"Gunbatte!"

...literally it means "to do your best" or "persevere". I think that's officially my new motto. Things here can be so up and down. I can have a totally amazing night, then wake up feeling completely lonely and homesick the next morning. But I think I'm slowly learning that in order to be happy here, you really just have to learn to live in the moment and accept things as they are.

I just got back from my prefectural orientation tonight. The government of Japan really has a lot of money to burn on the JET programme. We spent three days in the prefectural capital, where all of us got our own rooms in a hotel. Overall, it was pretty fun. I got to meet a lot more people who live in my area. It was interesting to see everyone again and compare how our first couple of weeks have gone.

Man, the Japanese really like to drink. A senior government official was supposed to address us with a speech, and he began by saying "I am drunk" and laughing into the microphone. We went out for karaoke one night and managed to get the Japanese prefectural advisor to sing "Dancing Queen" in front of everyone. He got pretty into it.

So far there are two things I really miss about home: 1) English movies 2) Shopping Malls. The closest theatre to my town is 30 minutes away by train and it costs over $20 per movie. And in terms of shopping, all they really have here are department stores. I just really feel like eating in a food court and being a mallrat right now...