Ohayo!! Konnichi wa from Hanno city, Saitama prefecture on the island of Honshu in JAPAN!
I've waited so long to write, and there was just so much to say! So as per usual with Bex's emails, this one is HUGE!

Winter here in Japan officially started 5 days ago, and everyone is wrapped in scarfs, hats, and jackets! It’s actually not as cold as I expected (thanks to Global Warming) The days are clear and sunny, which makes the 15 Celsius (low 50’s Fahrenheit) quite nice, and the night lows are around 5 Celsius (40 F), but will drop to as low as 0 C, which feels arctic to an Arizona/Sydney girl like me. The chilling wind is the killer outside, but inside we've got a heating unit, a kerosene heater, and lots of blankets!

The weather is actually the easiest thing to get used to in Japan. Although London, India, Nepal, Thailand, and Australia all quickly felt like home to me, it’s taking me much longer to get adjusted to Japan. First off, the language barrier is huge, which is the challenge that we wanted, but much tougher to deal with than expected. We are virtually illiterate, as few signs are in English, and every day tasks or errands take twice as long when you can’t speak to anyone! We have to rely on our Japanese friends to help us do so many things, and it really puts your sense of independence in check. More importantly than the language barrier, however, is the cultural barrier in Japan. The Japanese generally do not bother with small talk or random conversation with strangers or acquaintances. At first, you feel like they are being rude or closed off. But then you realize that they just don’t feel the need to make polite pleasantries with people you don’t really know! We never realized how much we chat to strangers in the U.S. and OZ...we even talk to store clerks and cashiers about how they feel and how their day is going! And often we ask ‘How are you?' without listening or caring about the answer. This random and sometimes superficial conversation is unheard of in Japan, and because of what I'm used to, sometimes it makes you feel isolated. But when you do make a Japanese friend, you go out for beers and talk and REALLY get to know each other, and they are very open in this context. And when you do make a Japanese friend, they are die-hard, true-blue, committed and caring friends! Even the middle-aged ladies that teach us volunteer Japanese lessons are always calling and coming by to give us useful information or to bring us treats or local fruits. We have plenty of offers from Japanese people who want to help us adjust and take us out for fun times. The Japanese people are very genuine and selfless, and it’s surely worth overcoming my initial culture shock to get to know them and their country.

Brad is here with me now, and we are having a great time learning to live in Japan together. He is a diligent Japanese studier, and can already read and write one of their 3 alphabets! He's my hero! We are still getting settled really, and hopefully he will also start working soon. He already has one class of middle-aged ladies he will teach English to once a month, and will continue to look for personal training and English lesson clients to work with in Tokyo and here in Hanno. We now both have bikes, we belong to the community center gym (where we work out each time for under a buck), and we both now have mobile (cell) phones which connect to the internet, email, take pictures, and are a true marvel of the digital age! We'll hopefully have a home phone and internet in a few weeks, so I can talk to you guys soon!

Our Japanese is already getting better, but it’s slow going, especially because I spend 30 hours a week as an English teacher! Anyhow, my job is great. At Kidz Talk I have 130 students that come in small groups (8 max.) once a week. Every day I have 4-5 classes of different students from ages 5-15, so I'm STILL trying to remember all their names! My school is tiny and personal, with just me and Naomi (the young Japanese manager whose father owns the school) teaching, and a sweet woman named Osawa-San who does reception, paperwork, cleaning, AND brings us sweets and treats nearly every day! I have my own key to the school, my own classroom, and the opportunity to teach how I like to. I find the Kidz Talk method, which uses lots of games, very effective and fun. Half the time, the kids and I forget that we are teaching and learning because we are just enjoying ourselves so much! The weeks fly by, and I can quickly see the results of my teachings. After 4 weeks (4 lessons for each student) spent on one unit/theme, I can really see the students learning!! It’s a great feeling. My hours are 3-9 PM, so I have all day to read, write, hang out, explore, relax, and can also go out at night for a beer!

Contrary to popular belief, Japan has not been expensive for us. Mostly due to the recession Japan’s had these past few years, food, clothes, and shoes are very inexpensive, even compared to America and Australia! However, Hanno is MUCH cheaper than Tokyo, which continues to have a pretty high cost of living. Train rides are rather expensive, and some foreign items are pricey, but our day to day living is very affordable.

At the grocery store, we buy plenty of the same foods here as in the U.S./OZ (except beef, which is VERY expensive), We eat lots of fish and soba (buckwheat) noodles, but we usually eat Japanese food at restaurants, not at home. Italian, Chinese, and French foods are all the rage here, though they are very different from the equivalent in America and Australia. Anko, or sweet red soybeans, are in everything, and are absolutely delicious, but Japanese sour apricots and raw horse meat are two things we’re not too fond of (the horse is not a common dish here, thank god). Persimmons are in season, spotting the trees a beautiful orange color, and tasting delicious at home. Green tea is plentiful and free in restaurants, but coffee is also VERY popular with the Japanese. I could go on about food and stuff for ages, but more on food later...

Our social life has been great. We have met a handful of young foreign teachers living in our area, we go out with Naomi and her husband often, and we've made foreign and Japanese friends in Tokyo as well.......

We play tennis with Naomi and her father at courts in the greenest, most beautiful countryside. Private Japanese calligraphy lessons are at the beautiful home of a creative, inspiring Japanese woman. Karaoke is a Japanese highlight, as you have your own private room, complete with 2 microphones, tons of English songs, and a phone to order your beers and food. We've also seen a local British rock band, and a couple crazy Japanese rock bands play around town. Japanese pubs and restaurants are the most fun, with pillows and low tables on tatami mats, amazing food spread over a dozen plates for all to share, huge beers in frosty mugs, warm sake in wooden boxes, and shochu liquor drinks mixed with fresh fruit.

In the metropolis of Tokyo (50 minutes from us by train), the weekend markets are fun to stroll, and the city is a mass of neon and excitement. Big weekend nights out are usually 6 to 10 people drinking around hot plates and tables full of food, and we also went to a Halloween party at a fancy apartment with some rich Aussies and Americans! The trains stop early though (about midnight), so I've been stuck in Tokyo more than once! A few nights I slept on futon at my friend Mayuko’s house, but one night, Brad and I slept on the wet concrete in the freezing night! We went from cafe to cafe until they had closed and kicked us out, and we didn't have enough money to go to the places that are open 24 hours, so we were homeless people for 4 hours until the trains started up again at 5 am!

In Hanno, Halloween was fantastic! We decorated the school like a haunted house, and had Halloween games and festivities ALL WEEK!! I wore my Halloween costume (Pocahontas) every day, and Brad got to wear the Scream mask and scare the kids every night in the haunted house. The kids all dressed up and looked SO cute! Naomi and Tsukasa (her husband) took me out for a huge dinner on my 26th birthday and made me feel right at home.

Lastly, the best way we’ve truly experienced TRADITIONAL Japanese culture has been at several festivals. There are dozens of ornate wooden floats, arrays of exotic cuisines at hundreds of food stalls, enchanting music and dancers, and thousands of festival-goers. One festival was at the local university, and the last celebration was our very own town festival, Hanno Matsuri, where we were invited to chant and dance with the locals in the midst of it all!

I'll write more often now, so that these travelogues are not so huge, and I can still give you all the fantastic details. If you're still reading...wow!! Send me a reply and let me know about the beauty in YOUR life! Life is getting better every day...

Love and light xoxoxoxoxoxo REBECCA