Since July 30th...

In Tokyo I:
-Dealt with lost luggage
-Did the whole orientation thing
-Got to see Justin a couple of times
-Managed to make it through about 2 and a half days (about 60 hours) of orientation on less than 20 collective hours of sleep
-Tried to figure out who to thank for pairing an Agnes Scott grad...of Caribbean descent...who has ab-fab music taste with a Spelman grad with the same stats...
-Was stalked for about an hour...
-Met some really cool folks (you know who you are...don't want to embarass anyone)
-Was told "I Love You" by a Japanese girl who was with her boyfriend in a club (perhaps what she meant was lost in translation!)
-Took some interesting pictures (i.e see photo on the right)
-Danced till I dropped (figuratively of course...didn't drop or sleep)

Now, I'm in Chikugo...When we got here we were given our inkan (name stamps), taken to a conveyor belt sushi spot, visited our office at the board of education, and applied for out gaijin cards...then just as I thought that nothing could go wrong, we went to our apartment building...my apartment is a complete and utter disaster. The girl did leave all the things she said she would but I guess I should have asked her about the quality and how clean things were. She left the place a mess. NOTHING WAS CLEAN! There was food in the fridge and freezer, the bed had her sheet and stuff on it, used towels in the kitchen and bathroom, half used toiletries, trash in the trash cans, trash under the bed, dishes in the sink...it is a mess! And it's ancient so the Japanese style so the bathroom sux...plus there's no shower and the tub is filthy and doesn't work...how did I shower this morning you ask? I filled a bucket with hot water and made due. I got a shower installed Friday morning but the filthy little tub still needs to be bleached to death!!! Luckily the shower room is just that--a Shower Room with a drain in the floor so I never even have to look at the tub...So I took pictures of everything and I'm gonna be sure that high up folks hear about it. My parents are really upset of course but I told them that it was pointless b/c there's nothing they can do about it...I've got a lot of work to do...

That was just the first disappointment...that's when the thunderstorm started...OUT OF CONTROL...the thunderstorm was off the chain...it's funny how insulation in the home is taken for granted until you're in Chikugoshi during a thunderstorm...YIKES...after storm we went to Trial...the Wal-martish store...and oh what a trial it was...it's owned by Wal-mart...anyway I got some groceries and stuff to start cleaning...when I got back out to my bike (one of two...this one has a basket, the other will too soon and a mount on the back too) lock would not open...so after about two hours of asking people to try to unlock it, asking for directions home (b/c we couldn't remember how to get back home and it was dark), calling folks all over the region for one specific number, and breaking a hack saw...I finally contact one of the teachers who's been here for a while and he comes and tells me to take his bike and his girlfriend led us home on her scooter...this morning he said..."All we had to do was put some oil on it!"

That night I walked around opening closets and stuff and I started pulling things out to get rid of them...dern trash sorting here is complicated...I was so tired that I was delerious...b/c I didn't go to sleep the night before...we went to Gonpachi in Shibuya...you know the the fight scene in the restaurant in Kill Bill 1? Well, It was a replica of Gonpachi and which is near Roppongi subway. But we didn't go to that one, we went to the one in Shibuya. And we went to Harlem, a club in Shibuya that is famous for being the top hip hop club in Tokyo that I hear is one of the few that still plays pretty much all hip hop. It was nice. Every guy had to have a woman with him...someone said it was to keep down the fighting...so I guess the estrogen supresses the testosterone or something. Before it was no foreigners allowed, then they were allowed if accompanied by a Japanese person because of fights, cops, etc. I came in at like 6 something, showered, put on my suit, collected my luggage, ate breakfast, and flew down here to Fukuoka....anyway I was about to go into my "office" at home and I went to walk from my room through the kitchen and I swear I saw someone sitting at the table, then they disappeared and I almost had a heart attack, backed up, and closed the door...I was so freaked out that I slept with the light on after praying up a storm.

The next morning we came to the office for about an hour then we went to open our bank accounts. Which was a doozie b/c apparently Japanese people have perfect handwriting and they don't make mistakes to be scratched out on forms. Each of us had to rewrite our applications 3 times...and my silly self had to do a fourth because when I finaly got it right, I misspelled my own middle name...you can call me Nasha. At lunch time we went to a Ramen shop...it was really good! At lunch I was talking about my place with the two other new JETs and they obviously thought that I was crazy b/c I was disappointed with how the apartments look... "I'm just so excited to be here that I didn't care what it would look like!" "No, you just nasty," is what I wanted to say.

We met the big boss on Monday...everyone was all stressing about learning their self-introductions in Japanese and it was the most relaxed meeting ever...he made sure that he knew something about each of our states...it was sooo cute...for Georgia he was like..."Georgia on my mind...yes Ray Charles...it's in the southern part of the US...hot there..." atleast that's what I gathered b/c it was all in Japanese

I interject...to discuss the kindness of folks in these parts!
When my bike lock got jammed at the store, all the people I asked to help tried their absolute hardest to try to unlock it and they even seemed a little disappointed that they couldn't really help me. Also when I went to the store the other day I asked these two ladies if what I was looking at was spray starch (which it was...yay...10 points for me!) And they had a debate about which was best...the spray kind or the kind that you wash your clothes in...at least that's what I think the conversation was about...then when I gestured that I wanted the spray kind they decided which of those was the best...lol...gotta love it!

Yesterday we went to Yame...When we got to the fireworks site (Noriko's Office) there was already another group there...and they invited us to come over and eat all their food and drink all their beer so of course the gaijin in us was a little timid at first then that same gaijiness was like "OK, FREE FOOD AND DRANK!" It was really nice! I had plenty of orange juice cuz I'm a party animal! They had all kind of seafood (King Crab legs, shrimp, other shell fish, etc!) It was great...plus I got to bring my little snacks back home! (YAY...the lady who liked my hair yesterday just smiled at me....hehehe!) The women there were Noriko, Ikuko, and Akiko...then there was Yumiko (Yumi, thank God for nicknames)...Wanna talk about confusing! One of them (Ikukuo or Akiko, I feel bad for not knowing) is going to have a Shabu Shabu party for me at her house for my birthday! YAY! I took plenty of pix before my stupid batteries died...drunk Japanese men, women in beautiful Yukatta, food galore...it was great...i've got to find some lithium batteries in the interim between now and my 1st check/new digicam...oh yeah and did I mention that Yame is like 30 min by bike...a straight shot but I was a little worried about how much everyone would drink before the bike ride back home! I volunteered to be the designated biker while filling up on orange juice...We all got home fine though.

Tomorrow we get the official introducation to the office which should be interesting to say the least. Bow, take some piece of paper, and that's all...we'll see if it's really going to be that simple...Tonight we're going to the Tosu Premium Outlets...bunch of Euro/Amer clothing/shoes stores, etc. Don't plan on spending much though...just don't me figure out how to get there on my own...At the moment, I'm in the office "working" (miming typing action) and "waiting" (miming drinking action) for 4:30 to go to the Tosu Premium Outlets! YAY sho-pin-gu!!!

Since I've been in Fukuoka, I have:
-Gotten a shower installed
-Called out my Predecessor about how nasty she left the place
-Hung out in Fukuoka City
-Saw Fireworks and sang Karaoke in Kurume and Yame
-Sorted and recycled trash
-Heard "Wow" when someone looked at me
-Been on a bicycle more than I have walked
-Eaten all kinds of yummy stuff

So yes this is probably the longest blog ever...and hopefully there won't be many that are quite this long.