So, today was my first day at school. I haven't been sleeping properly because my hotel room is 10 feet away from the Shinkansen track, and the train keeps waking me up. (FUN!) I have to wait until Saturday afternoon to move into my apartment, which sounds like it's pretty far from the school. I'm not entirely impressed with this, given that I thought it was going to be quite close, and I'm in a small town!

But I digress. Today or tomorrow, my manager is going to take me to the local government office to get my ARC (Alien Resident Card) which I must carry with me at all times. I'm excited about this, because it means I can do other things, like set up a bank account, and more importantly, get a cell phone! Ray, Christina and I have decided to get vodaphones. Nobody here talks on the phone. It's ALL text messaging, because minutes are so expensive. It's very disconcerting. It's like the person is taking eons to dial. Curious about all the pretty phones available here, http://www.vodafone.jp/english/products/index.html I haven't decided what I want yet, but I don't want to spend too much on something that's going to be a paperweight when I get home.

This one is winning, because it's prettier: http://www.vodafone.jp/english/products/model_3G/v703sh/index.html But this one has a better camera, so I'm torn! http://www.vodafone.jp/english/products/model_3G/v903sh/index.html

The departing teacher showed me around Akashi during the afternoon. It seems to be a pretty small city from what I've seen. (It's about 300,000 people and there are basically two main grocery stores.) Everything here is concentrated around the train stations, for ease and convenience. Drug store, main department store, covered market (lots of octopus!), Seattle's Best Coffee (and a Starbucks), Pachinko and Slots. Pachinko is this oddball *literally* game where you have to get these silver balls, that look like large ball bearings, into specific slots. VERY popular here.

Sat in on his classes and there were quite good. I also got to watch/help him prepare for a lesson from STP because one of the foreign teachers (FT) was sick. I enjoyed the classes, and they seemed quite interesting. The students also seemed happy to be there.

Went out for food with the departing teacher at (Dining) Hob Nob, which had tacos! Not tako (octopus) but Mexican style tacos. That was yummy. Aside from the roach that kept doing laps on the ceiling. *shudder* That's a bit much for me at times. Found out the departing teacher was in LA and worked as an extra on Firefly! Nuts, eh. This may mean nothing to most people, but I was pretty shocked. We even worked out which episodes he was in.

Just got home, very sleepy. Need rest. More tomorrow.