5th August

Today was the first day at Koto Junior High School which meant that I could not be late. Being late in Japan is a big insult and can determine how you are seen for the rest of your say. Needless to say I set my alarm for 7.10am so that I would be able to arrive on time for 8.30am. All was going to plan until I finally set off at 7.45am. My predecessor has graciously made me a map complete with highlighted directions and although I had had my quick overview of the journey by car without the map I would have truly lost my way. However that isn’t to say I went from A-B on the morning it came to testing out my orientation skills for I probably overshot the distance by around 2 or 3 miles at first by forgetting to turn right at a pivotal point. This left on a never ending road and although there were both houses and some shops around there seemed to be no people, so I carried on in the hope I would see something or something that would point me in the best direction. My first saviour was a lady outside what was either an office or a shop, who after showing her my map indicated that I was about 3 or 4 cm’s away from my intended destination. As time was ticking on I backtracked until I came across another cross roads and had to resort to asking a street worker for more directions who thankfully pointed me towards one route. I then came across the sign with the giant fish on (not a real one so don’t be afraid Emma) “hurrah!” I thought to myself as I knew it was not far from the school and I still had around 15 minutes left to spare. As I remembered that we passed a bridge in the car I followed another road until I again was lost. As I could not see that school from my vantage point I stopped a woman just before she was getting into her car to plead in the hope that she would be my final call before I arrived at the school gates. By this time it was around 8.20am and with temperatures rising both from fear and climate I knew that if I took another wrong turn I would be late. So back across the bridge I went until again I arrived at the giant fish. I took my time to survey the landscape and attempted to recall where we turned from that position on the day prior and then noticed the street that had eluded me previously. “Thank god its the school” I thought to myself as wheeled myself in dripping of sweat and sun tan lotion.

As for the actually work it involved me sitting around doing pretty much nothing for most of the day.... well not completely but i'm sure i've gone on enough in this post just talking about getting there.

Oh! and I got lost on the way home too and them got soaked when it decided to pour down....