Released from Tokyo!

So all I can say about Tokyo Orientation is that its an over done affair that is designed to freak you out more than `ease` you into your current living situation. I mean, Keio Plaza is a hotel I couldn`t afford as a lone traveler and is NOTHING like my current town. It is much less stressful away from the hodge podge of crazy city living and `you have to attend EVERY lecture`threats. Oofh. Not cool.

I have made it into Fukuoka and will reside in Chikogu, once my apt is ready for me to move in. Until then, I have been put up in another hotel. Its not a bad place but I am itching to have a place called home. Wandering around a bit, things seem familiar and strange at the same time. I walked to a grocery store only to discover it is a Walmart in disguise! I find that I am usually laughing to myself when I see labels or signs on items that I recognize. At the Sunny (Walmart) there was cranberry cocktail a `Great Value` line of product or like last night, there was a sign for Bed Bath and Beyond... but no store associated with it!

School here is different, of course.  Where in the States, we jail ourselves into our buildings, Japan is a bit more open air. Windows arent covered by screens (your expected to have common sense not to fall out of them and bugs are everywhere, so deal with it.) Students walk or take a train to school. Teachers share one office room, they have their own bathroom (we have that in the States, too but the teachers would usually get the nicer bathrooms over the students, it the opposite here). I change slippers to go into different rooms around the building but all in all, its a high school. Its not so different in many respects to school anywhere else.