Wow it's been a month. I really just have been busy or tired pretty much all the time, so I guess its time for a recap.
Sendai was amazing. It was a bit of a trek to get there, considering it was a 2 hour drive to the half-way point, where I then bussed another 2 hours, but it was definitely worth it. Hanging out with my friends from college was a blast, and I was able to do city things like go to karaoke and game centers and all that. I was able to experience the city of Sendai, and also head over to Masamune Date's grave for a little historical experience too. I bought clothes there and ate plenty of good food, like yakiniku and beef tongue.
Coming back after that, 9/25 was another english class that I taught the middle schoolers who are going to Oklahoma. 9/26 was a dinner that the Thursday English Class invited me to as a kind of welcome party, and it was a multiple course affair that was kinda like a fusion restaurant. It was very good.
Then that Saturday and Sunday I had to go to work. But that was because the school festival happened then. The kids had been spending the past month getting ready for all of the different things that happened then, like the newspaper contest and the chorus contest. It was amazing to see everyone's hard work on display.
Afterwards was an Enkai, a celebration for all the teachers for their hard work. I got to know all of my teachers a lot better that way, and it was also served as a welcome party for both myself and the student teacher who came for three weeks.
Monday and Tuesday were relaxing days after the craziness that was the school festival.
The next week was getting to know the student teacher more, and helping her out with her classes for the most part. Nothing extremely exciting happened.
On 10/6 however, there was the Udon Expo over in Yuzawa, which was essentially a national Udon competition. I had a saba and nattou udon, a thick homemade noodle udon, and an udon with mussels in it, which were all fantastic outside the nattou one.
On 10/8 I participated in the club volleyball practice, which reminded me how rusty I was at volleyball. It was nice to move around but also humbling because the middle schoolers were definitely better than me.
That Friday was the last day the student teacher was at the school, so everyone said goodbye to her.
On the 12th I got a haircut, and the 13th was the kiritanpo festival. Kiritanpo is an Akita food that is pretty much a rice cake that still has grains of rice in it. Go ahead and look it up on google, its interesting. Oddly enough I was able to buy really good kimchi there, in the form of octopus kimchi. Raw octopus in the kimchi...sauce? Seasoning? I don't know what the terminology is but it's really tasty. The next day I went to a nearby cafe and ended up chatting with one of the people who works for the big tech company in town. She was nice and I was glad that I could hold a conversation with someone. It definitely emboldened me to go around my town more and try everything here.
So things are defintely going into more of a rhythm, and I'm trying to find a good balance. The weekdays are usually more calm, with D&D every Monday and Eikaiwa every Thursday. The weekends are usually some kind of festival or event that's happening, like the Halloween party that's going on this weekend. So I'll be back whenever work gives me the time.
Monday, October 14, 2019
Wednesday, September 18, 2019
9/19/2019
The reason this is always slow to update is because I'm always exhausted when I get home. The only time I really am awake enough to do this is during school when there's nothing for me to be working on. And so here I am again.
On 9/3 there was the Honjo-Yuri English Speech and Recitation contest. It was an all day event, but the highlight of it was definitely the kid from my school winning first place at the speech. I was very proud of both her and the recitation kid from my school, because they both did their best out there. Because the speech kid won, that meant that she was going to the prefectural level competition. Which turned out to be next week.
The rest of the week was very chill as I began to start getting into a little bit of a rhythm, trying new things occasionally and feeling out how to actually teach and what my responsibilities are here. That Thursday, the 5th, was my first time teaching at a small English class in the community center, where older people try learning English by reading simple newspaper articles and talking about them. It's good practice for them and a good thing for me to do after school.
That Saturday, I went to a small bar and karaoke place near the Nikaho station with one of the other ALTs. This is when I discovered that I was on the front page of the Nikaho city magazine for this month. I was recognized when I went there as people pulled out the magazine and pointed at me, which was humbling yet still odd in a way. How do you react to that?
The next Monday, the 9th, I had my first D&D session with other ALTs, using 5E as the system. It has been fun so far, and I'm looking forward to where it goes. I'm a player this time, and not DMing, which does decrease the workload quite a bit.
The next day, Tuesday, was my first time going to the Hirasawa Elementary school, which was interesting too. It runs completely differently than the other elementary school I go to. It was a little weird doing introductions a month after I had arrived.
