In the box

Komowa (Good evening) I've made it through my first day as an ESL teacher and I am still breathing. I arrived last night in the Narita Airport in Tokyo at 5pm only to find that all my baggage had arrived except the two that housed my clothing and $400 camera. A bit worrisome but hopefully all will be sorted out in the next few days. Either that or Ill just wear the same pair of pants for the next three months. My first impression of Japan is just about exactly what I thought it would be....Clean, tidy and mini sized. People are extremely polite and yet, strikingly lacking in friendliness. Its amazing how polite and helpful someone can be without connecting to you on a human level. Its sort of like there is a wall up between everyone here and everyone is isolated in their own little box looking out through a window at the world. Very strange. I hadn't counted on isolation being such a factor here. I already feel it pressing in on me and its only been a day. God, this is going to be the hardest year of my life. No wonder Japan has the highest student suicide rate among students, its like the humanity in people is buried so deep inside them that people are more like automated human replicas then actual people. Anyways, I went to school today and helped out. I have about 5 kids in my first grade class. They are all very cute and basically well behaved although I think discipline and rules are going to be important. The school is of course tiny with just four very small rooms and two bathrooms. My boss who everyone calls Misses is a sweetheart of about 4'5ft and 90lbs and endless amounts of energy. There are about 6 other teachers in the school, one is Japanese, one is from Ghana, one from Japan and the others are from Romania and England. The lady from Ghana who is name is Mariam is a wonderful teacher and a truly cool person. She has a one year old son who hangs out at the school while she teaches. Cool black people are just on a whole other level of cool then white people can ever get to. Anyways, the lady from England is very nice and helpful as is now, the daughter of Mrs. although she has a tattoo which, in Japan, is strictly reserved for gangs members and the Japanese Mafia and I am told she has a bit of a wild streak. The girl from Romania is very shy and didn't hardly say a word to me the whole day. I think I am going to enjoy teaching but I think it is going to be really hard to be so isolated. I don't even have a computer or a phone and I have the feeling you could live your whole life in Japan without making a single friend or having a single conversation with anyone over the age of 13. I will be teaching three days a week and helping out the principle the other two days by running to the store to get supplies and cleaning. I will also be in charge of after school child care and will eventually be helping with equine education and care of horses which should be coming to the school in the next few months. Next weekend I will be getting my apartment and might buy a computer otherwise I think I might die of loneliness. That's about all....Wish me luck....Loneliness can rot your soul and I have the feeling I am going to need some real strength to get through this. That's all for now...Ill try to load some pictures as soon as I get my bags....Sianara.....