Getting Settled

I suppose I put it off long enough, but I was busy. And I needed to set things up, like the wireless. But here we are, my first post from Japan!

I suppose I should start with what I've been so busy with. Training, mostly. Out the house around 730ish, not home until 6... or sometimes midnight. It's been rough, but it's also been crazy fun. For example, I met the mayor of Nasushiobara. Well, we met the mayor, and then I was pulled aside for an interview. Alone. With the mayor, his second in command (I forget his actual title) and the superintendent of the BoE of Nasushiobara. Needless to say, I was stunned and honoured.

This is the picture all the ALTs were a part of after the meeting ceremony. Now, you likely can't read it, but there's a part of the text that I wrote. After my private meeting, I was asked to "comment on what I want to do as an ALT". That's it. That was my prompt. And they wanted it immediately. So I put my writing skills to use and wrote up something that was apparently worthy enough to be included in the paper.

But that's not important. What's important is that, at the enkai(drinking party) for the ALTs and BoE held after the workday was over, the superintendant asked me to call him "Dai-chan". Which I did, in the form of "Dai-chan daisuki~"(I love Dai-chan!) which he loved. And apparently I'm super jouzu(talented/skilled) at cooking okonomiyaki and the other stuff that was brought out that I have no idea what it was (but I cooked it anyway). I was jouzu to the point that the older lady that teaches near the school I'll be at was talking to her friend (in Japanese) about how I'd make a great husband, and then both of them (now in English) insisted they were 22 and that I stop laughing because nothing was funny.

I've also been biking like crazy this weekend. I bought a nice bike because I knew I'd be using it a lot (and also because it was one of the few in my size) and I've made great use of it. I'm thinking about biking to the Pacific over summer break. We'll see.

That's it for now. I'll add some more pictures with captions, and hopefully I'll have another update out come next weekend.

Lovely cloud formations on the way to Chicago.

One of my favourite drinks.

The view from the road that runs behind my apartment building. My building isn't but 20 feet to the left.

My most favourite arcade game. It's not a good thing that I found it.

Some of my fellow ALTs checking the photo after meeting the mayor.