The Adventure Begins!!!

Hey everybody, I have arrived! I spent three exhausting days in Tokyo sitting through seminars and workshops trying to ween myself from U.S. central time, normal sized beds and...familiarity. Then, I headed to my town, Ishinomaki, which, by the way, means `rolling stone.` They like Western pop-culture so much they name their towns after British rock bands and Bob Dylan songs ;). I feel very welcome and surprisingly comfortable, I`m perfectly content taking in all the foreign people, places, sights and smells but I`ll see how I feel in a month when the novelty wears off. But even then, I think I`ll love my job and find fullfillment in the constant challenge of adjusting to a truly foreign culture. And, when it comes down to it, right now it just feels good to have no direction home, a complete unknown...like a rolling stone.