I’ve been expecting to start to feel overwhelmed or frustrated with living in a strange place in which I don’t understand the language, etc., but that feeling hasn’t come yet. I feel so at home already. I’m able to spend all my time (outside of talking with my fellow students) without using a word of English and still be understood.

Granted, it’s not all easy. For example, I spent about ten minutes outside of a restaurant tonight trying to memorize the name of one or two items on the menu so I could order with confidence, but I decided not to go into it, because I think I looked silly standing there for ten minutes. No problem,I just found another place that had a little simpler item I could easily remember. It was this “Otsumami Nagoya setto” which was just a little plate of beef stew type stuff, a wooden skewer with a breaded meat, another two with some chicken wing stuff, both glazed in a delicious sauce covered with sesame seeds, and a couple of warm rice and egg sushi like things wrapped in seaweed and a tube of plastic. It was absolutely delicious, and I’m kicking myself for not taking a picture of it.

Our classroom overlooks Central Nagoya station, and we had the window open listening to the train announcements all day. During the breaks we could just look down and watch the 500 and 700 series shinkansen pulling in and out of the station on a sunny but snowy day. It’s pretty much heavenly. I’ll let you all know when I start to get a little frustrated as soon as it comes.