A New Beginning

That's it, they're gone.  They've left me here.  That is the only reasonable conclusion.  And now I am on my own.

That was something similar to the train of thought running though my head just over two weeks ago, when the last of my American colleagues returned home following the Science Working Team Meeting.  I was feeling a little bit like Mark Watney / Matt Damon in The Martian.  That I had signed up for this, open-eyed, and knew -- sort of -- what I was getting into only tempered that feeling slightly.  As Mark did, I knew my team had no choice, they were working according to the existing plan.  I was to stay here to work with our Japanese colleagues, to help them in any way that I could, and to help facilitate the science that the NASA scientists hoped to pursue.  But, still, as my colleagues departed one by one to Narita Airport and thence home to the USA, I had to slowly come to grips with the fact that, from now for the next five months, I was on my own.

What that means practically, however, is that as of tomorrow, 6 June (remember: in medias res ;-) ), I can get to work.  I have my housing worked out, I've identified a number of places I can eat, as well as some good supermarkets.  So, food and shelter are taken care of.  Transportation to and from the office is still an unsolved problem (more on that in a few days).  So, that means I can start directing my mind to coming up with ways of making sure I can get out of here alive. :-D  Or, rather, ensuring that I can make the most of my time here, both professionally and personally.  And they way to do that, of course is to dive right in (but I always think too much, so I'll have to walk all the way round the pool, first).