I just wanted to let you know that I arrived safely, and am currently using wireless access from our hotel in the Shinjuku district of Tokyo…I spent so much time catching up on websites that I didn’t get a chance to write about anything yet. It’s been great so far, though tiring–today was our major get-over-jetlag day, coupled with a full day of orientation, and we have even more tomorrow. But everybody’s been friendly–I’ve struck up random conversations with so many people around here. There are 2000 new JETs coming in this year.
I already ran into my first vegetarian issue…a few of us went to an izakaya last night (like a combo bar/restaurant), and I asked the waitress if the yakisoba had meat or fish in it, and she told me it didn’t…but when it arrived, it had ground beef in it, so I had to waste all of it, though the other guys at my table helped me finish it off. I think that getting to Ikeda and buying my own groceries will make things much easier.
The Tokushima JETs got together and went out for karaoke tonight, which was a lot of fun, though a bit expensive. But they’re a pretty cool bunch. I got an e-mail saying that there’s going to be a meet-and-greet for us this Saturday in Tokushima city, which should be cool.
I’ll post full details later. We’re currently 13 hours ahead of Atlanta, and it’s 1:15 AM here; I wanted to be in bed an hour ago, but it took me way too long to catch up on stuff…I’ll be sure to have some green tea tomorrow to keep me going. I also have been taking a bunch of photos, but I can’t find my Photoshop install CD, so I can’t edit/resize them just yet.
Anyway, I’m here and doing well. I’ll be sure to post some more soon!