The Honeymoon is Over

Sensei was kind enough to take me driving through the streets of Fujieda today. He said that all the other teachers had to figure it out on their own just with the written driving instructions, but it seems that I am special. (Hopefully not in the special olympics sense of the word). He came to get me around 9:30 this morning and I had made the mistake of not having the driving directions printed off. For some reason I thought he would know where everything was. To make matters worse, I had not installed the printer properly either. I had to find and download drivers and when finally we were able to print, it seemed the ink cartridge decided to take a vacation. A problem that was corrected simply by blowing on the connectors. Finally around 10:30 ( omg, I wasted an hour of sensei's time!) we were on our way.

We drove around to most of the locations I would be teaching at. Sometimes making one trip only to discover that the next trip on the list was very similiar. I don't think Sensei appreciated me making him drive to virtually the same place twice. I also got the opportunity to be introduced to a few of my students. However it seems that the young girls that I teach want to wait until September to start classes. (Perhaps a prelude or total cancellation?) . August is coming as well, which means many other classes with be cancelled due to all the festive activites that month. The upside for me is more Karate, however I need to buckle down and prepare for some dry times, times that don't only affect me, but Senei's ability to cover my rent and pay my bills.

Driving in Japan is also fairly interesting. I kept thinking that Sensei was turning into traffic, but then its only the driving on the left side of the street. I hope I can adapt quickly to that. Tomorrow my mission is to drive to as many places as I can and get accustomed to driving here. Independence must come quick. Sensei is not a baby sitter. I was lucky to have his time today.

After I returned home, it hit me. That pit in your stomach that creeps up and makes you question yourself. I tried to put it out of my head and concentrate on preparing classes, but I am 2 days into a 1 year assignment. I don't think anyone can blame me for feeling overwhelmed. Just then the door bell rang. A young girl was there and she introduced herself as Yui. She had become friends with Robyn's daughters while they were here. Robyn told me that she would come around and speak english. I tried to speak with her a bit in english but also tried to learn some Japanese. Tomorrow is Yui's birthday. She must have told me how to say happy birthday a dozen times but I already forgot again. I hope she comes back. Yui's visit came at the right time and I felt a bit better after she left.

I don't want to lament on this blog or give anyone the impression that I don't think I can handle what I have signed on for. But a blog in its truest form must be the truth, your heart and mind spilled out on the internet. Today was indeed hard and left me feeling a bit down. But when the good comes back, this entry I hope will offer some perspective.

Afterwards, Sensei sent me an email to thank me for todays effort and to day that the first month would probably be very hard for me. Today definatly could have gone better if I had been better prepared. But for Sensei to email me and thank me anyways and focus on the possitive shows his true character and graciousness. I feel now that Robyns boots are very big indeed. She did such a good job while she was here and the notes she left me were very helpful. Of course, not having been so damn good at it may have been helpful too..... haha!

I miss all my friends and family. I look forward to being able to take you all for granted again. I leave you now with a picture from Fujieda that I think well sums up the day.

Ps. Robyn, please check your email and reply to the one from me entitled Help!!! Thanks