I've got Peeps!

Sorry, no pretty pictures today.  Today is more of a status update post.

Those of you who know me well know that I was a little concerned about meeting people in Japan and figuring out what to do with my time now that I am not working.  I stumbled across a fantastic group of people that will help with both of those items.

I went to the YMCA in Hiroshima hoping they could point me at a hiking or running group of some sort for adults.  No dice.  But I guess people wanted to eat their lunch and I think I looked disappointed so next thing I know they invited me back to their tiny cramped break room and I'm  was welcomed like long lost friend by an eclectic group of people from all over the world.  There are people from South America, Europe, Siberia and of course a couple of locals too. 

The lady that runs the place is Caroline and she sounds like she is from the UK.  One of the other people that works there told me "she collects foreigners".  It made me laugh and it's totally true.  After hanging out for about 3 hours with them on Monday I thought I should probably let them get some work done as they all seemed like they had a lot going on despite taking time to chat with me.  I e-mailed Caroline on Tuesday offering to volunteer 1-2 days a week and she said sure.  I went in and helped out for about 3 hours on Wednesday and another 6 on Thursday.  It was fun and low stress work (I helped put together a printout for the kids for an English language camp that is happening this weekend and made name badges for them).  It is nice to have people.  I like to think I fit in well with my fellow foreigners.

Jeff is doing well at work (he started on Monday and just finished up his first week).  It sounds like this was a "get your feet under you and meet people" sort of a week.  I think he is really happy that we are going to live in Saijo since this week his commute was between a hour and a hour and a half each way.  His commute in Saijo should be less than a half hour.  He said that the people he will be working with are very friendly.

We should be moving in to our apartment next Tuesday (yay!) and we are looking forward to having some fun this weekend.  Hopefully the weather is good enough that I get some more good pictures for the blog (it rained pretty hard today).