tsukimashita
A week ago plus some hours, I had arrived in Tokyo. Not without some hijinks, though! On the twelve-hour Minneapolis-Narita leg, I fell asleep in my chair when we boarded the plane. I woke up two hours later and then panicked when I saw the plane wasn't moving--in fact, was still on the ground--in fact, was still in the very same spot on the Minneapolis runway. It ended up being a three-hour false alarm about a faulty smoke detector.
The two days of orientation were a blur of meeting people that I might not see again, fancy hotel elevators, fancy accents (so many Torontonians), karaoke, feeling sleepy. In between sleeps, I got to meet up briefly with my former host mother and sister, which was wonderful. Then they had to leave. Then my group left the next morning. Then we split up to our different city assignments. So, Osaka.
I've been in my apartment in Ikuno for a couple days: two tatami rooms, a kitchen/toilet/shower/sink room, a small balcony with a washing machine. Despite any previous efforts to learn laundry-related kanji characters, I ended up mostly pressing buttons with my eyes closed. This leads me to believe that maybe I just never knew how to do laundry in English.
I don't have to start teaching until September 1st. My school is surrounded by a ring of old, preserved temples, which are then surrounded by a ring of love hotels (apparently, the ones with "the kinkiest rooms and best exteriors" in the country).
There isn't much to complain about; I am even getting used to the sweat. But it is starting to sink in, extremely slowly,
that I am here by myself, not just for a month (as was the case with party place) but for a year at least;
that friends and family are living lives very far away;
that I won't be able to see Jens Lekman when he finally(!!!!) comes to the Black Cat;
that I have no clue how to use a cell phone (it just rang--I think?--but I didn't push the right thing to answer it);
that for some reason, I can still eat at a Denny's. If I wanted to.
My elder work supervisor, an awesome Mennonite who wears Hawaiian shirts, recommended that I download Google Earth to figure out where I am and how to get around. But neither Earth nor Maps can crack the mystery of Japanese addresses and subsequent unnamed roads. And I'm not a car, so there's no GPS. Even with a map in my hand, it's easy to get completely lost. AAHH!
I'd just as well ask Jeeves WHERE THE FUCK AM I but since ask.com phased him out of their empire entirely, it's less satisfying.
There's a lot to say. But living (and computing) without chairs or tables is kind of bad for lazy backs, and the lazy crawl into bed for another nap. Later tonight, I'll give my bike a whirl and try not to die.
Y'everybody should update about your own lives! I be missin' you.