Anyhow. At 3:30 Tokyo time we escaped from our airplane prison (being in a seat for 10 hours is a lot more exhausting than I expected). Here is the first picture that I took in Japan!
We all hopped onto a charter bus and spent another 2 hours in seats while we drove to Atsugi. We were dropped off in groups and directed to our apartments by Dr. Aoki and Ms. Aya (our contacts from the KAIT international office). About halfway through our apartment drop-off process our charter bus drove over a fragile concrete panel in the sidewalk (there are channels beneath the sidewalk in Atsugi which allow for new wires and pipes to be layed without digging up the road). The panel broke and the bus was stuck.
It was about 9:30 when I finally arrived at my apartment. It is actually a lot more comfortable than I expected. I won't post any pictures of it quite yet because our bags are still a bit of a mess. The apartment building that I am in has about 6 students from our group in 3 different apartments. When we had put away our bags and set up our futons a few of us decided to explore the town at night. We stopped at each of the convenience stores near our building and found our way to the school. The sound of crickets at night is very beautiful and I enjoyed walking at night. I took a picture of the first vending machine that I used in the town (there are vending machines even on the very small back roads near our building).
I purchased a drink called "Super H2O" thinking that it was water. It was actually a very tasty lemon flavored juice drink.
In the morning our group met in the courtyard at KAIT and we received a tour of the school. the Cafeterias on the campus have good food for very cheap. Yesterday I had some rice and pork dumplings for 300yen! The campus is very spacious and pleasant.
After our tour Gary (our teacher) took the train back to Narita to pick up a student who was arriving one day late because of an expired passport. We had planned to go as a group to downtown Atsugi and get our transit cards but that was rescheduled to Saturday. A few of us adventurous people decided to take the bus ourselves and get the cards.
First bus ride
Candiece and the Street
The intersection outside of Hon-Atsugi Station
Ticket machines in the station
My PASMO!I will post more pictures tomorrow and hopefully I will have internet in my apartment soon!
