Since my last post, work has started and much has occurred.

We went to orientation on Saturday and had our first day of work on Monday. I was reunited with many friends from ASIJ and met some new folks that venture to Japan for SDC. Mia has been working her butt off, entertaining and maintaining a group of eighteen Japanese fifth grade girls. I have been working less, with an average of four lessons per six-period day, during which I help different groups of kids assemble model sailboats, derby cars, and rubber band dragsters. I get an hour for lunch, which I can eat on my own or with other staff, while she gets thirty minutes, which have to be spent with her group, the Unicorns.

Tuesday was my birthday and Monica's last day living in Japan, so the two of us, Jeannie, Alekkusu, Florence, Karlei, Park, and Wes went to a restaurant called Koki's House for dinner after work. Every item on the Koki's menu is 400 yen, there is a cotton candy machine for customer use at the entrance, and they have the most incredible in-house birthday celebrations. I was carded when I told the waiter that it was my birthday, and for good reason. They gave party poppers to everyone else in the restaurant, cranked a birthday song to full volume, gave me a sundae made of the entire dessert buffet, put a sombrero on my head, and took a picture of our group. It was hilarious.

On Wednesday, Karlei, Park, Wes, Mia, and I left work for Azabujuban, where we walked until reaching Roppongi Hills, where we met Florence. With backpacks full of illicit snacks, we went to the theater to watch Gake no Ue no Ponyo, the newest film by Studio Ghibli. It was bizarre but enjoyable. Dinner and fun at the arcade followed.

That's mostly it. Our first weekend has been relaxing and we are looking forward to the day that we will be 4/4ths done with this job and can get on with a lazy summer vacation.