Destination: Ogimi-son

Japan is awesome. Traveling to Japan sucks. From the moment you wake up until the moment you walk into your place of stay, the total time of traveling is around 24 hours. Then you have to spend the next week adjusting to the time difference, which is 13 hours ahead. I have never gotten jet lag going to Japan, and this time proved no different. You just find yourself going to bed around 10 and waking up at 5am.

I arrived at the Keio Plaza Hotel in Tokyo around 7pm. Sunday consisted of dropping off my luggage, going to find something to eat, and then crashing.

The next day was the first day of Orientation. In the morning, all the Okinawan people got together and introduced themselves. Then we listened to opening remarks by some important Japanese people (so we were told). After that was lunch and workshops. For me, it was lunch and exploring Tokyo. Me and my roommate went to Shibuya, where they have the busiest intersection in the world, and then to Akihabara, which is famous for its electronic stores. That night, I went to dinner with Josh (a fellow UF graduate) and Ben (who is studying abroad this summer).

Tuesday, I found some lunch and went to some of the workshops at the hotel, such as Driving in Japan and Teaching in Elementary Schools. That night for dinner I went to an izakaiya, which is place with lots of food and beer. I met up with Josh, Josh's friend Jamie (who's practically fluent), Ben, Megumi, and Junko (a penpal friend).

Wednesday, met in the lobby at 6:30am to begin the trip to Okinawa. The flight was bumpy, but it landed eventually. I had eaten some raw horse the night before (yes, RAW horse) and I had liked it the evening before, but after sitting in my stomach all night, plus the bumpy plane ride, I felt extremely sick. All that went away when I walked into the airport lobby after getting my luggage. A giant sign reading "Welcome to Okinawa" greeted me. I met Elina, the other JET in Ogimi, my supervisor, the superintendent, and a lady who worked at the junior high that wanted to come a long. We went out to lunch and then arrived in my new home Ogimi an hour and a half later.

Ogimi is beautiful. It is on the west coast of Okinawa and sits along one of the main state roads. So to drive along Ogimi, you have jungle on one side, and baby blue sea on the other. The weather feels exactly like Florida, the water looks like the Keys, and then there are little mountains. I will be taking lots and lots of pictures, and I will post some soon.

My apartment is very old, but awesome. There is a kitchen, and 3 other rooms. Two of the rooms have tatami mats, and all the rooms have sliding doors. Very Japanese. I have seen a cockroach under the sink, but that was no big deal. Boric acid, coming soon. What there are a lot of are ants. But they are small and they don't bite, so I have fun hunting the mats killing them with my thumb or sucking them up with the vacuum. I have seen two huge spiders sitting on the wall outside. I think they were the size of my hand, but I've been told they're not poisonous. I don't know what I'd do if I saw one in my apartment. Probably use the vacuum. Next week, when I go to Naha (the capital of Okinawa) for a welcome conference, I'm having my place nuked. After nuking, apparently it is unsafe to enter the apartment for a day. Sounds like the perfect stuff.

It's very hot, but no different than Florida. I just have a weaker air conditioner. I have some fans, and I use a mini cloth towel to wipe the sweat off my face.

Right now, I'm going through the paperwork. Getting my alien registration card, health insurance card, setting up internet, my van, phone lines, cell phone, and bank account.

Ogimi has the longest life span in the world. It has a population of 3,500, and almost no English speaking people. My supervisors all speak very little, so I've been using Japanese, which is awesome. Elina speaks Japanese really well, so she has been a huge help in communicating information to me. Right now, I am using her internet, cause I won't have my for another week (yea, I know). When I do, I'll post pictures.