Arrival

After a couple of uneventful flights I arrived in Fukuoka last night around 8:15 PM local time (4:15 AM PST...).
I took a cab from the airport to my host family's apartment.
My host mother greeted me at the door showed me my room (See pictures below) and offered me some true japanese cuisine...a turkey sandwich. I was more tired than I was hungry but I ate it with pleasure.
She then introduced me to their miniature dachshund named "Pudding".
Soon afterwards her son arrived back from study school.
He is my age and is hoping to get into tokyo university.
The son speaks some english, so communication went on a bit more smoothly after he arrived.
They seemed a bit amazed and surprised when I told them that I play the drums and keyboard and that I really like Japanese food, especially sushi.
I brought up google maps and showed them Lopez. They were a bit confused at first because they thought I was from Washington DC.
I got a more extensive tour of the house, how to use the bath, shower, toilet and had only a few miscommunications on the way.
I then took a quick shower before heading to bed around 10:30.
Overall, I'm very glad to have finally made it.
Although it didn't take long before I realized I have a lot of work to do in terms of improving my Japanese, but hopefully it won't take too long to become at least slightly proficient.
I have no plans for the rest of the day. I may see the city a bit more, or visit the language school.
For right now I'll just finish my delicious Onigiri that I bought at the Tokyo airport.

じゃまった
ja matta
(talk to you later)

I'm on my way

Hello Friends, Relatives and Acquaintances,
Today (October 30) I will begin my 7 month stay in Japan.
For those of you not familiar with what I will be doing here's the definite plan so far.
The first half of my stay is essentially mapped out already.
For the first two months I will be doing a home-stay and attending a language school in Fukuoka, Japan.
In January I will begin volunteering on an organic farm outside of the city.
After a short trip to Korea to renew my visa, I will go back to volunteering on another organic farm located somewhere else in Japan.
During March and April I hope to be traveling as much as I can to see the rest of the country up until May when I return to the language school in Fukuoka.

I hope to use this blog as a way to let everyone know how/what I am doing over there. I will do my best to update it as much as possible.
If you have anything you'd like to say or a a question you'd like to ask me feel free to leave a comment on the post and I will reply as soon as I can.