here in mito

hi all

arrived in mito yesterday morning after taking a bus from tokyo for about 2.5 hours. i remember now why i dont like japanese cars\busses. japanese people cant drive! its all stop start, stop start. but i survived in one piece

when we got here we had a small meeting with all the new JETs in the whole of ibaraki. then we were walked into a room where someone from our contracting organization was waiting for us.

seeing the meeting was actually in my new office, i didnt have to go far. after that i went and had lunch with the ka-cho and a few other people from my office.

then it was time to meet everyone in my own office and then get seetled in. my predesessor is still here so i have been given a temporary desk until she leaves next week.

at around 6pm i was driven to my host family's house which is about 25 mins walk from the office. the prefectual govt building is the tallest building in ibaraki. 25 floors and has a great view of the surrounding area. in fact it is the only building over about 5 floors in the whole of mito. so it stands out a lot

my host family are really nice. a young couple with 2 children, a boy who is 4, and a girl 8.

i have a room of my own to stay in with a futon. not so comfy but its japan.

i am not going to have to stay with them very long though cause today i went looking for an apartment. i found quite a few that i like and its hard to choose because i decided on the cheaper one, but then the landlord of the more expensive one has offered us a discount so now that one is cheaper. they both have their pros and cons, location, size, kitchen and bathroom. i will decide tomorrow morning after i have gone for a bit of a ride around the area again to see which location would be better.

actually i wont spend much time with my host family at all because the people in my office are going on a trip this weekend and have invited me to come along too. they are going to the hananuki dam to go hiking and "camping" but i think we stay in a lodge. should be fun

my office has one other CIR who is from france and very funny and also an American guy who is here 1 day a week and at teh international association the rest of the week. everyone else is very nice and i have had lots of lunch offers for the days ahead.

in other news, tom thought he would have to go back to australia this weekend cause he has got some kind of infection in one of his fillings and "looks like shrek". when i called him yesterday he was kind of frantic and i ran out of change for the phone in the middle of it. but i called him back later and they have soryed it all out. the dentist he has gone to in tottori had told him that he couldnt get it fixed in japan. but i think he was just people stupid and afraid of gaijins. now he has found anotehr dentist and they will do it for cheap cause one of the golf sponsors is going to give them some free tickets to the tournament. the power of golf in this country.

tom is coming up to ibaraki on monday week so i should be all moved into which ever apartment i choose by then. i think i will be moving on monday next week or tuesday

will write some more soon, but now i should do some work