as i find some friends of my own. the problem is other than company people its hard to meet anyone. im not a guy, cant exactly go to a bar by myself. hmmmm, ideas???

so while i was on the other side of the garden i thought i was going crazy. i thought i was hearing faint bits of english music. now that ive come to the other side i realize that im not crazy, they really are playing all english music by this stage they have set up. its so weird sitting in a japanese garden hearing random english music. its a bit of a contradiction, but i love it. The sun finally started to set, but i still have while before dark. there is going to be some sort of concert on the stage, but i have no idea what kind.
Eventually, the concert starts and i watched the first performers, but i decide to get up and explore some more. i walked to the other side of the garden and see a bunch of people lined up to go in a roped off area. i was curious so i watched what was going on from the outside. as i was watching i realized it was the tea ceremony and really wanted to go in, but there are way too many cultural mistakes to be made going by myself. so i settled for watching from the outside. i little ways away from me were three japanese ladies. there was some inching going on and eventually one of them turns to me and says Konnichiwa. i say hello and with a little help from a friend of theirs they invite my to join them in the tea ceremony...score! they take me in and show me what to do. i was sooo excited to get to do that. afterwards they introduced me to more of their friends, two of which are around my age. we all walked around the garden together some more and talked, as much as we could with very broken japanese and broken english. they invited me to come back to another tea ceremony next month. yay!!

if funny how things work out...one minute i am writing about how i need to make friends, but dont know how and the next i meet some really cool people.

sorry this entry is all over the place, it was written over the course of like 4 hours.
I just thought this was a really cool picture of the castle and the blue sky that was today!!

So i finally just broke down and looked at the weather forecast here in Okayama. All this past week i have been suffering from the heat and thinking about how much hotter it is here than back home. the weather hits about 95 degrees everyday and the humidity is about 90 percent. Who knew that those extra 10 degrees and the humidity level could make all the difference. I keep crossing my fingers and hoping that come sept the temp goes down...right now if i dont get up and go exploring at like 8 in the morning its just too hot.

Oh so i just found out a couple of days ago that my company is sending me to osaka for 2 days on the 12th...i have to get there and find my way around all by myself in just 10 days...m a little intimidated by this. I was hoping for a bit more time before undertaking such a task, but fate has decided that my first adventure should come sooner rather than later...Im kinda really excited to see what a big Japanese city is like though.

So last night one of the other teachers at my school also left. Before he did though the staff went to the river, by the castle and had a little BBQ. It was really nice. The river was beautiful and the castle in the background was surreal. We all just hung out and drank a few beers. I really have to work on my tolerance though because three drinks and i was done. Not ok. This morning i finally got out and was able to take a few picture of the city. It was really nice. There is this street with a canal running through it, it has a few really cool places on it and some artwork. Its just this really peaceful kind of place in the middle of a city. You kind of forget where you are. Here are some pics of my town.







The Daiso...aka...my new favorite place

one week!!

So i survived my first week in Japan. This week has been crazy though. It started last sat. with going out with my co-workers. Sunday i didnt do much, just moved into my apt. That night there was a party for the school...it was really nice, because i was able to meet some of my students and speak to them...It was sooo hot though. It was at a beirgarden so outside..in july. I have been refusing to look at the weather, because i dont even want to know how hot it is outside.

Monday was a really busy day. First my leaving teacher had to take me all around the city getting all of the things that i need. I had to apply for my alien regstration card and get a few things... then i went to the school so he could show me some of the things that he used during lessons... tried to pay attention, i really did and i think i got half of it...it was just so hot and i am not used to all this exercise. Then i had to go home for a quick change because even though it was my day off, i had to go to the school to observe a few of the other teachers lessons...and to top it off i hadnt slept more that a few hrs in a week. needless to say, i slept well that night.

Tuesday started my first day of classes...that day may have been the hardest day ever...most of the day i was asking myself, why did i come here and was close to tears. Each day things got better though and by the end of the week i was feeling like my old self and much more positive. even the other teachers said they can see the change in me from that first day.

I was just asking a friend of mine, if maybe they put something in the water in Japan. It seems as if i set foot here and all of the sudden 11 hr work days seem normal...thinking about spending that much time at the office doesnt seem like a big deal...I told my mother about my work day and she was like "WHY are you working that long!!". Even coming in on my day off seems like a good idea...lol. The school feels like a second home, since i spend more time there that in my apt.

Today on my official first day off, my first weekend, i did some shopping this morning. Even shopping right now is an adventure. First i went to the grocery store... it took me soo long to even buy a small amount of things...Then had to go home to put things away before going out me next adventure, daiso!!!. I cant do too much shopping at once because i am getting around on a bike with a basket. I can only buy as much as can fit in the basket. So after my big grocery store adventure i was off again in search of the famous daiso. Daiso is like a big dollar general, so 90 percent of things are a dollar, but not all. When i say big, i mean big, five floors of things for a dollar. Yeah!! And they have like everythings...i think i found my new favorite place to play =)

So thats a really quick summary of my week...now that things are leveling off (i hope) ill try to post more.