So at last I can write my first real entry - I have simply been too busy since I arrived to do it. Well, where the heck do I start. I feel as though I have been here about five months even though its only been five days - since arriving on Tuesday into Nagoya I have been so busy and that coupled with overcoming all the new stuff to learn and think about is totally mindblowing.

Ok - here is a brief guide so far - my school - very small and my classroom is even smaller. I have enough space for about six students and our school kind of takes a few rooms on the fifth floor of a kind of office block. Unbelievably (or not) there is a Mcdonalds on the ground floor! On my first official day I was asked to interview an eight year old boy whose mother was also in the interview - I played a little game with him just to try and assess his level (I am not sure if I got it right!) - anyway he signed up (manager was happy!) and he is coming to my class on Tuesday. Not a bad way to start I guess, but I have to say I was nervous and still am.

The town I am living in - Gotenba - is a small town with a bit of atmosphere and not that much in terms of stuff going on, although the view of Mount Fuji is pretty spectacular on a clear day. I will take a picture and try to post it here soon - I was planning to do that today but it is too cloudy. I have already been on the Shinkansen (bullet train) when I came from Nagoya to Gotemba. ?@The experience of this was every bit as good as everyone had told me - so smooth and very fast, and none of the "clickety clack" like on UK trains. And much more leg room than on the trains I am used to.

Last night I went out to Numazu - about half an hours drive from Gotenba on the expressway (this is the road which runs to Tokyo in the other direction). We (me, Lisa (the other native English teacher), and Keita (one of the Japanese teachers) and a few students) went to a western bar called `Speak EZ` and had some drinks there - quite a few actually - and then we went to a Karaoke bar. OK, it had to happen at some point. The amount of drink I had had at that point helped me to forget that I can`t actually sing and I found myself singing Whitney Houston, Wet Wet Wet, The Beatles, Bee Gees and a few others including songs by a very famous Japanese singer called Yuming who sings in English and Japanese, so I could manage a few words! I think I got in at 5.30am, sort of fell onto the bed and woke up at 11.45am. I was supposed to go to some cultural fair in the city hall with a couple of people but I didn`t make it. And then I came out to find this place - a small internet cafe run by a guy who also teaches English and who is great fun.

The apartment I have is huge by Japanese standards (or so I am told) and has everything you could need - the teacher I replaced left me a TV and a few other items - but the place is so cold - central heating has not really caught on here. There is a heater I can use but it is remote controlled and the batteries have run out, so extra blankets required.

Ok, until next time.......please keep in touch.

This is a test.