Maybe some some more info would be good

So, I want to try and be able to write as much as I can. Preferably about once a week or so. But certainly there will be times when that won't be possible.

Oh, and perhaps you should check and see if your computer can display Japanese. Here is a test:
-(あいうえおアイウエオ)-

So if that looks like squares and/ or random characters, then you can't display Japanese correctly. You can add support under Control Panel>Regional Language Settings. Well, I think anyway. That's for PC, but I am using a Mac, so I can't really check. I probably won't be typing that much Japanese anyway, because no one can read it....

Anyway, we traveled to Hamamatsu to visit the Hamamatsu BEST club and attend their barbecue and sports day. Japanese barbecue is nothing like American barbecue except for maybe the fact that fire is involved... We ate yakiniku and yakisoba, which probably means nothing to most of you, but you should prepare yourself now for lost of Japanese words that don't have a direct translation. In short, yakiniku is barbecued beef and/ or pork, and yakisoba is fried noodles with vegetables and meat. It's pretty much one of the most delicious things ever when it is done at a barbecue.

Things still feel kinda awkward, because I can't speak very much Japanese, so it is harder to start building relationships at this point, but the students are very excited to have us there, and it's only been maybe a week, so I'm really just meeting many of them for the first time. I've also realized that I am totally out of shape...

I have arrived!

So, after a massive delay on my flight to Japan, I have finally arrived in Japan. Right now, it seems like I am doing a lot, but it's probably because I am becoming adjusted to living in Japan again. Compared to my home in Pennsylvania, the time here is 13 hours ahead, which is a brutal adjustment for jet lag. So, because of that, things just feel like they take a lot longer, and are more taxing on my body than I would normally be used to. Something simple like going to the supermarket, is right now terribly taxing, but it will surely get better with time.

But on a more positive note, my reception, along with Mandy's, has been very positive and warm. It is the was the very beginning of the semester, when I arrived here on October 1st, so things are just getting started, and there are a lot of new students to meet. Because it has been two years since I have been here last, many of the students I knew from before have graduated, and the freshman and sophomores from my summer two years ago are now Juniors and Seniors, and are preparing to enter the working world. I am the first midterm missionary guy in Shizuoka to come in a long time, so I've heard that many of the guys are excited to have an American guy around that will stay for a long time.

I am excited to be living in the home dubbed as "Joyhouse". It is fairly large for a Japanese home, but I am living with 3 other Japanese guys. Sugi, Dai-chan, and Ryosuke are all people that I know from before, and both Sugi and Ryosuke have studied English at Penn State University for one year; the university that I graduated from. All of them speak English well, which is great for me until I start my Japanese lessons. I couldn't ask for better housemates.