the pee pole

I am writing this from Tokyo Japan.
Finally, the trip I have been preparing for SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO long is happening. I have emailed a lot of people some of this text, but some is new. From now on I will post my updates on here.
So much has happened so this is going to be a long one.
I am staying at the Asakusa Central Hotel, which
is in the really great area of Asakusa. Right around the corner is a temple and lots
of shops and places to eat. AND PEOPLE......there is a Studio Ghilbi
shop, which means there is a shop full of My Neighbor Totoro and
Kiki stuff. I was freaking out!!

This morning I woke up at 5am which was good and had to be at the
training at 9am. I started my day off right by watching a children's morning
show complete with Hello Kitty cartoons!! It was the best EVER! So
cute and the commercials are so funny. Today I had training alllllll
day. It was really overwhelming and tiring. So much info to go over
and so much to prepare for. I signed my contract today which makes it
official. I am feeling really good though. It is going to be a hard
job, but I am going to love it and its going to be really good for me.
I am going to learn a lot, I can tell.
One of the things that is a little over whelming is all the procedure and etiquette we must follow. And there is just all this etiquette you are not aware of. Like we have to do all this stuff at the school to be polite, but it is going to be
hard to remember and some stuff that is just going to be hard to adjust to, like you cannot be sick in Japan. Well you can be sick, but you have got to come to
work anyway. They would prefer you to come in, vomit all over your
desk and then tell you to leave. You can take sick days, but you
better be sick because they want to see a receipt from the pharmacist
saying you bought a bottle of aspirin or they want to see a note from
the hospital. It is a little intense.
OH yeah like today me and this Canadian girl were crossing the street,
but we did not realize the pedestrian sign was on so we just
walked across. We looked up and an old man yelled at us. I felt so
bad, but that is part of living abroad. You have got to make a lot of
adjustments in the way you live and act. It can be hard.

OH I almost forgot! I did something really fun today. At the shrine around the corner you can do this really fun fortune thing for a $1. You shake up the tin can full of chop sticks, then you
pull one out and it has kanji written on it. You make your kanji to
the kanji to a drawer. Inside is your fortune, it’s kind of long and
written in English and Japanese. I kept it. I got the best fortune.
Literally that's what the title was "the best fortune"!! HAHAHA It basically said my life is going to be good. The Canadian girl got a really bad one though so she had to hang it up so it does not come
true.
Also, everything here is cute. Like everything, everything everywhere. Case in point: I have got to give a urine sample. The package of the stick you pee on is SO CUTE!!!!!!! It is called Pee Pole, it has two funny characters on it!!! HAHAHAHAHAH
The stuff in the 100yen sore by the way SO cute, and they have everything you could want or need. They even sell Hello Kitty stuff in there. And the commercials!!! Don’t get me started. There is this one with a girl that runs up to a gigantic lemon and jumps on it and squeezes it and the lemon sort of moans in pain and she just keeps squeezing it. It is so weird and cute at the same time.
The bath tub, when you sit in it comes up to my chin which is so great. In fact everything fits me! YIPPIE! When riding on the train, I reach up and can actually grab on the little handles dangling from the bars, to help you gain your balance. That was really great for me.
WOW I just realize that I am totally experiencing the first stages of culture shock! HAHAHAHAH Which is seeing everything as being great, or better than your home country. Whatever I am enjoying it.
OK got to get in the shower and start my day.

Ja mata to ne!