K-Town

So I am finally in Kakegawa; the city I will be living and working in. I arrived in Kakegawa on Wednesday around 12:36... side note: I've learned that timing is very important in Japan... being even a minute late is a really big deal... While I was training, we would take brakes and our trainer would say, "Okay, it's 7:53, lets break until 8:53!", not 9, or 8:50... 8:53 exactly!!! It was odd at first, but I have gotten used to it... Although I know the concept of being "on-time" would be hard to grasp for some people...
Anyways, Kakegawa is a small town, but it is central to other larger cities such as Hamamatsu, and Shizuoka... apparently that is where all the good shopping is!
So my first day was pretty consistent with training... extremely overwhelming, and exciting at the same time! I observed all lessons today, however, I will be teaching about 7 lessons a day, and so out of one week's worth of work, I have only really observed one day's worth of lessons (if that makes sense) Tomorrow I will be observing some lessons as well as teaching a few lessons! I am excited about teaching! It will be nice to be back in a classroom, and teaching real students! (they are much more forgiving than adults... hahaha) Also I just miss the feeling of being in front of a class... weird, I haven't even become a "real" teacher and I already feel withdraw when I'm away from students... watch out!
So the work-day went well (crazy busy- but good!) and after work I went out with some of my colleagues to a German bar... crazy I know... I was so surprised to see Chimay beer and other Belgium/ German items... It was fun! I was able to practice some Japanese, as well as speak English to some new friends!!! It was a lot of fun!!!

So on a side note... I experienced my first earthquake in Japan!!!
It was my first night in my new apartment, and I was sleeping on in this "loft" sort of thing on a Futon... It was odd sleeping on a futon for the first time, so unfortunately I didn't sleep that well... But I awoke in the middle of the night so a little shaking... at first I thought "humm... that's odd... maybe it's cause I'm on this loft thing..." Then I realized it may be an earthquake... AHHH! However, being the seasoned Californian that I am, I realized it was just a little one and went back to sleep... later I felt a small after shock, but woke up not knowing if it was a dream or not... I told my friend about if and we laughed about it (thinking "i'm crazy to be having dreams about earthquakes...") But later in an orientation meeting, my manager was going over the companies policies and procedures, and mentioned the earthquake last night...! I was so relieved that it wasn't a dream and also kind of excited that I had experienced my first earthquake in Japan! and I survived!!!

This weekend is our kid's Christmas Party as well as the farewell/ welcome party for myself and Stephanie (the outgoing teacher). We are going to celebrate in Hamamatsu (one of the closest larger cities to Kakegawa). Apparently there are going to be like 60 people there! Students as well as all the teachers are coming! I'm really looking forward to it!!! I'll keep you posted ;) (that's a winky face in case you didn't know... hahaha)

Well sorry this was a long one... but hope all is well and I look forward to sharing new and exciting adventures from Kakegawa!!!
O ya sumi! (goodnight :)