Welcome!

Well, it's only taken me about 4 and a half months to get this up and going. I hope it was worth the wait. I know I haven't been the best communicator since I got here. It's been a trial and a half, and I'm finally getting settled in Kyoto.

My first few months were full of challenges. My job was misrepresented financially. My housing situation was less than desirable. Needless to say, my initial joy at being in a new land with strange customs and doing my best to communicate and read signs were overshadowed by these issues.

I am changing my work schedule quite a bit, so things still aren't a routine yet. For now, I'm working from about 10:30pm until 7:30am 4 days a week and then one evening, all teaching English to as many as 3 students at a time over the internet. Crazy world we live in!

I'm somewhat frustrated that I haven't started Aikido yet, one of the main reasons I came here. It will start next month. I'm barely studying Japanese, partly because I reached a plateau where I can get by in most situations. That will be changing as well.

Rather than going all the way back in time, I'm going to start with last week and move forward. I will do my best to slowly include all of my past impressions of this bizarre land as I go forward.

Okay, so I hope you enjoy this. I will be including links to a web page with various photos you can enlarge or save if you want. Feel free to post comments as well. Until then...