ayukawa=fresh saltwater fish river

16 hr flight and only my family could appreciate this-the first onflight film was shrek 2. the company put me up in the hilton near the airport because of my evening arrival and the next morning a guy from my lab group picked me up for the 3 hr trip to hitachi. this time i adjusted pretty quickly to the 13 hr time difference; almost no jetlag at all. probably because i didnt sleep much at all on the plane. the next week there was a welcome party, nomikai, for me and 3 other `new` people. it was actually more of a drinking party on a tuesday night with about 20 people and again i`m amazed by how much the japanese love to drink. i didnt have any beer or osake but 2 big mugs of some fruity stuff did it for me. i almost fell on the walk to the train station :)

hitachi city; hitachi research laboratory; hitachi company. the city is actually rather large and picturesque. it`s surrounded by mountains on one side and the pacific ocean on the other. i`m living in a company dorm-set up like an apartment complex with a manager, small gym, lounge/tv/guest areas, dry cleaning service etc. it`s 4 floors of a rectangular donut with terraces everywhere and a garden in the center. and of course everything in my dorm is hitachi-made. the best part is that from my room i can see and hear the ocean. the sunrise on the horizon is amazing. there`s always a ship or 2 and i think, really not sure but there maybe hints of whales afar. there are 5 large public beaches and 2 of them are a 5 minute walk--there are always surfers too.

my first thought upon arriving in ayukawa (the section of the city i live in) was i`ve been `cast away` like tom hanks. i must`ve watched that movie 5 times last month. there really are no other foreigners in these parts and of course i rarely get to speak english which is good and bad. when i do it`s very broken, slow or japanese-english. i`m afraid i`ll be mute when i go back home :) or ill slip and respond in japanese like i did when i was in paris last fall. there aren`t even any other women in my lab group or divison. only the secretaries, and a handful of others work in a different building. i`m really surprised how well i handle being an outsider in so many ways, but i guess i already knew most of these things before arriving and mostly it just means i get a lot of extra attention.

ive decided that being here is just a little break to meditate and figure out what my next career and life steps should be while enhancing my foreign culture and language exposure. and it really does look nice on my resume (most of the research is expected to be patented) whether i continue in the engineering field or not. plus there are so many things i love about this place and i can`t wait to start exploring more of the country. maybe hokkaido or kyushuu, or china??? kyoto would be a wonderful repeat.

ps i officially have a sister-in-law...the wedding was very beautiful and in the end i really enjoyed being a part of it.