here, there, everywhere

Hi from our new home! We arrived here two weeks ago, and finally moved into our apartment last Wednesday in between shadowing the old teachers on the job and gradually taking over the classes our on our own. Numazu, at first glance, seems quiet and small (in a good way, after Tokyo), surrounded by Mt. Fuji on one side and sandy beaches on the other; there are hiking trails and bike paths snaking out towards other cities, and there's also the rest of the Izu peninsula to explore, so we're both feeling pretty excited about our home for the next year. Also, when it's not raining (which it is, usually), it's absolutely beautiful here: on clear days you can see Mt. Fuji looming massively above the city, and the cherry blossoms are in bloom everywhere:

As for the new job: it's hard to tell what it's going to be like, but in general, Iain and I are the only two full time teachers, and we teach a variety of different classes to a variety of levels and ages, most of which only meet once a week. Every morning begins with a long drive, through harrowingly narrow roads, out into the country side for a company class; Mondays and Wednesdays are over by 3:30 but the rest of the days, we work off and on from 8 am - 9 pm. Which means it's a long day, but at least there are long stretches of downtime in the middles where we can go home - on Friday, for example, I taught a class at 8 am, went home, and then walked back to work for a 6:45 evening class.