Better late than never....haha...ha...ha...

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Sooooo...I know I have been here for over two months and haven't yet even looked at this site or even thought about uploading pics...but better late than never right? I guess I have my work cut out for me...adding two months worth of photos and entries about Japan (and Mexico if I have time...). I guess to start off, here's an abridged version of the last two and a half months...

August 5-7: Tokyo!

After a tearful farewell at SFO (thanks for the wonderful send off everyone!) and a 10 hour plane ride, we (us group B JETs, including friends Katie, Chris J, Ryuta and Laura M.) arrived at Narita International airport about 1 and a half hours outside of Tokyo. Orientation was uneventful I suppose, a lot of blah blah blah about blah blah blah and expect blah blah blah...I mean it was intended to be informative and the like, but it's hard to sit still and pay attention when:

a. you're staying in a plush hotel like the Keio Plaza Hotel, which by the way has a sky pool on the 7th floor
b. you're located in the heart of Tokyo in Shinjuki
c. you're JET lagged and disoriented
d. you're surrounded by about 1,000 other people from all over the world who are all in your age range
e. it's the middle of summer in Tokyo, which means it's about a hundred degrees out, humid and you are wearing a suit...
f. you're finally coming face to face with the penn pal that you've been corresponding with for the last two months

Sooooo basically Tokyo was a blur. Highlights were going to the pool, exploring the city at night, hanging out with old friends, making new friends and meeting the other Wakayama JETs, having an awesome roommate for a couple of days and meeting and hanging out with my soon to be neighbor.

August 8-9: Kinokawa

After the orientation, we we flew to Kansai Airport where we were met and driven home by Suzuki Sensei, our supervisor, Inui Sensei, his trusty sidekick (who is apparently very popular with the ladies) and Noel, a 4th year JET from Kinokawa, originally from the UK. These couple of days were spent getting settled into our apartments, filling out paperwork and setting up bank accounts and registering and whatnot, acclimating to the horrible heat and humidity, and exploring the town and visiting our schools.

Lucky for us, Kinokawa is very beautiful and is an agricultural hub in Japan...the Kinokawa river flows through the town and in it, you can catch a type of fish called aiyu, which is supposed to be known for it's sweet flavor. It's beauty is only marred by the undeniable fact that we are in the inaka or countryside...for reals. I mean usually it is very peaceful, serene and beautiful....but you can only ooooh and awww at the pretty river and surrounding mountains and farmland so much, you know? Things shut down here around 5 or 6pm...while there is NO nightlife for young people in my town whatsoever, the stars are very beautiful here in the night sky.

Welllllllllllllllll, that's all I have the energy for now...sigh...this is going to take forever...

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Photos

the first meal...
My first meal in Japan was...uneventful...and fried as you can see. We just stopped for some quick food at a small udon shop- yum yum!

Combini
So this is Chris and Katie on our first trip to the combini, convenience stores located everywhere in Japan that NEVER CLOSE!

Tokyo Orientation- day 1
Look at all the gaijin (foreigners!)!...yup, the main ballroom at the Keio Plaza Hotel, filled with nearly 1,000 JETs, just flown in from across the globe...

out and about in tokyo
Our second night, all of the Wakayama JETs for group B (haha, all 7 of us), went out to explore Tokyo and found this weird glowing box thing...ooooooooooooooh....

Tokyo by night
Here it is, Tokyo, bright lights and everything- just like in the movies!

Karaoke!
My first Japan Karaoke experience with my fellow Wakawaka JETs!

The Tokyo skyline
A view of the city from the top of the Keio.

the apartment- my kitchen
I love my apartment- it is the perfect size for one person and it is clean and cozy. Here is my kitchen!

my apartment: the living room
the living room- a traditional tatami mat room with tons of storage space in the closets...the only airconditioned room in the house, so since this picture, taken on my first day in Kinokawa, I have moved my desk in and rearranged furniture so I can basically never have to leave this room...

my bedroom
yup...here it is...my bed in nice and comfy, but in the summer it was so hot that I never slept here...I just pulled a futon into the nice air-conditioned living room and basically used my room only to house my clothes...

my neighbor
My neighbor, literally steps from my apartment building, is Nate Hospital (Nate Byouin).

the town
I am in Kinokawashi, which is a merger of 5 towns...I am located in the section formerly known as the town of Nagacho...they still refer to it that way, my particular neighborhood is Nateichiba...here's a typical street just to give you and idea of how most towns out here look more or less.

little graveyard for little spirits
All over the place there are little graveyards, in particular you'll come across ones like these that have little stone statues of children figures. They are for those who died before their parents, aborted children, miscarriages and stillborn infants.

rice fields....
are literally everywhere. The squeeze them in wherever there is space, even between and around buildings. When we arrived the rice was young and bright green and beautiful.

mikan
One of the local specialties of the area- mikan tangerines. They are everywhere.

???
mystery veggie

Kiwi trees
Another crop that is around is Kiwis.

figs
So here are figs, or ichijiku. They are also grown here, along with oranges, onions, eggplants, peaches, strawberries and blueberries, among others. It's like being in California!

The Kinokawa River
Beautiful beautiful river at an time of day!

Suzuki-kun
Here is our supervisor for Kinokawa- Suzuki Sensei, or Suzuki-Kun as we like to call him. He took us out to make and eat Okonomiyaki and is just a funny guy in general...though his english is...well...yeah...