welcome to himi!

it's taken me more than 2 days to get an update going... i don't have any internet in my apartment. somehow all the other ALTs get wireless but not me. sad news... but that's about the only sad news lately! everything else is SOOOOO wonderful~

some notes, in no particular order.
*the other 3 JETS have been great from the get-go. Ian, John, and Ann met me at the airport along with Shima-sensei (my supervisor who apparently doesn't speak english- ARGH!). we went out to lunch, got me registered in the town, met a million people whose names i've already forgotten, and started to settle into my apartment. we went out for wednesday night sushi [a himi tradition] which i thoroughly enjoyed... we had our own sushi chef, named Masa, who is super great. i had a hard time stomaching the particular raw fish we had (buri, maybe??). everything else tasted fabulous~! it's scorching hot here and WICKED humid!! i have a great view of the sea and took some pictures already. sadly, i can't post them bc my computer has no internet, of course. the first morning i woke up at 4:15 am.... couldn't go back to sleep so i watched a gorgeous sunrise!! wow, it's so beautiful here :)

*yesterday was probably one of the BEST days of my entire life! i can't begin to summarize or to express how much i learned, experienced, felt, or heard. i am absolutely hungry for japanese: new words, new friends, pronunciation, anything of the like. in my head throughout the day i repeat phrases i learn and i consult language books almost constantly~ in an impossible attempt to sum up my day i will tell the following stories-

1. i was riding down main street on my newly inherited bike, the other 3 ahead of me like always (i'm by FAR the shortest and am always running to catch up!!), i lost control of my bike, my tire ran into this lovely flower display, and i FELL completely off my bike~~ my bag went flying and i was dying of laughter/ embarassment!! a young girl helped me up immediately and an old lady laughed/ sympathized from across the street. HOLY SMOKES i wish there were hidden cameras so i could watch myself. what a hilarious welcoming of myself to Himi :) :)

2. last night i took the train BY MYSELF to the closest city, Takaoka. there was a welcome dinner for newbies in the area... Ann told me which train to take, and i listened for the correct stop. it was such an awesome adventure and i felt so proud of myself for getting around socially and "figuring" it all out.

3. the absolute most amazingly, wonderful, cool, sweet, special part of my day: i was leaving Takaoka around 10pm and i thought the very last train left at 10:14 so i was panicking! i couldn't get the ticket machine to accept my 2000 Yen (about 20 bucks, maybe less) bill, and i didn't have enough change to pay exact fare of 320 Yen (about 3 bucks). i wandered around and was freaking out in my head. finally, i asked some high school girls to "help me please" (in japanese) then said "do you know english?" they were hesitant, and sort of giggled, but made the gesture for a little bit. i knew they DID bc they learn it in school, but most students are super shy about speaking english with geigin (foreigners). so i said basically the following:
"himi" [they said hai (yes), himi)]
then showed them my money. we tried the machine but i was right about it not taking my bill. they quickly took me inside to this counter, apparently told the lady i needed a ticket to himi. she took my money, gave me the ticket and my change. i said THANK YOU VERY MUCH to her in japanese. i told the girls thank you very much (in japanese) then also in english. smiled HUGELY, waved and waved, then ran to my train. they were absolutely thrilled:), smiling, laughing, waving... etc. upon arrival at the track i realized it was leaving at 10:41. NOW i could have been completely frustrated that i had rushed for nothing... but then i wouldn't have had the experience or have talked to the girls. it was absolutely WONDERFUL~ seriously, i am so blessed to be here and i absolutely LOVE it!!


anyway, i don't know the next time i'll be able to update this. it could be almost a month till i get internet... for some reason the paperwork is "complicated". i think maybe shima-sensei doesn't want to bother, haha. but we'll see how it goes :)