Wednesday began the first of the after school English classes I am teaching to a group of 8th graders who are going to be going to Oklahoma on exchange. I'm teaching them basic survival phrases and how to communicate with their host families and friends that they will meet while in the US. It's me and another ALT almost every Wednesday for an hour.
Thursday was the Prefectural English Speech and Recitation Competition. This was another all day event, and was an hour drive away from the middle school. This whole week involed me staying after school coaching the speech kid, and focusing on how she presented and putting emotion into her speech. She worked really hard, and ended up getting first place in the prefectural competition as well! This means that she goes straight to Nationals, in Tokyo. I hope I'm able to go to, but my guess is that they're not gonna pay for an ALT to go to Tokyo, considering they already have to pay for the English teacher to go already.
Friday I was the DD for the ALT trip to Socket, a karaoke bar that has all-you-can-drink.
And so after all of that busy week, I spent Saturday relaxing. Sunday was a festival in Yurihonjo, so I went there to see some of the floats that were around. Monday was a holiday, and so I went with a friend to my first hot spring, which I can't say I'm a huge fan of, and then went to play D&D for 6 hours.
That Tuesday, the 17th, was a Scheduled Lesson, where my English Teacher and I had to team teach to a class while being evaluated by a group of other teachers. It was pretty stressful, and they had a lot of things to say about our class. It was a very formal affair, although because it was all in Japanese I don't really know what kind of impact it has on my job. Obviously I want to do well, but they had a lot of things they wanted us to improve on. It makes me nervous for when I have to do this again next month.
Yesterday after school I watched the auditions for performances that are going to take place during the school festival. There were a lot of dances and some singing too, and all of it made me very impressed on how much time the kids had spent remembering and practicing everything. Japanese middle-schoolers really do have a lot of things to do.
And today isn't anything really special. I've got the community English class, like I do every Thursday, so that's really all I've got.
Writing all of this out makes me realize that I've been busy, so I can hopefully keep putting these posts out. I'm going out to Sendai this Saturday to meet up with people from college, so it'll be yet another adventure. Until next time.
Sunday, September 1, 2019
9/02/2019
So I'm at work as I write this, because whenever I get home at this point I seem to forget about doing things. It's very true when the people at orientation said that you need to keep yourself out of the house.
However now that I'm writing I'll start where I left off before. The next day of the intensive Japanese course was more of the same, just me and the two other people talking about random things, being handed some worksheets to do, et cetera. After the class however, there was a beer festival that everyone was set on going to. Now I dont like beer, but I was still fine with going with everyone because it seemed like a good time nonetheless. The beer was crazy expensive, it being like 300 yen for a small plastic cup worth of beer. I was glad I didnt pay for any of the beer, and after a couple of hours of us standing in the festival and witnessing a 40 year old dude get absolutely trashed, we decided to get some food nearby. The group was set on pizza, however it is very hard to get tables for 9 in Japan. The first place we went to was too crowded, and the other was closing. So we did what any gaijin would do, which is go to a conbini and buy dinner there. One of the JETs had an apartment five minutes from the dorm, so we went to his place to eat it. After finishing food and splitting a bottle of wine between us, I took the last bus to my hotel where I passed out.
The next day was much less exciting, as we had the last day of class, followed by being immediately driven back to Nikaho. I spent the night in my apartment, in where I was then picked up the next morning to go straight back to Akita City for the Akita prefecture orientation. There we spent most of the time in informative yet long presentations that told us about life in Akita. Conbini became the food of choice once again, and I ran around the orientation as usual. However, I did find some people who played Magic the Gathering. After a sushi dinner provided by a charity organization, I went up and played Magic with them, as the person had brought enough decks to share. He told me where to get good cards and where he went for pre-release, which was fantastic information.
The second day was alright, as there were more panels and then it just kinda ended. I was driven back to Nikaho where I finally was able to get my car, which gave me a very large amount of freedom. The next day was my first day going to the school itself.
August 21st, 22nd, and 23rd were me sitting at a desk trying to find ways to pass the time until 3. Most of it was spent organizing the desk that was given to me, sorting all kinds of colored paper and past handouts that were still in the desk.
