GOAL!!!

Game Time!

What a whirlwind of a week its been!  I've successfully found an apartment even though I don't get to move in until Friday,  had my first few days at school (kids don't come until this Wednesday), and even had the opportunity to attend a professional soccer game!  It was a top J-League game and I was quite impressed with the level of play, along with the die-hard fans cheering!  It reminded me a lot of a European soccer game with the fans going crazy and just that soccer field atmosphere.  Between the two teams that were playing, there were seven players playing who represented the Japanese national team during the World Cup!  In going to the game with people who had been before, a very unique thing that I discovered was the fact that you can buy food and drinks outside of the stadium and are freely able to bring them in.  We stopped at a grocery store to pick up some food and a drink or two on the way and then headed to the match.  The team I was cheering for won and it almost made me feel like I was back in Europe for the evening with the soccer fever atmosphere.  :)

The guys I went to the game with-the guy next to me teaches at my school and the others all play ultimate frisbee, a game I might just have to try!

The opposing team fans, relentlessly cheering

The heat here in Tokyo has been pretty intense-temperatures have been climbing up to 100 degrees (38-39 C for those Europeans out there) and with all of the humidity, it seems like you can never stay dry.  I've been impressed with the Japanese way of dealing with it...they simply carry a towel with them wherever they go.  If you can imagine almost like a washcloth that you carry with you to wipe away the sweat when you need it, you've just about got it!  The Japanese are constantly using the towels and its almost as if you are abnormal if you don't have one.  I was given one as a gift upon my arrival and since I'm doing my best to blend in despite being western and tall, you better believe mine is being used all the time :)

Me and Rei!

I had the privilege of meeting up with one of my former students from the International School of Luxembourg today for lunch!  She is Japanese and moved to the US for a Japanese-American boarding school, when her parents moved back to Tokyo.  I had coached her and taught her for two years at ISL and hadn't seen her in three years!  She happened to be home in Tokyo for the summer before her last year of high school so it was perfect to meet up.  She took me to a very Japanese restaurant and then we had some fun taking pictures in the Japanese photo booths!  It was great reconnecting and just  hearing what she has been up to the past few years.  She loved hearing what I thought about Japan and I took it as quite a compliment that she told me I was good with my chopsticks! :)

My hotel toilet seat

The toilet seats here are quite impressive!  You can heat them if you want, have them make noises in a public bathroom if you don't want people to hear you doing your business, and then they even have these buttons that shoot water out with the water pressure of your choice to rinse you off if you desire that!  I have played around with them a little but haven't been too adventurous yet!  Maybe I'll get brave and give it a try one of these days! 

The staff at school are great and very welcoming, and I hear the kids are just the same.  So many people have reached out to me and offered to help with anything I need, which has been amazing!  I'm slowly learning names and am excited for the students to show up and get the school year started!  I have been invited to various social outings and the athletic director had all of the coaches over to dinner at her place on Friday.  She cooked a nice American meal, complete with cheesy potatoes so it felt a little like home!  I'm planning to try out a different church tomorrow and eventually find a community that suits me.  Hope you all are well-its been great hearing from so many of you!