Hi Everyone! We`re here! and we`re learning how to use a Japanese keyboard! Here`s the update...can`t wrtie for long as I am tired and this internet cafe is smoky. We arrived safely on Thursday night; very late and settled into our new apartment. The aparment is Japanese style tiny but as each day goes by you find yourself adjusting to the space; or lack thereof. Its a really cosy home in a really happening area of Osaka. For those not in the know, we currently live in Juso. Juso gets a bad rap on the internet (and from conservative Japanese people) as a bit of a `red light district` but its actually a really tame night area. There are famous lights to see at night, this huge giant famous crab thing that waves its legs back and forth (on a restaurant`s outside wall~hard to explain) and heaps of cool restaurant, shopping areas, etc - its great; we`re absolutely loving it. We are a five minute walk from the station (less now that we bought bikes!) and then the train takes about 1 minute to go into the city centre. We had a bit of culture shock and overtiredness when we arrived here; and spent our first few days just trying to figure out how to order dinner and buy butter but we are feeling much more settled now. On Friday we spent the day buying bits and pieces for the apartment (dishes, pots, pans etc) and food (though we still havent cooked a meal!) We also did a bit of wandering and sightseeing in the centre of Osaka city - near Umeda station. Yesterday we were still exhausted so we overslept and managed to only get a couple of things doen. We found the local 100yen shops (like a two dollar shop but SO much better) and bought so much shopping that we bought bikes on our way home so we didnt have to carry all our stuff (Im not joking). The shopping here is incredible. Hard to describe but Im pretty much in awe of every aspect of it. Food shopping in the bottom of the department stores, tasting the wares of little stores in laneways, clothes shopping at one of the hundereds of boutiques, the list goes on. Shopping is immediately apparent as the favourite pastime of the Japanese - and I tell you its contagious! There is a supermarket near our house called `Don Quixote` and we were just walking past when we saw some bikes, shrugged and went in and bought them. A real test of my Japanese skills! The bikes are fantastic though, really daggy (all bikes here are really old school with daggy handlebars fully intended for daggy shopping expeditions and just cruising around). Today we spent the day with Yoshimi Nishimura (my past host sister from when i came to Japan in 1998) and her family. It was great. They took us to this enormous Kmart style department store that had everything. We bought lots of boring stuff like shampoo, etc. I couldnt get over the size of the place. They had an entire aisle of glad wrap. Insanity. We had dinner tonight with Fumichan (Yoshimi`s sister) at a Yakitori restaurant. It was delicious -all kinds of chicken on skewers and great salads as well. Lots of fun, especially the challenge of speaking Japanese in proper conversation again. Lots of love to everyone, we`ll write again soon but am mage busy and am planning to head to Kyoto tomorrow so hopefully Ill have some great sightseeing stories for you all! Love, Allie xo