I finally am getting on a normal sleeping routine. I went to sleep around 9:30 last night and woke up about 6:30. I know I will sleep well tonight though because I am worn out after today! I am taking full advantage of Mandy being here until Sunday. She has been here for a year and knows her way around so I want her to show me everything and explain all that she can before she leaves.
We rode the bikes to the train station this morning. It is further away from the nursery school but I made it. She taught me how to read the train signs and which train to get on. It’s not really that hard from the small station by our apartments. When we got to Okayama Station it got more difficult because it is a lot bigger. At Okayama Station she showed me the store Jupiter. It is a store that sells imported goods. They even had Combos! I picked up a copy of the newspaper that was in English and told foreigners of what was happening around the city. It’s pretty cool.
The school we were to today is the farthest school from a train station so someone comes to pick us up. When we got to the school we were greeted with smiling faces. It was mostly the same as yesterday. This school belongs to Yoko’s sister who is Matsumi’s wife. The five year olds, who I will teach, introduced themselves to me, asked me questions, read a book with me (a big book about me that Carla had made), and then we did the Hokey Pokey. It was cute. I also had a chance to check my emails while I was there. Thank you so much for all of you who have written me! I appreciate it so much. I am so sorry that I have not been able to personally respond to everyone yet. The internet is not connected in my apartment but we are hoping that it will be in the next few days and then I can respond to everyone individually. Until then I type these at night and upload them at the schools.
After school Mariko took Mandy and me to the bank. We closed Mandy’s bank account and then we went to the post office. In Japan you can open a post office account that is basically the same as a bank account. It holds your money and you can even send it to your account in America. It’s much cheaper and faster to do it this way too. We closed Mandy’s and opened one for me.
We went to the college next for Mariko’s lesson. She and Mandy just talked a lot. They practiced conversational English. After that she took up back to the train. Mandy and I went to a different stop so that she could show me some shops that I might like. One was a second hand store but MUCH nicer than out thrift shops. They have great kimonos there! We also went to the 100 yen store. It’s like a dollar store but you can get so much more awesome stuff there. We had dinner at a little restaurant. I even had fries!! I met Mandy’s friend Chloe (pronounced Klow). She is from Italy and it teaching high school here at a Catholic private school. She will be here until mid-August. She is really great. I’m going to hang out with her when Mandy leaves. She speaks and reads Japanese and has the most beautiful accent. I also met another friend of Mandy’s named Caroline. She is leaving Japan soon but her replacement, Melissa, is about my age. We are all going to meet up this weekend for dinner so that we can get to know each other and we can hang out while we are in Japan. It’s nice to have American friends to speak English with! I am also going to sign up for the JET program where foreigners can get together to go on trips and stuff together. Mandy did it and it’s pretty cool. It’s a non-committal thing so if I want to go somewhere I can and if I don’t want to then I don’t have to.
We just got back to the apartment about 30 minutes ago. The bike ride back was killer. My legs and butt are sore from peddling and bumping along the sidewalks. It was hot too and yucky out but I did it! I am so proud that I am taking these challenges and laughing in their faces! J haha I hope everyone at home is doing well. You should all let me be an inspiration to you to go out and get a bike and then ride it up and down the sidewalk with a busy rode on one side and a rice field on the other. I am always scared I’m going to fall in the rice fields. In case you don’t know what they look like, they are like a marshy/wet area with rows grass. No fences around them either.
I miss you all tons and I wish you were here to share this experience with me!
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