Konichiwa New Experiences!

Week of August 3rd - Well, it has been awhile since I have posted, sorry about that... I have had quite a week. Let's start where we left off, my bike. As you can se in the picture, it is just what I hoped for. Really, it has been a blessing, I have been riding it all over Nishinomiya and paying nothing for gas, what a nice change. So, after receiving my bike on Monday I was shown my office. I was so glad to see I had plenty of space to work and great air conditioning (essential in this climate)! The staff at the Sogo center (the building I work in) is a great bunch of people that are very helpful and very friendly. My first few days of were were filled with paperwork and finding the essential places around town. I now have a Japanese bank account, ATM card and cell phone (thanks Mayumi). I spent most of the week working on a presentation to give to the staff and games to accompany my English lessons. It was a great change having whole days to plan rather than trying to rush between classes. On Friday we changed it up a bit and went out of the center on a little field trip, to do what you ask? To make traditional Japanese candles! It was really a fantastic experience and I discovered two things about myself; 1-I am good at making candles 2-I am horrible at decorating them.The weekend held even more excitement as we headed to the baseball stadium (at 7am), to watch the opening ceremonies of the National High School Baseball Championships . Talk about amazing! The players marched in like soldiers preparing for battle. The Prince of Japan spoke and we were given signs to to hold up to make giant Japanese characters you could see all the way across the stadium that said "do your best" and other motivating sayings... It was like nothing I had ever seen before. Despite the excitement of being at such an event, we left part way through the first of three games due to the extreme heat and humidity.

After lunch we had a little practice riding the train system and some time to explore on our own. As you can imagine exploring is really fun, but a little scary seeing how there are no street names and very few things are in English, oh yeah, and nobody around us spoke English either. We stepped outside of our comfort bubble all

afternoon and retired to our apartments for a nap in the evening.

That night we were feeling a little Cougish (we are both WSU grads afterall) and we decided to find a place to relax. Destination? The Busy Bee. The Internet recommended the place, but it was up to us to find it. So armed with a map (you heard right Janet) and our limited knowledge of the city we went out. Of course we found it (as if there was any doubt behind my navigational skills) and it was awesome! It reminded me of Pullman, minus the crazy college students. All in all the trip was a success and we even managed to meet some English speakes from the UK and Georgia.

As the

weekend wound down, I realized part of my daily routine was missing, the gym. Anyone who even kind of knows me knows that I love fitness and that I (possibly to a fault) spend a healthy portion of my week at the gym. After getting a great tip from some friends, I found a

gym to work out in. Being a little spoiled with great gyms like the WSU Rec Center and OZ Fitness I was a little

apprehensive as I walked through the door and found a little room, about the size of the locker rooms at my previous gyms. But after meeting the "gym coach"

and some of the regulars I knew this was the place for me. I paid the ¥17,500 for the initiation fee and the 1st

month. And started my workout. There were at least 3 people in this tiny gym that spoke English (more or less) and the rest of the members that didn't were super interested in what I was doing and who I was. I have never felt so

welcome at a gym. If you can't tell I really liked this place,

despite it's less than updated and very limited equipment. Whew! That was a lot to write, hopefully you made it

all the way through and enjoyed what you read/saw. I have this week off so you better believe I will have some crazy

fun stories as the week finishes. Stay Tuned!

Ohayou Gozaimasu Nishinomiya

This is the view from my back porch

So, It's official... I live in Japan. Let me break down the first few days in Nishinomiya.

Saturday August 1st - Well, I might not have any clothes to change into, but my excitement and optimism could not be higher. I know this because at 6 am when I wake up I do so with a smile and anxiety that keeps me from rolling over and going back to sleep as I usually do (maybe it was jet lag, just a thought). I putter around the apartment, chat with some folks on Skype (look

me up and add me), and stare at the phone hoping to hear about my bags. Somehow I manage to stretch these activities out until 2:00 when I get my first real taste of Japan. Mayumi guides us (Michelle, the other ALT and I) to the bus stop near our apartments and we ride the bus to the train station. The public transportation is every bit as convenient as I had imagined. We ride the bus to Kobe and begin to explore.

1st stop, Chinatown. Now, if your thinking that it is strange that I would fly all the way to Japan to go to "Chinatown," then you are thinking exactly what I thought. Of course, this was a great experience and I had a blast. After leaving we walked around Kobe seeing sights and doing some shopping. Apparently Kobe is going through an identity crisis, because our next destination was an area with a bunch of European tourist spots complete with French wine German houses and this little Austrian village where you can take a picture with your face in a cut-out... couldn't resist.

As the night wound down (or up) we made our way to a Heineken roof party where for 3,500

yen you could eat and drink all you wanted...

Good stuff. from there we watched the Kobe

Fireworks festival which made the display we see in America look like sparkers and pop-its (their average fireworks display lasts over 2 hours and has more than 5,000 fireworks).

We called it a night from there and rode the train and bus back home.

Sunday August 2nd - I wake up at my usual Saturday morning time of 8:00 am (well not exactly "usual") wondering if I am going to start a trend in Japan wearing the same clothes every day. I still have not received my bags and I am starting to worry. around 8:30 I get a call that my bags were found and would be at my apartment around 10:00, YEEEESSSSS! Of course, nothing is that simple. at 10:30 I get a call, from what I later found out was a delivery service, unfortunately the man on the phone only speaks Japanese, and though I am a quick learner I have not mastered the Japanese language yet. So I hang up the phone and rush downstairs to see if he is there... no such luck. Around 11:30 I get a call from the airline attempting to confirm my address. Though this person speaks English we still have a hard time communicating and I end up giving out bad info. After making a few call I track down a person from the ALT program that speaks English (thank God!) an within 2 hours I have my bags and some clean clothes. The rest of the day is spent finding the grocery store where almost everything is in Japanese and exploring the rest of my neighborhood with Michelle and Mayumi on foot. The next day was bike day, I could only hope that my bike was going to be something to write home about.

More tomorrow, sorry to leave on a cliffhanger like this but I need to get some rest. I have been running every morning at 6 am and I am completely worn out by 10. By the way, when they say the humidity is bad here, they are not joking, this includes 6 am. I'm sweat-er, but this air makes the simplest tasks sweat-creators *whew*.