I passed my driving test!  I am licensed to drive in Japan using either an automatic or manual transmission.  In the end, we paid seventy-five dollars for one hour of training from Saga City Driving School.  It was money well spent.  There is no way I would have passed with out it.  The secret code costs money and I paid the price. The driving school gave me a map that indicated when to shift gears, where to signal, when to change from the left side of the lane to the right side of the same lane (weird but it was part of the test), and lots of other important details.  I followed the driving instructor’s advice down to the slightest detail and it worked! If you ever need to take the test I’ll give you a good deal on a slightly used map with all of the secrets.

On Friday October 16th at 1:56 pm I felt the fall wind for the first time and it was good. It has been cold in the evenings and mornings since.

Since then we have blown right though fall and seem to be entering winter.  With no central heating it is going to be long, cold grind until spring comes.  I am already shivering every time I take a shower.  I’m less than thrilled about that.

I’ve lost too much weight since coming to Japan.  I’m down five pounds…mostly form my face, I think.  My biceps are becoming pretty sexy for a skinny guy, though. Check back in the future for pictures!

I graduated from orange crate carrier to orange crate carrier and orange picker.  This summer was the hottest one that anyone remembers so a lot of the oranges got sunburned and have dry spots inside along with a dry, flat spot on the outside.  We have to check every orange for that plus they have to be not too big and not too small, not too spotty, and nice and round.  It all sounds easy until you start looking at tree after tree with hundreds of oranges.  Factor in that the rules are a little different for each type of orange and it gets trickier.  I have been reprimanded for picking sub standard oranges on a few occasions but I think I’m getting the hang of it.  I had to learn that just because it tastes good doesn’t mean that someone will buy it.

I went for a hair cut yesterday.  I got a cut that was way too cool for me but I like it.  I was also given a lesson in blow dryng my hair (blow from the front for the top of my head for more “volu-mu”.  Blow the sides dry from the front for less “volu-mu”), what wax and how much (maximum hold, liquid wax that is a 10 out of 10 on the stiffness scale), and hair spray (spray once from 30 centiometers away with spray that is 8 out of 10 on the stiffness scale).  I don’t use a blow dryer and I was too cheap to buy new wax and hair spray so I’ll stick with what I have (FYI, I don’t own hairspray but I might have a jar of Aveda styling clay.  Maybe.) and hope I look good enough to go to the field and see my new friends.

I have so much more to tell you but I’m sleepy.  Tomorrow it will possibly rain and if it does I will get a day off and can write something less fluffy and trivial.  Thanks for tuning in.

-The Green Tea Dreamer