I'm in Japan everyone!!

A friend of mine took this...I promise it's not photoshopped or anything...we are outside the Okayama Castle
I'm so Happy!!!! Yay Japan!!

The Pictures are HERE (click here)

I don't have internet readily available to me since I am not in Tottori yet. So I won't be able to post consistently for a little while, but I'll still try.

In one word my time in Japan thus far has been...comfortable. It's like a friend of mine said, "It's almost as if they just took Japan and put it in the United States." I know it's too early to tell, but so far I feel at home in a strange way.

The plane ride, although it was fourteen hours did not feel like it whatsoever. There was this one baby that kept getting on my nerves because he was crying a lot. ESPECIALLY when I was trying to sleep, it felt like every time I was drifting off he would cry at the highest pitch imaginable, which was extremely unpleasant. The ride was fine, my computer held up for a solid four hours, so I was very impressed with that. There was this guy a couple rows ahead of me who was playing his PSP for a good four hours. And then when his PSP died he had a SPARE battery. I mean, I thought i was really into video games, I don't know if I've ever played a game for four hours straight (that I wasn't writing a review for that had a deadline). It was beginning to hit me that indeed, I was heade for Japan.

As I stepped off the plane, customs was a breeze. I didn't listen to a song because I was too concerned about going in the right direction and getting to where I needed to. The customs guy didnt even ask me ANY questions, it was great. I got my bags (all three of them) and headed to where I met my Amity representatives. And then I met up with Becca and the rest of the crew. Me and Becca gave each other a hug like we hadnt seen each other in years, when in fact this is the first time we've ever officially met.

We took a train to Osaka and then one to Okayama. We took a regular train and a bullet train. On both trains it barely felt as if I was moving. It was actually an extremely calming experience. I started to get to know the people who I would be trainging with and soon realized that a lot of them were similar to me and then it started to make sense. We are all in Japan for at least a year teaching kids...we've gotta be off the wall in SOME kind of way. It really hit me as I was sitting on the bullet train and the two guys next to me (both of whom are going to be teaching English at another school) were playing there handheld games. One a PSP and the other a DS. And the guy sitting directly to my right LOVES Final Fantasy VII...yeah I'll fit right in.

As I was on the regular train I noticed that two Japanese young women had these Universal Studios bags that also said "Fantastic Land." And I got REALLY excited, started smiling, and started to point (which I shouldnt do, but apparently it wasnt a big deal because of what happened next); and the girls started to smile and laugh and wave at me. And I was thinking, "All right! Japanese girls waved at me!" So I started waving back and smiling and we had a good time for that 30 seconds just laughing and waving, haha.

As we got to our dorm rooms a few interesting things were pointed out to me. One, if I use the shower I have to turn on the heat for the shower to get the water warmed up. Two, the electricity to my dorm is not ALWAYS on, I have to use the key that was used to get in my room to power on my room. Three, the room was more spacious than I thought (I have a roommate, but only for this week) and four the comforters are AWESOME. It's like they imported a cloud right to Japan for me, wonderous.

I actually managed to stay up all the way until it was time to go to bed and instead of going out or anything I decided to just go to bed at a decent hour and plan to sleep in. The next morning my roomate was up way before me and I got to thinking, "Maybe I should get up because it's probably close to eleven, I don't want to miss the whole day." So I got up and asked him, "What time is it?", and to my surprise he said, "8:30"...yeah..wow.

So I got up and originally me and him (his name is Andrew) were going to just go explore the city. We were going to go to the Korakuen Garden and the Okayama Castle. Then I decided to go see if Becca and Jessica wanted to come with us, and they were on board, before we knew it everyone in our group (save 2) were walking with us to the garden and the Castle.

We had an AMAZING time exploring the city and of course, I was the class clown, wait until you see the pictures. We went to a lot of side shops, we went to a pet store, we went to the 100 yen shop (dollar store) we went to an arcade (only a small one), we took pictures of EVERYthing, and I mean EVERYTHING, even the stray cats and the seagulls, wonderful stuff. Brandon and Becca dressed up in Kimono's and we got pictures of them as well, that was a fun time.

When we sat down to eat on the way to the Castle I got something that I forget how to say in Japanese. It was Eggs and Chicken with rice. it was SO good. The meaning of the food in Japanese means "Mother and Child" so mom, I've been thinking of you :-D. AND! As I was using my chopsticks the woman who was serving us came up to me and told me that I was using my chopsticks well. That made me feel GREAT like Frosted Flakes!

Later that night I went get something to eat and I passed this group of Japanese girls (who were Middle or High School students I think) and they said, "HELLO!!" and I said, "Hello!!" And they started laughing.

Right now it is pretty cold although it was a great temperature yesterday. Today is the first day of training and I'm writing this at about 8:20 AM, it's 6:20PM eastern time for you guys the day BEFORE. Just to let you all know.

I am really excited about everything. I don't know why, but I feel very very very comfortable in this foregin country. Everything is so bright, so positive, so optimistic, so happy, every advertisement is smiling and colorful and so far the peolple are extremely nice. It is a much different feelign than when I went to Paris. I don't feel as if I'm a foreginer, part of me feels at home in a strange way.

Hopefully all of the pictures keep you all satiated for a while. I don't have regular internet access yet so I won't be able to post much. But I am posting over 100 pictures so I'm sure they will keep you entertained until I go to Tottori.

Until next time.

-The Japanese Punk Rock Star