My New Home

It has been quite some time since my last post, and much has happened since then. I have been staying in Okinawa's capital, Naha, since I have arrived because there has been many errands that I needed to do that simply can't be accomplished on the island of Tonaki. I have learned that I must be patient when applying for anything here, whether it be a cellular phone or a bank account. For example, it took almost two weeks for me to get a phone. I was rejected at three places before finally finding one that would accept my application without my Gai-jin (or alien) card, the certificate stating valid permission to live and work in the county. Though I this company accepted an application without this, I was required to have an official document stating that I have an address and job in Okinawa. I waited for two and a half hours at the shop while the clerk did processed the application in the back room. In the end, they told me to come back the following day; and, of course, I couldn't find out why I was being sent home without my much needed means of communication. I thought I had been quite patient until this point, dealing with a couple rejected applications for bank accounts and waiting a few hours for my post office account to be processed. I was so excited that a company was actually going to sell me a phone and when they turned me away, I was frustrated for the first time since being in Japan. Because of these enduring circumstances, it was better for me to stay on the mainland; and there wasn't much to be done at the school on Tonaki anyways. Most of the teachers were on summer holidays. I had only been to my island once, and only for the afternoon, to have a look at the house in which I'll be living and see the school.
I have had amazing hosts! One of the heads of a prefectural division, a returning ALT, offered to allow me to stay at her place while I get my errands done. I stayed there two whole weeks! The Japanese woman with whom I will be team teaching, Minako-sensei, has been helping me immensely by translating everything from documents to be signed (with a name stamp that is used in place of a signature) to verbal information. I don't know what I would have done without these two people.
So, finally, on Tuesday, I arrived in Tonaki to move in and stay my first night in the house I'll live in for at least the next year. It is a small, one room house fashioned in the traditional Japanese style, complete with a low-standing eating table. I am happy to have a fully furnished place because I was initially told that I would have to buy all of my furniture. I even have air conditioning and a washing machine. There is also a TV in the place, but, unless I want to watch programming in a language I don't understand, or episodes of Full House overdubbed in Japanese, I don't think I'll be turning it on much.