welcome to my blog (first post)

hi there. welcome to my brand new blog.

i just moved to japan to become an english teacher.

why?

my application essays said: a cross-cultural experience in a foreign environment is a chance to learn more about yourself, others, and how societies work. additionally, continued study of japan(ese) could act as a springboard for grad school.

what i left out: i needed a change of scenery and some space. i wanted to get out of dodge while i was young and free.

so here i am, twenty-four hours in, still a little jet-lagged, dazed, and overwhelmed.

not quite adjusted to the time change yet, i woke up at 5:30 this morning and went for a walk while the streets were still empty and the shops still closed. already it was humid and fairly warm. later in the morning at sensoji temple, a middle-aged japanese man gave me advice on what to see in the asakusa area: the fish market, the plastic food shop, the obon dori on the sumida river tonight, and the mikoshi festival on sunday. he had a notebook in which he'd seemingly written down every event in the tokyo and chiba area for the next two months.

tomorrow is my first day of training. i start working on the 21st. exciting! scary! awesome!