Saturday a friend and I went down to Akita City just to explore the city a little bit. We went to a Kanto mueseum, an old building that had some cool metalwork crafts, and an old house that used to be a streetside store. However the most interesting thing that happened was that there was a group of old ladies giving tea out in the street. There was a cruise that had landed in Akita that day and, knowing that, they decided to set up a free drink stand for people that came. In addition, they pointed my friend and I to a place that was giving free green tea made traditionally, known as sadou. The lady we met there was very friendly, and seemed to have taken up sadou around 20 years ago. From what I gathered, her husband was the CEO of a sake company that started in that very house, and because of that she has a lot of freedom in what she can do to spend her time. She invited us back for Hinamatsuri, the doll festival. Apparently she decorates her house for the occasion. Those kinds of encounters that are made on a whim are probably what Im going to remember most about this experience.
That Sunday was the Yuri Block Welcome Party. Yuri block contains all of Nikaho and the larger city north of us, YuriHonjo. It was a barbecue, and I managed to make my own burgers for it which turned out ok. Making substitutions was pretty fun if I say so myself, and the meat for all of it wasnt as expensive as I was anticipating. When we arrived at the park, there wasnt any running water, which was a bummer for someone who wanted to do slip&slide. However halfway into the barbecue, it started raining. Which worked out great for slip&slide. It eventually did clear up enough for us to go around and try the small zipline that the park had, which was neat too. The food however was the highlight of the event for me. Which shouldnt be that surprising.
The next day, the 26th of August, was the first day of school. I had to introduce myself to the whole school, and the idea was to not let the kids know that I knew Japanese. The English teachers wanted the kids to talk to me only in Japanese. However during my self intro the principal just told everyone I went to college for Japanese. So the cat kinda leaped out of the bag right there. I gave my whole intro speech in English regardless, and everyone clapped and such. The day went on.
The next day was my first time appearing in a lesson. I had made a self-introduction powerpoint that I was to show to every class as I went through the week. I talked about DC, about how large my college was, and about how much I like cooking and my favorite kinds of foods, with of course the famous American Meal picture in there as well. It got easier as I kept giving it, and it helped me get used to what kinds of English the kids knew already. I dont envy these kids trying to learn English as a second language. And so the week went on, with me getting up at 6:30 and falling asleep at 8 or 10.
The next weekend was the Omagari Fireworks festival, which was a trek to get there even initially. The fireworks started at 5:45, so I left my house at 8:30 to pick up a friend, and then get to Akita City by 10:30. We wanted the 11:45 train, so we stopped by an environmental festival that was being held at the station. The train got us to Omagari by 12:45, so we had 5 hours to kill. Most of that time was spent finding a spot to sit down. The reason being that there were 750,000 people there. We didnt buy tickets to the official grounds, but we set up on a very nice spot across the river. We had gone to the supermarket before to get food for this specific purpose. It however, rained while we were waiting. And I didnt have an umbrella. Or anything water repellant, for that matter. I had to use the mat that my friend got as a shield to block the rain, which worked for the most part. One side of me still ended up completely soaked. But the fireworks made up for it in spades. My friend and I were smart in realizing that getting here was easy, but having 750,000 people all leave at once was going to be a nightmare. We managed to go for the 9:00 train, which meant we had to leave before the fireworks show had completely ended. However as we waited for the train to leave, we could see the rest of the fireworks out the train window. I ended up getting back at 11:00 without much of a hassle at all.
And here I am on Monday, sitting at my desk about to go to lunch, using my free period today to type this up. The biggest thing for me to do at this point is to find something to do once I get home. It will hopefully end up being cooking, because I can at least force myself to cook interesting things with the knowledge that I have to eat after work. But thats something for me to think about. Until next time.
However now that I'm writing I'll start where I left off before. The next day of the intensive Japanese course was more of the same, just me and the two other people talking about random things, being handed some worksheets to do, et cetera. After the class however, there was a beer festival that everyone was set on going to. Now I dont like beer, but I was still fine with going with everyone because it seemed like a good time nonetheless. The beer was crazy expensive, it being like 300 yen for a small plastic cup worth of beer. I was glad I didnt pay for any of the beer, and after a couple of hours of us standing in the festival and witnessing a 40 year old dude get absolutely trashed, we decided to get some food nearby. The group was set on pizza, however it is very hard to get tables for 9 in Japan. The first place we went to was too crowded, and the other was closing. So we did what any gaijin would do, which is go to a conbini and buy dinner there. One of the JETs had an apartment five minutes from the dorm, so we went to his place to eat it. After finishing food and splitting a bottle of wine between us, I took the last bus to my hotel where I passed out.
