it's not life that matters but the journey...

Ah the sun is shining today! It's been rainy and yucky for three days, so this is a great welcome, especially as my sister is coming into town this afternoon with her fiancee - I'll get to meet him for the first time, I'm so excited!! I just wish that this terrible pain in my shoulder would go away! I've had it for about three days now, a nagging pain in my left arm and shoulder, which feels almost like what you get after you've been in a car accident. In fact my whole body is aching and tired. Just exhaustion I guess from all the moving, shopping and carrying things, cleaning, and weird sleeping patterns that I've endured in the last week. And today is my one-week mark: I've been in Chicago for one week now, and things are going pretty smoothly. I just hope that I don't have to declare bankruptcy after charging so much on my credit card to finish filling up this apartment and making it comfortable! No, instead of bankruptcy, I'll just be working full time, and even overtime, so that I can pay off that new debt...

So as of this morning I have cooking gas in my apartment - now all I need is a car and cell phones for me and M, and we are set! But I'm having a big dilemma about how I'm supposed to go about buying a car without a car... that is, in a big city, how will I be able to get to the places where cheap cars are being sold? I guess I have to beg people for help - offer them dinner or drinks:) It would be so much easier if M were here, but it will be a good challenge for me. I have to remain positive - that's the only way I can deal with the pressure. I hate shopping for a car...

I worked my first full day yesterday, and it was quite tiring. Of course I was going on just four hours of sleep, so by the time it was about noon, I was ready for a nap. I am having to relearn a lot of things that were second nature when I worked at this office previously, but it's coming back slowly. The time does go by quickly, though, when you're learning new things. Today I will go to work for the afternoon, and then meet my sister and her fiancee in the evening; tomorrow I will just work the morning and spend the afternoon and evening with them downtown. Thursday is up in the air at this point, depending on their schedule for sightseeing, etc., and Friday I'll work full time. I won't start a regular 40-hour work week until next Monday - then we'll see how tired I will be:) Actually I'm slowly getting adjusted to the time zone now. I went to bed at 10 p.m. last night and slept until about 5 a.m. (though I didn't get out of bed until after 6 so I got a little extra dozing). That's much better than I've been doing. soon I might actually have to wake to an alarm clock!

Yesterday I got my last photos from Japan back from the drugstore - they are great! Some great photos of the botanical garden, and my friends up in Saitama. Plus a hilarious picture of me with Masahiko's nephew, Daiki. He looks so big and he's only about 9 years old! I had the photos put onto a CD (cause I still haven't bought a new digital camera), so I'll be able to post them on here in the next few days, after my sister leaves and I have bit more free time. Seeing those pictures made me feel a little sad about being away from Japan - but it's okay since I know I will return there someday, and I have all of those rich memories to keep and treasure forever. I got an email from my friend Akiko who said that she felt like I was still in Japan - she said she misses me already. I miss her too, as I miss a lot of my great Japanese friends and students. But friends like that are the ones we know we will see again, despite distance, money, or time...