Tsu City so far

Hello!

First, thank you all for the kind thoughts and well wishes as I left the US on Thursday morning and arrived in Tsu on Friday night.  I figured that today would be a good day to post since we started touring the city for the first time this afternoon, so I finally have something to tell all of you!

The flight, by the way, went very well - nothing like my adventure trying to get to Ireland!  I didn't miss any planes and had no trouble at immigration.  Aside from a little queasiness on the 12 hour flight (I thought it was 17 - good thing I was wrong!), I got off the plane, onto a ferry, and into Tsu Harbor without any trouble.

The ferry (on the right) that I took from Nagoya to Tsu.

Peter, Sarah and I went to the grocery store yesterday with Mike, Jeff, and Nicole, the three teachers who are currently teaching at OBC.  They helped us figure out what food we could eat and how to buy it in yen.  The yen conversion is pretty easy, but shopping and not being able to read any of the labels is going to take some getting used to.  Rest assured, though, that I did find pasta, so I won't starve.  Yesterday afternoon, the six of us just hung out and played cards and talked a lot about Tsu, OBC, and what to expect in the upcoming year.  Sarah and I both fell asleep at 6:30 last night (hello, jet lag!).  I woke up at 10:30 and decided to put my pajamas on and just keep sleeping.

I tried to get up and go to mass today, but I was unsuccessful.  I was told that mass is at 6:30am (whoa!), and I actually did get up and walk there, but when I arrived no one was around and all the doors I tried were locked.  It's located at a Catholic school, so I tried to contact someone at the school so I can hopefully figure out a way to get involved and get to mass in the future.  I couldn't fall back asleep, so I am very tired, but I am forcing myself to stay awake until at least 8 tonight so that I can get on a normal sleep schedule.

A view of Tsu from the church.

This afternoon, we finally started exploring Tsu.  Mike took Peter, Sarah and me on a walk to OBC, so we learned the path that we'll take on our bikes every day after the other teachers leave.  We ate lunch at an Indian restaurant (I still haven't had any authentic Japanese food!) and then went to a samurai armor club.  Mike had heard about it from one of our bosses, and it turned out to be this group of men and women who get together twice a month to make samurai armor out of paper.  They were very excited to have us stop by.  They took pictures and even let us try some on!  It was fun to taste a little bit of normal life for residents of Tsu, and I realize now that they really do just love having the opportunity to speak English.

Just call me samurai Angela.

After that, we walked over to a park in the middle of the city.  It is where Tsu castle was located hundreds of years ago, and it's a nice little break from the hustle of the city. 

A replica of the original Tsu castle (I think).

Tonight, we're all laying low.  I have a busy day of work tomorrow - 10am-8pm.  I'll be learning about OBC and observing some classes.  I'm excited to have something to do and get acquainted with the school and my future students.  I'll post later in the week and let you all know how the actual job part of my trip is going.

Edited to add:  I finally got some pictures up!  Enjoy!

I hope you all are doing well!  I'd love to hear from you!