My New Home in Tokyo

This blog entry is way over due, my apologies for taking so long to update! It feels as though these past two weeks have just flown by. To begin with my trip here: My dad, two brothers, and grandparents dropped me off at O’Hare airport on Sunday morning. The day started off to a good start when I wasn’t charged for my over weight luggage, which is a good thing because it was WAY over weight. This meant I was off to a good start. I then wandered around the airport, since it is my favorite place, and met up with Doug and Sue. We boarded the plane and I had a seat open next to me which was really nice. I was able to stretch out on the flight and get slightly more comfortable, I think the man next to me enjoyed the extra space as well. The flight was just around 13 hours…so not much longer than my drive from Rogers to Valparaiso. The flight was really smooth and the movies kept me occupied. We landed at Narita and waited in many long lines to get through immigration, customs, for our luggage, and then another line I’m not quite sure what we did. I was FINALLY greeted at an airport with a sign, something I’ve also wanted to happen! We met our hosts and were picked up and taken to Tokyo. Some of our luggage had to be shipped to us because between the four of us we had probably 13 suitcases. We then traveled by van to our new homes in Adachi-ku. We unloaded in our apartments and tried to get settled in. We then went down the street for dinner and received some more information, and schedules for the following weeks.
The apartment is what you would generally expect for an apartment in Tokyo. It is small but manageable; after all it is just me. This apartment will be my home until March at which point I will move to another part of Tokyo before I start teaching. We spent the next few days trying to get settled, setting up bank accounts, applying for alien registration, buying cell phones, getting commuter passes for the train, meeting people at the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Church headquarters as well as the Japanese Evangelical Lutheran Association. Cindy, the J3 coordinator, has been MORE than helpful with making sure we knew what we were doing, where we were going and making sure we were well taken care of. I cannot imagine trying to do any of this without her. We also started language school last week, we have begun by learning Hiragana and Katakana, I’m glad I started studying those this summer it put me a leg up and I feel I was better able to catch on. We have also begun learning different beginning phrases and greetings; everything in Japan is so formal! But overall class is going well, we meet 4 times a week for 3 hours. I hope that I will begin to pick it up quicker because not being able to communicate has probably been my biggest problem. I’m so used to being able to communicate with those around me, I forgot how much of a language barrier there really is. Not as many people speak English as I would have imagined…I think I ran into more people who spoke English while I was in China.
My adjustments and first impressions…. I’m not quite sure what I was expecting when I moved to Tokyo…I guess I was kind of expecting it to be like China, and it is not, at all. That is not a bad thing; I think I was just basing my expectations on the only other Asia country I’ve visited…which I think is normal. I really am enjoying Japan thus far. Tokyo is a VERY large city and I have much to see, weekends are spent traveling around whether it’s the next train station over or exploring aquariums in far off areas of Tokyo. I’m still trying to adjust to the cost of living over here; it is very expensive, once again nothing like China. Other than that I would like to think I’m adjusting well. Jet lag has been a bit of a problem and I often wake up at 4 am, but thanks to Skype I can always find someone to talk with for hours until I actually start my day. As the days go by it is becoming easier to sleep in, but I still find myself waking up in the middle of the night and trying to force myself back to bed. I could keep typing about my experiences but I will try to save something for next time, and hopefully I will start posting on a more regular basis.