Day One

I have to be honest - I really don't know what I expected here. I'm not sure I gave much thought to it, and in retrospect, it's probably quite good that I had so many other things to focus on these last few months (namely, puppy, moving, wedding, honeymoon, and related et ceteras), else I likely would've had myself chock full of expectations by the time I arrived today. As it was, I only had about two hours of trains & wobbly bus... which, thankfully, is not much time to get too far with expectations. After the bus, I walked up an unnecessary hill and discovered (again) that being able to read materials in both languages is a skill I ought to utilize more. For future reference, the office is on the LEFT. I finally found myself following a very skinny, very friendly Japanese woman around while desperately trying to remember which door, hallway, staircase and/or road leads to which important feature of the next month of my life.

I also discovered just how difficult it can be to think of which groceries to shop for while being given a tour of the grocery store. Especially when the tour guide likely expects you to be a typical westerner and prioritize the bread, cheese, milk, butter, eggs, pasta, salad dressing, etc. I think once I asked where to find the genmaicha (tasty Japanese tea), she started to get the idea. But she still made sure to ask before we left if I was sure I didn't want any sweets or snacks. She was so helpful... and I was so amused, since I'm actually no stranger to Japanese grocery stores.

After the whirlwind tour (which, I might add, included being paraded through the awesome-looking studio full of other foreign artists... they all said "nice to meet you" and I'm curious now to discover the extent of their knowledge of English... or Japanese for that matter!), I found myself with most of the evening remaining and nothing much to do, so I've settled into my room to the extent that I can. It's actually quite nice. I have my own bathroom, a desk and a table and a chair, a toaster oven, a water warmer (an appliance somewhat unique to Japan, I think), a couple of lamps, a phone, a small refridgerator, even a nice corner window, though there's not too much of a view. Oh, and a bed, of course, with a tiny, bean-filled Japanese pillow - thank goodness my pillow will be arriving with my luggage. I had that shipped from the hotel since it is a bit large and rather awkward to haul onto/off of a bus. So, I should be feeling quite comfortable here very soon. It feels a bit like being back in college, and getting one of the "cool" dorm rooms...

I'm feeling rather prolific tonight. You may have noticed, what with the new blog and all. I'd rather use clay than words, but I don't pick out my clay until 9:30 tomorrow morning. That's right... I have an appointment to meet with the staff, and they are going to show me the wide selection of clays I have to choose from. Test fired pieces and all, which is actually great because I won't have to do as much testing of my own.

Am I dreaming?