Cafe Pic Nic

The last few days have been pretty busy.  My training usually lasts from 12pm until 8 or 9 at night.  Last night (friday here) I got off at 5 and came home.  I had an e-mail from my neighbor/co-worker Natasha inviting me to go to dinner, so I was super stoked!  About a half an hour before Natasha and I were supposed to meet my other neighbor/co-worker Gail came over and invited to come kick it with her at her place.  I went over to Gail's and had a cup of coffee and decided to meet her after dinner with Natasha for drinks.  Dinner with Natasha was awesome.  She is a super cool chick and I am super glad I met her, but sad that she will be leaving next month.  We had a great conversation with a delicious dinner.  I got some sushi, kim-chi and bacon wrapped asparagus (Michaela it reminded me of being at Seki's!)  When we were first seated at the restaurant we were at the bar, but the two groups sitting on either side of us disappeared and the waitress moved us to our own private room.  Natasha told me we probably scared the locals by being "scary foreigners" and that's why we got our own room.  I was happy, cause the little room was super cool.  We had to take off our shoes to go inside and then they closed the sliding door.  

After dinner Natasha walked me to meet Gail and my boss Dana at this tiny dive bar across town.  It was awesome and small and the owner was very attentive.  We had drinks and a lot of talking and I didn't end up home until after 3.  Gail and I walked home together, and I was glad to have met some people that like to go out.

Today I was off so I spent the day organizing my apartment a little and reading...but I got bored so I walked around town.   I found a dollar store and bought like $20 worth of stuff, including an umbrella.  The other day it was raining on my way to work so an umbrella was high on my list of things to buy.  I need to get some rain boots, too.  After shopping I went to my favorite new place, Cafe Pic Nic.  I will post some pics on myspace, it is the cutest little coffee shop, and the food it delicious.  The girl who works there, Momi (sp?) speaks English and always reads the menu to me.  She is totally sweet!  I am off again tomorrow before I start my work week on Monday.  I have my Monday classes planned, and I am at the school here in my town, Katsutadai.  All the other days I work I have to take the train to other towns.  But the train isn't as intimidating as it was at the beginning.

Sayonara for now!

let's do this.

Soooo.  Yesterday and today were looooong days.  Yesterday I woke up and met up with Miki and went by train (first train trip) to the city hall to register for my health insurance and this card I need to get a cell phone and open a bank account.  I'm sure it has other uses, but I'm not sure what yet.  After that we went to the bank so I could get some yen.  Then we headed back to the school so I could start my training.  My training was like 2 hours of going over paperwork and how things work in the school, then I spent the rest of the day observing the classes I will be taking over on Mondays.  I teach a wide variety of ages and abilities, so on Mondays I will have 2 adult classes, and 3 kid classes.  It all seems pretty cool.  After work my co-worker Dan took me to a restaurant by the school because I was desperate for hot food.  We got a couple beers and i got some potstickers for dinner.  I really should have eaten more because the beers went straight to my head and the walk home alone in the dark was kinda freaky, HA!  

Today I got up early, as usual, and headed off to work training an hour early so I could get some coffee and breakfast.  I went to Mr.Donut, which had good coffee and the donut I got was pretty delicious.  I don't really see how you could mess up a donut though.  After that I headed to the school and did some more training before getting on the train to go the Keisei Tsudanuma school.  I will be working at this school on Tuesdays, and it's like five stops down from my train station.  I am super intimidated by the trains since I haven't used them much yet.  On the bright side I made it to my school and home without any trouble.  Once I got to the Tsuda school I observed 3 out of 6 of my Tuesday classes.  The first was two housewives with more advanced English and they were both really sweet.  The next class was five 3 to 5 year olds.  It was completely insane and the kids were the CUTEST!  i already know this is going to be one of my favorite classes because the kids are so energetic and sweet.  My third class was 5 middle school girls.  After those 3 classes I decided to head home and caught the next train back to Katsutadai, my town.  Once I got back here I decided to go to the store and attempt to find food again.  Then I headed home.  That's pretty much it so far.  Tomorrow should be another super long day, which I hope I will find some time to buy some of the stuff I need around the house.  I haven't had much time to do any shopping yet. 

First 24 hours in Japan

So....I'm gonna start this blog thing...no promises I will keep up with it, but I will try.

My first day here I was lucky enough to get a ride from the airport from my new friend Tomo.  Big thanks to Keri and Mario for setting that meeting up!!  Once I got to my new town, Katsutadai, I met my co-worker Miki at the offices for my school and she brought me to my apartment. She showed me how to use my appliances and shower then left.  My new neighbor/co-worker Gail stopped by while Miki was showing me stuff and asked me over for a drink after I was done.  She is super rad and I have her to thank for my wireless internet connection.  After our drink I came home and went to sleep...at 9pm.  

I ended up waking up at 5am and unpacked my suitcases. By 8am I

heard my neighbor Natasha up so I went to hang out with her for awhile.

It turns out she will be leaving in a month so she is hooking me up

with a bunch of furniture and other stuff for my apartment. I am

super stoked on meeting her because she is really nice and she is

saving me from a bunch of shopping.

At 10:30 I met up with Gail and she walked me into town. Once we 

got to the train station we parted ways and she directed me to a

store where I could find an adapter for my computer cord. The

plugs here work the same, but you do have to get an adapter for 3 

prongs. I found the store and after searching through bins of

random stuff for about 30 minutes I found what I was looking for.

The store was actually pretty cool and had aisles and aislea of 

used electronics.

After getting the adapter I walked home and was very proud of myself

that I didn't get lost. There are no street signs! I tried to nap

when I got home but I was too hungry and gave up and walked back

into town to find something. This was a challenge as well. The first

shop I came across was rad. It was all little snack cracker/sweet

things and when I walked in they brought me a cup of hot tea and

two candies that tasted like a fortune cookie but were tiny and pink.

I ended up buying some kind of dried pea/cracker/peanut mix in

individual bags because I was confused and it looked pretty good.

When I left they had me crank the handle on this thing and 1 marble

came out so I got to choose a free grab bag. This was cool, but I

still needed to find real food. I remembered seeing York Mart, which

is where Keri recommended I do my shopping, so I headed there. After

about 30 minutes of walking around I ended up with 6 eggs, a bag of

those crispy baked sugar snap peas, a salad from the deli, and some

weird ramen thing.  

This was my first 24 hrs here.