Dartboard

Less than 24 hours later and I'm beginning to feel how isolated I really am out here. I was unpacking pictures this morning and I just started crying. I even surprised myself. Again, not because I want to go home. I just want to be able to talk to my family and tell them everything that's going on. I spent so much time with everyone before I left that now I just feel so alone. It seems very quiet, even with the TV on because I can't understand anything.

I will have about 5 classes at Nakogoto High School three days a week and some at Wakamatsu Junior High School two days a week. I don't start teaching until September, but I still have to go into work. Actually, tomorrow I am making a speech to the entire school. It's Peace Day... yeah, the day we dropped the A-bomb in Nagasaki. Wonderful day to be an American in Nagasaki... making a speech... to a bunch of students that I have to teach the next year!!! I'm sure it'll be fine, but it's a bit unnerving.

I'm spending my first night in my own apartment in Narao. (Last night I stayed with Catherine because we wanted to be together.) It feels so good to finally be here. But it's quiet. The fan makes noise, the cicadas are still singing outside and I just tested my alarm clock, but other than that, it's just me here!

So my apartment building is like this large block of cement. At first I was disappointed, but then I realized as soon as I started going up the stairs how cool is it. It keeps the heat out and the warmth in. I remember from my trip to Brazil that Jorge's apartment in Sao Paulo was also cement. So aesthetically it's not too pleasing, but when it's this hot, who cares?

The front of my apartment. I love on the second floor on the far left.

The back of my apartment. That's my balcony on the second floor.

The inside of my apartment is great too. It's really roomy. Nice wooden floors in the hallway and kitchen, then two large tatami rooms that are my living room/bedroom.

The third tatami room is separated from the rest of the house and I still can't decide if it's going to be my closet or what. You see, all the rooms have these movable walls so I can "close" the kitchen door, and "close" the living room door, but I can't close my bedroom from the living room. I know it's hard to explain and I'm still figuring it out. I'd take the small room for my bedroom except the air conditioning never gets into that room so it's really hot!!

This is my shower room and the washing machine just to the right.

The sink is at the end of the hall and the toliet has a room of its own.

Today I started to make the place home. Before Hatakeyama came to pick me up for our grocery run, I brought out my photos and started hanging them on the fridge, on the bathroom mirror and on the corkboard. Actually looking at all the photos made me a bit teary-eyed, but more in a nostalgic way than in a I-want-to-go-home way. I miss you all and would love a call sometime. I have confirmed that my telephone is up and running so I'm just waiting for a ring. =)

My kitchen where I've hung pictures of family on the fridge and walls.

Ah, our town's church bells are ringing. It's 9 o'clock. We also have this interesting town announcement thing that goes on a couple times a day. I guess if you're too small to have a TV station, too small to have a radio station, too small to have a newspaper, then you can have a PA system and just broadcast the news all over the town. It really surprised me the first time I heard it because I thought it was a tsunami warning, but no, it was reminding us of the sumo tournament being held in Kamigoto today. (Yeah, this is a small town.) But we DO have a karaoke bar in town. This wouldn't be Japan without karaoke. There's just one room, but I guess all 2,500 of us can share.

My fellow island-dweller, Catherine, is also having a hard time with island life. We've made plans to go to a neighboring island called Naru next weekend for a Gotos block party. I think Naru has a couple hundred people, so maybe Narao will feel big when we get back.

Actually, today I went north to Kamigoto/Aokata to do some shopping with Hatakeyama-sensei. The drive is really beautiful, full of hairpin turns on this narrow road that borders the peninsula's edge. It's just under a half hour away and there are three, yes, count them THREE, supermarkets. Hatake said we could go to all three to find the best prices, but I insisted we do all the shopping in one store. I also got to try Goto udon, a type of udon noodle that the Gotos are famous for. They were oiishi!!

On the way home we took a back road and I got to see part of the route where the Monster Man Triathlon is held each June. Hatake said I could go running or biking on this road, just watch out for the "wirud boorus." "The wirud boorus? ...Ohh, the wild boars!" Yeah, Hatake saw a whole family of them, father, mother, and three children, crossing the road one night. "But won't they chase after you?" "Oh, that's okay, they can't move except straight, so you can just turn fast." Just what I want to do, Z-line it home so the wild boars don't catch me.

So, tomorrow is the big day. For those of you who don't have to give an introduction speech at a Japanese high school Peace Assembly, let me remind you, August 9th is the day America dropped the A-bomb on Nagasaki. It'll probably go over well... "Hi, I'm American. Yeah... from that country that bombed your prefecture 68 years ago killing hundreds of thousand of your people. I look forward to teaching you my language for the next year. Have a nice summer."

Well, it's nearing bedtime. Hatake will be downstairs to pick me up tomorrow at 7:30 a.m. for my first day of work! I have to wear a suit because of the assembly and I'll be meeting kocho-sensei (our principal) for the first time tomorrow. It's so hard to wear a suit in this weather, but I guess they pay me enough to do it.

Love and prayers for internet,
Sierra