Settling In

Hello To everyone :) 

I am sorry I have not written more recently, but I have been moving from a hotel to another hotel, to my APARTMENT and getting settled in. A ton of new things have been going on.

The Pictures are from the town area during the day in Tarumi. The grocery store and my school are near here. The night picture is from Sannomiya. That is where shopping and bars and restaurants are. Lots of fun. 

First of all, I started at my school and am teaching my own classes alone already, which is amazing. The students are all so interesting and sweet and I just LOVE them. My staff members and manager are awesome too, which makes going to work a real pleasure. 

I was worried about my apartment and what it would be like since my school found it for me, but upon moving in I was very pleasantly surprised. It is only about 7 minutes walk from my school and the train station, which is amazing. It is also in a new building and is clean and new! :) It is small, as was expected, but I have more than enough room for myself. 

Yesterday I went out with my co-worker and friend, Miho. We went to a British Pub that she likes in Sannomiya called Hobgoblin. It was great! Not only was it on the 8th floor of a building with a wonderful view of Kobe, but it also staffed a bunch of awesome people and had a delicious British menu to boot! YUM. We met a few people but we made sure to leave in time to catch the last train to Tarumi at 12:25. 

Today was an adventure. I went to Osaka (about 40 minutes by train) to get a cell phone at a SoftBank where there was a reputable English speaking employee that I found via the net. I took Miho with me, and thank goodness I did. The contract was all in Japanese! It was an experience I hope I never have to repeat, as Japanese cell phone companies and service plans are more complicated than anything I have ever experienced in America. Needless to say, one hundred and fifty dollars and two and a half hours later, I have a shiny pink new cell phone!:) How wonderful! 

I am slowly learning some Japanese, but it is taking a lot of time. Mostly food items, of course. But everyone is very patient with me, which helps so much. I went to McDonald's one day and ordered in Japanese and the cashier got so excited and started speaking to me really fast in Japanese! However, ALL I KNOW IS HOW TO ORDER AH! I just looked at her and laughed and shook my head no. She giggled at me when she realized I didn't understand her, but I could tell she thought it was nice I tried so that was very encouraging. 

Other than that, not much else is new; actually everything is new. The food is different, the people are different, the cars are different, EVEN the Dogs are different. I love it. I do get starred at from time to time when on the train and walking places, but I just get used to it. When you are different in a new country that will happen, so I just have to deal with it. I also inherited a bento box restaurant that the former teacher used to go to every day and they know my name. They don't know English yet, and I don't know Japanese, but we somehow get by with smiles and pointing followed by my 'Arigato Goziamasu'. Smiles really are universal. 

Tomorrow is another day off for me, so I am sure I will be able to fill you in on more events for the day!