01/05/2006

Hello from Nihon everybody!!!! Now I have to say, I did try to send a big group email last Thursday when I was in Kochi, it took me an hour and a half to write and told you all about my plane trips and going out to dinner and karaoke with Erin and her mob, and when I tried to send it there was an error and it doesn't look like it actually got to anybody. But I did try!

So to recap, my plane trips were were really good, turned out i had an extra stopover in Bangkok, so I went Adelaide-Singapore-Bangkok-Osaka and arrived into Osaka about 5am Tuesday morning, followed by an hours bus ride to Osaka city followed by a 5 hour bus ride to Kochi, where I finally landed around 12:30 midday. So it was 24 hours of straight traveling, having stood on the ground of 4 different countries in that short space of time. Wow!!! Needless to say, I was a little tired.

But my week with Erin was awesome, her room mates are very cool, we all went out on the Wednesday night and had a Japanese banquet and then spent a few hours doing the mandatory karaoke. It was a very good night. She showed me round Kochi and the mall where she works, Kochi is a very beautiful city, so different to all the other cities in Japan that i have seen. Its surrounded by mountains and very picturesque. Erin's apartment on the 10th floor has a pretty awesome view. But, of course come Saturday I had to leave for Matsuyama where i am living. A 2 1/2 hour bus ride which was incredibly scenic, so it wasn't too bad.

However, when i got to Matsuyama it was raining, so I got in a taxi and got them to drive to my apartment, which is only just over a km away from the JR bus/train station. The taxis are interesting, you cant open the doors yourself, they are operated by the taxi driver. SO if you're drunk and he doesn't want to let you in, he wont. And if it turns out you don't have enough money at the end of a ride, you cant get out, and hell take you for a ride straight to the police station! (well so I've been told, I had enough money in my wallet, fortunately).

So I got to my apartment, (there was a brand new futon and doona set waiting for me on the porch which i was pretty happy about) and it is TINY. Even by Japanese standards, its tiny. It reminds me of a cabin you can rent at a caravan park, you walk straight into the kitchen/living room, which is about the size of a small kitchen, but also has to fit the couch, the dining table and the TV in there. SO all the appliances and furniture are very small. On your left are the 2 Japanese style bedrooms complete with tatami mats, my room mate got the one with sliding doors, mine just has a normal door but mine is bigger, has a bigger wardrobe and more windows, so I think I won! And in front of you is the toilet/bathroom which is not too bad a size, and the shower/bath which is actually a really good size, you can walk around in the shower! So its quite a nice apartment, I just wish there was more living room space to lounge around, coz there really isn't any space at all.

However, it turns out that my roommate Kath who is from Brisbane, has actually gone home for 2 weeks, so she hasn't been there all week and won't be back till next Tuesday. So I'm by myself and I didn't know where anything was!! But I thought, its ok, I can handle this... they gave me a map in my welcome pack so I took that and an umbrella I borrowed from Kath and went wandering around until I found a convenience store and bought some food. Then I went home and watched Kath's movies, she's got some good ones.

But that night the apartment was freezing and i came to realise that... the apartment has no insulation.... it has none. As soon as the sun goes down, the layers come on. AND... I can hear EVERYTHING my neighbour upstairs does, I can hear him (I reckon its a him coz he's so bloody noisy) walk across the floor, do the dishes, have a shower, watch TV. Really annoying actually...

Sunday was a really nice day, so I took my map and wandered the city all day long. I found all the train stations, the mall where I will be working, the nova office where I'll be working, supermarkets, 100yen stores, so I bought food, books, movies, kitchen stuff, bathroom stuff, I figured out when I got home that I had spent about $150. Buts its cool, coz now my apartment is happy!!

Its about 1 1/2 k's for me to get to work, about 20-25mins walk, which I love doing, I just listen to my mp3 player, though when it gets really hot or really cold, I mite start hating that walk! At the moment the weather is just nice.

I had my orientation on Monday which was a 3 hour train ride to Okiyama and back, a city on the main island. I met Johno, who is from Brisbane also, we're both new and working at Matsuyama. There were lots of other people there from different countries who are working in other cities. The last 3 days Johno and i have been through an intensive training about teaching English from 12 through to 9:30 at night. They were long tiring days, but also really fun too. Everyone that works in nova Matsuyama is very cool, there's 4 Aussies, myself, Kath Johno and a girl called Christine, I think there's 4 from England, one from Ireland, one from New Zealand and i think maybe 3 Americans. They're all really nice and really helpful. Last night we all went out to celebrate Al's birthday, we had dinner at an Indian restaurant (the most bizzare thing i have ever seen is a dark Indian woman dressed in full sari speaking fluent Japanese...) and then of course... karaoke! Its the standard practice here, if you don't like karaoke, no body likes you...

It was such a great night, i had to walk home about 3ks at 2 in the morning, (my apartment seems to be on the other side of town to everyone else's...) but I felt so good, just walking home, feeling completely safe, listening to my music and singing, of course it may have been the 3 mugs of chuhai I'd had a karaoke (which is the best alcoholic drink in the world! made from Japanese blueberries) but i felt very content and happy with my life here in Japan.

So its been a very busy week, this is my first day off, and it took me a while to actually find an internet cafe, this is near my work, but not really near my apartment. I really want to talk to everyone so much, but I cant get a phone until I open my bank account, and I cant open my bank account until I get my personal hanko, which is a japanese stamp with my name used for official documents, which I won't get till next week. So I have no fone, but as soon as I get one, I'm gonna be calling ya'll to hear your voices! Collect call of course, I don't get paid for another month.... he he... nah I'm just kidding....

But, Matsuyama is a really nice city, its very straight forward, you can't get lost, I'm really happy here. I'm working all weekend, and I've got kids training in Takamatsu next Monday which is 2 hours bus ride away, so I've got a busy week ahead, I think my next day off is next Friday, but now that I've found this place and I've signed up for a membership card, you'll be hearing from me much more often!!!

Ok, I think I've only got about 10 minutes left, so ill go, I hope you're all thinking of me!! I miss everyone so much!!!!

Once things settle down I'll send some letters, I don't know where the post office is yet, that's my next task to complete. But please know I love you all and I'm thinking of everyone every day!

Yours in Japan!!!

Lesley