My first day in Nihon

Minasan Konbanwa!  (good evening everyone!)


I'm in Japan!  My hostel is great, the room is bigger than I expected.  I had a great chat to the taxi driver in Japanese so that was a good start to my language learning.  I could understand most of what he was telling me.  I think he may have been telling me a few fibs though cos he was talking alot about the time he was surfing during a typhoon in Miyazaki (4 hours drive from here).  He said the waves were 10 metres high.  It was entertaining though!


I had a fantastic flight from Auckland to Bangkok, (12hours) and then an ok flight from Bangkok to Fukuoka (6hours).  My hostel is great, really clean and tidy and the reception lady is lovely.


It's it extremely hot!  (Atsui!) At the moment its 7:30pm and it's still 32degrees.  I've just been to the supermarket to get some water cos the tap water tastes yuck, really sulphury. Apples are about $2.50 each and individually wrapped!
 
Earlier today I went for a walk to find my language school.  To get there I walk past the big Fukuoka castle.  The moat is really impressive with lots of pretty water lillies growing all around it.  I'll go in the castle park this week and try and get a photo of a ninja for Jared.  I don't think I'll find a real ninja though sorry.


I'm going to go and get my dinner now.  In the hostel cafeteria it's Ramen (chinese style noodle soup) tonight and something with sesame seeds (I couldn't understand the rest).


Have a great first week back at school.  It feels funny to not be there.  Miss you all heaps.


O genki de (take care)
Amelia (aka Miss Whiting)

You found it! Yokatta! (you did it!)

Yokoso (Welcome)
Welcome to my blog!  Before I enbark on my journey to Japan, this is what I know:
I will be staying in a little bedroom with a little bathroom, in a big hostel.  I will be sharing the lounge and kitchen with other foreigners and locals.  I will be walking distance to my language school in a big city (Fukuoka) of 1 million people.  Whew!  I will be studying Japanese 6 hours a day in little classes of 3 students, and I will be exploring the city.  I'm hoping to explore the region on the weekends.  
I will visit some primary schools and find out about how schools run in Japan. 
I'll post interesting photos and things I find out as I go.
I'm looking forward to eating fresh udon and ramen (noodles). nabe (hotpots) and bento (Japanese lunches which have rice, meat or veges, pickles and seaweed).  Yum!!!  And I'm looking forward to drinking lots of barley and jasmine tea (it will be hot over there and barley tea is served cold in summer).
When I come back I'm hoping to have new ways of teaching Japanese, and lots more knowledge of the Japanese language and culture.  I'm looking forward to sharing my learning with you!
O genki de ne!  (take care aye)  Mata jyugatsu (see you in October).
Amelia Whiting