Day 33 in Japan - Sankyu, Softbank!

Today was mostly work and chores - I met the other ALT at my second school today. Her name is Deyi, and she is a total champion. I think we are going to get along really well - she likes travelling a lot, managed to convince a teacher to drive us to a ramen place for lunch, and scored us an early mark. She's my new hero!

Yesterday, I learned that the word for traffic light is shingo.
These shingo are outside our house. Blue summer sky!

Was quite keen to head home early today as well, because our new status as aliens (picked up our gaijin cards yesterday) meant that we could FINALLY sign up for mobile phones! In Japan (actually stuff "in Japan", it's totally the same in Australia, but anyway...) your mobile phone is your lifeline to a social life, a translation tool, a dictionary and a vital device for negotiating public transport. And most importantly, we can figure out which pub everyone is at now.

So we headed up to SoftBank (ex-vodafone) to meet up with our new friend Mai, who helped us set everything up. Actually, we headed up to the shops, realised we had forgotten passports and other vital documents so we couldn't do the phone thing, headed home, and then headed back again. The bus driver looked very confused.

This is the rugby team at Akashi Shimizu training.
ON DIRT. They are covered in scabs and scars,
but chicks dig scars. HARDCORE!

I still don't have a phone, because I signed up for an iPhone 4, but Sam got the green monster left to us by my predecessor and a pre-paid card good for two months for about $30. He's pretty happy with that, but no data means that we are still a bit in the dark for figuring out trains on the go. Had another MOS Burger dinner (double MOS Burger this time, Cros!) and then thought we'd better walk home to remove our burger guilt. Stopped in the graveyard on the way home to enjoy the view of the lights over Akashi, and the bridge being lit up.

Food Highlight of the Day: Taco Naan from MOS Burger - mexican-style meat with lettuce, tomato, (cream) cheese and crushed up corn chips on a bit of naan bread. Weird and totally right.