The next day was much less exciting, as we had the last day of class, followed by being immediately driven back to Nikaho. I spent the night in my apartment, in where I was then picked up the next morning to go straight back to Akita City for the Akita prefecture orientation. There we spent most of the time in informative yet long presentations that told us about life in Akita. Conbini became the food of choice once again, and I ran around the orientation as usual. However, I did find some people who played Magic the Gathering. After a sushi dinner provided by a charity organization, I went up and played Magic with them, as the person had brought enough decks to share. He told me where to get good cards and where he went for pre-release, which was fantastic information.
The second day was alright, as there were more panels and then it just kinda ended. I was driven back to Nikaho where I finally was able to get my car, which gave me a very large amount of freedom. The next day was my first day going to the school itself.
August 21st, 22nd, and 23rd were me sitting at a desk trying to find ways to pass the time until 3. Most of it was spent organizing the desk that was given to me, sorting all kinds of colored paper and past handouts that were still in the desk.
Saturday a friend and I went down to Akita City just to explore the city a little bit. We went to a Kanto mueseum, an old building that had some cool metalwork crafts, and an old house that used to be a streetside store. However the most interesting thing that happened was that there was a group of old ladies giving tea out in the street. There was a cruise that had landed in Akita that day and, knowing that, they decided to set up a free drink stand for people that came. In addition, they pointed my friend and I to a place that was giving free green tea made traditionally, known as sadou. The lady we met there was very friendly, and seemed to have taken up sadou around 20 years ago. From what I gathered, her husband was the CEO of a sake company that started in that very house, and because of that she has a lot of freedom in what she can do to spend her time. She invited us back for Hinamatsuri, the doll festival. Apparently she decorates her house for the occasion. Those kinds of encounters that are made on a whim are probably what Im going to remember most about this experience.
That Sunday was the Yuri Block Welcome Party. Yuri block contains all of Nikaho and the larger city north of us, YuriHonjo. It was a barbecue, and I managed to make my own burgers for it which turned out ok. Making substitutions was pretty fun if I say so myself, and the meat for all of it wasnt as expensive as I was anticipating. When we arrived at the park, there wasnt any running water, which was a bummer for someone who wanted to do slip&slide. However halfway into the barbecue, it started raining. Which worked out great for slip&slide. It eventually did clear up enough for us to go around and try the small zipline that the park had, which was neat too. The food however was the highlight of the event for me. Which shouldnt be that surprising.
The next day, the 26th of August, was the first day of school. I had to introduce myself to the whole school, and the idea was to not let the kids know that I knew Japanese. The English teachers wanted the kids to talk to me only in Japanese. However during my self intro the principal just told everyone I went to college for Japanese. So the cat kinda leaped out of the bag right there. I gave my whole intro speech in English regardless, and everyone clapped and such. The day went on.
The next day was my first time appearing in a lesson. I had made a self-introduction powerpoint that I was to show to every class as I went through the week. I talked about DC, about how large my college was, and about how much I like cooking and my favorite kinds of foods, with of course the famous American Meal picture in there as well. It got easier as I kept giving it, and it helped me get used to what kinds of English the kids knew already. I dont envy these kids trying to learn English as a second language. And so the week went on, with me getting up at 6:30 and falling asleep at 8 or 10.
The next weekend was the Omagari Fireworks festival, which was a trek to get there even initially. The fireworks started at 5:45, so I left my house at 8:30 to pick up a friend, and then get to Akita City by 10:30. We wanted the 11:45 train, so we stopped by an environmental festival that was being held at the station. The train got us to Omagari by 12:45, so we had 5 hours to kill. Most of that time was spent finding a spot to sit down. The reason being that there were 750,000 people there. We didnt buy tickets to the official grounds, but we set up on a very nice spot across the river. We had gone to the supermarket before to get food for this specific purpose. It however, rained while we were waiting. And I didnt have an umbrella. Or anything water repellant, for that matter. I had to use the mat that my friend got as a shield to block the rain, which worked for the most part. One side of me still ended up completely soaked. But the fireworks made up for it in spades. My friend and I were smart in realizing that getting here was easy, but having 750,000 people all leave at once was going to be a nightmare. We managed to go for the 9:00 train, which meant we had to leave before the fireworks show had completely ended. However as we waited for the train to leave, we could see the rest of the fireworks out the train window. I ended up getting back at 11:00 without much of a hassle at all.
