Kon'nichiwa from Kumamoto

Kon'nichiwa from Kumamoto – what a busy bee I’ve been! Time has simply flown by and, just like that, I haven’t blogged in the last two months. Crazy! So what have I been up to? Well, late December and most of January were taken up in a whirlwind of travel. During a five week period, I took 10 flights. TEN flights! I can tell you honestly that I hope I won’t be airborne again for at least six months’ time! So what did this manic travel include? Well, over the Christmas period we left Tokyo for a 5 day trip to Kumamoto in Kyushu (the Southern island of Japan) in order for Sasha to meet his future employees and for us to go apartment hunting. This we duly did, and found a lovely apartment ready for us to move into in January. Then back to Tokyo (flights 1 and 2).

We had a few days in Tokyo to pack everything up, clean our teeny tiny little room, and bid farewell to the bustling metropolis that is the capital of Nippon. Overall impression of Tokyo? Well, as far as big cities go, it wasn’t too bad. True, I was not a fan of the subway system (nor with having a daily relationship with it!) or the crowds of people, sky scrapers and flashing neon lights. But there were some areas that were pleasant enough, and for the most part Tokyo was clean, its inhabitants friendly, and my overall experience – none too bad.

I flew back to London via Beijing (flights 3 and 4) and after a few days in another capital city, went on to Guernsey (flight 5). A week at home, then back to the UK (flight 6), a whistle-stop day trip to Bath for some last-chance catching up with friends before my return to the orient. We flew from London to Fukuoka airport, via Shanghai (flights 7 and 8) on January 10th. We arrived to Fukuoka late in the evening and spent the night there at a nearby hotel, and the next day got the bus to Kumamoto, our new home. Arriving too late to move in that day, we spent another night in a hotel (the Green Rich Hotel near Sasha’s work where we had stayed in December).

The next day, a mad flurry of activity as we moved into the new apartment (COMPLETELY bare of furniture) and had to go to Nitori (basically the Japanese Ikea) and buy some essential – like a futon, so we actually had somewhere to sleep that night! Feeling like we were finally settling in, we’d been in Kumamoto for less than a week when I was jet-setting again, for a two week training course in Tokyo (flights 9 and 10). Golly, golly gosh – what a busy month. So as you can tell, I’m now extremely pleased to be back in Kumamoto and just getting on with life!

Furniture wise, the place is starting to look a bit more padded out. Aside from the futon (which we have on the floor without a frame, and while it’s firm we find it rather comfortable) we also as of this week have a dining table to go with our four chairs (all second hand). No microwave or oven yet but we have a double ring gas stove with mini grill, a small fridge-freezer and a giant rice cooker that could have a jolly good go at feeding the five thousand. I’ve been putting my amateur DIY skills to use by utilizing all the cardboard boxes we acquired in moving by making furniture out of cardboard. We have a shoe rack, two bedside tables, and today I finished a small bookcase. All I need to do now is figure out how to make a sofa out of cardboard…

Last week, after getting back from my training session, I started work and am pleased to be getting into a routine. I’m working at a private language school similar to the one I worked at in China. I’ll be working from 1 – 9 on weekdays and 10 – 6 on weekends, teaching 50 minute English classes to kids aged 4 – 14, with no more than 6 kids per class. It’s a brand new school, with the opening ceremony this weekend. So at the moment – no students, no classes, no demos, just lots and lots of prep time! Over the past few days I’ve made hundreds of flashcards (without a guillotine so I have grooves and bruises on my hands from excessive use of scissors) and decorated the classrooms. I’m the only native teacher, and there are just two part-time Japanese teachers at the school. It’s small and personal, and the school owner is friendly and very accommodating. I think I’m going to enjoy my work a lot, and of course, a fifteen minute walk to work is roughly a million times better than spending 2 hours of my day on the subway in Tokyo!

That’s all for now – just a brief one to let you know that I haven’t disappeared; I’ve just been super busy and very much without the internet. But fingers crossed we’ll be sorting out Wifi in the next few days, and then I can blog to my heart’s content! Toodle pip for now – sayonara!