awaiting my new home...

Today it is 4:57am and I am sitting in the fourth floor of the Keio Plaza Hotel. It is the day that I travel to my job in Ubuyama, Kumamoto Prefecture, Kyushu, Japan. I am a little nervous because it is the first day that I have to successfully communicate in Japanese and it is also the first day that I will live to learn in isolation. It will also be the first time that I have been completely split off from European/North American culture and people. But this means it is also a great opportunity in many ways. But I am glad to be done with the orientation here in Tokyo, which was not always informative or useful. The strange college-like community that was formed here in the two and a half days that we 1300 some international youth were here will be atomized, never to be formed again. In three hours I will meet with the rest of the JETs assigned to my prefecture in order that we can go to the airport and all fly down to Kumamoto City. There my boss, and hopefully future friend, Nakamura-san will meet me in the smoldering 100F heat. Soon thereafter I will let you know how this mysterious voyage winds its way through the countryside.