Getting Settled

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Sorry everyone, this bit has to be short since I'm on a public computer and time's a tickin'.

So far, Japan is the land of cleanliness and convenience. In every bathroom stall you will find a toilet brush and in every shanty town there is a 24 hour conbini for your late night beer and food run needs.

I've been able to settle in pretty easily so far and made some new friends - a group of Americans in my building who will be moving to the next town over. There is also a nice British dude who lives down the block with his family - he's super helpful with just about everything.

Work so far is great! My teachers are really nice and I've been able to help some of the kids with their English rendition of Wizard of Oz. I'm really impressed with their English abilities! These kids are super smart!

My only complaints about Japan so far are the distinct lack of clocks and mirrors. Why they don't feel the need to have either baffles me - it gives you a very Muskoka Time sort of feeling. Currently I'm living without a phone or internet which has been a bit of a tricky adjustment, to say the least. I feel like I'm in the Dark Ages! Other than that, everything is going swell. I haven't gotten too lost yet and so far my minimal Japanese has allowed me to get by no problem. Yay!

I also discovered today how they are able to squash so many millions of people onto an island this small. All of their roads are abuot half the size of back home. What would be a one lane road in Canada is a 2 lane road here and a 1 lane road here is the size of a sidewalk. I'm not kidding! I'll post pictures as soon as I have proper internet!

Anyway, that's enough for now. I hope you're all enjoying summer back home. Here the heat is deadly hot and muggy!

Night,

Jennifer

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