Monday, August 4, 2014

Goodbye, Amerikuh

Hi, I'm back!  Back to this blog and Japan, actually, hee hee.

Right now it's past midnight, and I have been traveling for the past 24 hours.  I traveled from Miami to Dallas (3-4 hours) and then finally arrived in Tokyo at 4:15 pm Tokyo time  (after a 14 hour flight and an hour through customs and shipping suitcases to my future home).

It's been a whirlwind of a trip, but one thing I can definitely say is that I am thoroughly impressed with my program's organization and seamless transitions.  There was always a representative at every point of the journey from the USA all the way to the hotel room accommodations for orientation (I now have a two day orientation in Tokyo before I go to where I will teach in Osaka prefecture).  I never for one moment felt confused or lost.

Oh yeah, what am I talking about?  I am still recovering from this trip, ha ha.  I am back in Japan to teach English at the junior high (middle school) level as an Assistant Language Teacher.  I just finished my master's in English Education, and I'm really excited to teach!  I have found my passion, and now I can merge it with my interests in improving my Japanese and chilling in Japanese culture and mountainous country filled with delicious takoyaki and sushi.  See, that's the real reason I'm here.  I'm here to eat as much sushi as possible.  Mmm, that salmon.

I'm trying to remember what I wanted to write about, but my mind is still in zombie mode and all over the place.  Let's see… Right now, I'm in a hotel room with two other young ladies who traveled with me from Miami on this program.  I just skyped my mom, and I contacted other family and friends via facebook, LINE, and Tango to let them know I was safe and happy.  Oh, and then before that I met a friend to eat an izakaya (pub), and I ordered a Cassis Soda (omg, how I have missed that drink).  Before that I showered because, geezus, I felt so gross after that 14 hour plane ride.  Oh!  And on the plane ride, I drank quite a bit of the complimentary white wine, got quite tipsy, and then napped for about 3 hours.  In the past 24-36 hours, I have probably only slept 6 hours total.  I should sleep now before I just ramble on and fall asleep at my laptop.  Gotta wake up in like 5 hours.

Night!