We made it to Japan!

Hello from Japan! We have been slow to post our first blog since we have limited internet access, but we have finally found a place for free internet. It has been an adventurous first few days. The first day we arrived we had to run around town figuring things out like a bank account, phone service, city registration, and gathering food. We were quite tired by the end of the day. The plane ride was quite long and Angie got a little sick. The second day was all the busier. Fortunately, we got to sleep in. The people here are overly nice. Not very many people speak English so it is very difficult to set things up. Our new friend and coworker Ako has been carting us around and showing us the town. She is super cool and we are very blessed to have her otherwise we would not be able to do anything. (She speaks very good english).

We had our first day at school which was rather uneventful. They are getting ready for the new school year so we have little to do besides look at our school books. The people at school are very nice but again they know very little english so it looks like it will be a very quite job. It is very frustrating not knowing the language but we are looking forward to learning.

Our apartment is very nice and was mostly furnished.. we are having to buy a few little things for it but it is very nice and is rite in the center of Hirosaki so we are close to everything except the school which is about a 15 minute train ride.

Here are some of the funny/different things about Japan that we are already experiencing:

• They use this thing called a "hunkle" that you have to stamp after your signature for official documents. It is a stamp of your family name (John had to have ours specially made, but in the stores they have "hunkles" of all the family names in Japan.)
• The toilets are in the ground so you have to squat over the toilet rather than sit on it.. this is quite awkward!
• Everywhere you go it is freezing!!! They do not have heat unless you have a special heater to heat a room.
• They have mirrors on the roads so you can see around the corner and you drive wherever you want on the road you just have to avoid hitting other cars.

I am sure there will be more later and many things we cant think of at the moment! We are unable to attach any pictures at the moment b/c we are at a public computer but will attach pictures as soon as we can! We will write soon.. we miss you all!