Finally! Home internet! And a phone! I'm getting settled in here.

I took the trip to get my visa expanded on my own. Took the train to Tokushima, no big deal. I've done that before. After I got there, I realized that I'd have to take a city bus the rest of the way, which meant recognizing kanji that I'd never seen in combination before. But, I got it right the first time, and thankfully the bus driver was familiar with helping foreigners, since the immigration office was on his route. I thought it would be a weeks long process, but instead I waited at the office for 5 minutes, and then they handed me a card that stated that I have permission to work 28 hours a week.

On Friday, Brent's supervisor, who is incredibly nice and helpful even though I'm not her responsibility, took me to the employment office to look up some English teaching jobs. I got several leads, and I'll be dropping off some resumes on Monday. Later that evening, there was an enkai (a work party) for Brent's Board of Education (basically a school district) and I was invited along. It was a nomihodai, which means "all you can drink." So, lots of beer (but I still haven't had Kirin!) and plum wine. The food was mostly sashimi, which I'm getting used to. I even tried tako (octopus.) The taste was pretty decent, but it was very very chewy. I ended up swallowing it pretty much whole.

And today, sweet sweet home internet. And a cell phone! Woo!

Some random pictures (from the Naruto album, which has been updated.)