Well I’ve finally arrived in Takefu! I took a train ride from Nagoya on Thursday morning (a 2 hour trip!) and got here just before noon, and the first thing I noticed is that the weather is just so much better here! It’s still hot, but it’s a lot more like home, rather than Nagoya which was just horrible.

I’ve decided to stop uploading tons of photos, as there’s really just too many. I’ll put them in my Picasa Web Albums from now on, and maybe post one or two good ones here on my site. The page of Nagoya Castle photos was just obscene though…

Anyway, this is going to be a relatively short post compared to what I have to say. I just moved in to my apartment yesterday (was staying at a hotel until then) and I don’t have internet access there… so I’ve been wandering around town stealing internet from here and there. Unfortunately the connections really come and go like clouds. The most reliable spot is in the southwest corner of the 2nd floor of the building where I work — right next to all the trashcans. Unfortunately, to get access I have to be standing up. So I’m kind of awkwardly balancing as I do my email and write this — one arm cradling my tablet, the other one typing on my bluetooth keyboard which is balanced on my knee. (My back hurts like hell.) Since I’m in view of my office and all my coworkers, I feel even sillier doing it this way.

So anyway, yesterday and today were my days off. I taught a few classes last week, and starting tomorrow I teach full time. And I do mean full. I’ve got a super busy schedule. But my coworkers are really nice and fun, and my students are too.

Shopping here is also pretty fun. Just like Sam told me back home, the different aisles all have different theme songs playing, telling you to buy their food, not the other aisles’ food. So far, I’ve tried cooking but I’m doing a terrible job. So today I ate charred sausages on blackened toast with eggs over-done. Oh well…

My house is cool. A bit — no, very — Juon-y. I almost had trouble going to sleep, but I was ok. I’ll post some photos of it on my next trip out here. I like it though. It’s roomy enough for me, and it’s 1 minute away from my office (and the grocery store, and the city hall, and the 100 yen store, my Japanese lessons, and every other building of any importance in Takefu). Did I mention that Takefu is the definition of podunk? I don’t really mean that in a bad way. It’s very pretty here… but WOW! There really is nothing here! My coworkers don’t really like it for that reason.

Okay, well I think that’s all the awkward standing my back can take for now. I’ll post some more photos of my house later, and write some more news.

*falls over*