This is for you, Liz!

Look! I am posting on my blog! It has been a long week and I have been very tired. (I really shouldn't be blogging after a tiring school day...)



I got to Otake a week ago today. When I got to my apartment I found a note left by one of the ALTs in the area. He had helped move out the person who was here before and left me his contact information and offered to take me places I need to go (as long as I don't abuse it :P). It took us forever to get my alien registration and bank account set up done, neither of us had ever done it before. But we had a lot of fun doing it. My IC (internship coordinator) brought her eight year old daughter with her since she was still on holiday. We had a lot of fun together, she was my little tour guide. i love Japanese kids! They are so cute and so nice!







My IC-
Masako and her daughter (I thin her name is Kaho)




I didn't have time to do any shopping before we had to leave and visit one of my schools. It was really funny. I work with four different teachers at that school, three women and one man. The female teachers tried to hook me up with the male English teacher. It was really funny and he was a good sport about it.

When we got done with that school we went shopping. You Me town is pretty much a mall/ shopping center. It has a grocery store, jewelry store, 100 yen store, shoe store, music store, electronic store,Clothes stores, food court, and quite a few cute little boutiques. Most of the stores are in one building with out being separated, unlike it is at home. I got my bed there ( a whole new meaning to "bed in a bag", it was my whole bed in one bag, not just the bedding), a rice cooker, iron, alarm clock, cooking tools/supplies, laundry things, and some food. The whole time Kaho took me around the stores showing me things and telling me their Japanese names.

Thursday was a really interesting day. I met 4 of my 6 schools. I really can't remember much, it all blends in together.... But it was a nice day. I finally met the other ALT later that night, his name is James. He took me shopping. Really I just wanted to get out of the house and hear someone speak correct English, he shopped and I talked. :D I will have to get a picture of him and post it.... as it is I don't have one.

Friday was a nice relaxing day. I hung out around the apartment and put things away... some things. Mostly I washed the dishes that I bought and what James had brought over for me (they were the dishes the ALT before me had....). That afternoon I went exploring. Not such a good thing.... I over used my foot and it hurt really bad. I thought, "Oh, my foot hurts. *Shrug* oh well. I will go home, wrap it, and it will be better before I know it. No big deal, right?" Oh how wrong I was!

Saturday I chilled out, talked to my family on Skype. I went to the store, again, with James. I needed to get a few things... plain rice is ok, but really, it needs something. That is when I realized that my foot wasn't getting better. It felt worse Saturday then it did the day before....

Sunday was really sad. I got up and ready for church. I gave myself an hour to get to the train, take it to the next stop (5 minutes), and find the church that was supposed to be right across the street from the train station.... But I couldn't find it. Nor did I see any non Japanese people in Church clothes, and it is a military/English ward. I walked around until I misses sacrament meeting then i decided to go home since my foot was in excruciating pain and I missed the sacrament. :( I watched movies and hung out the rest of the day and tried to stay off my foot.

So Monday i finally called some one about seeing a doctor. It turned out to be a big deal (for the company), everyone was so worried about my foot. They sent out someone from the Hiroshima office to pick me up and be my translator. He ended up being really nice, though his English was the best (Still his English was really good). On the way over he asked me if I was a Mormon since I was from Utah. I told him I was, and as it turn out he is too! He lives close to me so he offered to pick me up and take me to the local Japanese ward next Sunday. yay! I will be able to go to church!... Any way... So the doctor was really nice and knew a little English, so between him and my translator i got all taken care of! Nothing is broken, which is good, but I have an inflamed muscle... not so good. They gave me a cool patch to put on it, it also has pain killers in it, and sent me on my way. That is right, they didn't charge me at all for my visit. As it turns out that was a very unusual occurrence. Monday was a holiday and they usually charge more on holidays. I was told they weren't charging because I am a teacher at a school near the doctor's house.

yesterday was my first day in the class room! I had a lot of fun, though it was a little awkward. In my first class I had a student, in the front row, fall asleep. The whole while the teacher was trying to get questions for me out of the students. I finally stepped in 5 minutes before the class got over and had them play a game. The other three classes were much more energetic, then again so were the teachers. I have a little admirer in one of my classes. He just wanted to talk to me the whole time. When class was over he told me that he really liked my hair and thought I was beautiful. I think he is my favorite! (shhhh, don't tell anyone!)

Today it snowed! It was really funny because my school was really worried about me. One of the teachers lives close to me and took the bus with me, she didn't want to drive in the snow because it is too dangerous. Funny thing is the snow was only a powder dusting, I don't think the roads were even wet. There are only 4 buses that go out that way a day, and we were on the 9:00 buss that would get to school at 9:27 (the cool thing is that the bus stop is right in front of the school's front gate), so the teacher was really late.... I leave school early, too, because of the bus schedule. The principal came in and escorted me to the bus stop and made sure I got on OK. It was really nice.

I walked around the bus/ train station when I got back from school. I thought it would be prudent to find how to get to my school for tomorrow. As it turns out it is a 30 minute walk from my house, so I don't have to pay for the bus or train on that day! On the way I took some pictures.. it was really pretty. I forgot to take pictures when I was at my school today, it is up in the mountains and it is sooo pretty! Next time, perhaps.

Celestia Over and out