Tidbits of our first few weeks in Fukuoka, Japan

• one hour of sleep after packing all night to catch our early morning flight
• flew 3 hours to Dallas/Fort Worth, short layover, 12 hour flight to Tokyo (interesting airport!), 5 hour layover, 2 hour flight to Fukuoka....long flight wasn't so bad because we had a whole row to ourselves!
• Linda (principal) and several of the business office men met us at the airport and took us to our first home...Twin Momochi Hotel (smallest room EVER but comfortable enough)
• spent first few days apartment hunting....boy was that a whirlwind!!!
• out of the 10 or so apartments that we looked at, we finally found one that we liked! but...they would NOT rent to us because we were foreigners!
• met several new friends...teachers at my school...very welcoming!
• I started Teacher Work Week on Monday, August 24 while Tim, the house husband, kept apartment hunting!
• He found THE apartment on Tuesday of work week...hooray!
• Work Week was full of meetings, adjusting to a new school (always the case when you're new), and not much time in the classroom. However, I got my classroom ready in a record ONE DAY. It doesn't have ALL of my cute stuff so it really doesn't feel like MY classroom yet.
• Tim went to "Recycle Shops (thrift stores with mostly new-ish things)," 100 Yen stores (dollar stores), did laundry in the hotel, and started Rosetta Stone. His Rosetta Stone lessons provided the entertainment since we couldn't understand anything on TV.
• ate lots of yummy Japanese food--great sushi/sashimi...our favorite was okonomiyaki--a Japanese pancake
• school (with kids) started on Thursday of work week...OH MY--My Kindergarteners are THE CUTEST children in the entire world!!!
• first few weekends consisted of: eating out with new friends, dinner at Linda's beautifully decorated apartment overlooking the water (my principal), Karaoke, riding our new and gently used bikes, relaxing at the beach and river, exploring Fukuoka, Fukuoka International School (FIS) Faculty BBQ--staff brought side dishes and school provided the meat and beverages, night out in Tenjin at an English Pub and Nordic Club, lunch at an the fanciest food court I've ever seen and it was underground, Happy Hour at the Banana Bar on the beach, cookout on Lori's island (fabulous except the GIANT spiders--could you hear me screaming?)...TOO much fun!
• waiting for the so-called Culture Shock to hit!