Aomori, Japan

I am now in Japan!! I will try and keep things brief, as so much has occurred since I first arrived. The first few days were spent in Tokyo at orientation. It was nice being back in Japan and I actually met up with a Wake Forest person who was in Tokyo too. Then -- Orientation ended and trip to the new home of Aomori began.

My first few days in Aomori were hectic! I arrived on the final few days of their famous Nebuta Festival. In this festival there are giant floats, lots of music, and lots of people in crazy outfits jumping around shouting. We, the foreigners, were dressed up in these outfits, given crazy hats, and put on jingle bells (which were to be ripped off and thrown out into the crowd, sort of like candy at parades). So, my first few days were fun filled with that festival.

Since then I have been going to work, which is at a branch of the board of education at an education training center. Because kids are still on summer break, there isnt much for us ALTs (Assistant Language Teachers) to be doing at the moment. So some of our time has been taken up by learning how to ride the bus and get to the train station, me learning to ride and bike, and getting bank accounts and cell phones.

The leaving CIR's (Coordinator of International Relations) contract did not end until about now (and her apartment is where I will be living). So while she is still here I lived with my supervisor and his family for a few nights. They were awesome, his wife was so sweet and he has two teenage daughters. On the weekend they took me great places. Aomori is wonderful because it is right near mountains as well as the beach. So we visited Mt. Moya (which you can take the chairlift up and take little scooters down), then we went to the beach and aquarium. The next day we went to a big Buddha. Now I have moved into the apartment though and have been sharing it with the girl who will be leaving soon. The apartment is really nice and really large (esp for Japanese standards). I have a large kitchen, a large living room with tatami floors, and two bedrooms upstairs (one tatami floored, one regular). It is in a really nice area and only about a 7 minute bike ride from work.

Well other exciting things about Japan right now, is that me and some of my friends have explored the wonderful Onsens (public baths). One that I went to, other than having the indoor and outdoor baths also had a wonderful rock-bed sauna room, you laid on hot slabs of rock and your body just completely sweated out all your toxins. Another one that I went to last night, had a very cold bath, and a very hot bath (apparently good for circulation), an electric therapy bath (a bath with a current going through it apparently good for sore muscles and arthritis... it sort of hurt) and a nice outdoor bath.. there were also doctor fish, a little tank you stuck your feet into and all these little fish ate your dead skin cells, it felt so funny and your feet came out smooth and soft!

Today after work did some exploring of the city, learning how to get around on the major roads, which I think was very necessary!

Well I am off for now! I will try and keep this updated although I feel I will be rather busy here, especially for a while!