First Post

Hello Everyone
Thanks for checking out my blog. I have been in Japan about a week now, and am slowly starting to get the hang of how things work around here. I seem to be getting lost much less frequently, and am even starting to pick up a very minimal amount of Japanese (Yes, No, Thank You, Beer, Excuse Me). The first few days were pretty hard here, I was having a hard time adjusting, and the fact that I didn’t have much to do and that gave me a lot of time to think about home and how much I missed everyone and the familiarity of home. Sam and I have been talking each day via our webcams, being able to speak with her and see a friendly face has been a lifesaver during this first week.

My flat mates name is Jim, he is from Australia. He has been instrumental in helping me assimilate to the Japanese culture. He arrived in the middle of July, so it was nice that he had a handle on how to get around and what I needed to do to ensure that I didn’t get kicked out of Japan. He has been able to introduce me to some people who have already been here for a while, and I have been sapping every bit of information I can possibly get from them.
The last two days I have been doing On the Job Training (OJT) in a Kiryu, I have been riding the train each day, because I live in Isesaki, which is about 150 miles Northwest of Tokyo, and Kiryu is another 20 min train ride North from Isesaki. Kiryu is a beautiful city nestled right at the foot of the mountains, so the train ride each afternoon has been a treat. As far as Isesaki goes I would compare it to St. Cloud, although it is quite a bit bigger, but it seems to have two main roads much like St. Cloud, but four times the population. The weather has been quite miserable; it is the typhoon season, so it has been really rainy and extremely humid, The 7 days I have been here the temperature has been about 85 degrees, but the humidity makes it feel like 100 degrees each day, in fact a few of the days the humidity has been at 100%. Speaking of Typhoons the first day I was here we were in a typhoon, it rained for nearly a day straight (and hard) I would bet we got about 5inches of rain or more, plus it was extremely windy. When I was trying to sleep I swear the wind was moving the house. As far as I know it is supposed to start to cool down as September wears on, and it is said that autumn is the most beautiful season in Japan.

As far as OJT goes, I have been working with a woman who has taught at NOVA for seven years now. OJT has basically been a trial by fire. I sat in on one lesson and observed her, and then by the next class I was already teaching. Today I taught my first two full lessons (40 min each). The classes are very small, never more than 4 people, and quite often one on one, or only two people. From what I understand Kiryu is much less busy than Isesaki, so I plan on having full classes each day.

As far as my plans for the near future go, I finish my OJT tomorrow at 9pm and then I have plans to catch a train to Tokyo (I am not sure how it works, but I have hoping to ride a bullet train) to see Zach Reif. It will be really nice to see a friendly face, and I am sure Zach is excited to show me what he has learned about Tokyo. I know that his girlfriend Britt is coming up soon as well, but since I have to work Saturday morning, I am not sure that we will be able to see each other, but I don’t plan on this being my only trip to Tokyo, and I am sure they will come see me in Isesaki at some point.
Well that’s all for now, in the near future be ready for me to post some pictures of my house, as well as, stories from my trip to Tokyo.

Miss everyone back home – Adam