I live here now?

On a plane to our new home!

So after a couple of days in the bubble of Tokyo, we all jetted off to our respective new homes. Mine being Oita, of course!

I remember at the time being a mixture of excitement, a dash of anxiousness, but mainly disbelief. How was it that all of my planning and efforts had finally culminated into the moment that I was going to start my new life in Oita?(!!) By now, I had met my fellow Oita noobs. My first impressions were that they were a fun and friendly bunch. "What a big relief!", I thought to myself. "Maybe I might just fit in here, and they will accept my not-so-quiet character".

It was so crazy finally landing in Oita! Once we got off the plane we were greeted by Sophia and one of our superiors from our office. What a nice welcome! We then drove from the airport to our hotel where we stayed for the first couple of days before moving into our new homes. Pretty good start to our time in Oita!

Our first night was just awesome. It foreshadowed what we would come to expect from our days in Oita: Great people, fun times, delicious food, copious amounts of alcohol, karaoke and combini (convenience store) runs.

Some of the older Oita city JETs organised a welcome dinner for us at an okonomiyaki restaurant. How did they know okonomiyaki is my favourite Japanese food? (Okonomiyaki is a savoury pancake that is heaven on a plate).

Say "NOOB"!

Of course that is my okonomiyaki with "JET" written on it in mayonnaise

Michelle and Kyle- my new neighbours!

Hanging with Obama, as you do.

After, we hit the combini to load up on some supplies to help us sing "better" at karaoke (i.e. Y120/ $1.50 cocktails in a can). Then we sang our hearts out, and drank and drank and drank in a karaoke room.

Karaoke!

With Katie, under the influence of dodgy music.

Then we went to hang out in "Jungle Park", which is in the main nightlife part of town (it is a park which people just hang out and drink in). This is where we experienced our first "Icing"- an Oita tradition/initiation spanning many years in which anyone presented with a Smirnoff Ice has to completely consume it as everyone else sings "Ice, Ice, Ice, Ice, Everybodyyy" to the tune of "Shots". I was Iced with Michelle, except (fortunately!) half our drinks ended up spluttered everywhere with our laughter as we were caught off guard by everyone singing  "We are the World" by MJ. I knew in these moments that this was a good bunch of people to share this next chapter of my life.