This country never fails to amaze me...

It's been nearly four months since I landed in Narita airport completely confused and overwhelmed. While I've finally settled into my surroundings, I discover new things/situations every day/week.

As of me writing this post, my first semester at "yamadai" has ended. I've finished my classes, fumbled through my test, and come out clean. While I've seen improvement in my Japanese ability, it's not where I want it to be. I think it was kinda foolish to look back and think that I could become near fluent in only one year. But, I'm not giving up. I've figured out that I do want to do something with my Japanese, that's for sure. However, it's not going to be an easy goal. But, I am ready for a challenge.

My "haru yasumi" or spring break, will be packed full of stuff to do. On Monday, I started my new part time job over here. I'm working at a korean restaurant called, "Tomiden". While my job consists of mainly washing dishes, cutting vegetables, and, eventually, cooking food, the place is a pretty fun place to work. Michael got me the job since a lot of the Korean workers are returning home soon. The kicker is: Only 3 or so people at the restaurant can speak English. While this may sound scary, I think working here well be a great way to improve my Japanese speaking and listening ability.

In addition to working a few times a week, my break will consist of a lot of traveling. While it's still in the planning stages, I'm more than likely going to see a lot of cool shit these next two months. In a few days, I'll probably go see some stuff around Yamaguchi that I haven't got to see yet, head back to Hiroshima and Iwakuni to meet some friends up I made there, and then at the end of the month head up to the middle of Japan and go skiing with Sean and Michael. I'm pretty excited about the skiing trip since I've never been.

However, March may prove to be even more fun. Sean and I are going to spend a week or a week and a half in Kyoto and Osaka. We'll go see Bloc Party in Osaka (one of my favorite bands), check out some shrines & castles, then head up to Kyoto, and maybe eventually to Kobe or Okayama. And maybe in April, I'll head up to Tokyo for a week for my birthday and go and experience one of the biggest cities in the world. While none of this is set in stone besides the Osaka trip, i'm excited nonetheless.

I've got a funny story to share, but I'll have to get to it in another post..