"A" is for Arrival.

Yesterday was the official one-year mark for my time in Fukuoka! I honestly cannot believe how fast time has flown by. It seems just yesterday that I was frantically running around St. Louis trying to accomplish last minute errands. These days I have been answering questions for the new ALTs (arriving next week!!) and I can remember so clearly what it felt like to be packing up and heading off to orientation. I am back in the office again for summer break, so to kill time I was looking ahead to when I might take my paid holidays and where I might go visit. It was very thrilling to think of all the possibilities. I made a list of some of the places in Japan I want to see before I leave. I cannot believe I only have 12 more months here. I must make the most of it while I'm here.

To commemorate what has certainly been one of the most exciting years of my life, I am going to pick something important to me for each letter of the alphabet.

So, A is for Arrival.

This time last year, I arrived in the place that would be home for the following 2 years. I had some hardships in the beginning (aaahhh riding a bike!!) but I was able to nestle in comfortably. My arrival in Fukuoka prefecture was a very nice one, though I was nervous at first. I will never forget getting my bag from the baggage claim and wheeling it out to the lobby where Jamie, Chris, Rich

ard, and Ide sensei were waiting for me holding signs with my name on them. What a rush. I still have those red "fukuoka" baggage claim tags! And yeah, Dad, the abbreviation for Fukuoka Airport is FUK. Something I know you find very funny

(^_^)

This is me, on arrival day, with Kurume's cityscape behind me. You can see the whole city from Kurume's City Hall building that is super tall.

Later I discovered that shirt is too low and "sexy" for the Japanese workplace. Whoops. My bad. ;)