And here I am on Monday, sitting at my desk about to go to lunch, using my free period today to type this up. The biggest thing for me to do at this point is to find something to do once I get home. It will hopefully end up being cooking, because I can at least force myself to cook interesting things with the knowledge that I have to eat after work. But thats something for me to think about. Until next time.
Friday, August 16, 2019
8/16/2019
Yes, I'm still alive. At first I didn't update this because not enough had happened, but then I found myself too busy to update it. So here we are two weeks later.
I left off with myself in Tokyo, and I can say that I safely arrived in Akita. My supervisor and the two other Nikaho JETs met me at the airport, and from there we drove an hour down to Nikaho, where I got my citizen certificate and my hanko, or stamp. We then went to the Board education, where my supervisor told me and the other new JET what our next week would be like. We then met the director of the BoE for Nikaho, and he officially have us our positions. Afterwards we went to lunch at Gusto, a family restaurant, which if you read earlier you'll remember was actually my first meal with my host family when I landed in Yokohama did years ago. Funny how these things come around.
Afterwards my supervisor dropped off the other two JETs, and picked up my luggage from the BoE. to get any groceries I would need for the next day. He then showed me to my apartment and said that he would pick me up at 9am to start the process of getting settled in. At this point, I finally had a second to rest, and left most of my bags unpacked, immediately falling asleep.
The next day consisted of my supervisor and I running to the bank, the docomo (internet and phone) shop, and the car dealer, all while juggling possession of my hanko between the BoE and myself. I needed my hanko to sign for anything, but the BoE needed it for paperwork as well, which meant going back and forth to each place at least twice. Starting at 9, it was around 3pm before we could have lunch and go informally visit the schools I would be working at. The middle school was nice, and the English teacher I met seemed very respectful and easy to get along with. The elementary school teachers seemed happy to have me. Everyone was commenting on how young I was, and praised me for my Japanese. Around 5:30, my supervisor was able to drop me off at my apartment.
However, that wasn't the end of that day. There other JETs from Nikaho and the nearby city of Yurihonjo had dinner at a soba tempura place and invited all the new JETs, so I went along with them. It was great seeing everyone there and getting to meet the people nearby. After dinner we went and got drinks at an open karaoke place they frequent, which was fun.
The next day I was able to settle in a little bit, but also I got to go to a D&D one-shot that some people in Yurihonjo were having. It was good to go out there, and luckily one of my Nikaho JETs was nice enough to drive me along with him. It went fairly long, until 2am, but because of that we got a great view of the lightning storm that passed through.
The next few days were spent taking it easy. A jet from yurihonjo came down to visit and we talked, and I spent a lot of time in the supermarket trying to find things to cook. However later that day I started feeling feverish, and spent the next two days recuperating. The 12th however, I was feeling well enough to go out to some waterfalls with a Nikaho Jet and the same Yurihonjo JET. It was so nice to see them, and it's something I recommend doing if you come down to Nikaho.
Afterwards we drove up the mountain nearby, Chokai. Our little K-car struggled, but we managed to get it up there and had a beautiful view, even if it was cloudy.
The next two days were spent relaxing. My desktop came in the mail without any problems and I could hook it up to the TV with just an HDMI. I made curry, some kind of Chicken onion donburi, and simple stuff like that and it filled my soul. I also wrote introductory messages to my apartment neighbors on DC postcards as a form of greeting, attaching a packet of Old Bay to it as well.
And on the 15th I came to Akita city for an "Intensive Japanese Course". I'm staying in a hotel, which is coming out of my paycheck, but I do get to enjoy the city while I'm here. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I honestly don't think there's much of a reason for me to be here. The BoE said to come here so I did, but this course was meant for people who hey just started learning Japanese or wanted to start learning now. That is not me, or the other new Nikaho JET for that matter. As of now we've just been sitting on the advanced class giving speeches about what we want to do in Japan and things like that.
