Whew! Today has been busy! I had a bunch of stuff for orientation today, including how things will be operating, how I can apply my knowledge to the classroom etc etc.

They were informative but in a way left us more worried than anything else because we don't have an opportunity to apply our knowledge etc etc since we aren't in a classroom yet.

I also met with my Prefectural Advisor Ben Raven, who I'll be traveling with tomorrow on the train to Nagano. unfortunately, the Nagano prefecture orientation has already happened (Nagano has a total of 109 ALT's, 49 of whom are new) and I'm the 2nd to last to arrive.

Luckily, I also found out that the 1000$ I brought with me should be plenty to last me the first month, including my rent. I'll have lots of stuff to take care of in the first few weeks, but I'm also looking forward to riding around my town (I believe Jon, whom I am replacing, has left me a bicycle) and getting to know / meet people. I believe that will be vital to just getting a feeling of comfortability in my area.

I have a nice dinner tonight, and after that I hope to hang out with some of the friends I have made in the last day before we all head on out to our regional areas. That has been difficult, knowing that all these people I've met will be moderately tough / nearly impossible to meet later on. Luckily, two of the guys I have really gotten to know will be just one prefecture away, so no more than 6-8 hours by train. Also, Nagano is big. :-P bottom to top by train can take up to 8 hours by train. Yikes!

Also, I met a guy today who I had met at Kansai, although neither of us realized it at first. We had been talking at a table with others for about 15 minutes before we realized we had both been to Kansai, at the same time! Marcus then said, "Do you know Larry?" and I started laughing and said yes. We also knew Haruka, Rika, and Miho as mutual friends. Small world! :-P

Well, Technically it could be 'up to a month' before I get internet at my apt., but most likely it will either still be running or just a couple of days after I get there, and even then, Hopefully I can access it at school briefly or something. I'll let you all know more as it happens. maybe even have pictures up of my place here in a few days!

Wish me luck!