This I just took pictures tonight of my wonderful apartment. It is huge by Japanese standards and beautiful. My loft is the best part but I cannot stand up all the way in it. It comes up to about my chest but is huge. There is more space up there than I can use but it will be nice to put an extra small chair for reading or something. My apartment is very modern in the sense that it has all hard wood floor and no tatami mats. As is normal in Japanese homes, my toilet and bathing room are separate. (As for enjoying simple pleasures) I think my toilet is super cool because it plugs in...who would have thought?! It has the spray wash feature but I don't know if I will ever be brave enough to use it. There is only one closet so it has been hard hiding all my belongings. I do not have a lot of furniture. I do not have a couch or bookshelves or rugs yet but my little apartment is coming along. (I got a desk yesterday!). Anyway, the apartment is wonderful...and
is am happy to be the envy of all the other JETs!
Check out my great apartment:This is the view from the front door in. You are looking in at the kitchen. Then beyond that is the living dining area and the steps up to the loft.
Here is my kitchen. I have an electric stove!! I love it! You can see the wall on the far right corner so that tells you how narrow it is.
From the window at the end of the kitchen looking the other way is the fridge and washing machine. To the right of the washing machine is my recycling center!
This is the view from the end of the apartment looking towards the door.
Here is my beautiful new desk with internet!! (it came yesterday!)

Arrival

I am here. Finally. It is about midnight and what I really need to do is shower and head off to bed but I will keep you posted on how everything is going so far. Here it is in a nutshell:

*The plane ride was long...10 hours from LA to Tokyo
*I question whether I belong here when the toilet and bathroom door are smarter than me
*I know NO Japanese and that is very scary...thank god for good new friends who are helping and teaching!
*Bowing is important...there are three types of bows...know when each is important, but no matter what, just bow whenever you say anything
*Tokyo is way to busy...I would never want to live here in the city
*Business clothing in Japan means something very different than business clothing in America
*Orientation is alright, however, I am getting tired of sitting all day
*Karaoke in Japan in amazing

I am sure there is more...but it is late.

I will post pictures later

mata ne (see you later)

there's no place like home.

I just got the email this week about my placement and I am oh so excited. My welcome letter came complete with maps, a contract and tons of information. I will be working for the Niigata Municipal Board of Education. The best part is that the office is about a 15 minute walk away from my apartment. I will be on a rotation between the 5 local junior high schools. The average winter temperature is -1 to 7* C and the summers are described as tropical. The average snowfall is only one meter! I am very excited to move somewhere with less snow than here.

If you care to write to me...I would love it. Here is my address:
Kitaku-Toei-cho 3-6-2 Ribate haitu 201
Niigata-shi
Niigata-ken, JAPAN 950-3323

Niigata-shi

Today I found out where I will be living. In 65 days I will be moving to Niigata-shi in the Niigata-ken prefecture. At first I was disappointed (mostly because I thought my number was different and I was actually by Osaka where I requested to be) but Niigata is growing on me. Niigata-shi is the capital of the Niigata-ken prefecture (at least as I understand it) and is a city of about 800,000. It is located on the Sea of Japan, north and west of Tokyo. It is a mountain filled area, famous for the ski resorts. As I read on, I am starting to become more and more excited, especially with the sake festival that happens there yearly!