What has been fun however is the excursions our whole group has taken into the city. Today our class ended early because the typhoon passed by the city today, so we ate out at Gusto, went to Uniqlo (clothing store), Tsutaya (book store), one of the Akita City JET's house (which was bigger than mine in the country), and went down to the train station to wander. And when I was there I found the best shirt I've ever seen. I'll leave that picture at the bottom.
And now it's 10pm on the 16th. I'm tired. A lot has happened now, and I'm excited to see what will keep happening.
I left off with myself in Tokyo, and I can say that I safely arrived in Akita. My supervisor and the two other Nikaho JETs met me at the airport, and from there we drove an hour down to Nikaho, where I got my citizen certificate and my hanko, or stamp. We then went to the Board education, where my supervisor told me and the other new JET what our next week would be like. We then met the director of the BoE for Nikaho, and he officially have us our positions. Afterwards we went to lunch at Gusto, a family restaurant, which if you read earlier you'll remember was actually my first meal with my host family when I landed in Yokohama did years ago. Funny how these things come around.
Afterwards my supervisor dropped off the other two JETs, and picked up my luggage from the BoE. to get any groceries I would need for the next day. He then showed me to my apartment and said that he would pick me up at 9am to start the process of getting settled in. At this point, I finally had a second to rest, and left most of my bags unpacked, immediately falling asleep.
The next day consisted of my supervisor and I running to the bank, the docomo (internet and phone) shop, and the car dealer, all while juggling possession of my hanko between the BoE and myself. I needed my hanko to sign for anything, but the BoE needed it for paperwork as well, which meant going back and forth to each place at least twice. Starting at 9, it was around 3pm before we could have lunch and go informally visit the schools I would be working at. The middle school was nice, and the English teacher I met seemed very respectful and easy to get along with. The elementary school teachers seemed happy to have me. Everyone was commenting on how young I was, and praised me for my Japanese. Around 5:30, my supervisor was able to drop me off at my apartment.
However, that wasn't the end of that day. There other JETs from Nikaho and the nearby city of Yurihonjo had dinner at a soba tempura place and invited all the new JETs, so I went along with them. It was great seeing everyone there and getting to meet the people nearby. After dinner we went and got drinks at an open karaoke place they frequent, which was fun.
The next day I was able to settle in a little bit, but also I got to go to a D&D one-shot that some people in Yurihonjo were having. It was good to go out there, and luckily one of my Nikaho JETs was nice enough to drive me along with him. It went fairly long, until 2am, but because of that we got a great view of the lightning storm that passed through.
The next few days were spent taking it easy. A jet from yurihonjo came down to visit and we talked, and I spent a lot of time in the supermarket trying to find things to cook. However later that day I started feeling feverish, and spent the next two days recuperating. The 12th however, I was feeling well enough to go out to some waterfalls with a Nikaho Jet and the same Yurihonjo JET. It was so nice to see them, and it's something I recommend doing if you come down to Nikaho.
Afterwards we drove up the mountain nearby, Chokai. Our little K-car struggled, but we managed to get it up there and had a beautiful view, even if it was cloudy.
The next two days were spent relaxing. My desktop came in the mail without any problems and I could hook it up to the TV with just an HDMI. I made curry, some kind of Chicken onion donburi, and simple stuff like that and it filled my soul. I also wrote introductory messages to my apartment neighbors on DC postcards as a form of greeting, attaching a packet of Old Bay to it as well.
And on the 15th I came to Akita city for an "Intensive Japanese Course". I'm staying in a hotel, which is coming out of my paycheck, but I do get to enjoy the city while I'm here. I'm not trying to brag or anything, but I honestly don't think there's much of a reason for me to be here. The BoE said to come here so I did, but this course was meant for people who hey just started learning Japanese or wanted to start learning now. That is not me, or the other new Nikaho JET for that matter. As of now we've just been sitting on the advanced class giving speeches about what we want to do in Japan and things like that.
