Life, Oh Life...

I am posting more than once today, because I have been without the internet for several days.
Where to begin?
Last week, I got a call from a lady who works for the English Speaking Society (ESS) and she asked me if I would be interested coming to one of their meetings. I said sure and asked her when she wanted me to come ( I was thinking she would say September or something), and she said that Saturday would be great.
On Saturday, I took my first train ride. Buying a ticket was difficult. Our station is considered in the country and many foreigners don't live here, so everything was in kanji. Next, I proceeded to get on the correct train, but the wrong car (how was I to know they had a first class on the subway?). Lastly, I managed to go to the wrong monument to wait for the Toyamas. All of that in 30 minutes time...go me!
While I was waiting to meet the Toyamas, I was followed by two different guys who were trying to take my picture (none of them succeeded). They were trying to be sneaky about it. If they had asked me if it was ok, I probably would have said yes.
Anyway, I finally met the Toyamas. They are some of the nicest people. They took me out for cake and coffee to get to know me before we went to the meeting. We went to the meeting and I gave a short introduction about myself. I visited three classes and listened to a few short skits. While we were talking, there was a fireworks festival going on, so we stopped and watched for awhile.
After the meeting, most of us went to the Royal Host for food and drinks.
I was told that the Toyamas help choose ALTs for the JET program and they offered to be my Japanese family while I live in Hasuda. I felt very comfortable with the Toyamas and am really happy that I went to the ESS meeting on Saturday.