And so the adventure begins...

We arrived in Takamatsu at 9 PM (5 AM PST) and were picked up by the Owner of the GEM Schools, Myuki. Myuki has been living in this area and running this successful chain of English schools for more than 30 years. Her English is way better than most people, but not 100%...no biggie. We were so tired and the kids were so tired that we could barely hold a conversation anyway. :)

Right off the bat I noticed two things when we finally arrived at our new apartment in Kanonji; first, we had a lot of things ready for us, and second, the place smelled like a 90 year old beach house. At 10 PM after traveling for most of an entire day all you care about is sleep. We were greeted with a twin mattress and a double futon complete with bedding. We went directly to bed. When we woke up we found food in the pantry: flours, sugar, spices, pasta, oil, cookies, peanut butter, etc. There was food in the fridge: bread, milk, cheese, frozen meat and veggies and ice cream! We have a couch, TV, bookcases, dressers, a large fridge and a washing machine. Can you imagine? I have friends who moved to England a few years ago to work for a car rental company. When they arrived they had to live in a hotel for several weeks and then moved into a home with nothing but their clothes. The husband told me, "we didn't even have a blanket for the kids to sleep with." So the reception here could not have been warmer.

On the other hand, the smell. Have you ever been to an old beach house? It's damp, and dank, none of the flooring matches, nor do the walls, and none of the ancient towels match. I need a Home Depot, Costco, and Target! The mildew. Yikes. I had a headache for the first 24 hours just from the smell. I'm now battling that smell somewhat with scented oil. I'm sure I'll get over it.

The GEM School head teacher, Mark and his wife, Stephanie took us for a small tour of the city on foot to show us helpful businesses like the grocery stores and the best place to get a hair cut. The kids were so done within about 5 minutes because it's just so hot. Oh well, the show must go on. At the grocery store we ran into our first large groups of Japanese people. Everyone bows so much around here...I'm really trying, but I always feel like I should smile and say thank you...wrong! I should bow. Crap, I can't be perfect on my first day.

So they have live eels at the grocery store. You have to get a net and fish them out of a salt water bins that also have flounder, snails and other fish. There is so much fish here you would think you were shopping at the Pike's Place fish market. Other than that the store was a lot like a Smith's only everything is smaller. Small shelves, small food, small customers. Everything is smaller except prices. Prices are surprisingly similar to US prices, but most are more expensive. Just to give you an idea. To buy a cold diet coke in a bottle costs about 110 yen. 80 yen = $1. A quart of milk is 208 yen. A bag of carrots is 80 yen. A small plate of sushi is 350 yen. Our hosts pointed out the "Japanese sandwiches," which are seaweed wrapped rice with fish for 150 yen...pass.

All and all we are doing great. We need our AC unit to get fixed, but other than that we don't really have any complaints. The battery in my camera died and I'm not sure where the charger is, so I'll post new pictures as soon as I can. Here are a few from today, when Adam taught his first class. 5 kids met us at the park and played duck, duck, goose with the Shumbabies. It was so fun. My favorite part was when "Daisy" brought me wild flowers she had picked. A present and I'm not even her teacher. It was precious.