Settling In

Events occur 8/1/08, written 8/3/08

On Friday I finally obtained my luggage from the school. By then I had my oven set up, I had slept in my apartment, I had completed my paperwork for a foreign resident and basic utilities, and I had learned to take the bus with my shiny new bus pass. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still afraid of a massive mukade (centipede) winding up in my bed at night or of finding a tarantula in my sock drawer, but everything seems to be going nicely so far. While I’m in a well developed area, we still live in very close proximity to the jungle and the noises make for a nice background music for sleeping. On Friday I also had my first meeting with my kouchou (principal) and that seemed to go well. Everyone liked the fact I brought in a sushi obentou for lunch. They kept laughing and talking about the fact I said “dai-suki desu” when referring to sushi. Hmm, wonder if that means I like sushi too much. I’m sure I’ll find out eventually.

I have discovered that Ben, my predecessor, left big shoes for me to fill, and I don’t just mean that metaphorically. He literally left his shoes here at work. His shoes and all his papers from his desk are exactly where he left them while he was working, so it was a bit strange for me to clean out someone else’s desk. He was quite good at what he did, but I’m still relatively confident that I have something to offer they haven’t seen. After all, how many line dancing chemists from Georgia come through these parts, anyway?

No, I didn't take pictures of Ben's shoes. If you're really disappointed, I'm sure there's a website somewhere out there just for you.