Head Explosions

I am in constant danger of these. At least every 3 days, if not every 3 hours, my head reaches its saturation point and I just stop thinking. Wednesday I went to orientation, saw lots of familiar faces that I recognized from the plane ride over, plus a few new faces: 2nd or 3rd year teachers and people who flew in with the first batch of new recruits. So many names - of people, places, things - to remember. Or rather, to forget. More speeches about how we should get involved with our communities and try new things and learn Japanese while we're here. Tips on how to keep ourselves in a sound state of mind. It's all stuff I've heard before, but when I stop to reflect on my last two weeks (!!) here, it really is interesting to see how I am reacting to an enormous amount of stress and information. I'd say quite well so far, and this blog definitely helps. Emails and comments from friends and family help even more :)

I feel well-equipped to handle the next few weeks and months. I have the tools to learn how to survive, now I just need to study them. It's actually amazing how much Japanese I have learned in such a short time because I keep trying out new vocabulary, or writing out the alphabet. It really showed today during our 4 hours (!!!) of Japanaese lessons. I could read what was written on the board, and I found myself reviewing a lot of small grammar points that I had picked up along the way. It's so nice to have these tangible results - and other people really notice. At any rate, I hope I keep it up. The challenge will be not to short-circuit my brain.

And of course, the best part of orientation was meeting people and starting to build a small network of friends who live in this area. I met a few people who will be working about 2 hours south of here, in the furthest corner of the prefecture, a couple of people (Jay's friends, actually) who live nearby and regularly visit the city. One of these pleasant new people has even offered to sell me her car. It's a station wagon, so a bit more clunky than I'd like, especially considering how small the roads are out here, but she's selling it for $700 and the two offers from the car dealer are closer to $4000. I think I'll be going cheaper and less ideal rather than chalking up more than a month's salary. While it will be very convenient for getting around the village, the main reason I want a car is to be able to travel around Japan easily, and I could buy a whole lot of bus tickets for four grand.

Having a car will be my biggest expense by far while I am here. After buying it, there is a car inspection that you need to get every 2 years that costs around $1000. Then there is a car tax in April or thereabouts, $500. There's definitely-not-optional optional insurance. And there are tons of expensive toll roads. To drive 89 km, you will likely have to pay a $20 toll if you take the highway which would probably cut your travel time in half versus driving on the farm roads. Then, if I stay here for more than a year, I'll need to get a Japanese driver's license. The test costs $50 and NO foreigner passes it the first time. The average number of tests taken per person is 3-4. The instructors are incredibly strict and they will find problems where there usually is none. And of course, driving itself can be quite dangerous, and the chances of getting into an accident quite high. Old drivers and bikers apparently have some sort of death wish. There are lots of blind spots out in the country side, there are two-purpose, small drain ditchs off the shoulders of many roads that are used for 1) irrigating the rice fields and 2) trapping the wheels of foreign drivers unaccustomed to their existence. And if you speed just 5 km over the limit, which is quite low usually about 30-50 km/hr, the cops will pull you over. Drive 25 k or higher over the speed limit, and your license will be suspended, you could go to jail, and likely lose your job.

I think whoever designed Japan was very selective about the kind of person who should live in Japan.