Shibecha

Well, I just finished my first day of work. I didn’t even know I was going to work this morning. Surprise. I feel like that will be happening quite often the next few weeks and months.

We left the hotel in Tokyo at 9 in the morning. Our flight was delayed and we didn’t leave until 11:40. After going through a ridiculous process to get our luggage and to the meeting room, I met my boss Jun and my predecessor Steve around 1:30. Three trains and 5.5 hours later, we were picked up at Shibecha station by the mayor. All three men came to my house. The mayor helped me make my bed while the other two made sure things were in order so I could settle in. Around 8, my boss and I walked to his house down the street to have dinner with his wife and son. They decided I needed food, so they drove me to the 7-11 to buy breakfast. I got home sometime around 11 and passed out. My boss rang the doorbell at 8:40 this morning wearing a suit, and I was dressed in jeans with a sweater. Little did I know, today was my first day of work.

We tried to get my paperwork taken care of, but ran into some difficulties due to the size of our village. Things will just take a little longer than expected, but that’s alright by me. Not like anything is happening right now anyways.

I wish I had taken some pictures during our 5.5 hour train ride. We pulled away from the station and it turned into green. It was like a movie scene. Fields of green waving in the wind and hills lined with giant trees. The train wove through the forest of trees with the fog lurking between trunks. Then we burst out of the forest and we’re suddenly at the ocean and I watched the waves pound the shores before we headed back inland into a sea of green waves. The clouds were amazing and as the sun set it literally looked like the sky was on fire. In all of my sunsets, that was probably my favorite. Through it all, I could feel God and I could hear Him whispering, “I’m still with you and I am still good and you are still mine.” It was the most peace I’ve had in a long time.

Shibecha is nothing like I expected it to be. It’s like a real place. There is definitely more than one street. And there are convenient stores. Oddly enough, there’s a tiny golf course between my house and the office. The recreation center is massive and fairly new. It’s gorgeous. It feels like home.

I got my “new” car today. My boss drove me to the shop to pick it up during lunch. Then he told me I was free to eat lunch at home (which worked out fine because I didn’t bring any food with me to work). I sat in the car and stared blankly for a while. I had no idea how to get home from the shop. I had no idea how to drive a manual car sitting on the right side. So he led me home and watched me stall as I tried to pull into my driveway (it’s an extremely skinny street and a giant bump to get into the driveway). I decided to drive around the neighborhood during my lunch break and definitely almost got hit by a car in an intersection. It was enough adventure for the day, so I parked the car at home and walked back to work. I did manage to drive to the home store and super market after work…in the dark and in the rain. WIN!