Tokyo

I've been in Tokyo for a couple days now. This website converted to Japanese and it took me a while to figure out how to log into my blog. The travel was surprisingly easy, just long. I chatted with Cory and Jeff from IWU at the airport. They decided to teach me random inappropriate words in Japanese. I wasn't really paying attention though, figuring I would make enough of a fool of myself just mispronouncing things without actually knowing any bad words. (Turns out the words for 'cute' and 'scary' are almost the same. Imagine telling someone that their kid is really scary when the kid is cute.)

We're staying at a crazy-nice hotel in a good neighborhood in Tokyo. Unfortunately I haven't had much time to explore. The first night a few of us went out for some food. We found a tiny place with pictures on the menu and a huge crowd of Aussie JETs having a great time. Last night the Miyagi JETs went out to an Izakaya (traditional Japanese bar). We took off our shoes and I learned 2 important words--nomihodai and tabehodai--all you can drink and all you can eat. Afterwards some of us went to karaoke. We went to the type of karaoke place where you get your own little room so you only make an ass of yourself in front of your friends and not in front of random strangers. It was a great night!

I'm leaving Tokyo bright and early tomorrow morning. The Miyagi JETs are getting on a bus for 6 hours to head to Sendai and then we need to go further to our new homes. The Sendai JETs get to take the bullet train, but those of us going to the inaka (bu-fu nowhere) are going the slooooooooooow way. I'm super excited to get to my house and see what my new home is like. I'm also tired of living out of my luggage. At this point I feel like staying for 3 years just so I can unpack and not repack for as long as possible.

Starting a blog

It's about 5 days till I leave for Japan. I figure a blog will be the best way for those interested to keep up with my adventures, misadventures, and maybe some of the more mundane happenings of my life there (and those who don't care won't be bothered). Hopefully I'll do a semi-decent job of writing in this blog. And those of you reading, please keep in touch by sending me the occasional email at ritayamin@gmail.com.