What has been fun however is the excursions our whole group has taken into the city. Today our class ended early because the typhoon passed by the city today, so we ate out at Gusto, went to Uniqlo (clothing store), Tsutaya (book store), one of the Akita City JET's house (which was bigger than mine in the country), and went down to the train station to wander. And when I was there I found the best shirt I've ever seen. I'll leave that picture at the bottom.
And now it's 10pm on the 16th. I'm tired. A lot has happened now, and I'm excited to see what will keep happening.
Tuesday, August 6, 2019
We're here once more
Six years later, and I'm in Japan once more.
However, this time I'm coming in with a completely different set of circumstances. I'm an ALT now.
This, like the previous blog posts, is mostly to recount what happened, so that I can better remember once this is all over. Staying, of course, with this orientation.
Though I suppose starting with the DC orientation may be correct. So I'll do that.
The DC orientation was held in the Japanese embassy in DC, and for the most part it was informative. A lot about culture shock and what the procedure would be for going to the airport. There was a nice reception at the end which had nice food, and I was able to meet a few people who were going to Akita prefecture as well. It was a long day that ended with me finally closing my suitcases for the flight the next day.
The flight and the airport experience itself wasn't bad at all. The flight went by smoothly, as I watched Ant Man and Endgame, finally, which took a nice half of my time. We landed in Narita, dealt with put checked bags (which was a struggle, given both bags were 40 pounds), and hopped on the bus to go to Shinjuku. Getting to Keio Plaza hotel was great, as the Keio Plaza hotel is really a nice upscale place. I spent the night together with some DC people and got dinner, which was karaage for me, considering it was late and our group was indecisive, no thanks to me.
The first day of the orientation was busy, as we had a welcome reception followed by workshops and lectures about mental health and culture shock and such. There was a welcome ceremony late that day that also had good food. This night I was too tired thanks to jet lag, so I didn't really go out at all, and instead played smash with some of the other DC JETS.
The second day was more intense, though I'm not sure if that's because of the jet lag or because of any kind of increased workload. This day was more about teaching, which of course made me nervous. But after all the tiring courses, it was time to pack up my suitcase and hand it over so they could pack it in the bus. Later that night I was actually able to meet up with Nancy from the last homestay I did all those six years ago, which was great to actually see them again before heading off to Akita.
And now, today, I'm waiting to get on the bus to the airport, so I can fly off to Akita city, and go from there to Nikaho. Today is going to be busy, but I hope it'll turn out ok.
The year starts now.
However, this time I'm coming in with a completely different set of circumstances. I'm an ALT now.
This, like the previous blog posts, is mostly to recount what happened, so that I can better remember once this is all over. Staying, of course, with this orientation.
Though I suppose starting with the DC orientation may be correct. So I'll do that.
The DC orientation was held in the Japanese embassy in DC, and for the most part it was informative. A lot about culture shock and what the procedure would be for going to the airport. There was a nice reception at the end which had nice food, and I was able to meet a few people who were going to Akita prefecture as well. It was a long day that ended with me finally closing my suitcases for the flight the next day.
The flight and the airport experience itself wasn't bad at all. The flight went by smoothly, as I watched Ant Man and Endgame, finally, which took a nice half of my time. We landed in Narita, dealt with put checked bags (which was a struggle, given both bags were 40 pounds), and hopped on the bus to go to Shinjuku. Getting to Keio Plaza hotel was great, as the Keio Plaza hotel is really a nice upscale place. I spent the night together with some DC people and got dinner, which was karaage for me, considering it was late and our group was indecisive, no thanks to me.
The first day of the orientation was busy, as we had a welcome reception followed by workshops and lectures about mental health and culture shock and such. There was a welcome ceremony late that day that also had good food. This night I was too tired thanks to jet lag, so I didn't really go out at all, and instead played smash with some of the other DC JETS.
The second day was more intense, though I'm not sure if that's because of the jet lag or because of any kind of increased workload. This day was more about teaching, which of course made me nervous. But after all the tiring courses, it was time to pack up my suitcase and hand it over so they could pack it in the bus. Later that night I was actually able to meet up with Nancy from the last homestay I did all those six years ago, which was great to actually see them again before heading off to Akita.
And now, today, I'm waiting to get on the bus to the airport, so I can fly off to Akita city, and go from there to Nikaho. Today is going to be busy, but I hope it'll turn out ok.
The year starts now.
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