My first week!

Well I made it! The flight was a smooth ride, about 11-12 hours long.
The 3 day orientation at Tokyo was very tiring. I didn’t really get out much, except to a nearby park and for a rousing couple hours of karaoke.

Wednesday I finally got to my new apartment in Komono-cho, Mie, and shown to the office to meet everyone. My neighbor Christine is also with the JET Programme and works a couple rows over from me at the office, so it’s nice to have her so close. No one speaks English, save a few words, so I just roll with it so I don’t get frustrated. Everyone has been incredibly nice and helpful, taking Chris and I to get cell phones, bank accounts, and basic everyday needs. My diet also seems to be a subject of much interest.

My apartment is pretty nice in Japanese terms. 2 bedrooms, big kitchen, a living room, toilet, bath/shower, and a small laundry room. For those of you who had been to my apartment in Akron, its just a tad bigger than the 2 living rooms combined. But I have air conditioning and a pink toaster oven (along with lots of other things). The apartment is brand new so today I bought some shelves and a small coffee table. Hopefully I can get some sort of couch soon.
The whole town is dwarfed by the majestic Suzuka mountains. We live at the base of them, so the scenery is really nice. There is also an “antelope” center at the top of the biggest mountain (Gozaisho).. actually their name is “Serow” and its some ancient cross between an antelope and a goat. Anyway, it’s the town’s mascot, and little cartoon antelope adorn many things. Chris’s supervisor drove us up into the mountains as far as we could, its really amazing.

Last night was my first enkai (obligatory work drinking party) as a welcome party for Chris and I. We had to make impromptu speeches (ugh) and then had something like a 5 or 6 course meal with no less than 5 types of alcohol sitting at each of our individual tables. No one at the office can hold their alcohol so everyone was very happy and wanted to talk to us and kept trying to pour us more drinks, no matter how full the glass already was. Somehow during the night I learned the word for “ghost”, amazing what people say.

At work, I work 8:30-4:15 Monday through Friday at a big office. I have my own desk and now a computer with internet! School is out, so I won’t be actually teaching for about a month. I kinda fill out paper work or write speeches or non-exciting things (I’m typing this in Word actually, so it looks official to everyone and not playing on the internet! Haha). Like I said, everyone is very friendly, and often take us out to do things during company time. I think they like an excuse to go out and not work!

I don’t have internet at home yet, so I don’t have any pictures or videos up yet. But soon! Hopefully by mid-next week.