I am logged in at “I Love You”, the Internet Cafe here in downtown Kokura.

Yes, I`m in Japan. I have so much to write, but I am being charged by the half hour….

Today an assistant teacher, a really cool guy named Taka, took us arond Kokurakita ward, in the downtown area. Kokura station is pretty cool - I’ll be visiting it again to pan across the walkways. We can see the mountains surrounding us in Kitakyushu during the day, all green. Lonely Planet guide to Japan may seem to give a bad impression of KitaQ, but I like it here. It’s convenient.

Weather - hot and humid, as expected. I am sweating all the time, and am still having trouble sleeping because of the heat. Some of us do have air conditioning.

Cicadas (sp?) are everywhere here. So basically during the day until the evening you’ll hear them here at Kanada Kodan (the apt complex I’m at) and they are LOUD. It doesn’t annoy me at all though, I guess most of us have phased it out.

Tomorrow we’ll be getting our bank accounts setup. In a few days we’ll be having our first official orientation with the Board of Education (the Ward building where the BOE is located is really modern). In some cases Kitakyushu seems less of a city - it’s not really crowded at times. BUt watch me say different when I start working at schools, which is most likely to happen.

Electronics - just as cool, but just as expensive.

Once I have acquired a laptop I will be writing more. Will definitely need to get one ASAP….

I’m sure everything will start to (dare I say it) “get real” when we start subjecting ourselves to schools. Sounds to me like the kids are a wild bunch. “Be prepared to be poked in the butt”. Wonderful. It’s so going to happen, based on all the current ALTs experiences. Talk about cultural differences, but hey it comes with the territory.

At the grocery stores, you buy your stuff (which was a task in itself since I was trying to discern one thing from another) and after paying, you bag it yourself. Did it twice today.

Culture shock: at the supermarket right under building six, I was shopping along with a fellow ALT (tall, white fellow). Noticed one thing: we were the only guys (almost) in the entire market - everyone else is female (young and old). The store manager, or some official, was following us, observing. It was alienating, naturally. I am wondering how long until I can shut that out…

Am doing my best to adjust here. I miss home, but am living it here now. It begins now!

More to come.