In lieu of separate, special e-mails to everyone- I'm going to be a cheap jerk and just update my website instead. I still haven't ordered a phone line and internet, so I am sitting in a smoky internet cafe a couple blocks away from my place.

I've moved rather successfully- all the essential baggage made it from Tom's place over to mine- and purchased a stove, a fridge and lots of smaller stuff (hit the 100yen store for plates, glasses and silverware last night, for example). I really like my apartment and I love my neighborhood. I now live in an area called Botan-cho (Peony Town) in Koto-ku (Koto City) within the Greater Tokyo Area. I am very close to Monzennaka-cho Station which is very close to my new office (10 min!). The neighborhood is very old, friendly, and chock full of great restaurants. I am also surrounded by rivers with little paths near them, only a handful of blocks away from a Starbucks, plus there's a Subway restaurant in the entrance to the train station. All the essentials!! My place is tiny- but plenty. I have one tatami room- 6 tatami mats- with two huge closets- I could lie down in them, and stand up in them with my arms extended. Then I also have a kitchen/dining room plus my bathroom. Quite a bit smaller than the place in Misato, but I haven't even close to filled it- nor have I spent a lot of time there.

The new job is-so far- less exciting. I'm a travel manager for an international business travel company- when trained I will be making reservations for travel for people flying for work. There's a ton to learn but no one has enough time to teach, so I spend a lot of time waiting around memorizing airport codes. There's only one other foreigner working in my department and the Japanese employees (though they have awesome English) are quite shy about speaking English on the phone- so they have already begun to ask me to make calls to the States. Today I called two "swim with the dolphins" type places in Hawaii and one hotel in New York. More on that when I figure out what exactly it is I do!

Anyway- I'm doing fine... working on making my new place "home", exploring the area, and trying to establish new habbits with Tom- I've seen him every day since I arrived except today!! I'm happy with the move, though I really miss Nagano & Misato...