And today I got the Internet.

Wow. I have been here for almost two and a half months, and just one hour ago I finally rediscovered the joys of a working internet connection. I know I said I would update this page quite often, and two months of inactivity would make it seen as if I was less than truthfull. However, if anyone is still reading this page, rest assured that I will be posting quite a bit. This is going to be a record of my journey after all, and if the rest of my time here is like the beginning, I am not going to want to forget much at all.

I arrived in Japan on Saturday July 12th, working with about 4 hours of sleep since Thurday morning. I couldn't sleep on the plane, I was leaving the Americas for the first time and my stomach was churning with anticipation. After a landing at Narita airport and clearing customs, I boarded a plane for Fukuoka which would land at 9:30 pm. I meet my contact there, and she informed me that we would be waiting for Ayako (another new teacher who just so happened to be at my training session) to arrive and then we would walk to my hotel. She neglected to tell me that this would end up being a three mile walk with me carrying two bags wearing a combined 55 pounds. When I finally arrived at my room I was exhausted. I still only was able to sleep for four hours.

In the moring I met up with Ayako and had my first Japanese meal...and of course it was ramen. Its very good here. I also realized that Japanese women wear high heels. All the time. In the rain, at the beach, at work, at the supermarket, everywhere you look, they are in heels. I boarded a train at 3:00 and arrived in Sendai at 5:45 where I was met by my trainer, a proper British gentleman in his early 30's named Sam (actually he's really 25, but theres something about male pattern baldness that can make a person look old. One student was sure he was in his 40's). He in turn taught me all I needed to know about teaching in 3 days, and then I was left to my own devices as my manager got transfered four days after I arrived. It was just me all alone in Japan.